Re: [PATCH 5/5] switchtec: MRPC DMA mode implementation

[Bjorn Helgaas]

On Mon, Dec 10, 2018 at 05:12:24PM +0800, Wesley Sheng wrote:
> MRPC normal mode requires the host to read the MRPC command status and
> output data from BAR. This results in high latency responses from the
> Memory Read TLP and potential Completion Timeout (CTO).
> 
> MRPC DMA mode implementation includes:
> Macro definitions for registers and data structures corresponding to
> MRPC DMA mode.
> 
> Add module parameter use_dma_mrpc to select between MRPC DMA mode and
> MRPC normal mode.
> 
> Add MRPC mode functionality to:
> * Retrieve MRPC DMA mode version
> * Allocate DMA buffer, ISR registration, and enable DMA function during
>   initialization
> * Check MRPC execution status and collect execution results from DMA buffer
> * Release DMA buffer and disable DMA function when unloading module
> 
> MRPC DMA mode is a new feature of firmware and the driver will fall back
> to MRPC normal mode if there is no support in the legacy firmware.
> 
> Include <linux/io-64-nonatomic-lo-hi.h> so that readq/writeq is replaced
> by two readl/writel on systems that do not support it.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Wesley Sheng <wesley.sheng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Logan Gunthorpe <logang@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  drivers/pci/switch/switchtec.c | 108 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
>  include/linux/switchtec.h      |  16 ++++++
>  2 files changed, 114 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/pci/switch/switchtec.c b/drivers/pci/switch/switchtec.c
> index 0b8862b..6b726cb 100644
> --- a/drivers/pci/switch/switchtec.c
> +++ b/drivers/pci/switch/switchtec.c
> @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
>  #include <linux/uaccess.h>
>  #include <linux/poll.h>
>  #include <linux/wait.h>
> -
> +#include <linux/io-64-nonatomic-lo-hi.h>
>  #include <linux/nospec.h>
>  
>  MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Microsemi Switchtec(tm) PCIe Management Driver");
> @@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ static int max_devices = 16;
>  module_param(max_devices, int, 0644);
>  MODULE_PARM_DESC(max_devices, "max number of switchtec device instances");
>  
> +static bool use_dma_mrpc = 1;
> +module_param(use_dma_mrpc, bool, 0644);
> +MODULE_PARM_DESC(use_dma_mrpc,
> +		 "Enable the use of the DMA MRPC feature");

What's the purpose of the module parameter?  Can't you automatically
figure out whether the firmware supports DMA mode?

Module parameters make life difficult for users and lead to code
that's rarely used and poorly tested, so I think we should avoid them
whenever we can.

If you *can't* automatically figure out when to use DMA, please make
it clear in the changelog that the "use_dma_mrpc" parameter is
required with legacy firmware.  And in that case, it seems like it
should be named "disable_dma" or similar, since it defaults to being
enabled.

Bjorn