From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: David Miller Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] bna: Added flash sub-module and ethtool eeprom entry points. Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:10:35 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <20111226.101035.782817982749726680.davem@davemloft.net> References: <1324721314.3860.11.camel@deadeye> <4EF86253.3010108@computer.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: bhutchings@solarflare.com, kgudipat@Brocade.com, netdev@vger.kernel.org, adapter_linux_open_src_team@Brocade.com, rmody@Brocade.com To: jan.ceuleers@computer.org Return-path: Received: from shards.monkeyblade.net ([198.137.202.13]:38131 "EHLO shards.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752705Ab1LZPLr (ORCPT ); Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:11:47 -0500 In-Reply-To: <4EF86253.3010108@computer.org> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: From: Jan Ceuleers Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:02:27 +0100 > Is it OK to hold the RTNL lock for that length of time? No, because it means that no network configuration of any kind can occur during this time. Backbone routers need to perform hundreds of routing table updates per second, even more during major route flaps. All of these would be blocked during your flash operation.