Re: [PATCH 1/2] mailbox: switch to hrtimer for tx_complete polling

[Sudeep Holla <sudeep.holla@arm.com>]

On 29/07/15 09:33, Jassi Brar wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 3:18 PM, Sudeep Holla <sudeep.holla@arm.com> wrote:
>> On 27/07/15 04:26, Jassi Brar wrote:
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> we might end-up waiting
>>>>>> for atleast a jiffy even though the response for that message from the
>>>>>> remote is received via interrupt and processed in relatively smaller
>>>>>> time granularity.
>>>>>>
>>>>> That is wrong.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> No see below.
>>>>
>>>>>     If the controller supports TX interrupt it should set txdone_irq,
>>>>> which prevents polling i.e, controller driver calls mbox_chan_txdone.
>>>>>
>>>>>     If the controller doesn't support TX interrupt but the client
>>>>> receives some ack packet, then the client should set knows_txdone and
>>>>> call mbox_client_txdone. Again you don't have to wait on polling.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sorry if I was not clear in the commit message, but I thought I did
>>>> mention TXDONE_BY_POLL. The case I am referring is definitely not
>>>> TXDONE_BY_IRQ or TXDONE_BY_ACK.
>>>>
>>> That statement is still wrong. The TXDONE_BY_POLL modifier does't make it
>>> right.
>>>
>>
>> I am fine to modify/clarify that statement.
>>
>>> Anyways, I see you meant the 3rd case of neither IRQ nor ACK.
>>>
>>
>> Yes the remote indicates by setting a flag in status register.
>>
> However, looking at the arm_scpi.c the protocol does support
> TXDONE_BY_ACK that is, every command has a reply packet telling if the
> command was successful or failure. When you receive a reply, obviously
> the command has already been received by the remote. Which is
> mbox_client.knows_txdone or TXDONE_BY_ACK.
>

I do understand TXDONE_BY_ACK, but SCPI protocol doesn't support that.
You can verify the SCPI specification document.

>>> It seems your remote doesn't send some protocol level 'ack' packet
>>> replying if the command was successfully executed or not. That means
>>> Linux can't differentiate successful execution of the command from a
>>> silent failure (remote still has to set the TX_done flag to make way
>>> for next messages).
>>
>> Agreed and again I confirm the remote processor in question just sets
>> the flag always and correctly and doesn't use a protocol ACK.
>>
> As I note above, the arm_scpi.c tells a different story.
>

You are just concluding this from my stupid comment.

[..]

>>>> Hope this clarifies the reasons for switching to hrtimer.
>>>>
>>> I am not against using hrtimer, just need to make sure we don't simply
>>> suppress the symptoms of wrong implementation.
>>
>> Agreed, and that's a valid concern. So far based on the testing and
>> benchmarking done so far, we don't think this patch is suppressing
>> anything incorrectly.
>>
>> If you still have concerns with this solution, please explain them here
>> so that we can discuss and come to conclusion and the issue is fixed.
>>
> I just replied on the patch where you set
>       cl->knows_txdone = false;
> and which is not the case.
>
> We may use hrtimer for polling, but your platform doesn't have to rely on that.
>

Again, sorry for misleading comment, we do need hrtimer as replied on
scpi thread. Any other concern with this patch ?

Regards,
Sudeep