Re: [RFC PATCH net v2] net: introduce CAN specific pointer in the struct net_device

[Oliver Hartkopp <socketcan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Oleksij,

nice cleanup - and I like the removal of the notifier in af_can.c :-)

Two questions/hints from my side:

On 12.02.21 13:52, Oleksij Rempel wrote:

> diff --git a/drivers/net/can/dev/dev.c b/drivers/net/can/dev/dev.c
> index d9281ae853f8..912401788d93 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/can/dev/dev.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/can/dev/dev.c
> @@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ void can_setup(struct net_device *dev)
>   struct net_device *alloc_candev_mqs(int sizeof_priv, unsigned int echo_skb_max,
>   				    unsigned int txqs, unsigned int rxqs)
>   {
> +	struct can_ml_priv *can;

This should not be named 'can' but e.g. 'can_ml'.

'can' is already used for the struct netns_can:

$ git grep netns_can
include/net/net_namespace.h:    struct netns_can        can;
include/net/netns/can.h:struct netns_can {

which is also used in af_can.c and will create some naming confusion.

Maybe the latter could be renamed to can_ns too (later).

But 'can' alone does not tell what the variable is about IMO.

> diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h
> index bfadf3b82f9c..9a4c6d14098c 100644
> --- a/include/linux/netdevice.h
> +++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h
> @@ -1584,6 +1584,16 @@ enum netdev_priv_flags {
>   #define IFF_L3MDEV_RX_HANDLER		IFF_L3MDEV_RX_HANDLER
>   #define IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK		IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK
>   
> +/**
> + * enum netdev_ml_priv_type - &struct net_device ml_priv_type
> + *
> + * This enum specifies the type of the struct net_device::ml_priv pointer.
> + */
> +enum netdev_ml_priv_type {
> +	ML_PRIV_NONE,
> +	ML_PRIV_CAN,
> +};
> +
>   /**
>    *	struct net_device - The DEVICE structure.
>    *
> @@ -1779,6 +1789,7 @@ enum netdev_priv_flags {
>    * 	@nd_net:		Network namespace this network device is inside
>    *
>    * 	@ml_priv:	Mid-layer private
> +	@ml_priv_type:  Mid-layer private type
>    * 	@lstats:	Loopback statistics
>    * 	@tstats:	Tunnel statistics
>    * 	@dstats:	Dummy statistics
> @@ -2100,6 +2111,7 @@ struct net_device {
>   		struct pcpu_sw_netstats __percpu	*tstats;
>   		struct pcpu_dstats __percpu		*dstats;
>   	};
> +	enum netdev_ml_priv_type	ml_priv_type;

I wonder if it makes more sense to *remove* ml_priv from this union in 
include/linux/netdevice.h and just put it behind the union:

/* mid-layer private */
union {
        void *ml_priv;
        struct pcpu_lstats __percpu *lstats;
        struct pcpu_sw_netstats __percpu *tstats;
        struct pcpu_dstats __percpu *dstats;
};

When doing git grep for ml_priv a bunch of users shows up - which all 
have nothing to do with statistics.

I just looks fishy to combine things into a union that have a completely 
different purpose - and we might finally run into similar problems like 
today.

Best regards,
Oliver