Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Wed, 5 Dec 2001 07:56:09 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Wed, 5 Dec 2001 07:55:50 -0500 Received: from mail002.mail.bellsouth.net ([205.152.58.22]:41862 "EHLO imf02bis.bellsouth.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Wed, 5 Dec 2001 07:55:45 -0500 Message-ID: <3C0E194B.2BB7E289@mandrakesoft.com> Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 07:55:39 -0500 From: Jeff Garzik Organization: MandrakeSoft X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.16 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Michael Clark CC: Rob Myers , LKML , Benjamin LaHaise Subject: Re: [PATCH] - 2.4.16 ns83820 optical support (Netgear GA621) In-Reply-To: <3C0CED3B.7030409@metaparadigm.com> <1007501048.14051.28.camel@ransom> <3C0D7CEA.2050307@metaparadigm.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Michael Clark wrote: > > are references to dev->net_dev.name valid before > > register_netdev(&dev->net_dev) in ns83820_init_one()? > > Okay, so i'll move the register_netdev call earlier on in the > initialisation and add any necessary unregister call for failures. Not a solution but more of a problem... a user might see: eth0: startup message eth0: startup message {failure, unregisters eth0} eth0: startup message eth0: startup message {failure, unregisters eth0} eth0: startup message eth0: startup message {failure, unregisters eth0} That's particularly messy to diagnose when eth0 may not really be eth0. Further in a hotplug multi-threaded world you are reserving an ethernet interface which may not be used. I greatly prefer assigning board numbers (ns83820_0, ns83820_0, or ns0, ns1, ns2) temporarily until you are sure you can register the interface with the likelihood it will not be unregistered until module removal time, or never [if built into kernel]. Jeff -- Jeff Garzik | Only so many songs can be sung Building 1024 | with two lips, two lungs, and one tongue. MandrakeSoft | - nomeansno - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/