Re: [PATCH v2 3/5] dt-bindings: net: add mac-address-increment option

[Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org>]

On 16/05/2023 13:47, Ivan Mikhaylov wrote:
hy this is property of the hardware. I
>>>> understand
>>>> that this is something you want Linux to do, but DT is not for
>>>> that
>>>> purpose. Do not encode system policies into DT and what above
>>>> commit
>>>> says is a policy.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Krzysztof, okay then to which DT subsystem it should belong? To
>>> ftgmac100 after conversion?
>>
>> To my understanding, decision to add some numbers to MAC address does
>> not look like DT property at all. Otherwise please help me to
>> understand
>> - why different boards with same device should have different
>> offset/value?
>>
>> Anyway, commit msg also lacks any justification for this.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Krzysztof
>>
> 
> Krzysztof, essentially some PCIe network cards have like an additional
> *MII interface which connects directly to a BMC (separate SoC for
> managing a motherboard) and by sending special ethernet type frames
> over that connection (called NC-SI) the BMC can obtain MAC, get link
> parameters etc. So it's natural for a vendor to allocate two MACs per
> such a board with PCIe card intergrated, with one MAC "flashed into"
> the network card, under the assumption that the BMC should

Who makes the assumption that next MAC should differ by 1 or 2?

> automatically use the next MAC. So it's the property of the hardware as
> the vendor designs it, not a matter of usage policy.
> 
> Also at the nvmem binding tree is "nvmem-cell-cells" which is literally
> the same as what was proposed but on different level.
> 
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/nvmem?id=7e2805c203a6c8dc85c1cfda205161ed39ae82d5

How is this similar? This points the location of mac address on some NV
storage. You add fixed value which should be added to the Ethernet.

I might be missing the context but there is no DTS example nor user of
this property, so how can I get such?

Best regards,
Krzysztof