Re: [PATCH v2 0/9] driver core: Fix some device links issues and add "consumer autoprobe" flag

[Ulf Hansson]

On Wed, 6 Feb 2019 at 13:10, Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:24 PM Ulf Hansson <ulf.hansson@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 6 Feb 2019 at 10:56, Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 12:27 PM Rafael J. Wysocki <rjw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On Tuesday, February 5, 2019 9:15:49 AM CET Ulf Hansson wrote:
> > > > > On Mon, 4 Feb 2019 at 12:45, Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 12:40 PM Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 4:18 PM Ulf Hansson <ulf.hansson@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > [cut]
> > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > For example, if the consumer device is suspended after the
> > > > > > device_link_add() that incremented the supplier's PM-runtime count and
> > > > > > then resumed again, the rpm_active refcount will be greater than one
> > > > > > because of the last resume and not because of the initial link
> > > > > > creation.  In that case, dropping the supplier's PM-runtime count on
> > > > > > link deletion may not work as expected.
> > > > >
> > > > > I see what your are saying and I must admit, by looking at the code,
> > > > > that it has turned into being rather complicated. Assuming of good
> > > > > reasons, of course.
> > > > >
> > > > > Anyway, I will play a little bit more with my tests to see what I can find out.
> > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Arguably, device_link_del() could be made automatically drop the
> > > > > > > supplier's PM-runtime count by one if the link's rpm_active refcount
> > > > > > > is not one, but there will be failing scenarios in that case too
> > > > > > > AFAICS.
> > > > >
> > > > > Let's see.
> > > >
> > > > So for the record, below is the (untested) patch I'm thinking about.
> > > >
> > > > Having considered this for some time, I think that it would be better to
> > > > try to drop the supplier's PM-runtime usage counter on link removal even if
> > > > the link doesn't go away then.  That would be more consistent at least IMO.
> > >
> > > So I can't convince myself that this is the case.
> > >
> > > Either way, if there are two callers of device_link_add() for one
> > > consumer-supplier pair trying to add a stateless link between them and
> > > one of these callers passes DL_FLAG_RPM_ACTIVE set in the flags to it,
> > > there may be issues regardless of what device_link_del() and
> > > device_link_remove() do.  However, if they decrement the link's
> > > rpm_active refcount (and possibly the supplier's PM-runtime usage
> > > counter too), the supplier may be suspended prematurely, whereas in
> > > the other case (no decrementation of rpm_active, which how the code
> > > works after this series) it may just be prevented from suspending.  To
> > > me, the former is worse than the latter.
> >
> > Well, I would say it sucks in both cases. :-)
> >
> > >
> > > Moreover, there is a workaround for the latter issue that seems to be
> > > easy enough: it is sufficient to let the consumer runtime suspend
> > > after calling device_link_add() to create the link (with
> > > DL_FLAG_RPM_ACTIVE set) and before trying to remove it.
> >
> > I get your point, but unfortunate I don't think it's that simple.
> >
> > For example, someone (like a child) may prevent runtime suspend for
> > the consumer. Hence, also the supplier is prevented from being runtime
> > suspended.
>
> Well, in that case the supplier should not be suspended until the
> consumer can be suspended too.
>
> IOW, if you call device_link_del() in that case, it would be a bug if
> it allowed the supplier suspend.

Well, maybe the "child" was a bad example. The point is, the driver
doesn't control the RPM child count and nor the RPM usage count for
its consumer device - solely by itself.

Someone, like the driver/PM core can at some point decide to increase
the runtime PM usage count for example for the consumer device. For
whatever good reason.

>
> > So, if you want to push this responsibility to the driver, then I
> > think we need make __pm_runtime_set_status() to respect device links,
> > similar to how it already deals with child/parents.
> >
> > In that way, the driver could call pm_runtime_set_suspended(), before
> > dropping the device link in ->probe(), which would allow the supplier
> > to also become runtime suspended.
>
> I guess you mean that runtime PM would be disabled for the consumer at
> that point?

Yes.

Calling pm_runtime_set_suspended() should be a part of the error path
in the driver, which includes disabling runtime PM as well (if it
enabled it in the first place of course).

>
> > I did a quick research of users of device links, unless I am mistaken,
> > this seems like an okay approach.
> >
> > What do you think?
>
> Well, I think I need to know the exact use case you have in mind. :-)

The use case is simply a generic driver that fails to probe by
returning -EPROBE_DEFER. So it's hypothetical, but I often tests
common sequences by using my RPM testdriver, to make sure it all works
as expected.
The below sequence is common, so then I have added the use of device
links, to see how this plays. And it doesn't.

->probe()
  ...

  pm_runtime_get_noresume()
  pm_runtime_set_active()
  pm_runtime_enable()

  ...

  device_link_add(con, supp, DL_FLAG_STATELESS |DL_FLAG_PM_RUNTIME |
DL_FLAG_RPM_ACTIVE);

we got some errors...
  goto err:

  ...

err:
  pm_runtime_put_noidle()
  pm_runtime_disable()
  pm_runtime_set_suspended()

  device_link_remove()

  return err;

Kind regards
Uffe