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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/netdevices.txt | 25 |
1 files changed, 25 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/netdevices.txt b/Documentation/networking/netdevices.txt index a6cab674b676..37869295fc70 100644 --- a/Documentation/networking/netdevices.txt +++ b/Documentation/networking/netdevices.txt @@ -20,6 +20,31 @@ private data which gets freed when the network device is freed. If separately allocated data is attached to the network device (dev->priv) then it is up to the module exit handler to free that. +MTU +=== +Each network device has a Maximum Transfer Unit. The MTU does not +include any link layer protocol overhead. Upper layer protocols must +not pass a socket buffer (skb) to a device to transmit with more data +than the mtu. The MTU does not include link layer header overhead, so +for example on Ethernet if the standard MTU is 1500 bytes used, the +actual skb will contain up to 1514 bytes because of the Ethernet +header. Devices should allow for the 4 byte VLAN header as well. + +Segmentation Offload (GSO, TSO) is an exception to this rule. The +upper layer protocol may pass a large socket buffer to the device +transmit routine, and the device will break that up into separate +packets based on the current MTU. + +MTU is symmetrical and applies both to receive and transmit. A device +must be able to receive at least the maximum size packet allowed by +the MTU. A network device may use the MTU as mechanism to size receive +buffers, but the device should allow packets with VLAN header. With +standard Ethernet mtu of 1500 bytes, the device should allow up to +1518 byte packets (1500 + 14 header + 4 tag). The device may either: +drop, truncate, or pass up oversize packets, but dropping oversize +packets is preferred. + + struct net_device synchronization rules ======================================= dev->open: |