Re: [PATCH RFC] dt-bindings: nvmem: u-boot, env: add any-name MAC cells compatible

[Rafał Miłecki <zajec5@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 14.12.2023 22:27, Simon Glass wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 at 08:36, Rafał Miłecki <zajec5@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > From: Rafał Miłecki <rafal@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > So far we had a property for "ethaddr" NVMEM cell containing base
> > Ethernet MAC address. The problem is vendors often pick non-standard
> > names for storing MAC(s) (other than "ethaddr"). A few names were
> > noticed over years:
> > 1. "wanaddr" (Edimax, ELECOM, EnGenius, I-O DATA, Sitecom)
> > 2. "et1macaddr" (ASUS)
> > 3. "eth1addr" (Buffalo)
> > 4. "athaddr" (EnGenius)
> > 5. "baseMAC" (Netgear)
> > 6. "mac" (Netgear)
> > 7. "mac_addr" (Moxa)
> > and more ("HW_LAN_MAC", "HW_WAN_MAC", "INIC_MAC_ADDR", "LAN_MAC_ADDR",
> > "RADIOADDR0", "RADIOADDR1", "WAN_MAC_ADDR", "lan1_mac_addr", "wanmac",
> > "wmac1", "wmac2").
> >
> > It doesn't make sense to add property for every possible MAC cell name.
> > Instead allow specifying cells with "mac" compatible.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Rafał Miłecki <rafal@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> > List of devices and their U-Boot MAC variables:
> > alphanetworks,asl56026) wanmac
> > asus,rt-ac65p) et1macaddr
> > asus,rt-ac85p) et1macaddr
> > belkin,f9k1109v1) HW_WAN_MAC + HW_LAN_MAC
> > buffalo,ls220de) eth1addr
> > buffalo,ls421de) eth1addr
> > checkpoint,l-50) lan1_mac_addr
> > dovado,tiny-ac) INIC_MAC_ADDR
> > dovado,tiny-ac) LAN_MAC_ADDR + WAN_MAC_ADDR
> > edimax,ra21s) wanaddr
> > edimax,rg21s) wanaddr
> > elecom,wrc-2533ghbk-i) wanaddr
> > elecom,wrc-2533ghbk2-t) wanaddr
> > engenius,ecb1200) athaddr
> > engenius,ecb1750) athaddr
> > engenius,epg5000) wanaddr
> > engenius,epg600) wanaddr
> > engenius,esr1200) wanaddr
> > engenius,esr1750) wanaddr
> > engenius,esr600) wanaddr
> > engenius,esr600h) wanaddr
> > engenius,esr900) wanaddr
> > enterasys,ws-ap3705i) RADIOADDR0 + RADIOADDR1
> > iodata,wn-ac1167dgr) wanaddr
> > iodata,wn-ac1167gr) wanaddr
> > iodata,wn-ac1600dgr) wanaddr
> > iodata,wn-ac1600dgr2) wanaddr
> > iodata,wn-ac733gr3) wanaddr
> > iodata,wn-ag300dgr) wanaddr
> > iodata,wnpr2600g) wanaddr
> > moxa,awk-1137c) mac_addr
> > netgear,wax220) mac
> > netgear,wndap620) baseMAC
> > netgear,wndap660) baseMAC
> > ocedo,panda) wmac1 + wmac2
> > sitecom,wlr-7100) wanaddr
> > sitecom,wlr-8100) wanaddr
> >
> >   .../devicetree/bindings/nvmem/u-boot,env.yaml | 33 +++++++++++++++++++
> >   1 file changed, 33 insertions(+)
>
> Are these upstream U-Boots, or just vendor forks?

I guess most of those devices don't have upstream U-Boot support. Please
note that while upstreaming vendors changes would be great in most cases
it doesn't happen. Most vendors sadly don't care and most end users
don't have enough time for that. In practice we often stick with vendor
provided bootloader to flash and boot self build Linux system (like
OpenWrt).

I'm not sure if/how does it help with this PATCH but please note that
upstream U-Boot code also supports few extra variables.

There is generic eth_env_get_enetaddr_by_index() that supports variables
like "<%s><%d>addr" and "<%s>addr". Right now it's used only for
"eth<%d>addr" and "ethaddr" so that mostly limits us to "ethaddr",
"eth1addr", "eth2addr" and "eth3addr".

From some rare cases: there are also "usbnet_devaddr" and "wolpassword".

So given that U-Boot oficially supports at least 6 env variables for
MAC and there are many used with custom U-Boots and firmwares this
binding would help a lot.