Re: [PATCH] Topcliff PHUB: Add The Packet Hub driver [1/2]

[Masayuki Ohtake]

Hi Arnd

Thank you for your comment.
Please refer the following mail in line.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arnd Bergmann" <arnd@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Masayuki Ohtake" <masa-korg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Wang, Yong Y" <yong.y.wang@xxxxxxxxx>; "Wang, Qi" <qi.wang@xxxxxxxxx>; <andrew.chih.howe.khor@xxxxxxxxx>; "LKML"
<linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Alan Cox" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:16 PM
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Topcliff PHUB: Add The Packet Hub driver [1/2]


> On Wednesday 09 June 2010, Masayuki Ohtake wrote:
>
> > We have added our comment for your email in line.
>
> ok, thanks for the update
>
> > If you have any question, let me know.
>
> One small comment from me, plus more background on the ioctl:
>
> > > The definition of struct pch_phub_reqt is problematic because
> > > it contains members of type 'unsigned long'. This means that
> > > a 32 bit user process uses a different data structure than a
> > > 64 bit kernel.
> > >
> > > Ideally, you only pass a single integer as an ioctl argument.
> > > There are cases where it needs to be a data structure, but
> > > if that happens, you should only use members types like __u32
> > > or __u64, not long or pointer.
> > We have defined as u32 type.
>
> Note that public data headers should use '__u32' instead of 'u32',
> because the 'u32' type is not available in the exported version
> of linux/types.h.

We will replace like below.
u32 --> __u32
s32 --> __s32
s8 --> __s8

>
> > > My feeling is that this ioctl interface is too
> > > low-level in general. You only export access to specific
> > > registers, not to functionality exposed by them.
> > > The best kernel interfaces are defined in a way that
> > > is independent of the underlying hardware and
> > > convert generic commands into device specific commands.
> > >
> > > If you really want to allow direct register access,
> > > a simpler way would be to map the memory into the user
> > > address space using the mmap() operation and not
> > > provide any ioctl commands.
> > Packet Hub has function accessing many resisters.
> > Thus, we think current spec is better.
>
> Getting the interface right is by far the most important
> part in a driver submission, and often the hardest part.
>
> Giving register-level hardware access to random user space
> applications for the PHUB essentially means that you
> are forcing the hardware design to become stable for all
> eternity because all tools that use this interface (whether
> written by you or by other people) need to keep working on
> future generations of the hardware as well.
>
> This is generally considered a very bad idea, so I think
> you should drop the IOCTL_PHUB_{READ,WRITE,MODIFY}_REG
> ioctl commands for now if you want to get your driver
> merged quickly, and then we can find a way to do what
> it's meant for in a better way.
>
> Regarding the other ioctl commands, I still have a few
> comments that I did not mention at first:
>
> >+int pch_phub_ioctl(struct inode *inode, struct file *file,
> >+ unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
> >+{
> >+ int ret_value = 0;
> >+ struct pch_phub_reqt *p_pch_phub_reqt;
> >+ unsigned long addr_offset;
> >+ unsigned long data;
> >+ unsigned long mask;
> >+
> >+ if (pch_phub_suspended == true) {
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : "
> >+ "suspend initiated returning =%d\n", -EPERM);
> >+ ret_value = -EPERM;
> >+ goto return_ioctrl;
> >+ }
> >+
> >+ p_pch_phub_reqt = (struct pch_phub_reqt *)arg;
> >+ ret_value = copy_from_user((void *)&addr_offset,
> >+ (void *)&p_pch_phub_reqt->addr_offset,
> >+ sizeof(addr_offset));
> >+ if (ret_value) {
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : "
> >+ "copy_from_user fail returning =%d\n", -EFAULT);
> >+ ret_value = -EFAULT;
> >+ goto return_ioctrl;
> >+ }
>
> The pch_phub_reqt data structure does not really make sense for
> commands other than IOCTL_PHUB_READ_MODIFY_WRITE_REG and causes
> more problems, see below.
We will delete almost ioctl functions.
Phub ioctl has only MAC Address access.
(OROM access will be moved to read/write method.)

And we will change ioctl I/F like below.
Usermode application doesn't only set HW register offset value but also set function.

>
> Moreover, the type casts are incorrect because they are
> missing the __user address space modifier. The casts can
> simply be removed, and the variable declared as
> e.g. 'struct pch_phub_reqt __user *p_pch_phub_reqt;'.
We will add '__user'

>
> I'd recommend using the 'sparse' tool to check your
> source code to find problems like this. Simply install
> sparse and run
>
> make C=1 drivers/char/pch_phub/
>
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : "
> >+ "copy_from_user returns =%d\n", ret_value);
We will use  'sparse' tool .

>
> The 'dev_dbg' variable does not seem to get initialized anywhere
> in the code. In a clean driver, it should not be a global variable
> anyway but refer to the object that you are operating on, e.g.
> the pci device that has been opened.
We will modify 'dev_dbg' is passed as a function parameter.

>
> >+ switch (cmd) {
> >+ case IOCTL_PHUB_READ_REG:
>
> >+ case IOCTL_PHUB_WRITE_REG:
>
> >+ case IOCTL_PHUB_READ_MODIFY_WRITE_REG:
>
>
> As mentioned, I'd just remove these commands for now. When a specific
> functionality is needed, you can always add another ioctl command
> or find another way to do it.
Yes, we will delete the above.

>
> >+ case IOCTL_PHUB_READ_OROM:
> >+ ret_value = pch_phub_read_serial_rom(addr_offset,
> >+ (unsigned char *)&data);
> >+ if (ret_value) {
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : Invoked "
> >+ "pch_phub_read_serial_rom =%d\n", -EFAULT);
> >+ ret_value = -EFAULT;
> >+ break;
> >+ } else {
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : Invoked "
> >+ "pch_phub_read_serial_rom successfully\n");
> >+ }
> >+ ret_value = copy_to_user((void *)&p_pch_phub_reqt->data,
> >+ (void *)&data, sizeof(data));
> >+ if (ret_value) {
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : "
> >+ "copy_to_user fail returning =%d\n", -EFAULT);
> >+ ret_value = -EFAULT;
> >+ break;
> >+ }
> >+ break;
>
> This is a very indirect way to access a rom. I'd recommend doing
> read and write file operations for this instead of going through the
> ioctl. When you do that, you can simply do 'cat /dev/topcliff-phub > romdump'
> to read the entire contents, or have other code access the contents
> bytewise. If teh OROM contents are specific to the ethernet function,
> you may also just implement the ethtool operations for it, as shown below.
We will try implement as read/write method.

>
> >+ case IOCTL_PHUB_READ_MAC_ADDR:
> >+ pch_phub_read_gbe_mac_addr(addr_offset, (unsigned char *)&data);
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : Invoked "
> >+ "pch_phub_read_gbe_mac_addr successfully\n");
> >+
> >+ ret_value = copy_to_user((void *)&p_pch_phub_reqt->data,
> >+ (void *)&data, sizeof(data));
> >+ if (ret_value) {
> >+ dev_dbg(dev_dbg, "pch_phub_ioctl : copy_to_user fail "
> >+ "returning =%d\n", -EFAULT);
> >+ ret_value = -EFAULT;
> >+ break;
> >+ }
> >+ break;
>
> I believe this really belongs into the ethernet driver, using the
> ethtool_ops->get_eeprom operation as other ethernet drivers do the
> same thing.
MAC address is under Phub HW.
To keep driver dependency, I think, Phub should take charge of MAC address access.

Thanks,
Ohtake


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