Date:   Thu, 9 Feb 2023 09:48:25 -0800
From:   Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
To:     <Ajay.Kathat@microchip.com>
Cc:     <heiko.thiery@gmail.com>, <Claudiu.Beznea@microchip.com>,
        <kvalo@kernel.org>, <linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org>,
        <michael@walle.cc>, <netdev@vger.kernel.org>,
        <Amisha.Patel@microchip.com>
Subject: Re: wilc1000 MAC address is 00:00:00:00:00:00
Message-ID: <20230209094825.49f59208@kernel.org>
In-Reply-To: <e027bfcf-1977-f2fa-a362-8faed91a19f9@microchip.com>
References: <CAEyMn7aV-B4OEhHR4Ad0LM3sKCz1-nDqSb9uZNmRWR-hMZ=z+A@mail.gmail.com>
        <e027bfcf-1977-f2fa-a362-8faed91a19f9@microchip.com>
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On Thu, 9 Feb 2023 17:15:38 +0000 Ajay.Kathat@microchip.com wrote:
> IIUC network manager(NM) is trying to read the MAC address and write the
> same back to wilc1000 module without making the wlan0 interface up. right?
> 
> Not sure about the requirement but if NM has a valid MAC address to
> assign to the wlan0 interface, it can be configured without making
> interface up("wlan0 up"). "ip link set dev wlan0 address XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"
> command should allow to set the mac address without making the interface
> up.
> Once the mac address is set, the wilc1000 will use that mac address [1]
> instead of the one from wilc1000 NV memory until reboot. However, after
> a reboot, if no MAC address is configured from application then wilc1000
> will use the address from its NV memory.

netdev should be created with a valid lladdr, is there something
wifi-specific here that'd prevalent that? The canonical flow is
to this before registering the netdev:

  err = read_mac_from_nv();
  if (err || !is_valid_ether_addr())
    eth_hw_addr_random()