Currently, device drivers can only indicate to user space if the network
link is up or down, without additional information.

This patch set expand link-state to allow these drivers to expose more
information to user space about the link state. The information can save
users' time when trying to understand why a link is not operationally up,
for example.

The above is achieved by extending the existing ethtool LINKSTATE_GET
command with attributes that carry the extended state.

For example, no link due to missing cable:

$ ethtool ethX
...
Link detected: no (No cable)

Beside the general extended state, drivers can pass additional
information about the link state using the sub-state field. For example:

$ ethtool ethX
...
Link detected: no (Autoneg, No partner detected)

Amit Cohen (3):
  netlink: expand ETHTOOL_LINKSTATE with extended state attributes
  common: add infrastructure to convert kernel values to userspace
    strings
  netlink: settings: expand linkstate_reply_cb() to support link
    extended state

 common.c                     | 171 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 common.h                     |   2 +
 netlink/desc-ethtool.c       |   2 +
 netlink/settings.c           |  59 +++++++++++-
 uapi/linux/ethtool_netlink.h |   2 +
 5 files changed, 233 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

-- 
2.20.1

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