On Saturday 04 February 2012 16:23:31 David Miller wrote:
> From: Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
> > The linux/mii.h headers has long been standalone for userspace.  But a
> > recent commit added linux/ethtool.h to the include list even when it
> > isn't used.  Since we only need this with __KERNEL__, move the include
> > down to the right spot.  Now userland no longer needs to pull this in.
> 
> I don't understand what the problem is.

the exported linux/mii.h userspace code doesn't need linux/ethtool.h, thus it 
should not need to include it

> linux/ethtool.h is a safely exported header file for userspace,
> so if linux/mii.h now starts to include it this should make no
> difference whatsoever for userspace unless userspace does something
> bogus which in turn would mean it's almost certainly userspace
> which is at fault here no the kernel headers.

by the same token, you could have linux/mii.h pointlessly include a lot of 
other unused headers.  they're still unused and a waste.
-mike