ETHERSWITCH(4)

🦋 ETHER<span>SWITCH</span> — the etherswitch(4) page, but make it make sense 🦋

okay bestie, welcome to etherswitch(4) from the Kernel Interfaces Manual 💅 this is the one about the Ethernet switch framework, and yes it's short, but it's iconic and it's giving "small but powerful" energy fr fr ✨

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✨ NAME ✨

etherswitch — the Ethernet switch framework, aka the whole vibe that lets your kernel talk to switch hardware 🎀

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🧚 SYNOPSIS 🧚

so to compile the framework into the kernel, you place these lines in the kernel configuration file — exactly these, no freestyling 💖

device etherswitch
device miiproxy
device iicbus

lowkey important: all three lines. not two. not one. all three. the framework needs its friends 🫶

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the tea ☕ — the etherswitch driver provides a framework for Ethernet switch devices. that's the whole description. short, sweet, and it ate 💅 it's not a driver for one specific chip, it's the scaffolding that the actual switch drivers hang out on. main character energy for a piece of infrastructure, honestly 👑

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /dev/etherswitch? — the etherswitch device nodes 💖 (yes, with the ? — that's the wildcard slot for the unit number, iykyk)

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

go read these next, bestie, they're all part of the same friend group 🌈

• adm6996fc(4)
• ar40xx(4)
• arswitch(4)
• e6000sw(4)
• e6060sw(4)
• iicbus(4)
• ksz8995ma(4)
• etherswitchcfg(8) — the userland tool, the one you'll actually be typing into, go say hi 👋

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⭐ HISTORY ⭐

the etherswitch framework first appeared in FreeBSD 10.0 🎉 so it's been out here slaying since then, no cap 🫶

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

Stefan Bethke — say thank you 🥹💐

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and that's the whole page, bestie — you understood it, I'm so proud of you 😭💜 this was the Debian build of the page, dated April 5, 2017, and it's ETHERSWITCH(4) signing off 🎀✨ mwah 💋