netdev - Re: [PATCH 2/3] x86_64: Define 128-bit memory-mapped I/O operations

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Date:	Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:51:10 -0700
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
Cc:	Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@...arflare.com>,
	David Laight <David.Laight@...lab.com>,
	Benjamin LaHaise <bcrl@...ck.org>,
	David Miller <davem@...emloft.net>, tglx@...utronix.de,
	mingo@...hat.com, netdev@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-net-drivers@...arflare.com, x86@...nel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/3] x86_64: Define 128-bit memory-mapped I/O operations

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 8:54 AM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa@...or.com> wrote:
>
> Sorry, you fail.  There are definitely systems in the field where readq()
> and writeq() are implemented, because the CPU supports them, where the
> fabric does not guarantee they are intact.

Indeed.

It's unlikely to be an issue with a PCIe driver, though. I'm pretty
sure you can rely on 64-bit transfers there, especially with a CPU
that is modern enough to run 64-bit mode.

That said, even with PCIe, I wonder if older CPU's (think Intel with a
front-side bus, rather than PCIe on die) necessarily always do 128-bit
writes. The FSB is just 64 bits wide, and I could *imagine* that a
PCIe chipset behind the FSB might end up just always generating at
most 64-bit PCIe transactions for host accesses just because that
would be "natural".

Sounds unlikely, but hey, hardware sometimes does odd things.

             Linus
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