[PATCH v7 0/9] Support for block device NVMEM providers
From: Loic Poulain <loic.poulain@oss.qualcomm.com>
Date: 2026-07-01 16:00:47
Also in:
linux-arm-msm, linux-block, linux-bluetooth, linux-devicetree, linux-mmc, linux-wireless, lkml
On embedded devices, it is common for factory provisioning to store device-specific information, such as Ethernet or WiFi MAC addresses, in a dedicated area of an eMMC partition. This avoids the need for and additional EEPROM/OTP and leverages the persistence of eMMC. One example is the Arduino UNO-Q, where the WiFi MAC address and the Bluetooth Device address are stored in the eMMC Boot1 partition. Until now, accessing this information required a custom bootloader to read the data and inject it into the Device Tree before handing control over to the kernel. This approach is fragile and leads to device-specific workarounds. Rather than adding a new NVMEM provider specifically to the eMMC subsystem, the new support operates at the block layer, allowing any block device to behave like other non-volatile memories such as EEPROM or OTP. This series builds on earlier work by Daniel Golle that enables block devices to act as NVMEM providers: https://lore.kernel.org/all/6061aa4201030b9bb2f8d03ef32a564fdb786ed1.1709667858.git.daniel@makrotopia.org/ (local) It also introduces an NVMEM layout description for the Arduino UNO-Q, allowing device-specific data stored in the eMMC Boot1 partition to be accessed in a standard way. WiFi and Ethernet already support retrieving MAC addresses from NVMEM. Bluetooth requires similar support, which is also addressed. Note that this is currently limited to MMC-backed block devices, as only the MMC core associates a firmware node with the block device (add_disk_fwnode). This can be easily extended in the future to support additional block drivers. Signed-off-by: Loic Poulain <loic.poulain@oss.qualcomm.com> --- Changes in v7: - Rework bindings/dts so that the eMMC boot partition can be a nvmem fixed-layout and not a child of fixed-partition. (Rob) - Add Support for fixed-layout as the nvmem device node itself - Remove "block: partitions: of: Skip child nodes without reg property" This is no more required in this series and will be submitted separately (Rob) - Add missing linux/cleanup.h and linux/device.h includes (Bartosz) - simplify nvmem_register() error path using dev_err_probe() (Bartosz) - nvmem_device forward declaration to blk_types.h (Bartosz) - Add hci_dev_get_bd_addr_from_nvmem() kernel-doc for return value (Piotr) - Link to v6: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260629-block-as-nvmem-v6-0-f02513dcd46d@oss.qualcomm.com (local) Changes in v6: - blk_nvmem_add() returns int, error properly propagated (Bartosz) - Redundant if (bdev->bd_nvmem) guard removed in blk_nvmem_del() (Bartosz) - Size guard changed from UINT_MAX → INT_MAX to avoid signed overflow in config.size (sashiko) - BLK_OPEN_RESTRICT_WRITES removed from blk_nvmem_reg_read() (sashiko) - Link to v5: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260612-block-as-nvmem-v5-0-95e0b30fff90@oss.qualcomm.com (local) Changes in v5: - Fixed ath10k binding issue + extended commit message (Krzysztof) - Moved blk-nvmem handling to block core instead of a class_interface This allows correct/robust integration with block device life cycle (Bartosz). - block: partitions: of: Skip child nodes without reg property (sashiko) - Link to v4: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260609-block-as-nvmem-v4-0-45712e6b22c6@oss.qualcomm.com (local) Changes in v4: - Fix squash issue (dts commit incorrectly squashed) (Konrad) - Use devres for nvmem resources (Bartosz) - use __free() destructor helper when possible (Bartosz) - Fix value return checking for bdev_file_open_by_dev - Link to v3: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260608-block-as-nvmem-v3-0-82681f50aa35@oss.qualcomm.com (local) Changes in v3: - Fixed missing 'fixed-partitions' compatible in partition (Rob) - Fixed clashing nvmem cells, document calibration along mac (Sashiko) - Remove workaround to handle dangling nvmem references after unregistering, this is a generic nvmem framework issue handled in Bartosz's series: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260429-nvmem-unbind-v3-0-2a694f95395b@oss.qualcomm.com/ (local) - Validate mac (is_valid_ether_addr) before copying to output buffer - Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260507-block-as-nvmem-v2-0-bf17edd5134e@oss.qualcomm.com (local) Changes in v2: - Fix example nvmem-layout cells to use compatible = "mac-base" - Squash WiFi MAC and Bluetooth BD address consumer patches into the nvmem layout patch - Fix possible use-after-free in blk-nvmem: bnv (nvmem priv) linked to nvmem lifetime - Simplify nvmem-cell-names from items: - const: to plain const: - Factor out common NVMEM EUI-48 retrieval logic - Reorder changes - Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260428-block-as-nvmem-v1-0-6ad23e75190a@oss.qualcomm.com (local) --- Daniel Golle (1): block: implement NVMEM provider Loic Poulain (8): dt-bindings: mmc: Document fixed-layout NVMEM provider support dt-bindings: net: wireless: qcom,ath10k: Document NVMEM cells dt-bindings: bluetooth: qcom: Add NVMEM BD address cell nvmem: layouts: Support fixed-layout as the nvmem device node itself net: of_net: Add of_get_nvmem_eui48() helper for EUI-48 lookup Bluetooth: hci_sync: Add NVMEM-backed BD address retrieval Bluetooth: qca: Set NVMEM BD address quirks when address is invalid arm64: dts: qcom: arduino-imola: Describe NVMEM layout for WiFi/BT addresses .../devicetree/bindings/mmc/mmc-card.yaml | 23 ++++- .../net/bluetooth/qcom,bluetooth-common.yaml | 9 ++ .../bindings/net/wireless/qcom,ath10k.yaml | 16 +++ arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/qrb2210-arduino-imola.dts | 32 ++++++ block/Kconfig | 9 ++ block/Makefile | 1 + block/blk-nvmem.c | 109 +++++++++++++++++++++ block/blk.h | 8 ++ block/genhd.c | 4 + drivers/bluetooth/btqca.c | 5 +- drivers/nvmem/layouts.c | 13 ++- include/linux/blk_types.h | 4 + include/linux/of_net.h | 7 ++ include/net/bluetooth/hci.h | 18 ++++ net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c | 41 +++++++- net/core/of_net.c | 49 ++++++--- 16 files changed, 332 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-) --- base-commit: c58ba8c7e9ab26b5e8d91f8ca0e0a16c2ae318e9 change-id: 20260428-block-as-nvmem-4b308e8bda9a Best regards, -- Loic Poulain [off-list ref]