On Tue, 9 Dec 2025 09:46:51 -0800 Breno Leitao wrote:
I think I was alluding that another option (not saying that it's the best but IIUC your requirements it'd be the best fit)):
- Add a keepalive configfs knob, if set to a non-zero value netconsole
will send an empty (?) message at given interval
Pros:
- truly does not require a user binary to run periodically, netcons would set a timer in the kernel
Cons:
- does not provide the arbitrary "console bypass" message functionality
This is a good idea if we change it slightly. What about a "ping" configfs item that send sit when I touch it?
Something as:
# echo 1 > /sys/kernel/configs/<target>/ping
And it would ping the host with a predefined "ping" message, and nothing else.
That would work, for my current problem, honestly.
One drawback compared to a more flexible "send_msg" is that I don't have complete flexibility on the message format. Thus, if I want to pass extra information such as a Nonce, timestamp, host state, interface name, health state, it will not be possible, which is fine for now, given I am NOT planning to use it at this stage.
If you still want to tickle it from user space periodically, I guess send_msg is more flexible. I think the main advantage of keepalive would be to remove the need for periodic userspace work.