linux-kernel - Re: [RFC PATCH 1/2] iio: core: implement iio_{claim|release}_direct

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Message-ID: <56E08637.7050205@kernel.org>
Date:	Wed, 9 Mar 2016 20:23:19 +0000
From:	Jonathan Cameron <jic23@...nel.org>
To:	Alison Schofield <amsfield22@...il.com>
Cc:	Lars-Peter Clausen <lars@...afoo.de>,
	outreachy-kernel@...glegroups.com, knaack.h@....de,
	pmeerw@...erw.net, linux-iio@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Michael.Hennerich@...log.com,
	gregkh@...uxfoundation.org, devel@...verdev.osuosl.org
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 1/2] iio: core: implement
 iio_{claim|release}_direct_mode()

On 09/03/16 20:06, Alison Schofield wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 05, 2016 at 06:02:36PM +0000, Jonathan Cameron wrote:
>> On 02/03/16 13:28, Lars-Peter Clausen wrote:
>>> On 03/01/2016 08:02 PM, Alison Schofield wrote:
>>>> It is often the case that the driver wants to be sure a device stays
>>>> in direct mode while it is executing a task or series of tasks.  To
>>>> accomplish this today, the driver performs this sequence: 1) take the
>>>> device state lock, 2)verify it is not in a buffered mode, 3) execute
>>>> some tasks, and 4) release that lock.
>>>>
>>>> This patch introduces a pair of helper functions that simplify these
>>>> steps and make it more semantically expressive.
>>>>
>>>> iio_claim_direct_mode()
>>>>         If the device is not in any buffered mode it is guaranteed
>>>>         to stay that way until iio_release_direct_mode() is called.
>>>>
>>>> iio_release_direct_mode()
>>>>         Release the claim. Device is no longer guaranteed to stay
>>>>         in direct mode.
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Alison Schofield <amsfield22@...il.com>
>>>
>>> Looks basically good.
>> Agreed - nothing to add from me to what Lars has covered here.
>> Nice to 'hide' the accesses to mlock as well as will cut out the desire
>> to 'abuse it'.  Amusingly we only just 'fixed' the docs to to say this
>> element of iio_dev was usable by drivers.  Once we have these new functions
>> in use throughout the tree, we will want to flip that back again to internal
>> only.
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
> Thanks for the review (& Lars too)  
> 
> Thinking about your note about flipping the mlock field back to
> INTERNAL (from DRIVER), this change, even when it's applied to
> all relevant instances, doesn't get us all the way there.
> 
> While these claim/release functions will remove direct access to mlock
> where a driver wants to hold direct mode, the drivers are grabbing
> mlock for other reasons also.  (too many reasons/instances for me to
> quickly understand or summarize)  
> 
> I'm willing to look at it further and comment if that's helpful.
It would certainly be interesting to evaluate this.  I suspect that most
are either in some obscure way connected to the mode or are 'misusing'
the lock for more general purposes where a driver specific lock would make
more sense.

Jonathan
> 
> alisons
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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