#include <rte_vdev.h>
 #include <rte_kvargs.h>
 #include <rte_net.h>
+#include <rte_debug.h>
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
        return num_tx;
 }
 
+static const char *
+tap_ioctl_req2str(unsigned long request)
+{
+       switch (request) {
+       case SIOCSIFFLAGS:
+               return "SIOCSIFFLAGS";
+       case SIOCGIFFLAGS:
+               return "SIOCGIFFLAGS";
+       case SIOCGIFHWADDR:
+               return "SIOCGIFHWADDR";
+       case SIOCSIFHWADDR:
+               return "SIOCSIFHWADDR";
+       case SIOCSIFMTU:
+               return "SIOCSIFMTU";
+       }
+       return "UNKNOWN";
+}
+
 static int
 tap_ioctl(struct pmd_internals *pmd, unsigned long request,
          struct ifreq *ifr, int set, enum ioctl_mode mode)
        case SIOCSIFMTU:
                break;
        default:
-               RTE_LOG(WARNING, PMD, "%s: ioctl() called with wrong arg\n",
-                       pmd->name);
-               return -EINVAL;
+               RTE_ASSERT(!"unsupported request type: must not happen");
        }
        if (ioctl(pmd->ioctl_sock, request, ifr) < 0)
                goto error;
        return 0;
 
 error:
-       RTE_LOG(ERR, PMD, "%s: ioctl(%lu) failed with error: %s\n",
-               ifr->ifr_name, request, strerror(errno));
+       RTE_LOG(DEBUG, PMD, "%s: %s(%s) failed: %s(%d)\n", ifr->ifr_name,
+               __func__, tap_ioctl_req2str(request), strerror(errno), errno);
        return -errno;
 }
 
                return;
        }
        /* Check the actual current MAC address on the tap netdevice */
-       if (tap_ioctl(pmd, SIOCGIFHWADDR, &ifr, 0, LOCAL_ONLY) != 0) {
-               RTE_LOG(ERR, PMD,
-                       "%s: couldn't check current tap MAC address\n",
-                       dev->data->name);
+       if (tap_ioctl(pmd, SIOCGIFHWADDR, &ifr, 0, LOCAL_ONLY) != 0)
                return;
-       }
        if (is_same_ether_addr((struct ether_addr *)&ifr.ifr_hwaddr.sa_data,
                               mac_addr))
                return;
                                remote_iface);
                        return 0;
                }
-               if (tap_ioctl(pmd, SIOCGIFHWADDR, &ifr, 0, REMOTE_ONLY) < 0) {
-                       RTE_LOG(ERR, PMD, "Could not get remote MAC address\n");
+               if (tap_ioctl(pmd, SIOCGIFHWADDR, &ifr, 0, REMOTE_ONLY) < 0)
                        goto error_exit;
-               }
                rte_memcpy(&pmd->eth_addr, ifr.ifr_hwaddr.sa_data,
                           ETHER_ADDR_LEN);
        }