Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751679AbbBSOlw (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:41:52 -0500 Received: from mail-wi0-f170.google.com ([209.85.212.170]:42394 "EHLO mail-wi0-f170.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751562AbbBSOlu convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Feb 2015 09:41:50 -0500 Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/4] of: DT quirks infrastructure Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 8.2 \(2070.6\)) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 From: Pantelis Antoniou In-Reply-To: <54E54586.5070602@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2015 16:41:44 +0200 Cc: Grant Likely , devicetree@vger.kernel.org, Tony Lindgren , Koen Kooi , Nicolas Ferre , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Ludovic Desroches , linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, Matt Porter , Guenter Roeck Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Message-Id: <23825C6A-7FF1-4D06-8802-F6964F71B97C@konsulko.com> References: <1424271576-1952-1-git-send-email-pantelis.antoniou@konsulko.com> <1424271576-1952-3-git-send-email-pantelis.antoniou@konsulko.com> <54E54586.5070602@gmail.com> To: frowand.list@gmail.com X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.2070.6) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 3467 Lines: 87 Hi Frank, > On Feb 19, 2015, at 04:08 , Frank Rowand wrote: > > On 2/18/2015 6:59 AM, Pantelis Antoniou wrote: >> Implement a method of applying DT quirks early in the boot sequence. >> >> A DT quirk is a subtree of the boot DT that can be applied to >> a target in the base DT resulting in a modification of the live >> tree. The format of the quirk nodes is that of a device tree overlay. > > The use of the word "quirk" is a different mental model for me than what > this patch series appears to be addressing. I would suggest totally > removing the word "quirk" from this proposal to avoid confusing the > mental models of future generations of kernel folks. > Naming things is hard to do. Suggestions? > What this patch series seems to be proposing is a method to apply DT > overlays as soon as unflatten_device_tree() completes. In other words, > making the device tree a dynamic object, that is partially defined by > the kernel during boot. Well, to be fair, the kernel chooses among > several possible alternatives encoded in the DT blob. So the device > tree is no longer a static object that describes the hardware of the > system. It may not sound like a big deal, but it seems to me to be > a fundamental shift in what the device tree blob is. Something that > should be thought about carefully and not just applied as a patch to > solve a point problem. > There is a fundamental shift going on about what hardware is. It is nowhere as static as it used to be. It is time for the kernel to keep up. > The stated use of this proposal is to create dynamic DT blobs that can > describe many similar variants of a given system instead of creating > unique DT blobs for each different system. > Yes. > I obviously have not thought through the architectural implications yet, > but just a quick example. One of the issues we have been trying to fix > is device tree validation. The not yet existent (except as a few proof > of concept attempts) validator would need to validate a device tree > for each dynamic variant. Probably not a big deal, but an example of > the ripple effects this conceptual change implies. > I don?t see what the big problem with the validator is. The ?quirk? are easily identified by the presence of the __overlay__ nodes and the validator can apply each overlay and perform the validation check at each resultant tree. > A second function that this patch is proposing is a method to enable > or disable devices via command line options. If I understand > correctly, this is meant to solve a problem with run time overlays > that require disabling a device previously enabled by the DT blob. > If so, it seems like it could easily be implemented in a simpler > generic way than in the board specific code in this patch series. > Disabling a device is the most common case, but other options are desired too. For instance changing OPPs by a command line option, etc. > I share the concerns that Mark Rutland has expressed in his comments > about this series. > > < snip > > > I have read through the patches and will have comments on the code > later if this proposal is seen as a good idea. > OK > -Frank Regards ? Pantelis -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/