linux-kernel - [PATCH v2 2/2] Documentation: Add io

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Message-Id: <20200302183105.27628-3-pragat.pandya@gmail.com>
Date:   Tue,  3 Mar 2020 00:01:05 +0530
From:   Pragat Pandya <pragat.pandya@...il.com>
To:     corbet@....net
Cc:     linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel-mentees@...ts.linuxfoundation.org,
        skhan@...uxfoundation.org, Pragat Pandya <pragat.pandya@...il.com>
Subject: [PATCH v2 2/2] Documentation: Add io_ordering.rst to driver-api manual

Add io_ordering.rst under Documentation/driver-api and reference it from
Sphinx TOC Tree present in Documentation/driver-api/index.rst

Signed-off-by: Pragat Pandya <pragat.pandya@...il.com>
---
 Documentation/driver-api/index.rst       |  1 +
 Documentation/driver-api/io_ordering.rst | 51 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 52 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/driver-api/io_ordering.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
index e9da95004632..9335412e3832 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ available subsections can be seen below.
    isa
    isapnp
    io-mapping
+   io_ordering
    generic-counter
    lightnvm-pblk
    memory-devices/index
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/io_ordering.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/io_ordering.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2ab303ce9a0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/io_ordering.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+==============================================
+Ordering I/O writes to memory-mapped addresses
+==============================================
+
+On some platforms, so-called memory-mapped I/O is weakly ordered.  On such
+platforms, driver writers are responsible for ensuring that I/O writes to
+memory-mapped addresses on their device arrive in the order intended.  This is
+typically done by reading a 'safe' device or bridge register, causing the I/O
+chipset to flush pending writes to the device before any reads are posted.  A
+driver would usually use this technique immediately prior to the exit of a
+critical section of code protected by spinlocks.  This would ensure that
+subsequent writes to I/O space arrived only after all prior writes (much like a
+memory barrier op, mb(), only with respect to I/O).
+
+A more concrete example from a hypothetical device driver::
+
+		...
+	CPU A:  spin_lock_irqsave(&dev_lock, flags)
+	CPU A:  val = readl(my_status);
+	CPU A:  ...
+	CPU A:  writel(newval, ring_ptr);
+	CPU A:  spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev_lock, flags)
+		...
+	CPU B:  spin_lock_irqsave(&dev_lock, flags)
+	CPU B:  val = readl(my_status);
+	CPU B:  ...
+	CPU B:  writel(newval2, ring_ptr);
+	CPU B:  spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev_lock, flags)
+		...
+
+In the case above, the device may receive newval2 before it receives newval,
+which could cause problems.  Fixing it is easy enough though::
+
+		...
+	CPU A:  spin_lock_irqsave(&dev_lock, flags)
+	CPU A:  val = readl(my_status);
+	CPU A:  ...
+	CPU A:  writel(newval, ring_ptr);
+	CPU A:  (void)readl(safe_register); /* maybe a config register? */
+	CPU A:  spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev_lock, flags)
+		...
+	CPU B:  spin_lock_irqsave(&dev_lock, flags)
+	CPU B:  val = readl(my_status);
+	CPU B:  ...
+	CPU B:  writel(newval2, ring_ptr);
+	CPU B:  (void)readl(safe_register); /* maybe a config register? */
+	CPU B:  spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev_lock, flags)
+
+Here, the reads from safe_register will cause the I/O chipset to flush any
+pending writes before actually posting the read to the chipset, preventing
+possible data corruption.
-- 
2.17.1