Re: [PATCH v3 1/7] iio: adc: hi8435: Holt HI-8435 threshold detector

[Lars-Peter Clausen]

On 08/08/2015 07:56 PM, Jonathan Cameron wrote:
> On 29/07/15 13:56, Vladimir Barinov wrote:
>> Add Holt threshold detector driver for HI-8435 chip
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Vladimir Barinov <vladimir.barinov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Because it usually reads better that way, I review from the bottom.
> Might make more sense if you read the comments that way around ;)
> 
> I'm going to guess that the typical usecase for this device is in realtime
> systems where polling gives a nice predictable timing (hence the lack of any
> interrupt support).  These typically operate as 'scanning' devices
> (e.g. you update all state at approximately the same time, by reading
> one input after another in some predefined order).
> 
> Does the use of events actually map well to this use case?  You are taking
> something that (other than the results being a bit different) is basically
> a digital I/O interface and mapping it (sort of) to an interrupt chip
> when it isn't nothing of the sort.
> 
> I'd like more opinions on this, but my gut reaction is that we would
> be better making the normal buffered infrastructure handle this data
> properly rather than pushing it through the events intrastructure.
> 
> Your solution is neat and tidy in someways but feels like it is mashing
> data into a particular format.
> 
> To add to the complexity we could have debounce logic.  If we mapped to a
> fill the buffer with a scan mode, how would we handle this?
> My guess is that it would simply delay transistions.  Perhaps we even
> support reading both the value right now and the debounced value if that
> is possible?
> 
> However, here the debounce is all software.  To my mind, move this into
> userspace entirely. We aren't dealing with big data here so it's hardly
> going to be particularly challenging.
> 
> So my gut feeling is definitely we need to make the buffer infrastructure
> handle 1 bit values (in groups) then push this data out that way.
> 
> Still I would like other opinions on this!

Having thought about this a bit having support for event triggers seems like
a nice addition to me. When you think about it it is not too different from
buffer triggers. Some devices are able to generate their own trigger events
using a IRQ, others might need a software controlled trigger. You could
argue that the same is true for events. Having support for software based
event triggers e.g. allows support for devices which have events and have an
IRQ, but where the IRQ is simply not connected.

Whether it makes sense for this device is a different question though I guess.

Since this is a threshold detector events seem to be the right approach to
me. You could have similar hardware which actually generates IRQs, so you'd
have the same interface. Additionally if we expects changes only to occur at
a much lower rate than the polling rate only sending something to userspace
when it changes keeps the amount of data to transfer lower. On the other
hand if changes happen a lot using the event based approach would certainly
create a higher load. And another thing to consider is that some
applications might be interested in getting the raw data. So in conclusion,
I don't know ;). Both approaches seem sensible enough to me.

[...]
>> static void hi8435_debounce_work(struct work_struct *work)
>> +{
>> +	struct hi8435_priv *priv = container_of(work, struct hi8435_priv,
>> +						work.work);
>> +	struct iio_dev *idev = spi_get_drvdata(priv->spi);
>> +	u32 val;
>> +	int ret;
>> +
>> +	ret = hi8435_readl(priv, HI8435_SO31_0_REG, &val);
>> +	if (ret < 0)
>> +		return;
>> +
>> +	if (val == priv->debounce_val)
>> +		hi8435_iio_push_event(idev, val);
>> +	else
>> +		dev_warn(&priv->spi->dev, "filtered by software debounce");
> Definitely not.  Warning every time a standard event occurs?  Not
> a good idea.  Use the debug stuff if you want a way of knowing this
> happened, then it will silent under normal use.
> 
>> +}
>> +
>> +static irqreturn_t hi8435_trigger_handler(int irq, void *private)
>> +{
>> +	struct iio_poll_func *pf = private;
>> +	struct iio_dev *idev = pf->indio_dev;
>> +	struct hi8435_priv *priv = iio_priv(idev);
>> +	u32 val;
>> +	int ret;
>> +
>> +	ret = hi8435_readl(priv, HI8435_SO31_0_REG, &val);
>> +	if (ret < 0)
>> +		goto err_read;
>> +
>> +	if (priv->debounce_interval) {
>> +		priv->debounce_val = val;
>> +		schedule_delayed_work(&priv->work,
>> +				msecs_to_jiffies(priv->debounce_interval));
> This is another element that makes me doubt that the event interface
> is the way to do this.  I'd much rather we pushed the debouncing out
> to userspace where cleverer things can be done (and more adaptive things).
> Here to keep the event flow low you have to do it in the kernel.

Yes, debouncing should probably not be done in kernel space and the debounce
interval should not be a devicetree property.

> 
>> +	} else {
>> +		hi8435_iio_push_event(idev, val);
>> +	}
>> +
>> +err_read:
>> +	iio_trigger_notify_done(idev->trig);
>> +
>> +	return IRQ_HANDLED;
>> +}
>> +
>> +static void hi8435_parse_dt(struct hi8435_priv *priv)
>> +{
>> +	struct device_node *np = priv->spi->dev.of_node;
>> +	int ret;
>> +
>> +	ret = of_get_named_gpio(np, "holt,reset-gpios", 0);
>> +	priv->reset_gpio = ret < 0 ? 0 : ret;
> Silly question, but can gpio0 exist on a board?  I suspect you
> may need an additional variable to hold that this request failed
> rather than using the magic value of 0.

It can, but new stuff should just use the GPIO descriptor API where NULL can
be used to indicate a invalid GPIO.

- Lars

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