"ifconfig media off"?

[Stefan Bethke]

I'm currently writing a driver to configure an ethernet switch chip (see TL-WR1043ND on -embedded).

I noticed that there doesn't seem to be a way to power down a phy right now through the ifconfig media command.

Would there be objections to extend the media subtype definitions to include an "off", "poweroff" or "down" media subtype, and add code to the relevant phy drivers to power down the phy for this media subtype?

The difference between media subtype "none" and this new one would be that there will be no link, even if there is a physical connection.  With media subtype "none", a 10 MBit/s half-duplex connection is established, potentially confusing the remote end about the availability of this link.  On the local side, the link is down, so no packets are exchanged.


Stefan

-- 
Stefan Bethke <stb at lassitu.de>   Fon +49 151 14070811