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Date:      Wed, 5 Mar 2014 18:02:58 -0700
From:      Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>
To:        Patrick Kelsey <kelsey@ieee.org>
Cc:        "freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org" <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, freebsd-arm <freebsd-arm@freebsd.org>, freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org, Ian Lepore <ian@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: [PATCH] simplebus child device probe order control via FDT (motivated by BeagleBone Black)
Message-ID:  <899B9ABD-0ACC-49F2-9520-CCE837D39875@bsdimp.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAD44qMU6ksf7Z_QmX853=bRdEQQu-oxTkx9-uAbms0F6E%2Bahgg@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAD44qMUyqzaFtjgXdgThgHcHjPctx-oZAdhvHp4Kf0G7N4HVog@mail.gmail.com> <7C2B7036-51CC-4C97-80C4-0A439874357D@bsdimp.com> <CAD44qMXe8bh0cR60tm8%2BLZ9W3WhJDuGX6xz9FLNHrzmXNd5FDQ@mail.gmail.com> <1393939277.1149.300.camel@revolution.hippie.lan> <CAD44qMWLox0yY1-%2B2bn4dQ=z0jWKow95b=mnCJEkwmSiSipf4g@mail.gmail.com> <438620C4-7712-4B01-A46F-CB57946A30BF@bsdimp.com> <CAD44qMWNGPY70NMkTWoWcMTf1pywhSPGdbJpmbxxSxEdENSOJQ@mail.gmail.com> <16A5203B-B06D-4129-A54F-F34D5FA28D2B@bsdimp.com> <CAD44qMU46nqsw155qqKs7DrxXqawURgaUVEAaetzDExYM2LhYg@mail.gmail.com> <39ED4040-2A6A-4D85-97D5-DCDE4ECCA0EC@bsdimp.com> <CAD44qMU6ksf7Z_QmX853=bRdEQQu-oxTkx9-uAbms0F6E%2Bahgg@mail.gmail.com>

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On Mar 5, 2014, at 5:53 PM, Patrick Kelsey <kelsey@ieee.org> wrote:

