Re: Tearing down DMA transfer setup after DMA client has finished

2 messages, 2 authors, 2016-11-24 · open the first message on its own page

Re: Tearing down DMA transfer setup after DMA client has finished

From: Måns Rullgård <hidden>
Date: 2016-11-23 17:21:54

Mason [off-list ref] writes:
On 23/11/2016 13:13, M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
quoted
Mason wrote:
quoted
On my platform, setting up a DMA transfer is a two-step process:

1) configure the "switch box" to connect a device to a memory channel
2) configure the transfer details (address, size, command)

When the transfer is done, the sbox setup can be torn down,
and the DMA driver can start another transfer.

The current software architecture for my NFC (NAND Flash controller)
driver is as follows (for one DMA transfer).

  sg_init_one
  dma_map_sg
  dmaengine_prep_slave_sg
  dmaengine_submit
  dma_async_issue_pending
  configure_NFC_transfer
  wait_for_IRQ_from_DMA_engine // via DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT
  wait_for_NFC_idle
  dma_unmap_sg

The problem is that the DMA driver tears down the sbox setup
as soon as it receives the IRQ. However, when writing to the
device, the interrupt only means "I have pushed all data from
memory to the memory channel". These data have not reached
the device yet, and may still be "in flight". Thus the sbox
setup can only be torn down after the NFC is idle.

How do I call back into the DMA driver after wait_for_NFC_idle,
to request sbox tear down?

The new architecture would become:

  sg_init_one
  dma_map_sg
  dmaengine_prep_slave_sg
  dmaengine_submit
  dma_async_issue_pending
  configure_NFC_transfer
  wait_for_IRQ_from_DMA_engine // via DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT
  wait_for_NFC_idle
  request_sbox_tear_down /*** HOW TO DO THAT ***/
  dma_unmap_sg

As far as I can tell, my NFC driver should call dmaengine_synchronize ??
(In other words request_sbox_tear_down == dmaengine_synchronize)

So the DMA driver should implement the device_synchronize hook,
and tear the sbox down in that function.

Is that correct? Or am I on the wrong track?
dmaengine_synchronize() is not meant for this.  See the documentation:

/**
 * dmaengine_synchronize() - Synchronize DMA channel termination
 * @chan: The channel to synchronize
 *
 * Synchronizes to the DMA channel termination to the current context. When this
 * function returns it is guaranteed that all transfers for previously issued
 * descriptors have stopped and and it is safe to free the memory assoicated
 * with them. Furthermore it is guaranteed that all complete callback functions
 * for a previously submitted descriptor have finished running and it is safe to
 * free resources accessed from within the complete callbacks.
 *
 * The behavior of this function is undefined if dma_async_issue_pending() has
 * been called between dmaengine_terminate_async() and this function.
 *
 * This function must only be called from non-atomic context and must not be
 * called from within a complete callback of a descriptor submitted on the same
 * channel.
 */

This is for use after a dmaengine_terminate_async() call to wait for the
dma engine to finish whatever it was doing.  This is not the problem
here.  Your problem is that the dma engine interrupt fires before the
transfer is actually complete.  Although you get an indication from the
target device when it has received all the data, there is no way to make
the dma driver wait for this.
Hello Mans,

I'm confused. Are you saying there is no solution to my problem
within the existing DMA framework?

In its current form, the tangox-dma.c driver will fail randomly
for writes to a device (SATA, NFC).

Maybe an extra hook can be added to the DMA framework?

I'd like to hear from the framework's maintainers. Perhaps they
can provide some guidance.
You could have the dma descriptor callback wait for the receiving device
to finish.  Bear in mind this runs from a tasklet, so it's not allowed
to sleep.

-- 
M?ns Rullg?rd

Re: Tearing down DMA transfer setup after DMA client has finished

From: Mason <hidden>
Date: 2016-11-24 10:54:10

On 23/11/2016 18:21, M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
Mason writes:
quoted
On 23/11/2016 13:13, M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
quoted
Mason wrote:
quoted
On my platform, setting up a DMA transfer is a two-step process:

1) configure the "switch box" to connect a device to a memory channel
2) configure the transfer details (address, size, command)

When the transfer is done, the sbox setup can be torn down,
and the DMA driver can start another transfer.

