From: Rob Herring <robh@kernel.org>
To: Abdurrahman Hussain <abdurrahman@nexthop.ai>
Cc: Saravana Kannan <saravanak@kernel.org>,
Frank Rowand <frowand.list@gmail.com>,
"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
Shawn Guo <shawnguo@kernel.org>,
Grant Likely <grant.likely@secretlab.ca>,
Grant Likely <grant.likely@linaro.org>,
Pantelis Antoniou <pantelis.antoniou@konsulko.com>,
David Daney <david.daney@cavium.com>,
Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzk+dt@kernel.org>,
Conor Dooley <conor+dt@kernel.org>,
devicetree@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v8 0/6] of: teach overlay code to keep /aliases in sync
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2026 16:12:05 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261112221205.GA1425386-robh@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <DMOE1TFEAB6G.EC2KYRBTZR9@nexthop.ai>
On Fri, Nov 06, 2026 at 11:51:52AM -0800, Abdurrahman Hussain wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 06, 2026 at 07:24:32AM -0600, Rob Herring wrote:
> > What I would like is aliases are not supported in overlays (applied
> > after boot).
> >
> > Don't we already have consistent naming on hotpluggable devices such as
> > network adapters? All that is solved in userspace. Why do we need DT to
> > solve this here?
>
> Netdevs can be renamed, and that is why userspace can solve it for them.
I don't think that was always true, so if it can be added for network
devices, it can be added for anything. But netdev is a bit special...
> i2c adapters can't be renamed.
I didn't say rename. /dev/input/ has unstable indices *and* stable
paths. IIRC, udev creates all the stable symlinks. Disks have links by
uuid and label.
> I'm also not sure "after boot" is a clear boundary.
I mean bootloader applied before Linux is entered.
> Overlays applied by
> drivers such as lan966x_pci, or for an FPGA on an x86 host, are applied
> during probe. They describe fixed, soldered-down hardware in the same
> way a base DT would. The same /aliases node gives stable numbering when
> it is in the base DT and is silently ignored when it comes from an
> overlay, even though it is written to the live tree and visible in
> /proc/device-tree.
How aliases interact with an ACPI system is another aspect I have yet to
consider...
> If an alias is a request, as you said, then honoring it when possible
> and falling back with a warning when it isn't can't break a working
> system. Today such a request is simply never honored. That was the
> regression you were worried about, and the fallback covers it.
Right, but there is no fallback for some cases. Having that is the only
way this could work.
> If you still don't want overlays to set aliases, is there another way
> you'd accept to get stable bus numbers for hardware described by an
> overlay? I'm happy to rework the series in a different direction.
Stable bus numbers is a solution to your problem. What's the problem you
are trying to solve?
Rob
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-11-12 22:12 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-10-14 23:17 [PATCH v8 0/6] of: teach overlay code to keep /aliases in sync Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-10-14 23:17 ` [PATCH v8 1/6] of/overlay: look up absolute target-paths absolutely Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-10-14 23:17 ` [PATCH v8 2/6] of/overlay: return ERR_PTR from dup_and_fixup_symbol_prop() Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-10-14 23:17 ` [PATCH v8 3/6] of: hold a reference on of_aliases during alias path resolution Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-10-14 23:32 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-14 23:17 ` [PATCH v8 4/6] of: update /aliases lookup on reconfig notifications Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-10-14 23:29 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-14 23:17 ` [PATCH v8 5/6] of/overlay: rewrite /aliases path values to live-tree paths Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-10-14 23:27 ` sashiko-bot
2026-10-14 23:17 ` [PATCH v8 6/6] of: unittest: cover /aliases updates from overlay apply/revert Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-11-05 0:09 ` [PATCH v8 0/6] of: teach overlay code to keep /aliases in sync Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-11-05 12:40 ` Rob Herring
2026-11-06 2:11 ` Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-11-06 13:24 ` Rob Herring
2026-11-06 19:51 ` Abdurrahman Hussain
2026-11-12 22:12 ` Rob Herring [this message]
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