Re: [patch 3/9] natsemi: Add support for using MII port with no PHY

[Jeff Garzik <jeff@garzik.org>]

Mark Brown wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 27, 2006 at 05:54:58AM -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> 
>>> Provide a module option which configures the natsemi driver to use the
>>> external MII port on the chip but ignore any PHYs that may be attached to 
>>> it. The link state will be left as it was when the driver started and can 
> 
>> The proper way to do this is via the force_media boolean flag found in 
>> several net drivers.
> 
> I've had a look at several of the net drivers that implement this option
> (e100, smc91x, starfire and the shared code in mii.c).  Unless I'm
> misreading the code it looks like the effect of this option in those
> drivers is to disable autonegotiation but still configure the PHY when
> the NIC is configured.
> 
> That is a subset of what the patch does and isn't sufficient for the
> hardware this patch targets: sometimes there may be a PHY visible on the
> MII bus but with a different configuration to the natsemi or there may
> be no PHY present at all.  In this case the code in the natsemi driver
> that configures the PHY to match the configuration of the natsemi also
> needs to be disabled.
> 
> It looks like I should implement a force_media option and redo this
> patch to use that.

That's the sort of patch I'm looking for...

	Jeff