Message-ID: <20260116204728.725579-2-lyude@redhat.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:41:41 -0500
From: Lyude Paul <lyude@...hat.com>
To: dri-devel@...ts.freedesktop.org,
	nouveau@...ts.freedesktop.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc: rust-for-linux@...r.kernel.org,
	"Miguel Ojeda" <ojeda@...nel.org>,
	"Simona Vetter" <simona@...ll.ch>,
	"Alice Ryhl" <aliceryhl@...gle.com>,
	"Shankari Anand" <shankari.ak0208@...il.com>,
	"David Airlie" <airlied@...il.com>,
	"Benno Lossin" <lossin@...nel.org>,
	"Danilo Krummrich" <dakr@...nel.org>,
	"Asahi Lina" <lina+kernel@...hilina.net>,
	"Atharv Dubey" <atharvd440@...il.com>,
	"Daniel Almeida" <daniel.almeida@...labora.com>,
	"Lyude Paul" <lyude@...hat.com>
Subject: [PATCH v2 1/3] rust/drm: Introduce DeviceContext

One of the tricky things about DRM bindings in Rust is the fact that
initialization of a DRM device is a multi-step process. It's quite normal
for a device driver to start making use of its DRM device for tasks like
creating GEM objects before userspace registration happens. This is an
issue in rust though, since prior to userspace registration the device is
only partly initialized. This means there's a plethora of DRM device
operations we can't yet expose without opening up the door to UB if the DRM
device in question isn't yet registered.

Additionally, this isn't something we can reliably check at runtime. And
even if we could, performing an operation which requires the device be
registered when the device isn't actually registered is a programmer bug,
meaning there's no real way to gracefully handle such a mistake at runtime.
And even if that wasn't the case, it would be horrendously annoying and
noisy to have to check if a device is registered constantly throughout a
driver.

In order to solve this, we first take inspiration from
`kernel::device::DeviceContext` and introduce `kernel::drm::DeviceContext`.
This provides us with a ZST type that we can generalize over to represent
contexts where a device is known to have been registered with userspace at
some point in time (`Registered`), along with contexts where we can't make
such a guarantee (`Uninit`).

It's important to note we intentionally do not provide a `DeviceContext`
which represents an unregistered device. This is because there's no
reasonable way to guarantee that a device with long-living references to
itself will not be registered eventually with userspace. Instead, we
provide a new-type for this: `UnregisteredDevice` which can
provide a guarantee that the `Device` has never been registered with
userspace. To ensure this, we modify `Registration` so that creating a new
`Registration` requires passing ownership of an `UnregisteredDevice`.

Signed-off-by: Lyude Paul <lyude@...hat.com>

---
V2:
* Make sure that `UnregisteredDevice` is not thread-safe (since DRM device
  initialization is also not thread-safe)
* Rename from AnyCtx to Uninit, I think this name actually makes a bit more
  sense.
* Change assume_registered() to assume_ctx()
  Since it looks like in some situations, we'll want to update the
  DeviceContext of a object to the latest DeviceContext we know the Device
  to be in.
* Rename Init to Uninit
  When we eventually add KMS support, we're going to have 3 different
  DeviceContexts - Uninit, Init, Registered. Additionally, aside from not
  being registered there are a number of portions of the rest of the Device
  which also aren't usable before at least the Init context - so the naming
  of Uninit makes this a little clearer.
* s/DeviceContext/DeviceContext/
  For consistency with the rest of the kernel
* Drop as_ref::<Device<T, Uninit>>() for now since I don't actually think
  we need this quite yet

 drivers/gpu/drm/nova/driver.rs |   8 +-
 drivers/gpu/drm/tyr/driver.rs  |  10 +-
 rust/kernel/drm/device.rs      | 172 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
 rust/kernel/drm/driver.rs      |  35 +++++--
 rust/kernel/drm/mod.rs         |   4 +
 5 files changed, 182 insertions(+), 47 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/driver.rs b/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/driver.rs
index b1af0a099551d..99d6841b69cbc 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/driver.rs
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nova/driver.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ pub(crate) struct NovaDriver {
 }
 
 /// Convienence type alias for the DRM device type for this driver
-pub(crate) type NovaDevice = drm::Device<NovaDriver>;
+pub(crate) type NovaDevice<Ctx = drm::Registered> = drm::Device<NovaDriver, Ctx>;
 
 #[pin_data]
 pub(crate) struct NovaData {
@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ impl auxiliary::Driver for NovaDriver {
     fn probe(adev: &auxiliary::Device<Core>, _info: &Self::IdInfo) -> impl PinInit<Self, Error> {
         let data = try_pin_init!(NovaData { adev: adev.into() });
 
