linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v7 3/6] rust: io: factor common I/O helpers into Io trait

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Message-ID: <20251124120846.267078e5.zhiw@nvidia.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2025 12:08:46 +0200
From: Zhi Wang <zhiw@...dia.com>
To: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@...gle.com>
CC: <rust-for-linux@...r.kernel.org>, <linux-pci@...r.kernel.org>,
	<linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, <dakr@...nel.org>, <bhelgaas@...gle.com>,
	<kwilczynski@...nel.org>, <ojeda@...nel.org>, <alex.gaynor@...il.com>,
	<boqun.feng@...il.com>, <gary@...yguo.net>, <bjorn3_gh@...tonmail.com>,
	<lossin@...nel.org>, <a.hindborg@...nel.org>, <tmgross@...ch.edu>,
	<markus.probst@...teo.de>, <helgaas@...nel.org>, <cjia@...dia.com>,
	<smitra@...dia.com>, <ankita@...dia.com>, <aniketa@...dia.com>,
	<kwankhede@...dia.com>, <targupta@...dia.com>, <acourbot@...dia.com>,
	<joelagnelf@...dia.com>, <jhubbard@...dia.com>, <zhiwang@...nel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v7 3/6] rust: io: factor common I/O helpers into Io
 trait

On Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:20:13 +0000
Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@...gle.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 01:21:13PM +0200, Zhi Wang wrote:
> > The previous Io<SIZE> type combined both the generic I/O access
> > helpers and MMIO implementation details in a single struct.
> > 
> > To establish a cleaner layering between the I/O interface and its
> > concrete backends, paving the way for supporting additional I/O
> > mechanisms in the future, Io<SIZE> need to be factored.
> > 
> > Factor the common helpers into new {Io, Io64} traits, and move the
> > MMIO-specific logic into a dedicated Mmio<SIZE> type implementing
> > that trait. Rename the IoRaw to MmioRaw and update the bus MMIO
> > implementations to use MmioRaw.
> > 
> > No functional change intended.
> > 
> > Cc: Alexandre Courbot <acourbot@...dia.com>
> > Cc: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@...gle.com>
> > Cc: Bjorn Helgaas <helgaas@...nel.org>
> > Cc: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@...nel.org>
> > Cc: John Hubbard <jhubbard@...dia.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Zhi Wang <zhiw@...dia.com>
> 
> I said this on a previous version, but I still don't buy the split
> into IoFallible and IoInfallible.
> 
> For one, we're never going to have a method that can accept any Io -
> we will always want to accept either IoInfallible or IoFallible, so
> the base Io trait serves no purpose.
> 
> For another, the docs explain that the distinction between them is
> whether the bounds check is done at compile-time or runtime. That is
> not the kind of capability one normally uses different traits to
> distinguish between. It makes sense to have additional traits to
> distinguish between e.g.:
> 
> * Whether IO ops can fail for reasons *other* than bounds checks.
> * Whether 64-bit IO ops are possible.
> 
> Well ... I guess one could distinguish between whether it's possible
> to check bounds at compile-time at all. But if you can check them at
> compile-time, it should always be possible to check at runtime too, so
> one should be a sub-trait of the other if you want to distinguish
> them. (And then a trait name of KnownSizeIo would be more idiomatic.)
> 

Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback. Agree with the points. Let's
keep the IoFallible and IoInfallible traits but not just tie them to the
bound checks in the docs.

> And I'm not really convinced that the current compile-time checked
> traits are a good idea at all. See:
> https://lore.kernel.org/all/DEEEZRYSYSS0.28PPK371D100F@nvidia.com/
> 
> If we want to have a compile-time checked trait, then the idiomatic
> way to do that in Rust would be to have a new integer type that's
> guaranteed to only contain integers <= the size. For example, the
> Bounded integer being added elsewhere.
> 

Oops, this is a interesting bug. :) I think we can apply the bound
integer to IoFallible and IoInfallible to avoid possible problems
mentioned above. E.g. constructing a Bounded interger when constructing
Mmio and ConfigSpace objects and use them in the boundary checks in the
trait methods.

I saw Alex had already had an implementation of Bounded integer [1] in
rust-next. While my patchset is against driver-core-testing
branch. Would it be OK that we move on without it and switch to Bounded
integer when it is landed to driver-core-testing? I am open to
suggestions. :)

Z.

[1]
https://lore.kernel.org/all/CANiq72nV1zwoCCcHuizdfqWF=e8hvd6RO1CBXTEt73eqe4ayaA@mail.gmail.com/
> Alice