[PATCH 03/17] net: phy: Attach generic PHY drivers through the driver core

From: Leon Romanovsky

Date: Thu Nov 05 2026 - 06:50:30 EST


From: Leon Romanovsky <leonro@xxxxxxxxxx>

The generic PHY fallback probes directly before publishing its binding,
bypassing driver-core admission and supplier checks.

Attach through the driver core so admission precedes functional setup.
Callers hold RTNL, which a concurrent bind of a specific driver may wait
for with the device lock held, so for this flow let's add
device_driver_try_attach() so the attachment never waits for that lock.

Signed-off-by: Leon Romanovsky <leonro@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/base/dd.c | 65 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c | 39 +++++++++++++++++---------
include/linux/device.h | 2 ++
3 files changed, 83 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/base/dd.c b/drivers/base/dd.c
index 52123251965de..01026e02de92e 100644
--- a/drivers/base/dd.c
+++ b/drivers/base/dd.c
@@ -1046,6 +1046,25 @@ static void __device_driver_lock(struct device *dev, struct device *parent)
device_lock(dev);
}

+/*
+ * __device_driver_trylock - __device_driver_lock() without sleeping
+ *
+ * Returns true if the locks were taken.
+ */
+static bool __device_driver_trylock(struct device *dev, struct device *parent)
+{
+ if (dev->type && dev->type->need_parent_lock && parent) {
+ if (!device_trylock(parent))
+ return false;
+ if (!device_trylock(dev)) {
+ device_unlock(parent);
+ return false;
+ }
+ return true;
+ }
+ return device_trylock(dev);
+}
+
/*
* __device_driver_unlock - release locks needed to manipulate dev->drv
* @dev: Device we will update driver info for
@@ -1195,19 +1214,17 @@ void device_initial_probe(struct device *dev)
subsys_put(sp);
}

-/**
- * device_driver_attach - attach a specific driver to a specific device
- * @drv: Driver to attach
- * @dev: Device to attach it to
- *
- * Manually attach driver to a device. Will acquire both @dev lock and
- * @dev->parent lock if needed. Returns 0 on success, -ERR on failure.
- */
-int device_driver_attach(const struct device_driver *drv, struct device *dev)
+static int __device_driver_attach(const struct device_driver *drv,
+ struct device *dev, bool trylock)
{
int ret;

- __device_driver_lock(dev, dev->parent);
+ if (trylock) {
+ if (!__device_driver_trylock(dev, dev->parent))
+ return -EBUSY;
+ } else {
+ __device_driver_lock(dev, dev->parent);
+ }
ret = __driver_probe_device(drv, dev);
__device_driver_unlock(dev, dev->parent);

@@ -1218,8 +1235,36 @@ int device_driver_attach(const struct device_driver *drv, struct device *dev)
return -EAGAIN;
return ret;
}
+
+/**
+ * device_driver_attach - attach a specific driver to a specific device
+ * @drv: Driver to attach
+ * @dev: Device to attach it to
+ *
+ * Manually attach driver to a device. Will acquire both @dev lock and
+ * @dev->parent lock if needed. Returns 0 on success, -ERR on failure.
+ */
+int device_driver_attach(const struct device_driver *drv, struct device *dev)
+{
+ return __device_driver_attach(drv, dev, false);
+}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(device_driver_attach);

+/**
+ * device_driver_try_attach - attach a specific driver without waiting for locks
+ * @drv: Driver to attach
+ * @dev: Device to attach it to
+ *
+ * Like device_driver_attach(), for callers that hold a lock which the holder
+ * of the @dev or @dev->parent lock may wait for. Returns -EBUSY, before any
+ * probing, if one of those locks is contended.
+ */
+int device_driver_try_attach(const struct device_driver *drv, struct device *dev)
+{
+ return __device_driver_attach(drv, dev, true);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(device_driver_try_attach);
+
static void __driver_attach_async_helper(void *_dev, async_cookie_t cookie)
{
struct device *dev = _dev;
diff --git a/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c b/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c
index 5d4508bcfbe99..8cc0de755bd08 100644
--- a/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c
+++ b/drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c
@@ -1912,7 +1912,9 @@ int phy_attach_direct(struct net_device *dev, struct phy_device *phydev,
struct device *d = &phydev->mdio.dev;
struct module *ndev_owner = NULL;
struct module *drv_owner;
+ struct device_driver *drv;
int irq = phydev->irq;
+ bool bind_genphy;
int err;

