Re: [PATCH net-next 0/2] devlink enhancements

["Keller, Jacob E" <jacob.e.keller@intel.com>]

On 8/2/2021 9:36 AM, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Mon,  2 Aug 2021 09:57:38 +0530 Kalesh A P wrote:
>> From: Kalesh AP <kalesh-anakkur.purayil@broadcom.com>
>>
>> This patchset adds device capability reporting to devlink info API.
>> It may be useful if we expose the device capabilities to the user
>> through devlink info API.
> 
> Did you see the RFC Jake posted? That's way more palatable.
> 

FWIW, my patch is more in regards to making sure that users, tools, or
scripts, have a way to tell if a given devlink interface is supported.

This seems like a way to indicate specific device features?

> Operationally the API provided here is of little to no value 
> to the user, and since it extends the "let the vendors dump custom
> meaningless strings" paradigm present in devlink please expect 
> major push back.
> 

Right. the better approach here is to ensure that whatever user-facing
impact of these features is exposed through a standard interface. If one
doesn't exist for the capability, you will need to do work to create
such an interface.

If there's no user impact (and thus no need for a separate interface),
then why does a user need to know the capability?

Thanks,
Jake