>=20
>=20
>=20
> On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 5:44 PM, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> wrote:
>=20
> On Mar 5, 2014, at 2:56 PM, Patrick Kelsey <kelsey@ieee.org> wrote:
>=20
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 4:24 PM, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Mar 5, 2014, at 11:55 AM, Patrick Kelsey <kelsey@ieee.org> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 8:31 AM, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> =
wrote:
> > >
> > > On Mar 4, 2014, at 11:53 PM, Patrick Kelsey <kelsey@ieee.org> =
wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 8:21 AM, Ian Lepore <ian@freebsd.org> =
wrote:
> > > >
> > > > There's a standard property for mmc/sd devices, "non-removable" =
whose
> > > > presence denotes things like soldered-on eMMC parts.  Only one =
of our
> > > > many sdhci drivers supports it right now (imx).  In general the =
core
> > > > part of the driver (dev/sdhci) doesn't have good support for
> > > > insert/remove/presence detection that's handled off to the side =
(whether
> > > > it's non-removable or a gpio pin).
> > > >
> > > > That alone doesn't solve the wider problem, though, which I =
think breaks
> > > > down into two pieces.  Let's say you've got two slots, call them =
left
> > > > and right.  You end up with these two problems...
> > > >
> > > >       * Sometimes the right slot is mmcsd0, but it turns into =
mmcsd1 if
> > > >         there's a card in the left slot when I boot; I don't =
want it to
> > > >         change.
> > > >
> > > > And not just a boot-time issue, of course.  If you were to =
remove those two cards and then reinsert them in the opposite =
time-order, their device names would swap.
> > > >
> > > >       * I want the slot on the left to be named '1' and the =
right to be
> > > >         '0'.
> > > >
> > > > The first problem is easily solved without impacting dts in any =
way.  We
> > > > just wire down the relationship controllerN -> mmcN -> mmcsdN.  =
This is
> > > > exactly equivelent to the old ATA_STATIC_ID option in its effect =
-- you
> > > > don't get to choose the names, but you know they won't change =
based on
> > > > which devices are present.  It could be controlled with a =
tunable.
> > > >
> > > > It's harder to envision the fix for the second part without =
adding an
> > > > ad-hoc property for the devices.  Even with a property I'm not =
sure how
> > > > easy it would be.
> > > >
> > > > We should be able to assign a geographic address =
(controllerX:slotY) to each mmcsd device in a given system (let's ignore =
for now the theoretical possibility of multiple cards on one bus).  The =
'controllerX' part of the address could be the controller's pathname =
from the devicetree, or an index assigned by mmcbr machinery at attach =
time.  The "slotY" part of the address is assigned by the specific =
controller device driver using some internally-determined fixed mapping =
between the assigned values and its physical slots.  This geographic =
address could be used to create an additional set of /dev entries with =
stable names.  There could be a mechanism for user-configurable aliases =
for the geographical addresses.
> > >
> > > There=92s already a chance to run a script when a device is =
attached that can create /dev/slot0 or /dev/slot1 that has geographical =
information available to it. People use ddvd for this in the USB world =
all the time to make sure that tty devices get a symlink based on their =
location or serial number.
> > >
> > > Why is mmc so different it needs its own mechanism?
> > >
> > > I'm laying out my view of the information that would be needed and =
the types of actions that would have to be taken based on that =
information to solve the issue.  I'm not saying devd can't be the piece =
that is used to implement the actions (indeed, I noted devd as a =
potential building block for a solution in my initial response).  I'm =
also not saying mmc needs its own mechanism, I'm saying it needs /a/ =
mechanism, and so far there still seems to be something missing (because =
it's not there, or I'm still ignorant of it).
> > >
> > > What seems to be missing is geographical addressing for mmc =
devices.
> > >
> > > I think what you might be saying is that the existing mmcsd =
add/remove code could be augmented to send devctl notifications, along =
the lines of:
> > >
> > > devctl_notify("MMC", "DEVICE", "ATTACH"|"DETACH", "... =
controller=3D<controller_device_name_or_better_yet_devicetree_path> =
slot=3D<slot_number> rca=3D<rca>")
> > >
> > > and then I and the fine author of devctl and devd would be =
pleased.
> >
> > MMC doesn=92t need anything special here. That=92s already present. =
Looking at the device tree we see on one of the platforms that=92s handy =
for me to access:
> >
> >     at91_mci0
> >       mmc0
> >         mmcsd0 at rca=3D0xb368
> >
> > So you know that mmcsd0 is on mmc0 bus attached to at91_mci0, which =
is ultimately the FDT node where things came from. There=92s not a =
user-defined slot associated with this (and we should have a SLOT A vs =
SLOT B as a location info for this platform, because we can have two =
cards on the one bus in the MMC case), true, but for your use case I =
don=92t think that you need it. We should be attaching the host =
controller regardless of whether the or not there=92s a card in there, =
so it will be fixed. While some additional information would be useful =
to publish, I don=92t think your use case requires it=85
> >
> >
> > The reason you need something extra here is that what is there now =
breaks down whenever you don't have a one-to-one mapping between =
controllers and buses.  Any controller with more than one slot can yield =
something of the form:
> >
> > sdhci0
> >   mmc0
> >     mmcsd0 at rca=3D0xabcd
> >   mmc1
> >     mmcsd1 at rca=3D0x1234
> >
> > and you have no idea what physical slot in the system mmcsd0 and =
mmcsd1 are in.
>=20
> The driver isn=92t going to be able to help you, because it reports =
mmc0 based on the data it gets from slot 0 status registers, and mmc1 =
based on slot 1 status registers. Since there=92s no notion of how that =
maps to physical hardware, the driver can=92t do anything automatically. =
And since mmc on down is populated by FreeSBD, there=92s no hints in the =
FDT tree for them.
>=20
>=20
> > For my immediate use case, sure, I can rely on the one-to-one =
relationship between controllers and buses.  At this point, though, =
rather than skate by on that happy coincidence, I'd rather invest what =
now seems to be a rather small amount of effort adding mmcsd devctl =
notifications that would cover the multiple-slots-per-controller case as =
well, and then build the rest of what I want on top of that information =
coming out of ddvd.
>=20
> Trouble is, how do we know what to send with this new notification. =
That=92s the part I=92m having trouble with. Where does that data come =
from? And how is it different than what=92s in the device tree?
>=20
>=20
> Each controller driver maintains an instance of struct mmc_host for =
each physical bus interface (typically referred to as a 'slot' in the  =
drivers) it has.  When a card is detected in a given slot by the driver, =
the driver creates an mmc bus instance and attaches the struct mmc_host =
corresponding to that slot to provide the ivar values.  So let's say =
struct mmc_host gets a new member 'slot_number', and a new ivar =
MMC_IVAR_SLOT_NUMBER is defined.  The slot number in each instance of =
struct mmc_host a driver maintains gets set to a controller-relative =
index of the corresponding physical interface - the controller will do =
this the same way every time, because it is tied to the register layout =
of the controller.
>=20
> After the mmc bus instance is created and its ivars are set, =
probe-and-attach is run on that bus, and an mmcsd device instance is =
created for each card that is found.  At the point where the mmcsd =
device instance is created, one knows the parent bus for that new mmcsd =
device, and thus one can get the value of MMC_IVAR_SLOT_NUMBER for that =
bus, as well as the name of the controller device instance that is the =
parent of the parent bus.  It thus possible at that point to=20
>=20
> devctl_notify("MMC", "DEVICE", "ATTACH", "... =
controller=3D<controller_instance_name> =
slot=3D<value-of-MMC_IVAR_SLOT_NUMBER> ")
>=20
> Because the controller attachment order is the same on every boot, as =
is the slot number ivar for a given bus interface on each controller =
hardware instance, an identical attach message will be generated every =
time a card is discovered in that physical location in the system.  For =
a given system, there will thus be a fixed mapping between =
{controller_instance,slot} tuples that appear in these messages and the =
physical MMC/SD device locations.

