[PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[Ben Hutchings]

Commit 88491d8103498a6166f70d5999902fec70924314 ("drivers/net: Kconfig
& Makefile cleanup") changed the type of these options to bool, but
they select code that could (and still can) be built as modules.

Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
---
I consider the inability to build arcnet.o and libphy.o as modules to be
a regression in 3.2 for general-purpose distribution kernels.
Therefore, please apply this to the net tree.

Ben.

 drivers/net/arcnet/Kconfig |    2 +-
 drivers/net/phy/Kconfig    |    2 +-
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/arcnet/Kconfig b/drivers/net/arcnet/Kconfig
index a73d9dc..84fb634 100644
--- a/drivers/net/arcnet/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/net/arcnet/Kconfig
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 menuconfig ARCNET
 	depends on NETDEVICES && (ISA || PCI || PCMCIA)
-	bool "ARCnet support"
+	tristate "ARCnet support"
 	---help---
 	  If you have a network card of this type, say Y and check out the
 	  (arguably) beautiful poetry in
diff --git a/drivers/net/phy/Kconfig b/drivers/net/phy/Kconfig
index bb88e12..a702443 100644
--- a/drivers/net/phy/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/net/phy/Kconfig
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #
 
 menuconfig PHYLIB
-	bool "PHY Device support and infrastructure"
+	tristate "PHY Device support and infrastructure"
 	depends on !S390
 	depends on NETDEVICES
 	help
-- 
1.7.7.3

Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[David Miller]

From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:23:30 +0000

> Commit 88491d8103498a6166f70d5999902fec70924314 ("drivers/net: Kconfig
> & Makefile cleanup") changed the type of these options to bool, but
> they select code that could (and still can) be built as modules.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
> ---
> I consider the inability to build arcnet.o and libphy.o as modules to be
> a regression in 3.2 for general-purpose distribution kernels.
> Therefore, please apply this to the net tree.

I challenge you to get PHYLIB set to 'm' in a configuration such as
"allmodconfig" which is clearly in line with the kind of configuration
which "distribution kernels" use.

Did you really even try to see if it mattered?  Or did you just test
your change with a stripped down configuration you happened to have
readily available in some build tree?

I really consider this change entirely pointless, because for the
situation where you say it matters, it actually doesn't as far as I
can tell.

I'm therefore rejecting this patch.

Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[Ben Hutchings]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1132 bytes --]

On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 01:31 -0500, David Miller wrote:
> From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
> Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:23:30 +0000
> 
> > Commit 88491d8103498a6166f70d5999902fec70924314 ("drivers/net: Kconfig
> > & Makefile cleanup") changed the type of these options to bool, but
> > they select code that could (and still can) be built as modules.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
> > ---
> > I consider the inability to build arcnet.o and libphy.o as modules to be
> > a regression in 3.2 for general-purpose distribution kernels.
> > Therefore, please apply this to the net tree.
> 
> I challenge you to get PHYLIB set to 'm' in a configuration such as
> "allmodconfig" which is clearly in line with the kind of configuration
> which "distribution kernels" use.
[...]

Well, I can't think why it would be built in, since PHY modules can be
auto-loaded now.

$ grep PHYLIB /boot/config-2.6.32-5-amd64 
CONFIG_PHYLIB=m
$ grep PHYLIB /boot/config-3.1.0-1-amd64 
CONFIG_PHYLIB=m

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else.

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Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[David Miller]

From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:07:51 +0000

> Well, I can't think why it would be built in, since PHY modules can be
> auto-loaded now.

It's because drivers select the thing.

Try allmodconfig for yourself.

Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[Ben Hutchings]

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On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 13:22 -0500, David Miller wrote:
> From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
> Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:07:51 +0000
> 
> > Well, I can't think why it would be built in, since PHY modules can be
> > auto-loaded now.
> 
> It's because drivers select the thing.

Drivers are also built as modules in a distribution kernel.

> Try allmodconfig for yourself.

OK, on x86_64, this does end up with PHYLIB=y but only because
NET_DSA=y.  And I don't believe NET_DSA is appropriate for a distro
kernel.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else.

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Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[David Miller]

From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:40:42 +0000

> On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 13:22 -0500, David Miller wrote:
>> Try allmodconfig for yourself.
> 
> OK, on x86_64, this does end up with PHYLIB=y but only because
> NET_DSA=y.  And I don't believe NET_DSA is appropriate for a distro
> kernel.

Do you think we can modularize the NET_DSA reference somehow?

Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[Ben Hutchings]

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On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 13:50 -0500, David Miller wrote:
> From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
> Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:40:42 +0000
> 
> > On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 13:22 -0500, David Miller wrote:
> >> Try allmodconfig for yourself.
> > 
> > OK, on x86_64, this does end up with PHYLIB=y but only because
> > NET_DSA=y.  And I don't believe NET_DSA is appropriate for a distro
> > kernel.
> 
> Do you think we can modularize the NET_DSA reference somehow?

Maybe, but I just don't care about DSA.  It requires platform data to
work, so AFAICS it's only useful in a custom kernel for some platform
that has one of the supported chips.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else.

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Re: [PATCH net] net: Revert ARCNET and PHYLIB to tristate options

[David Miller]

From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:37:43 +0000

> On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 13:50 -0500, David Miller wrote:
>> From: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>
>> Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:40:42 +0000
>> 
>> > On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 13:22 -0500, David Miller wrote:
>> >> Try allmodconfig for yourself.
>> > 
>> > OK, on x86_64, this does end up with PHYLIB=y but only because
>> > NET_DSA=y.  And I don't believe NET_DSA is appropriate for a distro
>> > kernel.
>> 
>> Do you think we can modularize the NET_DSA reference somehow?
> 
> Maybe, but I just don't care about DSA.  It requires platform data to
> work, so AFAICS it's only useful in a custom kernel for some platform
> that has one of the supported chips.

As far as I understand it, that's not true in the case of device tree,
which can instantiate the platform information dynamically.

And, in any event, having only one specific case force PHYLIB to 'y' is
at best disappointing.