-        let drm = drm::Device::<Self>::new(adev.as_ref(), data)?;
-        drm::Registration::new_foreign_owned(&drm, adev.as_ref(), 0)?;
+        let drm = drm::UnregisteredDevice::<Self>::new(adev.as_ref(), data)?;
+        let drm = drm::Registration::new_foreign_owned(drm, adev.as_ref(), 0)?;
 
-        Ok(Self { drm })
+        Ok(Self { drm: drm.into() })
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/tyr/driver.rs b/drivers/gpu/drm/tyr/driver.rs
index f0da589327027..09c3157531072 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/tyr/driver.rs
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/tyr/driver.rs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 pub(crate) type IoMem = kernel::io::mem::IoMem<SZ_2M>;
 
 /// Convenience type alias for the DRM device type for this driver.
-pub(crate) type TyrDevice = drm::Device<TyrDriver>;
+pub(crate) type TyrDevice<Ctx = drm::Registered> = drm::Device<TyrDriver, Ctx>;
 
 #[pin_data(PinnedDrop)]
 pub(crate) struct TyrDriver {
@@ -139,10 +139,12 @@ fn probe(
                 gpu_info,
         });
 
-        let tdev: ARef<TyrDevice> = drm::Device::new(pdev.as_ref(), data)?;
-        drm::driver::Registration::new_foreign_owned(&tdev, pdev.as_ref(), 0)?;
+        let tdev = drm::UnregisteredDevice::<Self>::new(pdev.as_ref(), data)?;
+        let tdev = drm::driver::Registration::new_foreign_owned(tdev, pdev.as_ref(), 0)?;
 
-        let driver = TyrDriver { device: tdev };
+        let driver = TyrDriver {
+            device: tdev.into(),
+        };
 
         // We need this to be dev_info!() because dev_dbg!() does not work at
         // all in Rust for now, and we need to see whether probe succeeded.
diff --git a/rust/kernel/drm/device.rs b/rust/kernel/drm/device.rs
index 3ce8f62a00569..53ca71daf2f86 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/drm/device.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/drm/device.rs
@@ -7,14 +7,20 @@
 use crate::{
     alloc::allocator::Kmalloc,
     bindings, device, drm,
-    drm::driver::AllocImpl,
+    drm::{driver::AllocImpl, private::Sealed},
     error::from_err_ptr,
     error::Result,
     prelude::*,
     sync::aref::{ARef, AlwaysRefCounted},
-    types::Opaque,
+    types::{NotThreadSafe, Opaque},
+};
+use core::{
+    alloc::Layout,
+    marker::PhantomData,
+    mem::{self},
+    ops::Deref,
+    ptr::{self, NonNull},
 };
-use core::{alloc::Layout, mem, ops::Deref, ptr, ptr::NonNull};
 
 #[cfg(CONFIG_DRM_LEGACY)]
 macro_rules! drm_legacy_fields {
@@ -47,26 +53,88 @@ macro_rules! drm_legacy_fields {
     }
 }
 
