From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Ben Hutchings Subject: Re: [PATCH] ks8842: Add module param for setting mac address Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:50:21 +0100 Message-ID: <1271620221.3679.265.camel@localhost> References: <1271611557.24099.11.camel@debian> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Cc: netdev@vger.kernel.org, davem@davemloft.net To: Richard =?ISO-8859-1?Q?R=F6jfors?= Return-path: Received: from exchange.solarflare.com ([216.237.3.220]:37481 "EHLO exchange.solarflare.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752182Ab0DRTu0 convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:50:26 -0400 In-Reply-To: <1271611557.24099.11.camel@debian> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Sun, 2010-04-18 at 19:25 +0200, Richard R=C3=B6jfors wrote: > This patch adds a module parameter for setting the MAC address. >=20 > To ensure this MAC address is used, the MAC address is written > after each hardware reset. [...] This is not an accepted way of setting the MAC address. The accepted ways to initialise a network controller's address are: 1. a. Controller reads it from dedicated NVRAM. Driver reads it from controller. b. Driver reads it from dedicated NVRAM. 2. Platform firmware or boot loader passes platform data (OpenFirmware, device tree, etc.) to the kernel, which includes the assigned MAC address. Driver uses kernel functions to read it from platform data= =2E 3. Platform firmware or boot loader programs it into the controller. Driver reads it from the controller. 4. Driver generates random address. In any case, userland can change the MAC address later. Ben. --=20 Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare Communications Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job. They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.