Re: [PATCH 0/5] drivers/net: add NXP FEC-UIO driver

From: Michael Walle
Date: Thu Nov 11 2021 - 06:06:59 EST


[linux-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx doesn't exist in the public, which is quite
annoying when you reply to an email and the MTA doesn't accept it due to
invalid domains]

> This patch series introduce the fec-uio driver, supported for the inbuilt
> NIC found in the NXP i.MX 8M Mini SoC. Basic hardware initialization is
> performed in kernel via userspace input/output(UIO) to support FEC
> ethernet device detection in user space.

Could you elaborate for what this driver is needed? Doesn't the imx8mm
already have a network driver? What is the difference between them?

As a user, I couldn't find what this is all about, neither in this
commit message nor in the Kconfig help text.

> Userspace PMD uses standard UIO interface to access kernel for PHY
> initialisation and for mapping the allocated memory of register &
> buffer descriptor with DPDK which gives access to non-cacheable memory
> for buffer descriptor.
>
> Module fec-uio.ko will get generated.
> imx8mm-evk-dpdk.dtb is required to support fec-uio driver.

-michael