-/// A typed DRM device with a specific `drm::Driver` implementation.
+macro_rules! drm_dev_ctx {
+    (
+        $( #[$attrs:meta] )*
+        $name:ident
+    ) => {
+        $( #[$attrs] )*
+        pub struct $name;
+
+        impl DeviceContext for $name {}
+        impl Sealed for $name {}
+
+        // SAFETY: All registration states are free of side-effects (e.g. no Drop) and are ZSTs,
+        // thus they are always thread-safe.
+        unsafe impl Send for $name {}
+        // SAFETY: All registration states are free of side-effects (e.g. no Drop) and are ZSTs,
+        // thus they are always thread-safe.
+        unsafe impl Sync for $name {}
+    };
+}
+
+/// A trait implemented by all possible contexts a [`Device`] can be used in.
+pub trait DeviceContext: Sealed + Send + Sync {}
+
+drm_dev_ctx! {
+    /// The [`DeviceContext`] of a [`Device`] that was registered with userspace at some point.
+    ///
+    /// This represents a [`Device`] which is guaranteed to have been registered with userspace at
+    /// some point in time. Such a DRM device is guaranteed to have been fully-initialized.
+    ///
+    /// Note: A device in this context is not guaranteed to remain registered with userspace for its
+    /// entire lifetime, as this is impossible to guarantee at compile-time. However, any
+    /// userspace-dependent operations performed with an unregistered device in this [`DeviceContext`]
+    /// are guaranteed to be no-ops.
+    ///
+    /// # Invariants
+    ///
+    /// A [`Device`] in this [`DeviceContext`] is guaranteed to have called `drm_dev_register` once.
+    Registered
+}
+
+drm_dev_ctx! {
+    /// The [`DeviceContext`] of a [`Device`] that may be unregistered and partly uninitialized.
+    ///
+    /// A [`Device`] in this context is only guaranteed to be partly initialized, and may or may not
+    /// be registered with userspace. Thus operations which depend on the [`Device`] being fully
+    /// initialized, or which depend on the [`Device`] being registered with userspace are not
+    /// available through this [`DeviceContext`].
+    ///
+    /// A [`Device`] in this context can be used to create a
+    /// [`Registration`](drm::driver::Registration).
+    Uninit
+}
+
+/// A [`Device`] which is known at compile-time to be unregistered with userspace.
 ///
-/// The device is always reference-counted.
+/// This type allows performing operations which are only safe to do before userspace registration,
+/// and can be used to create a [`Registration`](drm::driver::Registration) once the driver is ready
+/// to register the device with userspace.
+///
+/// Since DRM device initialization must be single-threaded, this object is not thread-safe.
 ///
 /// # Invariants
 ///
-/// `self.dev` is a valid instance of a `struct device`.
-#[repr(C)]
-pub struct Device<T: drm::Driver> {
-    dev: Opaque<bindings::drm_device>,
-    data: T::Data,
+/// The device in `self.0` is guaranteed to be a newly created [`Device`] that has not yet been
+/// registered with userspace until this type is dropped.
+pub struct UnregisteredDevice<T: drm::Driver>(ARef<Device<T, Uninit>>, NotThreadSafe);
+
+impl<T: drm::Driver> Deref for UnregisteredDevice<T> {
+    type Target = Device<T, Uninit>;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.0
+    }
 }
 
-impl<T: drm::Driver> Device<T> {
+impl<T: drm::Driver> UnregisteredDevice<T> {
     const VTABLE: bindings::drm_driver = drm_legacy_fields! {
         load: None,
         open: Some(drm::File::<T::File>::open_callback),
         postclose: Some(drm::File::<T::File>::postclose_callback),
         unload: None,
-        release: Some(Self::release),
+        release: Some(Device::<T>::release),
         master_set: None,
         master_drop: None,
         debugfs_init: None,
@@ -94,8 +162,10 @@ impl<T: drm::Driver> Device<T> {
 
     const GEM_FOPS: bindings::file_operations = drm::gem::create_fops();
 
-    /// Create a new `drm::Device` for a `drm::Driver`.
-    pub fn new(dev: &device::Device, data: impl PinInit<T::Data, Error>) -> Result<ARef<Self>> {
+    /// Create a new `UnregisteredDevice` for a `drm::Driver`.
+    ///
+    /// This can be used to create a [`Registration`](kernel::drm::Registration).
+    pub fn new(dev: &device::Device, data: impl PinInit<T::Data, Error>) -> Result<Self> {
         // `__drm_dev_alloc` uses `kmalloc()` to allocate memory, hence ensure a `kmalloc()`
         // compatible `Layout`.
         let layout = Kmalloc::aligned_layout(Layout::new::<Self>());
@@ -103,12 +173,12 @@ pub fn new(dev: &device::Device, data: impl PinInit<T::Data, Error>) -> Result<A
         // SAFETY:
         // - `VTABLE`, as a `const` is pinned to the read-only section of the compilation,
         // - `dev` is valid by its type invarants,
-        let raw_drm: *mut Self = unsafe {
+        let raw_drm: *mut Device<T, Uninit> = unsafe {
             bindings::__drm_dev_alloc(
                 dev.as_raw(),
                 &Self::VTABLE,
                 layout.size(),
-                mem::offset_of!(Self, dev),
+                mem::offset_of!(Device<T, Uninit>, dev),
             )
         }
         .cast();
@@ -123,7 +193,7 @@ pub fn new(dev: &device::Device, data: impl PinInit<T::Data, Error>) -> Result<A
         unsafe { data.__pinned_init(raw_data) }.inspect_err(|_| {
             // SAFETY: `raw_drm` is a valid pointer to `Self`, given that `__drm_dev_alloc` was
             // successful.
-            let drm_dev = unsafe { Self::into_drm_device(raw_drm) };
+            let drm_dev = unsafe { Device::into_drm_device(raw_drm) };
 
             // SAFETY: `__drm_dev_alloc()` was successful, hence `drm_dev` must be valid and the
             // refcount must be non-zero.
@@ -132,9 +202,40 @@ pub fn new(dev: &device::Device, data: impl PinInit<T::Data, Error>) -> Result<A
 
