[PATCH v4 2/2] arm64: io: apply the device store-release workaround once per block write

From: Shanker Donthineni

Date: Thu Jun 25 2026 - 14:27:10 EST


The generic memset_io()/memcpy_toio() are built on __raw_write*(), so on
parts with the NVIDIA Olympus device store/load ordering erratum the
ARM64_WORKAROUND_DEVICE_STORE_RELEASE workaround promotes every store in
the block to a store-release. Each stlr* carries a barrier cost, so block
MMIO becomes O(n) store-releases, making a block copy many times slower
than a single ordered burst and growing with the transfer size.

Provide arm64 memset_io()/memcpy_toio() that emit plain str* in the loop
and order the whole block against subsequent loads with a single
trailing dmb osh on affected CPUs (a no-op elsewhere, preserving the
relaxed contract of these helpers). This keeps block MMIO writes at
one-barrier cost rather than scaling with the transfer size.

Performance (NVIDIA Olympus, write-combining MMIO to a device BAR, single
PE pinned; per-call cost in ns; consecutive writes ping-pong between two
buffers so repeated stores are not coalesced; iowrite64/iowrite32 =
__iowrite{64,32}_copy()):

Table 1 - arm64 memset_io/memcpy_toio (this patch)
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| size | iowrite64 | iowrite32 | memset_io | memcpy_toio |
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| 8B | 231.6 ns | 231.6 ns | 232.4 ns | 232.4 ns |
| 16B | 231.7 ns | 231.9 ns | 232.7 ns | 232.6 ns |
| 32B | 231.9 ns | 232.7 ns | 232.9 ns | 232.9 ns |
| 64B | 232.7 ns | 235.0 ns | 233.7 ns | 233.6 ns |
| 128B | 233.6 ns | 235.8 ns | 234.4 ns | 234.3 ns |
| 256B | 237.7 ns | 276.8 ns | 264.0 ns | 276.7 ns |
| 512B | 237.7 ns | 277.1 ns | 238.1 ns | 277.6 ns |
| 1KB | 253.7 ns | 279.3 ns | 276.1 ns | 294.1 ns |
| 2KB | 295.0 ns | 318.7 ns | 288.5 ns | 308.3 ns |
| 4KB | 365.9 ns | 381.4 ns | 365.7 ns | 381.3 ns |
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
all four helpers end with a single trailing barrier (dmb osh).

Table 2 - generic per-store memset_io/memcpy_toio
+-------+-----------+-----------+-------------+--------------+
| size | iowrite64 | iowrite32 | memset_io | memcpy_toio |
+-------+-----------+-----------+-------------+--------------+
| 8B | 231.6 ns | 231.6 ns | 229.0 ns | 229.0 ns |
| 16B | 231.7 ns | 231.9 ns | 458.4 ns | 458.5 ns |
| 32B | 231.9 ns | 232.7 ns | 917.4 ns | 917.5 ns |
| 64B | 232.7 ns | 234.8 ns | 1835.4 ns | 1835.5 ns |
| 128B | 233.6 ns | 235.8 ns | 3670.9 ns | 3670.8 ns |
| 256B | 237.7 ns | 276.7 ns | 7341.6 ns | 7341.6 ns |
| 512B | 237.7 ns | 279.4 ns | 14001.4 ns | 14001.3 ns |
| 1KB | 253.7 ns | 279.1 ns | 28631.5 ns | 28631.8 ns |
| 2KB | 279.4 ns | 317.9 ns | 57276.3 ns | 57275.2 ns |
| 4KB | 365.7 ns | 381.5 ns | 114564.4 ns | 114563.6 ns |
+-------+-----------+-----------+-------------+--------------+
the generic memset_io()/memcpy_toio() build on __raw_write*(), which the
workaround promotes to store-release, so every store is individually
ordered - hence O(n) in the store count.

The arm64 versions stay flat at one-barrier cost while the generic
per-store writers collapse to O(n): at 4KB ~314x slower (~115 us vs
~366 ns).

