Re: [PATCH v4 02/16] spi: dt-bindings: add spi-phy-pattern-partition property

[Miquel Raynal]

Hello,

>> +  spi-phy-pattern-partition:
>
> Is this specific to SPI-based MTD/NAND or rather broader - specific to
> MTD/NAND memories, regardless of interface? Feels like the second, thus
> maybe should be placed into the NAND bindings.
>
> If the first, then in below description:
>
> s/PHY/SPI PHY/ to be clear that this is about SPI, not the memory
> itself.

As far as I know, there is no raw NAND controller with such
capability. In the raw/parallel NAND world, timings are well defined by
the ONFI specification, it covers both the bus timings and the minimal
requirements for the chips. There is a method to query what "timing mode"
the NAND chip supports, and then we tune the controller registers to fit
the highest supported timings (capped by possible controller limits).

In the SPI world it is different. No specific timing has ever been
globally defined, so every manufacturer has its own capabilities which
are not discoverable dynamically. The routing also weights a lot. I
would say that we can safely keep this property SPI related, because it
is about the SPI bus being used with optimized timings, rather than some
kind of memory specific feature.

The reason why we need a property in those memories for the feature to
work, is because we need to make data transfers with a known pattern,
thus requiring to read the pattern from the internal array somehow.

Therefore, we shall indeed go for the s/PHY/SPI PHY/ naming indeed.

Thanks,
Miquèl