         // SAFETY: The reference count is one, and now we take ownership of that reference as a
         // `drm::Device`.
-        Ok(unsafe { ARef::from_raw(raw_drm) })
+        // INVARIANT: We just created the device above, but have yet to call `drm_dev_register`.
+        // `Self` cannot be copied or sent to another thread - ensuring that `drm_dev_register`
+        // won't be called during its lifetime and that the device is unregistered
+        Ok(Self(unsafe { ARef::from_raw(raw_drm) }, NotThreadSafe))
     }
+}
 
+/// A typed DRM device with a specific [`drm::Driver`] implementation and [`DeviceContext`].
+///
+/// Since DRM devices can be used before being fully initialized and registered with userspace, `C`
+/// represents the furthest [`DeviceContext`] we can guarantee that this [`Device`] has reached.
+///
+/// Keep in mind: this means that an unregistered device can still have the registration state
+/// [`Registered`] as long as it was registered with userspace once in the past, and that the
+/// behavior of such a device is still well-defined. In such a situation, the behavior of any
+/// functions which interact with userspace will simply be no-ops. Additionally, a device with the
+/// registration state [`Uninit`] simply does not have a guaranteed registration state at compile
+/// time, and could be either registered or unregistered. Since there is no way to guarantee a
+/// long-lived reference to an unregistered device would remain unregistered, we do not provide a
+/// [`DeviceContext`] for this.
+///
+/// # Invariants
+///
+/// * `self.dev` is a valid instance of a `struct device`.
+/// * The data layout of `Self` remains the same across all implementations of `C`.
+/// * Any invariants for `C` also apply.
+#[repr(C)]
+pub struct Device<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext = Registered> {
+    dev: Opaque<bindings::drm_device>,
+    data: T::Data,
+    _ctx: PhantomData<C>,
+}
+
+impl<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext> Device<T, C> {
     pub(crate) fn as_raw(&self) -> *mut bindings::drm_device {
         self.dev.get()
     }
@@ -160,13 +261,13 @@ unsafe fn into_drm_device(ptr: NonNull<Self>) -> *mut bindings::drm_device {
     ///
     /// # Safety
     ///
-    /// Callers must ensure that `ptr` is valid, non-null, and has a non-zero reference count,
-    /// i.e. it must be ensured that the reference count of the C `struct drm_device` `ptr` points
-    /// to can't drop to zero, for the duration of this function call and the entire duration when
-    /// the returned reference exists.
-    ///
-    /// Additionally, callers must ensure that the `struct device`, `ptr` is pointing to, is
-    /// embedded in `Self`.
+    /// * Callers must ensure that `ptr` is valid, non-null, and has a non-zero reference count,
+    ///   i.e. it must be ensured that the reference count of the C `struct drm_device` `ptr` points
+    ///   to can't drop to zero, for the duration of this function call and the entire duration when
+    ///   the returned reference exists.
+    /// * Additionally, callers must ensure that the `struct device`, `ptr` is pointing to, is
+    ///   embedded in `Self`.
+    /// * Callers promise that any type invariants of `C` will be upheld.
     #[doc(hidden)]
     pub unsafe fn from_raw<'a>(ptr: *const bindings::drm_device) -> &'a Self {
         // SAFETY: By the safety requirements of this function `ptr` is a valid pointer to a
@@ -186,9 +287,20 @@ extern "C" fn release(ptr: *mut bindings::drm_device) {
         // - `this` is valid for dropping.
         unsafe { core::ptr::drop_in_place(this) };
     }
+
+    /// Change the [`DeviceContext`] for a [`Device`].
+    ///
+    /// # Safety
+    ///
+    /// The caller promises that `self` fulfills all of the guarantees provided by the given
+    /// [`DeviceContext`].
+    pub(crate) unsafe fn assume_ctx<NewCtx: DeviceContext>(&self) -> &Device<T, NewCtx> {
+        // SAFETY: The data layout is identical via our type invariants.
+        unsafe { mem::transmute(self) }
+    }
 }
 
-impl<T: drm::Driver> Deref for Device<T> {
+impl<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext> Deref for Device<T, C> {
     type Target = T::Data;
 
     fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
@@ -198,7 +310,7 @@ fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
 
 // SAFETY: DRM device objects are always reference counted and the get/put functions
 // satisfy the requirements.
-unsafe impl<T: drm::Driver> AlwaysRefCounted for Device<T> {
+unsafe impl<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext> AlwaysRefCounted for Device<T, C> {
     fn inc_ref(&self) {
         // SAFETY: The existence of a shared reference guarantees that the refcount is non-zero.
         unsafe { bindings::drm_dev_get(self.as_raw()) };
@@ -213,7 +325,7 @@ unsafe fn dec_ref(obj: NonNull<Self>) {
     }
 }
 