I=92m curious how that=92s materially different than the parent=92s mmc =
instance number. That too is invariant between boots. There=92s a 1:1 - =
onto mapping between this instance number and any controller/slot tuple =
that would be created.

Also, there doesn=92t need to be a special MMC message for this. If we =
do create the notion of a slot number per controller, that would be part =
of the location information that is in the location string for the =
normal attach message.

> In the above, I've left out the value of rca from the discussion =
because upon further reflection, it cannot be stably tied to a physical =
location.  If there is a multidrop MMC bus in a system, the physical =
card locations on that bus will not be able to be referred to with =
stable names.  This is the one area where a new property in the FDT =
could be useful to convey multidrop-or-not for each bus interface on a =
controller.  The new property could be 'freebsd,max-devices' and would =
be an array of cells that indicates the maximum number of MMC/SD devices =
that can be connected to the controller bus interface corresponding to =
that cell index.  The devctl notification could then include a multidrop =
indicator in the message.

rca is more of a serial number than a location number. Useful for other =
reasons.

I=92m not sure how =91freebsd,max-devices=92 would solve the problem. =
The controller already knows that. If we really want to tie things to a =
physical location/ description, I=92d opt for something more like =
=91freebsd,slot-names =3D =93Slot 0=94, =93Slot 1=94;=92 type of thing, =
where you could just as easily have =93Top Card=94 =93bottom card=94 or =
=93boot card=94 and =93customer card=94 if you wanted. Then the =
controller could query this property to get the names to populate =
somewhere in the PNP info for this device. The mmcsd driver would then =
be free to also create a /dev/Blah alias as well for the disk, but I =
don=92t know if that would cause aliases to get created for all the geom =
children or not...

> > On the at91 platform cited above, that allows you to connect two MMC =
cards to the same bus (i.e., multidrop configuration), is there any way =
to distinguish which card is in which physical slot?  I'm still under =
the impression that this is the one case where we aren't going to be =
able to determine the physical location of every mmcsd device.
>=20
> Actually, there=92s two different configurations, I believe. One that =
supports two SD cards (SLOT A / SLOT B) and one that supports MMC multi =
drop. The former has been tested at least once, while the latter I don=92t=
 think had ever been checked.
>=20
> I think MMC multidrop will remain a limitation, and perhaps an =
insignificant one (does *anyone* know of a current system that does =
this?).

I=92ve never heard of anybody trying this and having it fail in the past =
8 or so years since I wrote the SD/MMC stack. At the time I wrote it, it =
was already ancient history=85

Warner=



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