From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jeff Garzik Subject: Re: [patch 3/9] natsemi: Add support for using MII port with no PHY Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:54:58 -0400 Message-ID: <445094F2.1060807@garzik.org> References: <200604270932.k3R9W5lK025315@shell0.pdx.osdl.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: netdev@vger.kernel.org, broonie@sirena.org.uk, jgarzik@pobox.com, thockin@hockin.org Return-path: Received: from srv5.dvmed.net ([207.36.208.214]:6053 "EHLO mail.dvmed.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S965065AbWD0JzD (ORCPT ); Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:55:03 -0400 To: akpm@osdl.org In-Reply-To: <200604270932.k3R9W5lK025315@shell0.pdx.osdl.net> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org akpm@osdl.org wrote: > From: Mark Brown > > Provide a module option which configures the natsemi driver to use the > external MII port on the chip but ignore any PHYs that may be attached to it. > The link state will be left as it was when the driver started and can be > configured via ethtool. Any PHYs that are present can be accessed via the MII > ioctl()s. > > This is useful for systems where the device is connected without a PHY or > where either information or actions outside the scope of the driver are > required in order to use the PHYs. > > Signed-off-by: Mark Brown > Cc: Tim Hockin > Cc: Jeff Garzik > Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton NAK. The proper way to do this is via the force_media boolean flag found in several net drivers. In general I agree with the motivation to do something like this... Jeff