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

Bruce Richardson
2026-01-22T13:32:08Z

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.

/Bruce