[PATCH v5 0/8] serial: max310x: RS485 delay and RTS fixes, software-timed delays
From: Tapio Reijonen
Date: Tue Sep 29 2026 - 05:46:00 EST
The MAX310X hardware can express at most 15 bit-times of RS485 RTS
setup/hold delay, while struct serial_rs485 expresses the delays in
milliseconds. The driver rejected anything above 0x0f with -ERANGE,
upon which uart_rs485_config() wipes port->rs485 and silently disables
RS485 - a device tree asking for a 20 ms setup delay boots with RS485
off and an unusable bus. The values that were accepted got written
into HDPIXDELAY unconverted, milliseconds as bit-times.
Patches 1-4 fix pre-existing bugs found on the way: a termios write
clobbering an active break; breaks never reaching the wire on RS485
ports because auto-RTS only drives the transceiver for FIFO data; the
milliseconds-as-bit-times unit bug; and close() truncating the final
character because tx_empty() does not cover the transmit shift
register. Patch 5 adds active-low RTS on the hardware path via
IRDA.RTSINVERT. Patch 6 is preparation, and patch 7 adds the
software-timed RTS path that takes over whenever the hardware cannot
represent the requested timing, clamping the delays to the UART core's
maximum instead of rejecting them. Patch 8 fixes a reconfigure-versus-
write race the asynchronous rs485 config application has had since
2016, which the software path would have made worse.
v4 was all of this in a single patch; Greg asked for it to be broken
up into one change at a time [1]. Splitting it meant re-verifying each
patch in isolation on hardware, and that re-verification found two
bugs v4 contained: a set_termios() or TIOCSRS485 during an active
break released the transceiver mid-break while the break bookkeeping
still looked correct (prevented by the tx_break ownership guard in
patches 2 and 3), and the patch-8 race, where a TIOCSRS485 followed
immediately by a write could put an entire transfer on the wire with
the transceiver released.
Tested on a MAX14830 (SPI, i.MX6SX) driving RS485 transceivers: for
each patch the bug it fixes was first reproduced on the wire with a
logic analyzer against the kernel one patch earlier, then shown fixed.
The complete series additionally passed an automated 25-scenario
regression matrix covering both RTS paths, both polarities,
RS485/RS232 mode round-trips, close-during-transmission, and termios/
TIOCSRS485 disturbances landing in every envelope phase (setup, data,
hold, break), each scenario checked both on the wire and against the
driver's reported state.
Changes in v5, beyond the split:
- teardown interlock (tx_teardown): shutdown() and the rs485-disable
path set it under port->lock, and start_tx() checks it on entry and
again after retaking the dropped lock, so a racing write can no
longer re-arm the delay timer or queue RTS work against a port being
torn down (addresses the remaining review-bot findings on v4)
- shutdown() also cancels tx_work, previously only cancelled in
remove()
- the per-character duration is stored as unsigned int microseconds
instead of ktime_t: single-copy atomic on 32-bit, so a torn read of
the 64-bit value is gone by construction
- the TXEMPTY handling documents that the interrupt latches on the
FIFO becoming empty, so a stale interrupt cannot pump data during an
RTS setup delay
- new in v5: the tx_break ownership guard (patches 2/3) and the
reconfigure-pending gate (patch 8), both found during the per-patch
hardware re-testing described above
- also new in v5, from a review pass over the split series: startup()
clears a latched break (nothing clears TXBREAK when a port is closed
with a break still asserted - 8250 does the same); a reconfigure
arriving during a break is now deferred and applied at break-end
instead of partially dropped; the rs485-config worker runs under
port->mutex so its break-guarded register writes cannot straddle a
break edge; the termios-path idle settle re-checks tx_state after
writing and requeues rts_work if an envelope started meanwhile; and
the hardware-delay ceiling is computed in u64
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/2026092326-truth-unweave-c773@gregkh/
---
Tapio Reijonen (8):
serial: max310x: don't clobber the TX break bit in set_termios
serial: max310x: assert the transceiver during a break
serial: max310x: convert RS485 delays from milliseconds to bit-times
serial: max310x: wait for TX to drain before powering down in shutdown
serial: max310x: support active-low RTS on the hardware path
serial: max310x: schedule tx_work directly from the IRQ handler
serial: max310x: drive RTS in software when hardware delays are too short
serial: max310x: don't transmit while an RS485 reconfigure is pending
drivers/tty/serial/max310x.c | 511 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 477 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 9505146e885b1a842118aa6410f737290c4a5a32
change-id: 20260513-max310x-rs485-sw-delay-a306d783d529
Best regards,
--
Tapio Reijonen <tapio.reijonen@xxxxxxxxxxx>