mxl86110_ena...tivity_blink(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

okay bestie, this one is from the Kernel API Manual (section 9, the kernel-function one, iykyk) and it's literally the glow-up your PHY's LEDs have been waiting for 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

mxl86110_enable_led_activity_blink — make the LEDs on your PHY blink when there's traffic, periodt ✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

int mxl86110_enable_led_activity_blink(struct phy_device *phydev);

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • phydev — pointer to the PHY device structure, aka the main character of this whole operation 👑

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So here's the vibe: this function configures all the PHY LEDs so they blink on traffic activity, no matter whether they're currently ON or OFF. That means each LED can serve as a pure activity indicator, totally independent of whether it's also doing link-status duty. It's giving multitasking icon behavior 🌈

By default tho, each LED only blinks when it's also in the ON state — kinda limiting ngl. This function goes in and modifies the appropriate registers (the LABx fields) so blinking is enabled even when the LEDs are OFF. Which means the LED can be used as a traffic indicator without needing to also be a link status LED. Lowkey a whole upgrade 🔥

💀 NOTE 💀

Any further LED customization can be performed via the /sys/class/leds interface — the functions led_hw_is_supported, led_hw_control_get, and led_hw_control_set are what support this mechanism 🧚

⚠️ heads up bestie: this function assumes the caller already holds the MDIO bus lock, or otherwise has exclusive access to the PHY. Don't be out here calling it without that, fr fr 🙈

⭐ RETURN ⭐

0 on success, or a negative errno code on failure 😭

🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

Kernel file ./drivers/net/phy/mxl-86110.c

that's a wrap, gorgeous 🫶 this lil page lives in ./drivers/net/phy, dated October 2026, and it slayed every step of the way 💜

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