[ipxe-devel] [PATCH] [ixgbevf] Add ixgbevf driver

[Robin Smidsrød]

On 11.01.2013 23:29, Bernhard Kohl wrote:
> Robin Smidsrød <robin at ...> writes:
> 
>>
>> On 09.01.2013 18:51, Bernhard Kohl wrote:
>>> Am 13.12.2012 14:26, schrieb Bernhard Kohl:
>>>> From: Hermann Huy <hermann.huy at ...>
>>>>
>>>> Driver for Intel 82599 based virtual functions.
>>>>
>>>> Based on Intel's open source driver ixgbevf-2.6.2, available at:
>>>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000
>>>>
>>>> Based on iPXE's igbvf driver, file igbvf_main.c.
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Hermann Huy <hermann.huy at ...>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Bernhard Kohl <bernhard.kohl at ...>
> 
>>>>
>>> Did anybody already look at this and 2 more patches
>>> I posted on Dec. 12th?
>>
>> I always thought that the ixgbevf was already supported by the intel
>> driver. Is it not? And if it is not, isn't it easier to tweak the intel
>> driver to include the necessary configuration bits, or is it a
>> completely different architecture?
>>
> Also Intel has separate Linux drivers for the physical (igb, ixgbe) and
> virtual functions (igbvf, ixgbevf). Until now only the ixgbevf exists for
> iPXE. The PF and VF drivers are rather different. So we followed the
> approach as used for the existing drivers.

iPXE also used this approach until March 2012, when Michael Brown
reimplemented the driver for Intel cards to unify them into one driver.
>From what I recall this shrunk the driver from something like 35K to
3.5K. Did you try to modify that driver (intel.c) to support these
additional features before you created a new iPXE driver based on the
Linux source? If you haven't already tried that, I'm going to assume
that _that_ is what is needed, not another "almost same as Intel"
driver. Code size is paramount in iPXE. If the ixgbevf is similar in
architecture to most other Intel cards, you might just need to tweak the
init/reset parts to support these cards as well. What are the PCI IDs of
the card(s) you're trying to include support for? And do you have a link
to the datasheet for the card(s)?

-- Robin