Re: [PATCH v7 03/13] hwmon: pwm-fan: Use 64-bit division macros for period and duty cycle

[Guenter Roeck]

On 3/10/20 5:08 AM, Uwe Kleine-KÃnig wrote:
> Hello Guenter,
> 
> On Mon, Mar 09, 2020 at 02:48:22PM -0700, Guenter Roeck wrote:
>> On Mon, Mar 09, 2020 at 12:35:06PM -0700, Guru Das Srinagesh wrote:
>>> Because period and duty cycle are defined in the PWM framework structs
>>> as ints with units of nanoseconds, the maximum time duration that can be
>>> set is limited to ~2.147 seconds. Redefining them as u64 values will
>>> enable larger time durations to be set.
>>>
>>> As a first step, prepare drivers to handle the switch to u64 period and
>>> duty_cycle by replacing division operations involving pwm period and duty cycle
>>> with their 64-bit equivalents as appropriate. The actual switch to u64 period
>>> and duty_cycle follows as a separate patch.
>>>
>>> Where the dividend is 64-bit but the divisor is 32-bit, use *_ULL
>>> macros:
>>> - DIV_ROUND_UP_ULL
>>> - DIV_ROUND_CLOSEST_ULL
>>> - div_u64
>>>
>>> Where the divisor is 64-bit (dividend may be 32-bit or 64-bit), use
>>> DIV64_* macros:
>>> - DIV64_U64_ROUND_CLOSEST
>>> - div64_u64
>>
>> There is no explanation why this is necessary. What is the use case ?
>> It is hard to imagine a real-world use case with a duty cycle of more
>> than 2 seconds.
> 
> When my Laptop is in suspend there is an LED that blinks with a period
> of approximately 5 seconds. (To be fair, the brightness is more a sinus
> than a rectangle, but still.)
> 

I don't see support in the LED subsystem to utilize the PWM framework directly
for blinking. Plus, you say yourself that it isn't a _real_ use case, just a
theoretic one.

Either case, the reason / use case for this series should be explained
in the summary patch. That is what it is for. That case is not made.

Guenter