Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 16 Jun 2003 19:02:43 -0400 (EDT) | From | Donald Becker <> | Subject | Re: patch for common networking error messages |
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On Mon, 16 Jun 2003, Nivedita Singhvi wrote: > Janice M Girouard wrote: > > > Below is a patch that demonstrates standard messages for ethernet device > > drivers. I would like your feedback on the concept of standard network > > messages, and any suggestions for messages to include.
There are many things that can go wrong, and most of them are very dependent on the NIC's architecture. A few minutes of thought would lead to the understanding that a enforced-common list of error/problem messages is equivalent to a set of error counters. We have had that since the initial Linux network hardware layer design. (Note: BSD of that era had only a single "error" counter. )
> Essentially, things like some guidelines on classifying some > of those messages, when creating new messages. eg when is > something a state change and when is it a performance event?
The NETIF_MSG_* enable bits classify the status message types.
> I'd certainly like to see messages from the driver when the > card enters/leaves promiscuous mode, as an example of things > we'd like to add...
Most Ethernet drivers should already do this, right around the message /* Unconditionally log net taps. */
> > 2) Reduce the number of puzzling messages that are logged -- in this > > case, by replacing them with standard messages, and/or > > 3) Identify the device (or driver name) that is responsible for the error.
The (physical) interface name, dev->name, should prefix every error message. This is a recommendation, not enforced, so not every driver does it. [[[ Comment: Status/error messages are not an area to demonstrate creativity, but all too frequently it becomes one. ]]]
-- Donald Becker becker@scyld.com Scyld Computing Corporation http://www.scyld.com 914 Bay Ridge Road, Suite 220 Scyld Beowulf cluster system Annapolis MD 21403 410-990-9993
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