Re: [PATCH v5 net-next 1/5] net/ethtool: add netlink interface for the PLCA RS

Andrew Lunn
2022-12-07T19:25:48Z

> 4.1.1 IDM
> Constant field indicating that the address space is defined by this document.
> These bits shall read as 0x0A (Open Alliance).

So it is local to this document. It has no global meaning within Open
Alliance, so some other working group could use the same value in the
same location, and it has a totally different meaning.

Also, 'by this document' means any future changes need to be in this
document. Except when they are in another document, and decide to
reuse the value 0x0a because it is local to the document....

So it actually looks like 0x0a does not have much meaning.

So why return it?

Does Open Alliance have any sort of global registry of magic numbers
which are unique across specifications? Maybe you want to add another
register whos value is not defined by this document, but something
with bigger scope?

Andrew