Re: [PATCH V13 0/5] Generate device tree node for pci devices

[Andy Shevchenko]

On Tue, Aug 15, 2023 at 10:19:55AM -0700, Lizhi Hou wrote:
> This patch series introduces OF overlay support for PCI devices which
> primarily addresses two use cases. First, it provides a data driven method
> to describe hardware peripherals that are present in a PCI endpoint and
> hence can be accessed by the PCI host. Second, it allows reuse of a OF
> compatible driver -- often used in SoC platforms -- in a PCI host based
> system.
> 
> There are 2 series devices rely on this patch:
> 
>   1) Xilinx Alveo Accelerator cards (FPGA based device)
>   2) Microchip LAN9662 Ethernet Controller
> 
>      Please see: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220427094502.456111-1-clement.leger@xxxxxxxxxxx/
> 
> Normally, the PCI core discovers PCI devices and their BARs using the
> PCI enumeration process. However, the process does not provide a way to
> discover the hardware peripherals that are present in a PCI device, and
> which can be accessed through the PCI BARs. Also, the enumeration process
> does not provide a way to associate MSI-X vectors of a PCI device with the
> hardware peripherals that are present in the device. PCI device drivers
> often use header files to describe the hardware peripherals and their
> resources as there is no standard data driven way to do so. This patch
> series proposes to use flattened device tree blob to describe the
> peripherals in a data driven way. Based on previous discussion, using
> device tree overlay is the best way to unflatten the blob and populate
> platform devices. To use device tree overlay, there are three obvious
> problems that need to be resolved.
> 
> First, we need to create a base tree for non-DT system such as x86_64. A
> patch series has been submitted for this:
> https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220624034327.2542112-1-frowand.list@xxxxxxxxx/
> https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220216050056.311496-1-lizhi.hou@xxxxxxxxxx/
> 
> Second, a device tree node corresponding to the PCI endpoint is required
> for overlaying the flattened device tree blob for that PCI endpoint.
> Because PCI is a self-discoverable bus, a device tree node is usually not
> created for PCI devices. This series adds support to generate a device
> tree node for a PCI device which advertises itself using PCI quirks
> infrastructure.
> 
> Third, we need to generate device tree nodes for PCI bridges since a child
> PCI endpoint may choose to have a device tree node created.
> 
> This patch series is made up of three patches.
> 
> The first patch is adding OF interface to create or destroy OF node
> dynamically.
> 
> The second patch introduces a kernel option, CONFIG_PCI_DYNAMIC_OF_NODES.
> When the option is turned on, the kernel will generate device tree nodes
> for all PCI bridges unconditionally. The patch also shows how to use the
> PCI quirks infrastructure, DECLARE_PCI_FIXUP_FINAL to generate a device
> tree node for a device. Specifically, the patch generates a device tree
> node for Xilinx Alveo U50 PCIe accelerator device. The generated device
> tree nodes do not have any property.
> 
> The third patch adds basic properties ('reg', 'compatible' and
> 'device_type') to the dynamically generated device tree nodes. More
> properties can be added in the future.

In my opinion this series needs much more work (esp. cleaning up one)
to not look like a NIH here and there.

-- 
With Best Regards,
Andy Shevchenko