Re: [PATCH v6 4/6] iommu/arm-smmu-v3: Standardize ATS enablement failure reporting

From: Nicolin Chen

Date: Fri May 29 2026 - 17:53:00 EST


On Fri, May 29, 2026 at 11:12:06AM +0000, Pranjal Shrivastava wrote:
> The SMMUv3 driver currently has a two-phase commit in its ATS enablement
> flow. During arm_smmu_attach_prepare(), it predicts whether ATS will be
> enabled using arm_smmu_ats_supported() and accordingly increments
> nr_ats_masters and merges ATS invalidations into the domain's invs array.
>
> However, the actual hardware enablement via pci_enable_ats() happens
> later in arm_smmu_attach_commit(). If this call to pci_enable_ats fails,
> the SMMU driver's ATS state tracking remains polluted, i.e., the driver
> tracks ATS as enabled on a master that is not actually using it. This
> leads to an incorrect nr_ats_masters and triggers a warning in the PCI
> core during detach:
>
> 1 [ 127.925080] ------------[ cut here ]------------
> 2 [ 127.925084] WARNING: drivers/pci/ats.c:132 at pci_disable_ats+0x94/0xa8
> 3 ...
> 4 [ 128.068169] Call trace:
> 5 [ 128.070603] pci_disable_ats+0x94/0xa8 (P)
> 6 [ 128.074688] arm_smmu_attach_prepare+0x104/0x310
> 7 [ 128.079292] arm_smmu_attach_dev_ste+0x128/0x1e0
>
> The issue was exposed under heavy load when running a VFIO-based DMA
> map stress test (iova_stress).
>
> Following the addition of the arm_smmu_master_prepare_ats() [1] helper during
> device probe, failable ATS configuration (STU setup) is now handled early
> during probe. This ensures that any master reaching the attach phase is
> guaranteed to have a valid ATS configuration.
>
> Update arm_smmu_enable_ats() to use the WARN() macro for any
> subsequent enablement failures during the commit phase. Since probe
> checks now preclude software configuration errors, any failure here is
> considered a kernel bug.

The commit message feels like mixing a stale background and the
real requirement (based on the latest code line). Could that DMA
map stress test still trigger the WARN_ON in pci_disable_ats(),
after having arm_smmu_master_prepare_ats()?

It'd be nicer if the writing can be simplified a bit.

> arm_smmu_atc_inv_master(master, IOMMU_NO_PASID);
> - if (pci_enable_ats(pdev, stu))
> - dev_err(master->dev, "Failed to enable ATS (STU %zu)\n", stu);
> +
> + /*
> + * Any failure at this point is a kernel bug. pci_ats_supported()
> + * and pci_prepare_ats() have already verified the hardware capability
> + * and programmed the STU. Thus, pci_enable_ats() should not fail here.
> + */

The patch that removes pci_ats_supported() from pci_prepare_ats()
is dropped in this v6. So, my previous comments may stay true and
the two lines can be enough?

/*
* As pci_prepare_ats() have already verified the hardware capability
* and programmed the STE, pci_enable_ats() should not fail here.
*/

> + WARN(pci_enable_ats(pdev, stu),
> + "Failed to enable ATS (STU %zu)\n", stu);

https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260529111208.387412-1-praan%40google.com
Please check Sashiko review (for other patches in this series too).

I think it'd be cleaner to just have:

- if (pci_enable_ats(pdev, stu))
+ if (WARN_ON(pci_enable_ats(pdev, stu)))

Nicolin