/* For Ethernet device drivers that register their own MDIO bus, we
@@ -1939,16 +1941,16 @@ int phy_attach_direct(struct net_device *dev, struct phy_device *phydev,
/* Assume that if there is no driver, that it doesn't
* exist, and we should use the genphy driver.
*/
- if (!d->driver) {
+ drv = d->driver;
+ bind_genphy = !drv;
+ if (bind_genphy) {
if (phydev->is_c45)
- d->driver = &genphy_c45_driver.mdiodrv.driver;
+ drv = &genphy_c45_driver.mdiodrv.driver;
else
- d->driver = &genphy_driver.mdiodrv.driver;
-
- phydev->is_genphy_driven = 1;
+ drv = &genphy_driver.mdiodrv.driver;
}

- drv_owner = d->driver->owner;
+ drv_owner = drv->owner;
if (!try_module_get(drv_owner)) {
phydev_err(phydev, "failed to get the device driver module\n");
err = -EIO;
@@ -1956,11 +1958,20 @@ int phy_attach_direct(struct net_device *dev, struct phy_device *phydev,
}
phydev->drv_owner = drv_owner;

- if (phydev->is_genphy_driven) {
- err = d->driver->probe(d);
- if (err >= 0)
- err = device_bind_driver(d);
-
+ if (bind_genphy) {
+ /*
+ * RTNL is held, and a concurrent bind of a specific driver may
+ * wait for it with the device lock held. Never wait for that
+ * lock, and let the caller retry.
+ */
+ err = device_driver_try_attach(drv, d);
+ if (err == -EBUSY) {
+ /* Another bind owns the PHY, so nothing was probed here. */
+ irq = phydev->irq;
+ err = -EPROBE_DEFER;
+ } else if (err == -EAGAIN) {
+ err = -EPROBE_DEFER;
+ }
if (err)
goto error_module_put;
}
@@ -2071,8 +2082,6 @@ int phy_attach_direct(struct net_device *dev, struct phy_device *phydev,
module_put(phydev->drv_owner);
phydev->drv_owner = NULL;
phydev->irq = irq;
- phydev->is_genphy_driven = 0;
- d->driver = NULL;
error_put_device:
put_device(d);
if (ndev_owner != bus->owner)
@@ -3813,6 +3822,8 @@ static int phy_probe(struct device *dev)
int err = 0;

phydev->drv = phydrv;
+ phydev->is_genphy_driven = phydrv == &genphy_driver ||
+ phydrv == &genphy_c45_driver;

/* Disable the interrupt if the PHY doesn't support it
* but the interrupt is still a valid one
@@ -3949,6 +3960,7 @@ static int phy_probe(struct device *dev)
out_reset:
/* Re-assert the reset signal on error */
phy_device_reset(phydev, 1);
+ phydev->is_genphy_driven = 0;

return err;
}
@@ -3977,6 +3989,7 @@ static int phy_remove(struct device *dev)
phy_device_reset(phydev, 1);

phydev->drv = NULL;
+ phydev->is_genphy_driven = 0;

return 0;
}
diff --git a/include/linux/device.h b/include/linux/device.h
index 429e39f647cf9..4cf62d69eac4f 100644
--- a/include/linux/device.h
+++ b/include/linux/device.h
@@ -1314,6 +1314,8 @@ static inline void *dev_get_platdata(const struct device *dev)
*/
int __must_check device_driver_attach(const struct device_driver *drv,
struct device *dev);
+int __must_check device_driver_try_attach(const struct device_driver *drv,
+ struct device *dev);
int __must_check device_bind_driver(struct device *dev);
void device_release_driver(struct device *dev);
int __must_check device_attach(struct device *dev);

--
2.56.0