Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH 1/2] hw/net: add support for Allwinner EMAC Fast Ethernet controller

[Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@redhat.com>]

On Thu, Jan 02, 2014 at 08:25:10PM +1000, Peter Crosthwaite wrote:
> Hi Beniamino,
> 
> On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 7:18 PM, Beniamino Galvani <b.galvani@gmail.com> wrote:
> > This patch adds support for the Fast Ethernet MAC found on Allwinner
> > SoCs, together with a basic emulation of Realtek RTL8201CP PHY.
> >
> 
> More a comment for net in general, but I think sooner or later we need
> to move towards a split between phy and mac on the device level.
> continuing the phy-within-mac philosophy is going to make the
> socification efforts awkward. Are MII and friends a busses (as in
> TYPE_BUS) in their own right, and connection of mac and phy has to
> happen on the board level?

I see PHY and MAC split as advantageous because it allows code reuse and
better testing.  The main thing I'd like to see is PHY device tests
using tests/libqtest.h.

If someone wants to implement it, great.  It would make it easier to add
more NIC models in the future.

Regarding SOCification and busses, I'm not sure.  Is it okay to just say
a NIC has-a PHY (i.e. composition)?

Stefan