RE: [PATCH 3/3] drivers: always enable the null net driver [RFC]

Morten Brørup
2026-01-22T13:40:50Z

> From: Bruce Richardson [mailto:bruce.richardson@intel.com]
> Sent: Thursday, 22 January 2026 14.32
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 02:13:06PM +0100, Morten Brørup wrote:
> > > From: Bruce Richardson [mailto:bruce.richardson@intel.com]
> > > Sent: Thursday, 22 January 2026 13.24
> > >
> > > Having the net_null driver always available can be convenient and
> > > allows
> > > use by unit tests, so add this trivial driver to the always-enable
> > > list.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>
> > >
> > > ---
> > > I'm not sure if we want this to be always enabled or not, so
> sending
> > > this as an RFC. I can see definite advantages to doing so, but I
> also
> > > dislike having too many components on the always-enable list.
> > >
> > > Since I'm ambivilent myself, including this patch so the community
> can
> > > decide.
> >
> > I don't think real applications use this.
> > If they do, they can include it manually.
> >
> > My main objection is:
> > We are setting the wrong precedence if we make stuff like this
> mandatory for convenience.
> >
> > But I agree with the reason you are suggesting it.
> >
> > Is there some other way it can be enabled for unit tests?
> > Maybe the null driver can depend on the unit tests being built?
> >
> > I don't mind that the driver is being built.
> > I just don't want it included by default when statically linking a
> monolithic application.
> >
> > I'm flexible on this RFC, so it's a very soft NAK from me.
> > If it can be disabled at build time, I'm OK with it. (But still
> concerned about setting the wrong precedence.)
> >
> Yes, I agree.
>
> Why I'm proposing this is because, in order to give me faster rebuilds
> and
> because of the hardware I have available to me, I generally set up my
> builds with "-Denable_drivers=net/intel/*", since that really speeds up
> my
> dev-build-test cycle. In doing so, though, I do miss out on having some
> unit tests available when I run the fast-test suite, which is why I
> suggested this addition in case there are others who limit the builds
> to
> just the hardware they are using.

You can build with "-Denable_drivers=net/intel/*,net/null".

Then I'll suggest an alternative to this patch:
Change the fast-test application, so it emits an informational message about which tests are being skipped because the net/null driver is missing.