Re: [PATCH net-next 2/7] net: dsa: Add devlink regions support to DSA

[Vladimir Oltean <olteanv@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 12:06:32AM +0200, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> > Could we perhaps open-code these from the drivers themselves? There's
> > hardly any added value in DSA providing a "helper" for creation of
> > devlink resources (regions, shared buffers, etc).
>
> If we do change to open coding, would we remove the existing wrappers
> as well?
> 

Maybe?
I reckon one of the main reasons why DSA hides struct net_device is to
present a unified API for the ports that don't have one.
But with devlink we don't have that problem.

> > Take the ocelot/felix driver for example.
> 
> ocelot/felix is just plain odd. We have to do a balancing act for
> it. We don't want to take stuff out of the core just for this one odd
> switch, at the detriment for other normal DSA drivers.
> 

Yes, the ocelot/felix driver _is_ odd, but in my defence it's only as
odd as the hardware was integrated.
On the other hand, the model you're proposing would be forcing me to
register devlink regions in one way for felix DSA, and in another way
for ocelot switchdev. Or could I just ignore the helper, and call
devlink directly, even if there's a helper in place?

Thanks,
-Vladimir