ethtool: Note common alternate exit condition for interrupt coalescing

Many implementations ignore the value of max_frames and do not
treat usecs == 0 as special.  Document this as deprecated.

Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@solarflare.com>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>

diff --git a/include/linux/ethtool.h b/include/linux/ethtool.h
index 42378b3..3829712 100644 (file)
--- a/include/linux/ethtool.h
+++ b/include/linux/ethtool.h
@@ -173,6 +173,12 @@ struct ethtool_eeprom {
  * would cause interrupts to never be generated.  To disable
  * coalescing, set usecs = 0 and max_frames = 1.
  *
+ * Some implementations ignore the value of max_frames and use the
+ * condition:
+ *     time_since_first_completion >= usecs
+ * This is deprecated.  Drivers for hardware that does not support
+ * counting completions should validate that max_frames == !rx_usecs.
+ *
  * Adaptive RX/TX coalescing is an algorithm implemented by some
  * drivers to improve latency under low packet rates and improve
  * throughput under high packet rates.  Some drivers only implement