[U-Boot] Initial environment variables

[Ben Warren]

ron_madrid at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> --- On Thu, 7/16/09, Ben Warren <biggerbadderben at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> From: Ben Warren <biggerbadderben at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [U-Boot] Initial environment variables
>> To: "Ron Madrid" <ron_madrid at sbcglobal.net>
>> Cc: u-boot at lists.denx.de, "Mike Frysinger" <vapier at gentoo.org>
>> Date: Thursday, July 16, 2009, 2:08 PM
>> Ron Madrid wrote:
>>     
>>> --- On Thu, 7/16/09, Mike Frysinger <vapier at gentoo.org>
>>>       
>> wrote:
>>     
>>>   
>>>       
>>>> the board maintainer decides the default env
>>>>         
>> values, not
>>     
>>>> board users.  Ben's comment was probably on
>>>>         
>> the assumption that you are in the
>>     
>>>> latter category.
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> Ah, that could be why.  Thankfully I am the
>>>       
>> maintainer for the board.  So I
>>     
>>> am going to assume then that it would be OK for me to
>>>       
>> add these variable
>>     
>>> settings to my board's include/configs file and submit
>>>       
>> a patch for it,
>>     
>>> unless I here other objections.
>>>
>>> Ron
>>>   
>>>       
>> No, there should be no default net parameters, because
>> you're making likely-bogus assumptions about the network
>> that your board's going to go into.  Just because your
>> LAN uses '192.168.0.x' doesn't mean anybody else's
>> does.  It's even worse for MAC addresses - what if I
>> buy two of your boards and plug them into the same
>> switch?  If the addresses are identical all sorts of
>> bad things can happen.  Not to mention that public MAC
>> addresses are assigned (and paid for) and should be
>> guaranteed to be unique.  And private (bit 41 set)
>> addresses are used in many different ways.  One systems
>> company that I worked at would program these dynamically
>> based on which shelf/slot the board was plugged into. 
>> It's best to fail loudly (a printf stating that MAC
>> addresses haven't been programmed) than to silently cause
>> network issues.  I could go on and on, but hopefully
>> you get the point.
>>     
>
> I do understand your points.  I am confused then as to why there are
> around 100 different board configurations that include these variables.
>
> Ron
>
>   
Sorry, before my time :)  They should be cleaned up.

regards,
Ben