Vaibhav Jain [off-list ref] writes:

Hi Ira, Mpe and Aneesh,

Vaibhav Jain [off-list ref] writes:

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Michael Ellerman [off-list ref] writes:

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Ira Weiny [off-list ref] writes:

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On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 12:30:57AM +0530, Vaibhav Jain wrote:

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Introduce support for Papr nvDimm Specific Methods (PDSM) in papr_scm
modules and add the command family to the white list of NVDIMM command
sets. Also advertise support for ND_CMD_CALL for the dimm
command mask and implement necessary scaffolding in the module to
handle ND_CMD_CALL ioctl and PDSM requests that we receive.

...

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+ *
+ * Payload Version:
+ *
+ * A 'payload_version' field is present in PDSM header that indicates a specific
+ * version of the structure present in PDSM Payload for a given PDSM command.
+ * This provides backward compatibility in case the PDSM Payload structure
+ * evolves and different structures are supported by 'papr_scm' and 'libndctl'.
+ *
+ * When sending a PDSM Payload to 'papr_scm', 'libndctl' should send the version
+ * of the payload struct it supports via 'payload_version' field. The 'papr_scm'
+ * module when servicing the PDSM envelope checks the 'payload_version' and then
+ * uses 'payload struct version' == MIN('payload_version field',
+ * 'max payload-struct-version supported by papr_scm') to service the PDSM.
+ * After servicing the PDSM, 'papr_scm' put the negotiated version of payload
+ * struct in returned 'payload_version' field.

FWIW many people believe using a size rather than version is more sustainable.
It is expected that new payload structures are larger (more features) than the
previous payload structure.

I can't find references at the moment through.

I think clone_args is a good modern example:

  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/include/uapi/linux/sched.h#n88

Thank Ira and Mpe for pointing this out. I looked into how clone3 sycall
handles clone_args and few differences came out:

* Unlike clone_args that are always transferred in one direction from
  user-space to kernel, payload contents of pdsms are transferred in both
  directions. Having a single version number makes it easier for
  user-space and kernel to determine what data will be exchanged.

* For PDSMs, the version number is negotiated between libndctl and
  kernel. For example in case kernel only supports an older version of
  a structure, its free to send a lower version number back to
  libndctl. Such negotiations doesnt happen with clone3 syscall.

If you are ok with the explaination above please let me know. I will
quickly spin off a v8 addressing your review comments.

I don't have strong opinions about the user API, it's really up to the
nvdimm folks.

cheers