Re: [patches] Re: [PATCH] dt-bindings: Add a RISC-V SBI firmware node

[Jonathan NeuschÃfer]

On Mon, Nov 20, 2017 at 01:28:01PM -0800, Palmer Dabbelt wrote:
[...]
> > > +++ b/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/firmware/riscv.sbi.txt
> > 
> > Nit: Other bindings use either a comma (as in the compatible string,
> > "riscv,sbi.txt") or a dash (vendor-product.txt, "riscv-sbi.txt") in the
> > file name.
> 
> That was just a typo, I'll fix it.

Ok

> > > @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
> > > +RISC-V Supervisor Binary Interface (SBI)
> > > +
> > > +The RISC-V privileged ISA specification mandates the presence of a supervisor
> > > +binary interface that performs some operations which might otherwise require
> > > +particularly complicated instructions.  This interface includes
> > > +inter-processor interrupts, TLB flushes, i-cache and TLB shootdowns, a
> > > +console, and power management.
> > > +
> > > +Required properties:
> > > +- compatible: must contain one of the following
> > > + * "riscv,sbi" for the SBI defined by the privileged specification of the
> > > +   system.
> > 
> > "of the system" seems to imply that different RISC-V systems (different
> > RISC-V implementations) can have different privileged specifications.
> 
> Actually, that was intentional -- I wrote it this way because different
> RISC-V systems do have different privileged specifications.  The RISC-V
> specifications aren't frozen in time, they're just guaranteed to be
> compatible in the future.  For example, the user ISA document has been
> updated multiple times (the C spec, eliminating some unspecified behavior)
> and will continue to be updated (V and other extensions, the memory model).
> The privileged spec will be updated in a compatible way just like the user
> spec will be -- I know there's at least hypervisor support in the works, and
> I saw some things to remove undefined behavior go past as well.
> 
> In a similar fashion, the ABI and SBI will continue to evolve.  For example,
> we'll probably add new system calls to extend the user ABI and new hyper
> calls to extend the SBI.

My problem with the wording was that the OS somehow has to know which
version and variant of the SBI it is talking to -- either through
in-band communication (an SBI call to request SBI information, etc.), or
through devicetree or similar mechanisms.

> 
> > I think it's better to refer to concrete documents, that don't depend on
> > the rest of the system, instead. Either:


Thanks,
Jonathan NeuschÃfer

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