Re: [PATCH v3 3/4] net: stmmac: register parent MDIO node for sun8i-h3-emac

[Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com>]

On 08/24/2017 08:41 PM, Chen-Yu Tsai wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 11:05 AM, Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 08/24/2017 07:54 PM, Chen-Yu Tsai wrote:
>>> On Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 3:59 AM, Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On 08/24/2017 01:21 AM, Corentin Labbe wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 09:31:53AM -0700, Florian Fainelli wrote:
>>>>>> On 08/23/2017 12:49 AM, Maxime Ripard wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi Florian,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 11:35:01AM -0700, Florian Fainelli wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> So I think what you are saying is either impossible or engineering-wise
>>>>>>>>>>> a very stupid design, like using an external MAC with a discrete PHY
>>>>>>>>>>> connected to the internal MAC's MDIO bus, while using the internal MAC
>>>>>>>>>>> with the internal PHY.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Now can we please decide on something? We're a week and a half from
>>>>>>>>>>> the 4.13 release. If mdio-mux is wrong, then we could have two mdio
>>>>>>>>>>> nodes (internal-mdio & external-mdio).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I really don't see a need for a mdio-mux in the first place, just have
>>>>>>>>>> one MDIO controller (current state) sub-node which describes the
>>>>>>>>>> built-in STMMAC MDIO controller and declare the internal PHY as a child
>>>>>>>>>> node (along with 'phy-is-integrated'). If a different configuration is
>>>>>>>>>> used, then just put the external PHY as a child node there.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> If fixed-link is required, the mdio node becomes unused anyway.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Works for everyone?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> If we put an external PHY with reg=1 as a child of internal MDIO,
>>>>>>>>> il will be merged with internal PHY node and get
>>>>>>>>> phy-is-integrated.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Then have the .dtsi file contain just the mdio node, but no internal or
>>>>>>>> external PHY and push all the internal and external PHY node definition
>>>>>>>> (in its entirety) to the per-board DTS file, does not that work?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If possible, I'd really like to have the internal PHY in the
>>>>>>> DTSI. It's always there in hardware anyway, and duplicating the PHY,
>>>>>>> with its clock, reset line, and whatever info we might need in the
>>>>>>> future in each and every board DTS that uses it will be very error
>>>>>>> prone and we will have the usual bunch of issues that come up with
>>>>>>> duplication.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> OK, then what if you put the internal PHY in the DTSI, mark it with a
>>>>>> status = "disabled" property, and have the per-board DTS put a status =
>>>>>> "okay" property along with a "phy-is-integrated" boolean property? Would
>>>>>> that work?
>>>>>
>>>>> No, I tested and for example with sun8i-h3-orangepi-plus.dts, the external PHY (ethernet-phy@1) is still merged.
>>>>
>>>> Is not there is a mistake in the unit address not matching the "reg"
>>>> property, or am I not looking at the right tree?
>>>>
>>>> &mdio {
>>>>         ext_rgmii_phy: ethernet-phy@1 {
>>>>                 compatible = "ethernet-phy-ieee802.3-c22";
>>>>                 reg = <0>;
>>>>         };
>>>> };
>>>>
>>>> If the PHY is really at MDIO address 0, then it should be
>>>> ethernet-phy@0, and not ethernet-phy@1, and then no problem with the
>>>> merging?
>>>
>>> That is wrong. The board described in the example likely has a Realtek
>>> RTL8211E @ address 0x1. Address 0 for this PHY is a broadcast address,
>>> so it still works, but is the wrong representation.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> So that adding a 'status = "disabled"' does not bring anything.
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What I really don't think is necessary is:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - duplicating the "mdio" controller node for external vs. internal PHY,
>>>>>> because this is not accurate, there is just one MDIO controller, but
>>>>>> there may be different kinds of MDIO/PHY devices attached
>>>>>
>>>>> For me, if we want to represent the reality, we need two MDIO:
>>>>> - since two PHY at the same address could co-exists
>>>>> - since they are isolated so not on the same MDIO bus
>>>>
>>>> Is that really true? It might be, but from experience with e.g:
>>>> bcmgenet, the integrated PHY and the external PHYs are on the same MDIO
>>>> bus, which is convenient, except when you have an address conflict.
>>>
>>> There's a mux in the hardware: either the internal MDIO+MII lines
>>> from the internal PHY are connected to the MAC, or the external
>>> MDIO+MII lines from the pin controller are connected. I believe
>>> this was already mentioned?
>>
>> There is obviously a mux for the data lines and clock to switch between
>> internal PHY and external PHYs, that does not mean there is one for MDIO
>> and MDC lines, which is what is being suggested to be used here, does
>> the mux also takes care of these lines?
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> - having the STMMAC driver MDIO probing code having to deal with a
>>>>>> "mdio" sub-node or an "internal-mdio" sub-node because this is confusing
>>>>>> and requiring more driver-level changes that are error prone
>>>>>
>>>>> My patch for stmmac is really small, only the name of my variable ("need_mdio_mux_ids")
>>>>> have to be changed to something like "register_parent_mdio"
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> So I agree with Maxime, we need to avoid merging PHY nodes, and we can avoid it only by having two separate MDIO nodes.
>>>>> Furthermore, with only one MDIO, we will face with lots of small patch for adding phy-is-integrated, with two we do not need to change any board DT, all is simply clean.
>>>>> Really having two MDIO seems cleaner.
>>>>
>>>> The only valid thing that you have provided so far is this merging
>>>> problem. Anything else ranging from "we will face with lots of small
>>>> patch for adding phy-is-integrated" to "Really having two MDIO seems
>>>> cleaner." are hard to receive as technical arguments for correctness.
>>>>
>>>> What happens if someone connects an external PHY at the same MDIO
>>>> address than the internal PHY, which one do you get responses from? If
>>>> you shutdown the internal PHY and it stops responding, then this
>>>> probably becomes deterministic, but it still supports the fact there is
>>>> just one MDIO bus controller per MAC.
>>>
>>> Depends on whichever set of pins/lines are selected. But yeah, there's
>>> only one MDIO bus controller in the MAC.
>>
>> OK, so one MDIO controller, but what about the MDIO/MDC lines then, are
>> they also muxed, like the data/clock lines or not?
> 
> Just tested. Yes the MDIO/MDC lines are also muxed and controlled through
> the same mux bit.

Alright then the mdio-mux seems appropriate, thanks.
-- 
Florian