Re: [PATCH net v1 1/2] net: phy: Introduce phy_update_eee() to update eee_cfg values

[Choong Yong Liang]

On 14/11/2024 7:05 am, Andrew Lunn wrote:

> tx_lpi_timer is a MAC property, but phylib does track it across
> --set-eee calls and will fill it in for get-eee. What however is
> missing it setting its default value. There is currently no API the
> MAC driver can call to let phylib know what default value it is using.
> Either such an API could be added, e.g. as part of phy_support_eee(),
> or we could hard code a value, probably again in phy_support_eee().
>
> tx_lpi_enabled is filled in by phy_ethtool_get_eee(), and its default
> value is set by phy_support_eee(). So i don't see what is wrong here.

Thank you for your detailed explanation. I will follow your suggestion to 
set the default value for tx_lpi_timer in phy_support_eee().

> > Currently, we are facing 3 issues:
> > 1. When we boot up our system and do not issue the 'ethtool --set-eee'
> > command, and then directly issue the 'ethtool --show-eee' command, it always
> > shows that EEE is disabled due to the eeecfg values not being set. However,
> > in the Maxliner GPY PHY, the driver EEE is enabled. If we try to disable
> > EEE, nothing happens because the eeecfg matches the setting required to
> > disable EEE in ethnl_set_eee(). The phy_support_eee() was introduced to set
> > the initial values to enable eee_enabled and tx_lpi_enabled. This would
> > allow 'ethtool --show-eee' to show that EEE is enabled during the initial
> > state. However, the Marvell PHY is designed to have hardware disabled EEE
> > during the initial state. Users are required to use Ethtool to enable the
> > EEE. phy_support_eee() does not show the correct for Marvell PHY.
>
> We discussed what to set the initial state to when we reworked the EEE
> support. It is a hard problem, because changing anything could cause
> regressions. Some users don't want EEE enabled, because it can add
> latency and jitter, e.g. to PTP packets. Some users want it enabled
> for the power savings.
>
> We decided to leave the PHY untouched, and will read out its
> configuration. If this is going wrong, that is a bug which should be
> found and fixed.

I do agree with your point about leaving the PHY untouched and reading out 
its configuration as the default values in phy_support_eee() instead of 
setting the existing values to true for eee_enabled and tx_lpi_enabled.

> We want the core to be fixed, not workaround added to MAC
> drivers. Please think about this when proposing future patches.
>
> 	Andrew
I will create different small patch fixes for each of the implementations. 
Thank you.