Re: patch for common networking error messages

Donald Becker
2003-06-16T23:03:25Z

On Mon, 16 Jun 2003, Nivedita Singhvi wrote:
> Janice M Girouard wrote:
>
> > Below is a patch that demonstrates standard messages for ethernet device
> > drivers. I would like your feedback on the concept of standard network
> > messages, and any suggestions for messages to include.

There are many things that can go wrong, and most of them are very
dependent on the NIC's architecture. A few minutes of thought would
lead to the understanding that a enforced-common list of error/problem
messages is equivalent to a set of error counters. We have had that
since the initial Linux network hardware layer design. (Note: BSD of
that era had only a single "error" counter. )

> Essentially, things like some guidelines on classifying some
> of those messages, when creating new messages. eg when is
> something a state change and when is it a performance event?

The NETIF_MSG_* enable bits classify the status message types.

> I'd certainly like to see messages from the driver when the
> card enters/leaves promiscuous mode, as an example of things
> we'd like to add...

Most Ethernet drivers should already do this, right around the message
/* Unconditionally log net taps. */

> > 2) Reduce the number of puzzling messages that are logged -- in this
> > case, by replacing them with standard messages, and/or
> > 3) Identify the device (or driver name) that is responsible for the error.

The (physical) interface name, dev->name, should prefix every error
message. This is a recommendation, not enforced, so not every driver
does it.
[[[
Comment: Status/error messages are not an area to demonstrate
creativity, but all too frequently it becomes one.
]]]

--
Donald Becker becker@scyld.com
Scyld Computing Corporation http://www.scyld.com
914 Bay Ridge Road, Suite 220 Scyld Beowulf cluster system
Annapolis MD 21403 410-990-9993