Dear Team,
I am writing to request an investigation into a strange issue we have observed regarding PEB reservation for bad block management in UBI. For context, our system uses MT29FxxG NAND flash chips with a minimum of 4016 valid blocks (NVB) per LUN out of a total of 4096 blocks.
We have noticed that when using the CONFIG_MTD_UBI_BEB_LIMIT parameter, which is typically calculated as 1024 * (1 - MinNVB / TotalNVB) = 20 PEBs, UBI is reserving significantly more PEBs than expected. Instead of the expected 20 PEBs, UBI is reserving around 160 PEBs per LUN, which is approximately 8 times more than it should be.
To work around this issue, we have set the CONFIG_MTD_UBI_BEB_LIMIT parameter to 3, which corresponds to ~91 reserved PEBs per LUN. However, this strange 8x multiplier effect is concerning and requires further investigation. Additionally, we have observed crashes in our system and suspect that the over-reservation of PEBs for bad block handling may be related to these issues.
We would like to understand the root cause of the crashes and how the excessive PEB reservation might be contributing to the problem. We have some similar questions related to the PEB's usage in UBI operations:
Why is UBI reserving significantly more PEBs for bad block handling than expected when using the CONFIG_MTD_UBI_BEB_LIMIT parameter?
1A) The typical calculation suggests reserving 20 PEBs, but UBI is reserving 8 times more, around 160 PEBs per LUN. What is causing this 8x multiplier effect?
Does the issue of over-reserving PEBs only occur when multiple NAND partitions are grouped under the same parent MTD device, as is the case with the custom driver? Or can it also happen with a single NAND partition per MTD device?
Is the over-reservation of PEBs for bad block handling related to the crashes observed in the system? If so, what is the root cause of the crashes and how does the excessive PEB reservation contribute to the issue?
What is the expected behavior of UBI when reserving PEBs for bad block management based on the CONFIG_MTD_UBI_BEB_LIMIT parameter? Why is UBI not following the typical calculation in this case?
Are there any known bugs, issues or unexpected behaviors in the UBI subsystem or NAND flash drivers that could explain the observed PEB reservation problem? If so, are there any workarounds or fixes available?
We would greatly appreciate if you could investigate this issue and provide us with your findings and recommendations.
Thank you for your assistance.
Best regards,
Nikhil Kashyap H R
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