From: Chris Hanson <cph@zurich.ai.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 10:05:11 -0400
We do not program the device into a usable state until it
is upped so that we do not have to allocate resources (memory,
etc.) while a device is down.
I see. So I assume that means all of the drivers will be updated to
require this, rather than just the small number that now does?
That is not necessarily the case. What is the case is that
you absolutely cannot assume that a non-UP interface will give
a valid link status.
Correct. And this will become -more- true as time goes on. Ideally we will be powering-down the NICs if the interface has been down more than a few seconds. It's just luck and (in some cases) ancient drivers, that getting link-status when interface is down works at all.
Jeff
- : send the line "unsubscribe linux-net" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
