Re: [for 4.12] net: qcom/emac: do not use hardware mdio automatic polling

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From: Timur Tabi <timur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu,  1 Jun 2017 16:08:13 -0500

> Use software polling (PHY_POLL) to check for link state changes instead
> of relying on the EMAC's hardware polling feature.  Some PHY drivers
> are unable to get a functioning link because the HW polling is not
> robust enough.
> 
> The EMAC is able to poll the PHY on the MDIO bus looking for link state
> changes (via the Link Status bit in the Status Register at address 0x1).
> When the link state changes, the EMAC triggers an interrupt and tells the
> driver what the new state is.  The feature eliminates the need for
> software to poll the MDIO bus.
> 
> Unfortunately, this feature is incompatible with phylib, because it
> ignores everything that the PHY core and PHY drivers are trying to do.
> In particular:
> 
> 1. It assumes a compatible register set, so PHYs with different registers
>    may not work.
> 
> 2. It doesn't allow for hardware errata that have work-arounds implemented
>    in the PHY driver.
> 
> 3. It doesn't support multiple register pages. If the PHY core switches
>    the register set to another page, the EMAC won't know the page has
>    changed and will still attempt to read the same PHY register.
> 
> 4. It only checks the copper side of the link, not the SGMII side.  Some
>    PHY drivers (e.g. at803x) may also check the SGMII side, and
>    report the link as not ready during autonegotiation if the SGMII link
>    is still down.  Phylib then waits for another interrupt to query
>    the PHY again, but the EMAC won't send another interrupt because it
>    thinks the link is up.
> 
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # 4.11.x
> Tested-by: Manoj Iyer <manoj.iyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Timur Tabi <timur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Applied, thanks.



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