-----Original Message----- From: Richard Cochran <richardcoch...@gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2022 7:51 PM To: Kubalewski, Arkadiusz <arkadiusz.kubalew...@intel.com> Cc: linuxptp-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Kwapulinski, Piotr <piotr.kwapulin...@intel.com>; Sawula, Andrzej <andrzej.saw...@intel.com>; Gerasymenko, Anatolii <anatolii.gerasyme...@intel.com> Subject: Re: [Linuxptp-devel] [PATCH 00/11] synce4l: add software for Synchronous Ethernet
> On Mon, May 02, 2022 at 11:05:54AM +0200, Arkadiusz Kubalewski wrote: > > synce4l is a software implementation of Synchronous Ethernet (Sync-E) > > according to ITU-T Recommendation G.8264. The design goal is to provide > > logic to supported hardware by processing Ethernet Synchronization > > Messaging Channel (ESMC) and control Digital Phase Locked Loop (DPLL) > > clock on Network Card Interface (NIC). > > The bulk of this is a new, stand alone program. One comment that I > received off list questioned whether this program should be part of > linuxptp, or does it deserve its own project? Hi Richard, This is a great question. Thanks a lot for your quick response - we see lots of interest in linuxptp among our customers, that is why we would like to be a part of your project. linuxptp is being used in environments where accurate timing is needed. Generally, time-sensitive systems do suffer if components are not synchronized, but also if data transfer between nodes is disrupted. synce4l would be another layer to increase reliability of time-sensitive systems. Synchronization of frequency clocks of adjacent network interface cards, provides a corrupted frames prevention mechanism. Frames corrupted due to frequency clock drift in each of two network chips transferring the data shall not occur. >From this point of view, synce4l could be a part of linuxptp project, using both PTP and SyncE in time-sensitive system is beneficial for that system. For convenience of all linuxptp users it would be great to to have it within one project. Please, share your point of view on that matter. > > My main concern is the fact that my time is limited to work on > linuxptp, and I already have a back log of patches. If synce will > have rapid development, new features, etc, then I don't want to be > the bottleneck. > > Thanks, > Richard > We don't expect much further development of synce4l. The idea was to create application which implements Synchronous Ethernet standard, mainly handling ESMC frames and reacting on them properly, and this is done already. For sure there will be need to use in-kernel interfaces for getting state of DPLL and choosing best quality level phy port, once they are available. We currently work on them. Right now, synce4l is using user supplied shell command for both, and we would to leave this approach for legacy kernels, where new interface won't be ported. We are not considering you as a bottleneck, rather like a great source of knowledge and experience in time/freq synchronization. So, if possible it would be great to be able to use your expertise, even if that might cause some delays in delivering SyncE features. Of course we are going to support maintaining synce4l in the upstream. Is there anything we could do to address your concerns? Thanks, Arkadiusz _______________________________________________ Linuxptp-devel mailing list Linuxptp-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxptp-devel
