Re: [PATCH v2 1/7] dt-bindings: Add support for export-symbols node

[Ayush Singh]

On 8/17/25 13:52, Krzysztof Kozlowski wrote:

> On 17/08/2025 10:18, Ayush Singh wrote:
> > > > > Hardware:
> > > > >      i2c0 from SoC --------- connector 1, I2C A signals
> > > > >      i2c1 from SoC --------- connector 1, I2C B signals
> > > > >
> > > > >      connector1 {
> > > > >          export-symbols {
> > > > > 	  i2c_a = <&i2c0>;
> > > > > 	  i2c_b = <&i2c1>;
> > > > >          };
> > > > >      };
> > > > >
> > > > > In order to avoid the coding style issue, this could be replace
> > > > > with:
> > > > >     connector1 {
> > > > >          export-symbols {
> > > > > 	  symbol-names = "i2c_a", "i2c_b";
> > > > > 	  symbols = <&i2c0>, <&i2c1>;
> > > > >          };
> > > > >      };
> > > > >
> > > > > Krzysztof, Rob, do you think this could be accepted ?
> > > > >
> > > > > Ayush, David, do you thing this could be easily implemented in fdtoverlay ?
> > > > >
> > > > > Best regards,
> > > > > Hervé
> > > > Well, it is possible.
> > > >
> > > > However, on connectors like pb2 header, there will be 50-100 export
> > > > symbols. So it will start becoming difficult to maintain.
> > > And the first syntax solves this how? I don't see the practical difference.
> >
> > Well, I was more worried about matching which phandle belongs to which
> > symbol easily. Let us assume that 2 symbols will be in each line (after
> > accounting for the indention and 80 char limit) and we have 70 symbols,
> > so 35 lines. To check which phandle belongs to the 2nd symbol on line
> > 25th line of  symbol-names, well, you would at the best case need to
> > have something like relative line numbers in your editor. Then you know
> > that the 35th line from the current one is where you need to look.
> >
> > In the current syntax, the symbol name and phandle are on the same line.
> > So well, easy to see which symbols refers to which phandle.
> OK, that's valid point. Any ideas how to solve it without introducing
> underscores for properties?
>
> Best regards,
> Krzysztof


Well, we can modify `get_phandle_from_symbols_node` to allow matching 
`*_*` to `*-*`. And we can do the same in devicetree easily enough. Not 
sure if implicit loose matching like that are the best idea.

Zephyr does something similar for compatible strings. It pretty much 
replaces the all non alphanumeric characters with `_` in compatible 
string match. Although that is more to do with the limitation they are 
working with, i.e. the devicetree being converted to static headers 
instead of being runtime thing.

Best Regards,

Ayush Singh