ifconfig packet count

Question

if I type ifconfig i get packet for Tx and RX ... where exactly the piece of code to increment this counter? Is it in the network driver itself? or in the kernel ?

If possible please provide lxr link of the counter variable used.

Thx !

Answer 1

It's done in the individual network drivers.

Eg, for the rtl8139too driver, the TX count is incremented on line 1786 (see here).

Answer 2

ifconfig read the statistics off from procfs. The values found in proc is updated by the kernel and ultimately boils down to the drivers of the network card.