Re: [PATCHv4 05/13] Documentation/ABI: Add new node sysfs attributes

From: Rafael J. Wysocki
Date: Sun Jan 20 2019 - 11:20:16 EST


On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 5:56 PM Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 1:01 AM Greg Kroah-Hartman
> <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 01:08:02PM -0800, Dan Williams wrote:
> > > On Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 3:41 AM Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 6:59 PM Keith Busch <keith.busch@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Add entries for memory initiator and target node class attributes.
> > > > >
> > > > > Signed-off-by: Keith Busch <keith.busch@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > >
> > > > I would recommend combining this with the previous patch, as the way
> > > > it is now I need to look at two patches at the time. :-)
> > > >
> > > > > ---
> > > > > Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-
> > > > > 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > > > >
> > > > > diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node b/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node
> > > > > index 3e90e1f3bf0a..a9c47b4b0eee 100644
> > > > > --- a/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node
> > > > > +++ b/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node
> > > > > @@ -90,4 +90,27 @@ Date: December 2009
> > > > > Contact: Lee Schermerhorn <lee.schermerhorn@xxxxxx>
> > > > > Description:
> > > > > The node's huge page size control/query attributes.
> > > > > - See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/hugetlbpage.rst
> > > > > \ No newline at end of file
> > > > > + See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/hugetlbpage.rst
> > > > > +
> > > > > +What: /sys/devices/system/node/nodeX/classY/
> > > > > +Date: December 2018
> > > > > +Contact: Keith Busch <keith.busch@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > > > +Description:
> > > > > + The node's relationship to other nodes for access class "Y".
> > > > > +
> > > > > +What: /sys/devices/system/node/nodeX/classY/initiator_nodelist
> > > > > +Date: December 2018
> > > > > +Contact: Keith Busch <keith.busch@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > > > +Description:
> > > > > + The node list of memory initiators that have class "Y" access
> > > > > + to this node's memory. CPUs and other memory initiators in
> > > > > + nodes not in the list accessing this node's memory may have
> > > > > + different performance.
> > > >
> > > > This does not follow the general "one value per file" rule of sysfs (I
> > > > know that there are other sysfs files with more than one value in
> > > > them, but it is better to follow this rule as long as that makes
> > > > sense).
> > > >
> > > > > +
> > > > > +What: /sys/devices/system/node/nodeX/classY/target_nodelist
> > > > > +Date: December 2018
> > > > > +Contact: Keith Busch <keith.busch@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > > > +Description:
> > > > > + The node list of memory targets that this initiator node has
> > > > > + class "Y" access. Memory accesses from this node to nodes not
> > > > > + in this list may have differet performance.
> > > > > --
> > > >
> > > > Same here.
> > > >
> > > > And if you follow the recommendation given in the previous message
> > > > (add "initiators" and "targets" subdirs under "classX"), you won't
> > > > even need the two files above.
> > >
> > > This recommendation is in conflict with Greg's feedback about kobject
> > > usage. If these are just "vanity" subdirs I think it's better to have
> > > a multi-value sysfs file. This "list" style is already commonplace for
> > > the /sys/devices/system hierarchy.
> >
> > If you do a subdirectory "correctly" (i.e. a name for an attribute
> > group), that's fine. Just do not ever create a kobject just for a
> > subdir, that will mess up userspace.
> >
> > And I hate the "multi-value" sysfs files, where at all possible, please
> > do not copy past bad mistakes there. If you can make them individual
> > files, please do that, it makes it easier to maintain and code the
> > kernel for.
>
> I agree in general about multi-value sysfs, but in this case we're
> talking about a mask. Masks are a single value. That said I can get on
> board with calling what 'cpulist' does a design mistake (human
> readable mask), but otherwise switching to one file per item in the
> mask is a mess for userspace to consume.

Can you please refer to my response to Keith?

If you have "initiators" and "targets" under "classX" and a list of
symlinks in each of them, I don't see any kind of a mess here.