Re: [RFC] PM: domains: Reverse the order of performance and enabling ops

[Abel Vesa <abel.vesa@linaro.org>]

On 22-08-16 12:48:20, Ulf Hansson wrote:
> [...]
> 
> > > >
> > > > When the last active consumer suspends (in our case here, device A), ->power_off
> > > > will be called first disabling the PD, then the ->set_performance will
> > > > 'release' that lowest perf level the device A requested but will not
> > > > call to FW since the PD is already disabled. This would make
> > > > sure there are not two calls with two different levels to the FW.
> > >
> > > I understand what you want to achieve, but I think the ->power_off()
> > > scenario may be a bit more tricky.
> > >
> > > For example, it would be perfectly fine for genpd to keep the PM
> > > domain powered-on, even when the device A gets runtime suspended (a
> > > genpd governor may prevent it). In other words, we may end up not
> > > getting the ->power_off() callback invoked at all, even if there are
> > > no runtime resumed devices in the PM domain.
> > >
> > > Could this lead to problems on the provider side, when trying to take
> > > into account the different combinations of sequences?
> >
> > Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if a genpd governor would prevent
> > the power_off to be called, if we do the reversal, since the power
> > domain is not off, the provider would lower the performance state and
> > that's it. The responsability falls on the provider, but so does with
> > the current order of the calls.
> >
> > So I don't see how this could lead to problems compared to the current
> > order of the calls.
> 
> Alright, I agree, it shouldn't really matter then.
> 
> >
> > Maybe I missunderstood your point, so please correct me if I'm getting
> > this wrong.
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Now, most of this depends on the provider's way of doing things.
> > > > But in order to allow the provider to do what is described above, it
> > > > needs to know about the perf level before it is asked to power on a PD.
> > > > Same applies to powering off.
> > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I think it makes more sense for the ->set_performance in this case to act as a
> > > > > > way to tell the provider that a specific device has yeilded its voltage level
> > > > > > request. That way the provider can drop the voltage to the minimum requested by
> > > > > > the active consumers of that PD.
> > > > >
> > > > > The genpd provider can know if the PM domain is powered on or off,
> > > > > when the ->set_performance_state() callback is invoked. If it's
> > > > > powered off, it may then decide to "cache" the request for the
> > > > > performance level request, until it gets powered on.
> > > >
> > > > But the ->set_performance is called only after ->power_on, so the PD
> > > > will always be on when ->set_performance checks. And this is what my
> > > > patch is trying to change actually.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Although, I don't see how a genpd provider should be able to cache a
> > > > > performance state request, when the PM domain is already powered on
> > > > > (which is what you propose, if I understand correctly), that simply
> > > > > doesn't work for the other scenarios.
> > > >
> > > > I explained this above. The provider will need to check if the PD is on
> > > > and only write to FW if it is. Otherwise it will cache the value for
> > > > when the power_on is called.
> > >
> > > As indicated above, it looks to me that you may need to check a
> > > combination of things at the provider side. Is relying on whether
> > > genpd is on/off to decide when to apply or cache a performance state,
> > > really sufficient? I could certainly be wrong though.
> >
> > I don't think there is any change from this point of view, when compared
> > to the current order. Even with the current order, the provider would
> > either cache the performance state if the power domain is off, or would
> > apply it if the power domain is on.
> 
> For the Qcom case, I don't think it's that simple on the genpd provider side.
> 
> With the changes you propose in the $subject patch, I think there are
> two specific scenarios when the genpd can be powered off and when the
> ->set_performance_state() callback can get called. These scenarios can
> just rely on whether the genpd is powered off or not, to make the best
> decision. See more below.
> 
> *) In genpd_runtime_resume() we make sure to *raise* the performance
> state prior to power on the PM domain, if the PM domain is powered
> off, of course. In this way the ->set_performance_state() callback may
> be invoked when the genpd is powered off, to *raise* the performance
> state.

I'm not sure I understand the issue with this one. Please note that the
genpd will not decide whether to call the ->set_performance_state() or
not. The change I propose here is to _always_ call ->set_performance_state()
before calling ->power_on(). There is no condition there.

Since the provider will always get the call to ->set_performance_state(),
and based on the state of the genpd (powered on or not), it will either
call to FW or will cache the value for when the next ->power_on() call is
done.

> 
> **) In genpd_runtime_suspend() we may power off the PM domain, before
> invoking the ->set_performance_state() callback to *lower* the
> performance state.

Yeah, this is so that it would not undervolt the consumer.
In some cases, an undevolt, on some platforms, could actually result in a
consumer's HW FSM hang.

And it really doesn't make sense to drop the voltage right before powering
off the genpd. Instead, it makes sense to let the provider know that a
specific perf state is not voted for by a consumer anymore, only after the genpd
is powered off.

Now, that being said, there is the case where a consumer drops its vote
for a specific perf state, but since there is another consumer using
that genpd, it doesn't power down. So that could result in undervolt
too, but if there is a know such issue on a platform, the responsability
to handle that would fall on the provider, and there are ways to do
that.

I hope I'm not complicating the problem we're trying to solve here even
more by adding more scenarios.

> 
> In other words, just checking whether the genpd is powered off, to
> decide to cache/postpone the call to the FW to set a new performance
> state, would mean that we may end up running in a higher performance
> state than actually needed, right?

Assuming I understood your comment right, in the first scenario you mentioned,
the actual point when a specific performance state is actually started is on
->power_on(), not on ->set_performance(). As you said, the genpd is off,
so between ->set_performance() and the ->power_on() calls, the
performance state is still 0 (genpd disabled).

> 
> Perhaps if we would check if the performance state is lowered (or set
> to zero) too, that should improve the situation, right?
> 

Unless I wrong in the statements I made above, I don't see a need for such a
check.

Or maybe I missed your point.

> >
> > >
> > > Perhaps if you can provide a corresponding patch for the genpd
> > > provider side too, that can help to convince me.
> >
> > The qcom-rpmhpd actually does that even now. On set_performance, it caches
> > the performance state (corner) if the power domain is disabled, and it
> > applies (aggregates the corner) if the power domain is enabled.
> 
> Okay, good!
> 
> As stated above, this sounds like it can be improved then, right?
> 

I would certainly say so.

> Kind regards
> Uffe