Signed-off-by: Shanker Donthineni <sdonthineni@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/io.h | 5 +++
arch/arm64/kernel/io.c | 82 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 87 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/io.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/io.h
index 69e0fa004d31..649503f347bc 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/io.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/io.h
@@ -266,6 +266,11 @@ __iowrite64_copy(void __iomem *to, const void *from, size_t count)
}
#define __iowrite64_copy __iowrite64_copy

+void memset_io(volatile void __iomem *dst, int c, size_t count);
+#define memset_io memset_io
+void memcpy_toio(volatile void __iomem *dst, const void *src, size_t count);
+#define memcpy_toio memcpy_toio
+
/*
* I/O memory mapping functions.
*/
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/io.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/io.c
index fe86ada23c7d..b5fd9ee6d9eb 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/io.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/io.c
@@ -5,9 +5,91 @@
* Copyright (C) 2012 ARM Ltd.
*/

+#include <linux/align.h>
#include <linux/export.h>
#include <linux/types.h>
#include <linux/io.h>
+#include <linux/unaligned.h>
+
+#include <asm/alternative.h>
+
+/*
+ * ARM64_WORKAROUND_DEVICE_STORE_RELEASE promotes every raw MMIO store
+ * (__raw_write*()) to a store-release on affected CPUs. The generic
+ * memset_io()/memcpy_toio() are built on those helpers, so the workaround would
+ * emit one store-release per element and turn a block write into O(n) ordered
+ * stores - far more costly than the single barrier a block actually needs.
+ *
+ * Provide arm64 versions that emit plain STR in the loop and order the whole
+ * block against subsequent loads with one trailing DMB OSH, patched in only on
+ * affected CPUs (a no-op elsewhere, so the relaxed contract of these helpers is
+ * preserved).
+ *
+ * This capability is currently enabled only for the NVIDIA Olympus device
+ * store/load ordering erratum, where a Device-nGnR* load may be observed before
+ * an older, non-overlapping Device-nGnR* store to the same peripheral.
+ */
+static __always_inline void iomem_block_store_barrier(void)
+{
+ asm volatile(ALTERNATIVE("nop", "dmb osh",
+ ARM64_WORKAROUND_DEVICE_STORE_RELEASE)
+ : : : "memory");
+}
+
+void memset_io(volatile void __iomem *dst, int c, size_t count)
+{
+ u64 qc = (u8)c;
+
+ qc *= ~0ULL / 0xff;
+
+ while (count && !IS_ALIGNED((__force unsigned long)dst, sizeof(u64))) {
+ asm volatile("strb %w0, [%1]" : : "rZ"((u8)c), "r"(dst) : "memory");
+ dst++;
+ count--;
+ }
+ while (count >= sizeof(u64)) {
+ asm volatile("str %x0, [%1]" : : "rZ"(qc), "r"(dst) : "memory");
+ dst += sizeof(u64);
+ count -= sizeof(u64);
+ }
+ while (count) {
+ asm volatile("strb %w0, [%1]" : : "rZ"((u8)c), "r"(dst) : "memory");
+ dst++;
+ count--;
+ }
+
+ iomem_block_store_barrier();
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(memset_io);
+
+void memcpy_toio(volatile void __iomem *dst, const void *src, size_t count)
+{
+ while (count && !IS_ALIGNED((__force unsigned long)dst, sizeof(u64))) {
+ asm volatile("strb %w0, [%1]"
+ : : "rZ"(*(const u8 *)src), "r"(dst) : "memory");
+ src++;
+ dst++;
+ count--;
+ }
+ while (count >= sizeof(u64)) {
+ asm volatile("str %x0, [%1]"
+ : : "rZ"(get_unaligned((const u64 *)src)), "r"(dst)
+ : "memory");
+ src += sizeof(u64);
+ dst += sizeof(u64);
+ count -= sizeof(u64);
+ }
+ while (count) {
+ asm volatile("strb %w0, [%1]"
+ : : "rZ"(*(const u8 *)src), "r"(dst) : "memory");
+ src++;
+ dst++;
+ count--;
+ }
+
+ iomem_block_store_barrier();
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(memcpy_toio);

/*
* This generates a memcpy that works on a from/to address which is aligned to
--
2.54.0.windows.1