for newbies, it would be useful to document values of netdev_state_t

for newbies, it would be useful to document values of netdev_state_t

[Robert P. J. Day]

  i'm sure this is second nature for the experts here, but in
netdevice.h:

/* These flag bits are private to the generic network queueing
 * layer; they may not be explicitly referenced by any other
 * code.
 */

enum netdev_state_t {
        __LINK_STATE_START,
        __LINK_STATE_PRESENT,
        __LINK_STATE_NOCARRIER,
        __LINK_STATE_LINKWATCH_PENDING,
        __LINK_STATE_DORMANT,
};

it would be handy to have a short explanation of what each state
represents, perhaps what combinations are possible and how one moves
from one state to another.

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                  http://crashcourse.ca/dokuwiki

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================

Re: for newbies, it would be useful to document values of netdev_state_t

[Florian Fainelli]

On 08/04/2018 08:30 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 
>   i'm sure this is second nature for the experts here, but in
> netdevice.h:
> 
> /* These flag bits are private to the generic network queueing
>  * layer; they may not be explicitly referenced by any other
>  * code.
>  */
> 
> enum netdev_state_t {
>         __LINK_STATE_START,
>         __LINK_STATE_PRESENT,
>         __LINK_STATE_NOCARRIER,
>         __LINK_STATE_LINKWATCH_PENDING,
>         __LINK_STATE_DORMANT,
> };
> 
> it would be handy to have a short explanation of what each state
> represents, perhaps what combinations are possible and how one moves
> from one state to another.

This has been like that for some time, and with the exception of the
problem you reported in your email before that one, people generally
don't muck with that enum, or the state machine consuming it. There
might be other places that could deserve better documentation ;)
-- 
Florian

Re: for newbies, it would be useful to document values of netdev_state_t

[Julian Wiedmann]

On 08/04/2018 05:30 PM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 
>   i'm sure this is second nature for the experts here, but in
> netdevice.h:
> 
> /* These flag bits are private to the generic network queueing
>  * layer; they may not be explicitly referenced by any other
>  * code.
>  */
> 
> enum netdev_state_t {
>         __LINK_STATE_START,
>         __LINK_STATE_PRESENT,
>         __LINK_STATE_NOCARRIER,
>         __LINK_STATE_LINKWATCH_PENDING,
>         __LINK_STATE_DORMANT,
> };
> 
> it would be handy to have a short explanation of what each state
> represents, perhaps what combinations are possible and how one moves
> from one state to another.
> 
> rday
> 

It is far from perfect, but Documentation/networking/operstates.txt
might get you started.