RE: [PATCH v9 02/15] cxl/regs: Prepare for multiple users of register mappings

[Dan Williams]

Terry Bowman wrote:
> From: Robert Richter <rrichter@xxxxxxx>
> 
> The function devm_cxl_iomap_block() is used to map register mappings
> of CXL component or device registers. A @dev is used to unmap the IO
> regions during device removal.
> 
> Now, there are multiple devices using the register mappings. E.g. the
> RAS cap of the Component Registers is used by cxl_pci, the HDM cap
> used in cxl_mem. This could cause IO blocks not being freed and a
> subsequent reinitialization to fail if the same device is used for
> both.
> 
> To prevent that, expand cxl_map_component_regs() to pass a @dev to be
> used with devm to IO unmap. This allows to pass the device that
> actually is creating and using the IO region.
> 
> For symmetry also change the function i/f of cxl_map_device_regs().

I think @dev is too ambiguous as a name. I.e. when does @dev refer to
the 'struct device *' instance that the registers belong, and when does
@dev refer to the 'struct device *' instance hosting the mapping for
devm operations?

One of the ways I have tried to disambiguate that distinction is using
the name @host to explicitly refer to the context of devm operations,
and @dev is only for context for dev_dbg() operations. Can you clarify
this patch by using @host everywhere that the devm context is being
handled?

This would also satisfy Jonathan's concern. I think it needs to be the
case that @map is explicit about when it is conveying some @dev context for
dev_dbg() messages and when it is conveying the @host for devm
operations because those are 2 different concepts.

It looks like @dev argument you are plumbing here is for when @map->dev
cannot be used for devm operations, so at a minimum use @host as the
variable name to make that clear...

...or always make it the case that @map carries an @host parameter which
would mean that ports would need their own copy of the comp_map versus
directly reusing the one in the cxlds since those 2 mapping instances
need different @host parameters. That feels cleaner to me then
"sometimes map->dev can be used for devm and sometimes not". @map->host
is always the devm context.