Re: [RFC PATCH v3 4/6] media: tegra: Add Tegra210 Video input driver

[Hans Verkuil]

On 2/14/20 7:23 PM, Sowjanya Komatineni wrote:
> Tegra210 contains a powerful Video Input (VI) hardware controller
> which can support up to 6 MIPI CSI camera sensors.
> 
> Each Tegra CSI port can be one-to-one mapped to VI channel and can
> capture from an external camera sensor connected to CSI or from
> built-in test pattern generator.
> 
> Tegra210 supports built-in test pattern generator from CSI to VI.
> 
> This patch adds a V4L2 media controller and capture driver support
> for Tegra210 built-in CSI to VI test pattern generator.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Sowjanya Komatineni <skomatineni@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  drivers/staging/media/Kconfig              |    2 +
>  drivers/staging/media/Makefile             |    1 +
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/Kconfig        |   10 +
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/Makefile       |    8 +
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/TODO           |   10 +
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-common.h |  239 +++++++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-csi.c    |  374 ++++++++++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-csi.h    |  115 ++++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-vi.c     | 1019 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-vi.h     |   79 +++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-video.c  |  118 ++++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-video.h  |   32 +
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra210.c     |  767 +++++++++++++++++++++
>  drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra210.h     |  190 ++++++
>  14 files changed, 2964 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/Kconfig
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/Makefile
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/TODO
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-common.h
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-csi.c
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-csi.h
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-vi.c
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-vi.h
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-video.c
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra-video.h
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra210.c
>  create mode 100644 drivers/staging/media/tegra/tegra210.h
> 

<snip>

> +/*
> + * videobuf2 queue operations
> + */
> +static int tegra_channel_queue_setup(struct vb2_queue *vq,
> +				     unsigned int *nbuffers,
> +				     unsigned int *nplanes,
> +				     unsigned int sizes[],
> +				     struct device *alloc_devs[])
> +{
> +	struct tegra_vi_channel *chan = vb2_get_drv_priv(vq);
> +
> +	if (*nplanes)
> +		return sizes[0] < chan->format.sizeimage ? -EINVAL : 0;
> +
> +	*nplanes = 1;
> +	sizes[0] = chan->format.sizeimage;
> +	alloc_devs[0] = chan->vi->dev;
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * allocate min 3 buffers in queue to avoid race between DMA
> +	 * writes and userspace reads.
> +	 */
> +	if (*nbuffers < 3)
> +		*nbuffers = 3;

First of all, don't check this here, instead set the struct vb2_queue field
'min_buffers_needed' to 3 instead.

But the reason given for this check is peculiar: there should not be any
race at all. Usually the reason for requiring a specific minimum number of
buffers is that the DMA engine needs at least 2 buffers before it can start
streaming: it can't give back a buffer to userspace (vb2_buffer_done())
unless there is a second buffer it can start to capture to next. So for many
DMA implementations you need a minimum of 2 buffers: two buffers for the
DMA engine, one buffer being processed by userspace.

If the driver is starved of buffers it will typically keep capturing to
the last buffer until a new buffer is queued.

In any case, once the driver releases a buffer via vb2_buffer_done() the
buffer memory is no longer owned by the driver.

To be precise, buffer ownership is as follows:

userspace -> VIDIOC_QBUF -> vb2 -> buf_queue -> driver -> vb2_buffer_done() -> vb2 -> VIDIOC_DQBUF -> userspace

(vb2 == videobuf2 framework)

Note that vb2 never touches the buffer memory.

So if you get a race condition in this driver, then there is something
strange going on. It looks like vb2_buffer_done() is called while DMA is
still ongoing, or because the driver really needs to keep one buffer
available at all times.

Regards,

	Hans

> +
> +	return 0;
> +}