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Date:   Mon, 9 Mar 2020 21:19:03 -0700
From:   Sandeep Patil <sspatil@android.com>
To:     Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>
Cc:     Chunyan Zhang <zhang.lyra@gmail.com>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>,
        Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>, Jiri Slaby <jslaby@suse.com>,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
        Chunyan Zhang <chunyan.zhang@unisoc.com>,
        "open list:SERIAL DRIVERS" <linux-serial@vger.kernel.org>,
        Baolin Wang <baolin.wang7@gmail.com>,
        Orson Zhai <orsonzhai@gmail.com>,
        Linux ARM <linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org>,
        Android Kernel Team <kernel-team@android.com>,
        saravanak@google.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] arm64: change ARCH_SPRD Kconfig to tristate
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Hi Geert,

On Mon, Mar 09, 2020 at 11:32:06AM +0100, Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> Hi Chunyan,
> 
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2020 at 9:32 AM Chunyan Zhang <zhang.lyra@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Mon, 9 Mar 2020 at 16:03, Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org> wrote:
> > > On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 11:33 AM Chunyan Zhang <zhang.lyra@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > From: Chunyan Zhang <chunyan.zhang@unisoc.com>
> > > >
> > > > The default value of Kconfig for almost all sprd drivers are the same with
> > > > ARCH_SPRD, making these drivers built as modules as default would be easier
> > > > if we can set ARCH_SPRD as 'm', so this patch change ARCH_SPRD to tristate.
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: Chunyan Zhang <chunyan.zhang@unisoc.com>
> > >
> > > Can you actually boot a kernel on a Spreadtrum platform when all platform
> > > and driver support is modular?
> >
> > Yes, even if all drivers are modular.
> 
> Cool. No hard dependencies on e.g. regulators that are turned off when
> unused?
> 
> > But I hope serial can be builtin, then I can have a console to see
> > kernel output before loading modules.
> 
> No dependency on the clock driver?
> Oh, I see you have a hack in the serial driver, to assume default
> values when the serial port's parent clock is not found.  That may
> limit use of the other serial ports, depending on the actual serial
> hardware.
> And on Sharkl64, the serial port's clock is a fixed-clock anyway, so
> you don't even need the hack.
> 
> But in general you cannot rely on that, especially if your SoC has clock
> and/or power domains.
> 
> BTW, what about the watchdog driver? That one does need a clock, and
> loading it too late will reboot your system.
> 
> > Also, this's what Google GKI [1] asked :)
> >
> > Regards,
> > Chunyan
> >
> > [1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/11/google-outlines-plans-for-mainline-linux-kernel-support-in-android/
> 
> Let's see how having everything modular works out on an SoC where all
> hardware is part of a clock and power domain.

I'm curious, are there any problems that we should be aware of? We know about
the regulator sync state and consumer-supplier dependencies. [1]

(Adding Saravana inline)

Thanks,
- ssp