Re: 64-bit net_device_stats

Stephen Hemminger
2010-06-02T21:59:19Z

On Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:34:29 +0100
Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@solarflare.com> wrote:

> Changing the counter types to u64 for 32-bit architectures would remove
> atomicity and expose half-updated counters to userland. Changing the
> driver interface significantly so that atomicity is not needed would
> require changes to hundreds of drivers.

Another big issue is maintaining ABI compatibility for /proc and ioctl
interfaces. So bigger values would only be available through netlink,
and most applications using counters don't use netlink.

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