Re: [PATCH net-next] net: enetc: Support ethernet aliases in dts.

[Vladimir Oltean <vladimir.oltean@nxp.com>]

On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 05:07:15PM +0200, Shenwei Wang wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2025 8:58 AM
> > To: Shenwei Wang <shenwei.wang@nxp.com>
> > Cc: Claudiu Manoil <claudiu.manoil@nxp.com>; Vladimir Oltean
> > <vladimir.oltean@nxp.com>; Wei Fang <wei.fang@nxp.com>; Clark Wang
> > <xiaoning.wang@nxp.com>; Andrew Lunn <andrew+netdev@lunn.ch>; David S.
> > Miller <davem@davemloft.net>; Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>; Jakub
> > Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>; Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>;
> > imx@lists.linux.dev; netdev@vger.kernel.org; dl-linux-imx <linux-imx@nxp.com>
> > Subject: [EXT] Re: [PATCH net-next] net: enetc: Support ethernet aliases in dts.
> > On Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 03:44:58PM -0600, Shenwei Wang wrote:
> > > Retrieve the "ethernet" alias ID from the DTS and assign it as the
> > > interface name (e.g., "eth0", "eth1"). This ensures predictable naming
> > > aligned with the DTS's configuration.
> > >
> > > If no alias is defined, fall back to the kernel's default enumeration
> > > to maintain backward compatibility.
> > 
> > GregKH and others will tell you this is a user space problem. Ethernet names have
> > never been stable, user space has always had to deal with this problem. Please
> > use a udev rule, systemd naming, etc.
> 
> Thanks Andrew.
> Does it mean the ethernet aliases defined in the dts are no longer recommended or supported?
> 
> Thanks,
> Shenwei

Aliases are recommended at least for U-Boot fixups of any kind (MAC
addresses, but not necessarily). You never want to perform a fixup based
on a hardcoded node path.