Say I don't want to use the watchdog (which I don't, all I need from TOPRGU is the resets, I don't care about the watchdog). Not starting the watchdog means I can't reset the system because all mtk_wdt_restart will do is make TOPRGU send me an IRQ that I have no use for.
If you don't want to use the watchdog, then you don't need to care about bark
interrupts and you don't need any mtk_wdt_restart() functionality at all :-)
I need mtk_wdt_restart to restart my system. I shouldn't need to take off my phone's back cover and remove the battery every time :)
I think what Guenter said makes sense. We should make sure the watchdog is started when calling mtk_wdt_restart or at least configured in such a way that we are sure it will issue a system reset.