Re: [PATCH net-next v15 01/15] dt-bindings: net: Introduce the ethernet-connector description

Rob Herring
2025-11-12T12:43:57Z

On Thu, Nov 06, 2025 at 10:47:26AM +0100, Maxime Chevallier wrote:
> The ability to describe the physical ports of Ethernet devices is useful
> to describe multi-port devices, as well as to remove any ambiguity with
> regard to the nature of the port.
>
> Moreover, describing ports allows for a better description of features
> that are tied to connectors, such as PoE through the PSE-PD devices.
>
> Introduce a binding to allow describing the ports, for now with 2
> attributes :
>
> - The number of lanes, which is a quite generic property that allows
> differentating between multiple similar technologies such as BaseT1
> and "regular" BaseT (which usually means BaseT4).
>
> - The media that can be used on that port, such as BaseT for Twisted
> Copper, BaseC for coax copper, BaseS/L for Fiber, BaseK for backplane
> ethernet, etc. This allows defining the nature of the port, and
> therefore avoids the need for vendor-specific properties such as
> "micrel,fiber-mode" or "ti,fiber-mode".
>
> The port description lives in its own file, as it is intended in the
> future to allow describing the ports for phy-less devices.
>
> Signed-off-by: Maxime Chevallier <maxime.chevallier@bootlin.com>
> ---
> .../bindings/net/ethernet-connector.yaml | 53 +++++++++++++++++++
> .../devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-phy.yaml | 18 +++++++
> MAINTAINERS | 1 +
> 3 files changed, 72 insertions(+)
> create mode 100644 Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-connector.yaml
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-connector.yaml b/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-connector.yaml
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..2b67907582c7
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-connector.yaml
> @@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
> +# SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0-only OR BSD-2-Clause)
> +%YAML 1.2
> +---
> +$id: http://devicetree.org/schemas/net/ethernet-connector.yaml#
> +$schema: http://devicetree.org/meta-schemas/core.yaml#
> +
> +title: Generic Ethernet Connector
> +
> +maintainers:
> + - Maxime Chevallier <maxime.chevallier@bootlin.com>
> +
> +description:
> + An Ethernet Connector represents the output of a network component such as
> + a PHY, an Ethernet controller with no PHY, or an SFP module.
> +
> +properties:
> +
> + pairs:
> + description:
> + Defines the number of BaseT pairs that are used on the connector.
> + $ref: /schemas/types.yaml#/definitions/uint32

Constraints? Wouldn't 4 pairs be the max?

Is it possible you need to know which pairs are wired?

> +
> + media:

Both of these names are a bit generic though I don't have a better
suggestion.

> + description:
> + The mediums, as defined in 802.3, that can be used on the port.
> + enum:
> + - BaseT
> + - BaseK
> + - BaseS
> + - BaseC
> + - BaseL
> + - BaseD
> + - BaseE
> + - BaseF
> + - BaseV
> + - BaseMLD
> +
> +required:
> + - media
> +
> +allOf:
> + - if:
> + properties:
> + media:
> + contains:
> + const: BaseT
> + then:
> + required:
> + - pairs

else:
properties:
pairs: false

??

> +
> +additionalProperties: true
> +
> +...
> diff --git a/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-phy.yaml b/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-phy.yaml
> index 2ec2d9fda7e3..f434768d6bae 100644
> --- a/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-phy.yaml
> +++ b/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-phy.yaml
> @@ -277,6 +277,17 @@ properties:
>
> additionalProperties: false
>
> + mdi:
> + type: object
> +
> + patternProperties:
> + '^connector-[a-f0-9]+$':

Unit addresses are hex, index suffixes are decimal: connector-[0-9]+

> + $ref: /schemas/net/ethernet-connector.yaml#
> +
> + unevaluatedProperties: false
> +
> + additionalProperties: false
> +
> required:
> - reg
>
> @@ -313,5 +324,12 @@ examples:
> default-state = "keep";
> };
> };
> + /* Fast Ethernet port, with only 2 pairs wired */
> + mdi {
> + connector-0 {
> + pairs = <2>;
> + media = "BaseT";
> + };
> + };
> };
> };
> diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
> index 1ab7e8746299..19ba82b98616 100644
> --- a/MAINTAINERS
> +++ b/MAINTAINERS
> @@ -9276,6 +9276,7 @@ R: Russell King <linux@armlinux.org.uk>
> L: netdev@vger.kernel.org
> S: Maintained
> F: Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-net-phydev
> +F: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-connector.yaml
> F: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/ethernet-phy.yaml
> F: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/mdio*
> F: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/qca,ar803x.yaml
> --
> 2.49.0
>