Net driver module dependencies on PHY driver modules

I'm handling a bug report <http://bugs.debian.org/553024> relating to tg3 using phylib and missing the broadcom module.

There seem to be two general problems here:
1. PHY drivers are not auto-loaded
2. An initramfs builder cannot statically determine that a net device requires a PHY driver

It seems to me that PHY drivers should have aliases based on MDIO PHY ids, and phylib should request_module() if no suitable driver is registered. This would solve (1) and go some way to solving (2).

Ben.

Ben Hutchings
The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.
                                                            - Robert Coveyou

I encountered the same issue with Karmic and worked around it by building in all of the phylib modules, e.g., CONFIG_BROADCOM_PHY=y. I agree that its not the best long term solution.

rtg

Tim Gardner [email protected]