Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:36:07 -0800 | From | Darren Hart <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] pch_gbe: Use a randomly generated MAC instead of failing probe |
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On 01/14/2012 01:46 PM, Alan Cox wrote: >> I fear that people are just going to add this random MAC stuff way too >> easily, it's a spreading disease. >> >> Ship functional hardware instead. > > See "choir, preaching to the". > > The stuff is out there and it's not Darren's fault ! > > Alan
So perhaps I should provide some more context into why I'm sending these patches. The following hardware is currently available and the existing Linux support is confined to a Timesys Fedora-Based pre-installed image which requires user intervention to write a MAC using an old, not upstreamed, modified ioh_gbe_mac driver.
The board documentation is available here: http://www.inforcecomputing.com/SYS940X_ECX.html
In particular, see: http://www.inforcecomputing.com/proddls/SYS940X-01_UserGuide_001329.pdf and: http://www.inforcecomputing.com/proddls/BLDK2_Kern_2.6.29-10_and_2.6.29-12_for_SYS940X-1_1304.pdf
I felt this patch made this hardware more accessible by allowing it to work with current kernels without ugly userspace hacks. It is also following precedent set by existing drivers.
So while I completely agree with the sentiment "Ship functional hardware", this wasn't a product I was involved with, I'm just trying to make a bad situation better. As Alan alludes to above, I do actually spend a good deal of time trying to improve hardware to avoid this kind of thing (it's an amazingly difficult task).
-- Darren Hart Intel Open Source Technology Center Yocto Project - Linux Kernel
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