Re: RFC: Platform data for onboard USB assets

Nicolas Pitre
2011-03-17T21:03:23Z

On Thu, 17 Mar 2011, Greg KH wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 10:14:01PM -0400, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
> > > What drivers need this? Specifics please.
> >
> > Let me quote Arnd Bergmann:
> >
> > |I have just verified with my Pandaboard that the pins on the SMSC9514
> > |usb ethernet that are meant to be connected to a serial EEPROM are
> > |indeed not connected anywhere.
> >
> > > Anyway, specifics are the best way forward if anyone has such a messed
> > > up system.
> >
> > PandaBoards are becoming quite popular.
>
> I have one right here.
>
> But can't this device be detected by the usb device id and the quirk
> added that way? Like all other "odd" USB devices are currently handled?

It is not the device which is odd, but rather the environment in which
it is being used for this specific case. I'd expect to see the same
SMSC9514 chip also used in off-the-shelf USB-to-Ethernet dongles with no
quirks needed.

However, a different part of the kernel knows already perfectly well
when it is actually running on that specific board. Hence the desire to
come up with a mechanism allowing to tell the driver about a quirk for
the particular device instance on this board without having to do the
heavy round trip through user space.

Nicolas