-impl<T: drm::Driver> AsRef<device::Device> for Device<T> {
+impl<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext> AsRef<device::Device> for Device<T, C> {
     fn as_ref(&self) -> &device::Device {
         // SAFETY: `bindings::drm_device::dev` is valid as long as the DRM device itself is valid,
         // which is guaranteed by the type invariant.
@@ -222,8 +334,8 @@ fn as_ref(&self) -> &device::Device {
 }
 
 // SAFETY: A `drm::Device` can be released from any thread.
-unsafe impl<T: drm::Driver> Send for Device<T> {}
+unsafe impl<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext> Send for Device<T, C> {}
 
 // SAFETY: A `drm::Device` can be shared among threads because all immutable methods are protected
 // by the synchronization in `struct drm_device`.
-unsafe impl<T: drm::Driver> Sync for Device<T> {}
+unsafe impl<T: drm::Driver, C: DeviceContext> Sync for Device<T, C> {}
diff --git a/rust/kernel/drm/driver.rs b/rust/kernel/drm/driver.rs
index f30ee4c6245cd..fb4f215320bd9 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/drm/driver.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/drm/driver.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     prelude::*,
     sync::aref::ARef,
 };
+use core::{mem, ptr::NonNull};
 use macros::vtable;
 
 /// Driver use the GEM memory manager. This should be set for all modern drivers.
@@ -122,30 +123,46 @@ pub trait Driver {
 
 impl<T: Driver> Registration<T> {
     /// Creates a new [`Registration`] and registers it.
-    fn new(drm: &drm::Device<T>, flags: usize) -> Result<Self> {
+    fn new(drm: drm::UnregisteredDevice<T>, flags: usize) -> Result<Self> {
         // SAFETY: `drm.as_raw()` is valid by the invariants of `drm::Device`.
         to_result(unsafe { bindings::drm_dev_register(drm.as_raw(), flags) })?;
 
-        Ok(Self(drm.into()))
+        // SAFETY: We just called `drm_dev_register` above
+        let new = NonNull::from(unsafe { drm.assume_ctx() });
+
+        // Leak the ARef from UnregisteredDevice in preparation for transferring its ownership.
+        mem::forget(drm);
+
+        // SAFETY: `drm`'s `Drop` constructor was never called, ensuring that there remains at least
+        // one reference to the device - which we take ownership over here.
+        let new = unsafe { ARef::from_raw(new) };
+
+        Ok(Self(new))
     }
 
-    /// Same as [`Registration::new`}, but transfers ownership of the [`Registration`] to
+    /// Same as [`Registration::new`], but transfers ownership of the [`Registration`] to
     /// [`devres::register`].
-    pub fn new_foreign_owned(
-        drm: &drm::Device<T>,
-        dev: &device::Device<device::Bound>,
+    pub fn new_foreign_owned<'a>(
+        drm: drm::UnregisteredDevice<T>,
+        dev: &'a device::Device<device::Bound>,
         flags: usize,
-    ) -> Result
+    ) -> Result<&'a drm::Device<T>>
     where
         T: 'static,
     {
-        if drm.as_ref().as_raw() != dev.as_raw() {
+        let this_dev: &device::Device = drm.as_ref();
+        if this_dev.as_raw() != dev.as_raw() {
             return Err(EINVAL);
         }
 
         let reg = Registration::<T>::new(drm, flags)?;
+        let drm = NonNull::from(reg.device());
+
+        devres::register(dev, reg, GFP_KERNEL)?;
 
-        devres::register(dev, reg, GFP_KERNEL)
+        // SAFETY: Since `reg` was passed to devres::register(), the device now owns the lifetime
+        // of the DRM registration - ensuring that this references lives for at least as long as 'a.
+        Ok(unsafe { drm.as_ref() })
     }
 
     /// Returns a reference to the `Device` instance for this registration.
diff --git a/rust/kernel/drm/mod.rs b/rust/kernel/drm/mod.rs
index 1b82b6945edf2..64a43cb0fe57c 100644
--- a/rust/kernel/drm/mod.rs
+++ b/rust/kernel/drm/mod.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
 pub mod ioctl;
 
 pub use self::device::Device;
+pub use self::device::DeviceContext;
+pub use self::device::Registered;
+pub use self::device::Uninit;
+pub use self::device::UnregisteredDevice;
 pub use self::driver::Driver;
 pub use self::driver::DriverInfo;
 pub use self::driver::Registration;
-- 
2.52.0

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