All of lore.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
To: netdev@vger.kernel.org
Cc: davem@davemloft.net, kuba@kernel.org, pabeni@redhat.com,
	edumazet@google.com, horms@kernel.org, petrm@nvidia.com,
	Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
Subject: [PATCH net-next v3 2/4] net: Do not turn on carrier when protodown is on
Date: Thu,  7 May 2026 13:59:04 +0300	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260507105906.891817-3-idosch@nvidia.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260507105906.891817-1-idosch@nvidia.com>

The protodown functionality allows user space to turn off the carrier of
a net device:

 # ip link add name dummy1 up type dummy
 # ip link add name macvlan1 up link dummy1 type macvlan mode bridge
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown on
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  DOWN           0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>

Different applications can set different protodown reasons, which
prevents an application from turning on the carrier of a net device as
long as others want it down:

 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 1 on
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 2 on
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
 Error: Cannot clear protodown, active reasons.
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 2 off
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
 Error: Cannot clear protodown, active reasons.
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 1 off
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  UP             0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>

Unfortunately, this mechanism is not very useful when the carrier of a
net device can be toggled by toggling the carrier of its lower device:

 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown on
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  DOWN           0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>
 # ip link set dev dummy1 carrier off
 # ip link set dev dummy1 carrier on
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  UP             0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>

Obviously, this is not the intended behavior and it is unlikely to be
relied on by anyone. In fact, it is a problem for applications like FRR
that use protodown with macvlan on top of a bridge as part of Virtual
Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

Solve this by preventing a net device configured with protodown on from
gaining carrier by making netif_carrier_on() a NOP when protodown is
turned on.

Output with the patch:

 # ip link add name dummy1 up type dummy
 # ip link add name macvlan1 up link dummy1 type macvlan mode bridge
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown on
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  DOWN           0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>
 # ip link set dev dummy1 carrier off
 # ip link set dev dummy1 carrier on
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  DOWN           0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>
 # ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
 $ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
 macvlan1@dummy1  UP             0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>

Signed-off-by: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
---
 net/sched/sch_generic.c | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/net/sched/sch_generic.c b/net/sched/sch_generic.c
index a93321db8fd7..05c250c483f0 100644
--- a/net/sched/sch_generic.c
+++ b/net/sched/sch_generic.c
@@ -609,6 +609,9 @@ static void netdev_watchdog_down(struct net_device *dev)
  */
 void netif_carrier_on(struct net_device *dev)
 {
+	if (READ_ONCE(dev->proto_down))
+		return;
+
 	if (test_and_clear_bit(__LINK_STATE_NOCARRIER, &dev->state)) {
 		if (dev->reg_state == NETREG_UNINITIALIZED)
 			return;
-- 
2.54.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-05-07 11:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-05-07 10:59 [PATCH net-next v3 0/4] net: Fix protodown with macvlan Ido Schimmel
2026-05-07 10:59 ` [PATCH net-next v3 1/4] net: Set dev->proto_down before changing carrier state Ido Schimmel
2026-05-07 10:59 ` Ido Schimmel [this message]
2026-05-07 10:59 ` [PATCH net-next v3 3/4] net: Do not unconditionally turn on carrier when turning off protodown Ido Schimmel
2026-05-07 10:59 ` [PATCH net-next v3 4/4] selftests: net: Add protodown tests Ido Schimmel
2026-05-09  0:20 ` [PATCH net-next v3 0/4] net: Fix protodown with macvlan patchwork-bot+netdevbpf

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260507105906.891817-3-idosch@nvidia.com \
    --to=idosch@nvidia.com \
    --cc=davem@davemloft.net \
    --cc=edumazet@google.com \
    --cc=horms@kernel.org \
    --cc=kuba@kernel.org \
    --cc=netdev@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=pabeni@redhat.com \
    --cc=petrm@nvidia.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.