The current software architecture for my NFC (NAND Flash controller)
driver is as follows (for one DMA transfer).

  sg_init_one
  dma_map_sg
  dmaengine_prep_slave_sg
  dmaengine_submit
  dma_async_issue_pending
  configure_NFC_transfer
  wait_for_IRQ_from_DMA_engine // via DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT
  wait_for_NFC_idle
  dma_unmap_sg

The problem is that the DMA driver tears down the sbox setup
as soon as it receives the IRQ. However, when writing to the
device, the interrupt only means "I have pushed all data from
memory to the memory channel". These data have not reached
the device yet, and may still be "in flight". Thus the sbox
setup can only be torn down after the NFC is idle.

How do I call back into the DMA driver after wait_for_NFC_idle,
to request sbox tear down?

The new architecture would become:

  sg_init_one
  dma_map_sg
  dmaengine_prep_slave_sg
  dmaengine_submit
  dma_async_issue_pending
  configure_NFC_transfer
  wait_for_IRQ_from_DMA_engine // via DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT
  wait_for_NFC_idle
  request_sbox_tear_down /*** HOW TO DO THAT ***/
  dma_unmap_sg

As far as I can tell, my NFC driver should call dmaengine_synchronize ??
(In other words request_sbox_tear_down == dmaengine_synchronize)

So the DMA driver should implement the device_synchronize hook,
and tear the sbox down in that function.

Is that correct? Or am I on the wrong track?
dmaengine_synchronize() is not meant for this.  See the documentation:

/**
 * dmaengine_synchronize() - Synchronize DMA channel termination
 * @chan: The channel to synchronize
 *
 * Synchronizes to the DMA channel termination to the current context. When this
 * function returns it is guaranteed that all transfers for previously issued
 * descriptors have stopped and and it is safe to free the memory assoicated
 * with them. Furthermore it is guaranteed that all complete callback functions
 * for a previously submitted descriptor have finished running and it is safe to
 * free resources accessed from within the complete callbacks.
 *
 * The behavior of this function is undefined if dma_async_issue_pending() has
 * been called between dmaengine_terminate_async() and this function.
 *
 * This function must only be called from non-atomic context and must not be
 * called from within a complete callback of a descriptor submitted on the same
 * channel.
 */

This is for use after a dmaengine_terminate_async() call to wait for the
dma engine to finish whatever it was doing.  This is not the problem
here.  Your problem is that the dma engine interrupt fires before the
transfer is actually complete.  Although you get an indication from the
target device when it has received all the data, there is no way to make
the dma driver wait for this.
Hello Mans,

I'm confused. Are you saying there is no solution to my problem
within the existing DMA framework?

In its current form, the tangox-dma.c driver will fail randomly
for writes to a device (SATA, NFC).

Maybe an extra hook can be added to the DMA framework?

I'd like to hear from the framework's maintainers. Perhaps they
can provide some guidance.
You could have the dma descriptor callback wait for the receiving device
to finish.  Bear in mind this runs from a tasklet, so it's not allowed
to sleep.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think it works :-(

This is my DMA desc callback:

static void tango_dma_callback(void *arg)
{
	printk("%s from %pf\n", __func__, __builtin_return_address(0));
	mdelay(10000);
	printk("DONE FAKE SPINNING\n");
	complete(arg);
}

I also added
    printk("%s from %pf\n", __func__, __builtin_return_address(0));
after tangox_dma_pchan_detach(pchan);

And I get this output:

[   35.085854] SETUP DMA
[   35.088272] START NAND TRANSFER
[   35.091670] tangox_dma_pchan_start from tangox_dma_irq
[   35.096882] tango_dma_callback from vchan_complete
[   45.102513] DONE FAKE SPINNING

So the IRQ rolls in, the ISR calls tangox_dma_pchan_start,
which calls tangox_dma_pchan_detach to tear down the sbox
setup; and only sometime later does the DMA framework call
my callback function.

So far, the work-arounds I've tested are:

1) delay sbox tear-down by 10 ?s in tangox_dma_pchan_detach.
2) statically setup sbox in probe, and never touch it henceforth.

WA1 is fragile, it might break for devices other than NFC.
WA2 is what I used when I wrote the NFC driver.

Can tangox_dma_irq() be changed to have the framework call
the client's callback *before* tangox_dma_pchan_start?

(Thinking out loud) The DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT requests that the
DMA framework invoke the callback from tasklet context,
maybe a different flag DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT_EX can request
calling the call-back directly from within the ISR?

(Looking at existing flags) Could I use DMA_CTRL_ACK?
Description sounds like some kind hand-shake between
client and dmaengine.

Grepping for DMA_PREP_INTERRUPT, I don't see where the framework
checks that flag to spawn the tasklet? Or is that up to each
driver individually?

Regards.
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