Re: [rfc] new sk_buff member: hwstamp

[Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@vyatta.com>]

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:43:00 +0300
Octavian Purdila <opurdila@ixiacom.com> wrote:

> 
> Hi everybody,
> 
> In our Linux port we added a new sk_buff member, hwstamp, to store a hardware 
> generated timestamp for received packets. The hardware can also insert  
> hardware timestamps in the payload on the TX path and can have the RX / TX 
> clocks synchronized. We use this infrastructure to compute one-way delays 
> with high precision (20ns resolution).
> 
> I know that adding new members to such heavily used structures like the skb is 
> viewed harshly - especially for such exotic cases as the one described above. 
> So, would such a patch be considered for inclusion? Or maybe there is a 
> better way of doing the above?
> 

Why not do some clock synchronization and use existing absolute timestamp?
This would benefit system generally since it would give more accurate values
for network traffic analysis.