[PATCH] ARM: mvebu: add reference to ETH connectors for A385-AP

[Marcin Wojtas]

Hi,

How about swapping the ethernet@ entries in the board DT files to gain
following order:
ethernet at 70000
...
ethernet at 30000
...
ethernet at 34000

I know this would introduce deviation from epapr rules, but it always
worked for me.

Best regards,
Marcin

2015-11-17 17:21 GMT+01:00 Russell King - ARM Linux <linux at arm.linux.org.uk>:
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 04:57:20PM +0100, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
>> On Tuesday 17 November 2015 16:53:40 Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
>> > This commit adds some comments to the Armada 385 AP Device Tree
>> > description to indicate which Ethernet interface matches which
>> > physical connector on the board.
>> >
>> > This is especially useful on this board, since the mapping between the
>> > logical interface names and the physical ports is not very
>> > straightforward. It also doesn't match the numbering of the interfaces
>> > done by U-Boot:
>> >
>> >  U-Boot interface | Linux interface | Physical port
>> >  -----------------+-----------------+--------------
>> >    egiga0         |     eth2        |   CON4
>> >    egiga1         |     eth0        |   CON2
>> >    egiga2         |     eth1        |   CON3
>> >  -----------------+-----------------+--------------
>> >
>> > Signed-off-by: Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni at free-electrons.com>
>> > Cc: Maxime Ripard <maxime.ripard at free-electrons.com>
>> >
>>
>> Would it be possible to use entries in /aliases to fix the order of the
>> interfaces and make them match the physical ports?
>
> Unfortunately not, and I believe davem is averse to "fixing" this problem
> in the kernel.  It's really problematical, especially if you are running
> a debian based distro and want to be able to say "I want egiga0 configured
> like _this_".  You're entirely at the mercy of the ordering that the DT
> compiler decides to place the nodes, and the ordering which the kernel
> decides to probe the interfaces, etc.
>
> Yes, there's always the ethernet MAC which can be used to identify them,
> but debian at least doesn't have a way to identify interfaces in its
> /etc/network/interfaces file by ethernet MAC.
>
> So, use the modern network-manager daemon... umm no, not if you want to
> use bridging or any of the other such facilities.
>
> This whole area is really very annoying.
>
> --
> FTTC broadband for 0.8mile line: currently at 9.6Mbps down 400kbps up
> according to speedtest.net.
>
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