[PATCH v3 0/9] Armada8k enable per-port SATA interrupts and drop a hack in the IRQ subsystem

[Marcin Wojtas]

Hi Andrew,

pt., 19 mar 2021 o 21:53 Andrew Lunn <andrew at lunn.ch> napisał(a):
>
> > Unfortunately ACPI doesn't describe how the SFP cages are connected.
>
> Nor MDIO busses and Ethernet PHYs.
>
> ACPI is missing a lot of support for basic elements of networking. I
> guess this is because it expects firmware in the NIC to be controlling
> these parts, not Linux.
>
> >
> > As soon as GPIOs and I2C busses are involved device trees are so much
> > better than ACPI
>
> Yes, ACPI has along way to go before it is usable for SoCs with
> integrated Ethernet.
>

I agree, however hopefully the MDIO + ACPI patchset, that currently
seems to be pretty advanced on the lists, will land - it will be a big
step forward and open a path for full SFP support. However, my point
is, that in case of MacchiatoBin, I prefer to use a bit limited link
IRQs, just for having a guarantee to boot each Linux kernel with mvpp2
starting from v4.16 until today and being sure to install various
distros/OSs/ESXI. For DT one have to find a matching version, that
luckily won't break the boot.

Of course the DT is more flexible and offers huge possibilities (e.g.
DSA), but the way it's been done, inherited straight from armv7
embedded-hacking times is imo a burden. Unstable, constantly changing
ABI, extending drivers rather than describe HW is too often a problem.
This patchset is a bright example that there is a field for
improvement.

In my ideal world DT should be properly designed (vendors+community),
out of Linux tree, reviewed by maintainers from different projects,
backward compatible and ensuring proper information/heads-up when
planning to do a meaningful change. I know how it looks and I'm aware
it is hard, but we should at least try :)

Best regards,
Marcin