[PATCH] docs: dmaengine: document ownership of the descriptor flags field

[PATCH] docs: dmaengine: document ownership of the descriptor flags field

[Bogdan Mahomet]

The flags field of struct dma_async_tx_descriptor has carried a TODO
since the provider documentation was added in 2014, asking whether a
driver may modify the field itself or whether it must always hold the
flags passed in the arguments.

The field belongs to the client. dma_async_tx_descriptor_init() does
not touch it, so the provider has to set it, and providers store the
flags they were given verbatim; vchan_tx_prep() does this for every
driver built on top of virt-dma. Afterwards providers only read the
field: the DMA_PREP_* bits are consumed while the descriptor is being
prepared, and DMA_CTRL_ACK and DMA_CTRL_REUSE are tested with
async_tx_test_ack() and dmaengine_desc_test_reuse() before a
descriptor is recycled or freed.

Once a descriptor has been prepared, nothing in the tree changes the
field except the client helpers in include/linux/dmaengine.h:
async_tx_ack(), async_tx_clear_ack(), dmaengine_desc_set_reuse() and
dmaengine_desc_clear_reuse().

Document that rule in place of the TODO.

Signed-off-by: Bogdan Mahomet <bogdan.mahomet.dev@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/driver-api/dmaengine/provider.rst | 8 +++++---
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/dmaengine/provider.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/dmaengine/provider.rst
index f4ed98f701c9..c10d8ab8fdbd 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-api/dmaengine/provider.rst
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/dmaengine/provider.rst
@@ -413,9 +413,11 @@ supported.
 
   - You'll also need to set following fields in this structure:
 
-    - flags:
-      TODO: Can it be modified by the driver itself, or
-      should it be always the flags passed in the arguments
+    - flags: this field belongs to the client. The driver stores the
+      flags passed in the arguments and must not modify them. It reads
+      the DMA_PREP_* bits while preparing the descriptor, and must only
+      test DMA_CTRL_ACK and DMA_CTRL_REUSE, which the client may change
+      after the descriptor has been prepared.
 
     - tx_submit: A pointer to a function you have to implement,
       that is supposed to push the current transaction descriptor to a
-- 
2.55.0