[PATCH net-next 09/10] documentation: networking: add shared devlink documentation
From: Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli.us>
Date: 2026-02-23 14:56:12
Subsystem:
documentation, networking [general], the rest · Maintainers:
Jonathan Corbet, "David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Linus Torvalds
From: Jiri Pirko <redacted> Document shared devlink instances for multiple PFs on the same chip. Signed-off-by: Jiri Pirko <redacted> --- .../networking/devlink/devlink-shared.rst | 89 +++++++++++++++++++ Documentation/networking/devlink/index.rst | 1 + 2 files changed, 90 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/networking/devlink/devlink-shared.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/devlink/devlink-shared.rst b/Documentation/networking/devlink/devlink-shared.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b2a1bd37564f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/networking/devlink/devlink-shared.rst@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +============================ +Devlink Shared Instances +============================ + +Overview +======== + +Shared devlink instances allow multiple physical functions (PFs) on the same +chip to share an additional devlink instance for chip-wide operations. This +is implemented within individual drivers alongside the individual PF devlink +instances, not replacing them. + +Multiple PFs may reside on the same physical chip, running a single firmware. +Some of the resources and configurations may be shared among these PFs. The +shared devlink instance provides an object to pin configuration knobs on. + +The shared devlink instance is not backed by any struct *device*. + +Implementation +============== + +Architecture +------------ + +The implementation uses: + +* **Chip identification**: PFs are grouped by chip using a driver-specific identifier +* **Shared instance management**: Global list of shared instances with reference counting + +API Functions +------------- + +The following functions are provided for managing shared devlink instances: + +* ``devlink_shd_get()``: Get or create a shared devlink instance identified by a string ID +* ``devlink_shd_put()``: Release a reference on a shared devlink instance +* ``devlink_shd_get_priv()``: Get private data from shared devlink instance + +Initialization Flow +------------------- + +1. **PF calls shared devlink init** during driver probe +2. **Chip identification** using driver-specific method to determine device identity +3. **Get or create shared instance** using ``devlink_shd_get()``: + + * The function looks up existing instance by identifier + * If none exists, creates new instance: + - Allocates and registers devlink instance + - Adds to global shared instances list + - Increments reference count + +4. **Set nested devlink instance** for the PF devlink instance using + ``devl_nested_devlink_set()`` before registering the PF devlink instance + +Cleanup Flow +------------ + +1. **Cleanup** when PF is removed +2. **Call** ``devlink_shd_put()`` to release reference (decrements reference count) +3. **Shared instance is automatically destroyed** when the last PF removes (reference count reaches zero) + +Chip Identification +------------------- + +PFs belonging to the same chip are identified using a driver-specific method. +The driver is free to choose any identifier that is suitable for determining +whether two PFs are part of the same device. Examples include: + +* **PCI VPD serial numbers**: Extract from PCI VPD +* **Device tree properties**: Read chip identifier from device tree +* **Other hardware-specific identifiers**: Any unique identifier that groups PFs by chip + +Locking +------- + +A global mutex (``shd_mutex``) protects the shared instances list during registration/deregistration. + +Similarly to other nested devlink instance relationships, devlink lock of +the shared instance should be always taken after the devlink lock of PF. + +Reference Counting +------------------ + +Each shared devlink instance maintains a reference count (``refcount_t refcount``). +The reference count is incremented when ``devlink_shd_get()`` is called and decremented +when ``devlink_shd_put()`` is called. When the reference count reaches zero, the shared +instance is automatically destroyed.
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/devlink/index.rst b/Documentation/networking/devlink/index.rst
index 35b12a2bfeba..f7ba7dcf477d 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/devlink/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/devlink/index.rst@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ general. devlink-resource devlink-selftests devlink-trap + devlink-shared Driver-specific documentation -----------------------------
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2.51.1