[PATCH RFC 1/2] Documentation: arm: define DT bindings for system suspend

[sudeep.holla@arm.com (Sudeep Holla)]

On 04/02/15 16:10, Mark Rutland wrote:
> Hi Sudeep,
>
> On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:35:54AM +0000, Sudeep Holla wrote:
>> ARM based platforms implement unique ways to enter system suspend
>> (i.e. Suspend to RAM). The mechanism and the parameters defining the
>> system state vary on a per-platform basis forcing the OS to handle it
>> in very platform specific way.
>>
>> Since ARM 32-bit systems had machine specific code, no attempts to
>> standardize are being made as it provides easy way to implement suspend
>> operations in a platform specific manner. However, this approach not
>> only makes maintainance more difficult as the number of platforms
>> supported increases but also not feasible for ARM64.
>>
>> This DT binding aims at standardizing the system suspend for ARM
>> platforms. ARM64 platforms mandates entry-method property in DT for
>> this system suspend node.
>>
>> On system implementing PSCI as an enable-method to enter system suspend,
>> the PSCI CPU suspend method is used on versions upto v0.2 and requires
>> the power_state parameter to be passed to the PSCI CPU suspend function.
>>
>> This parameter is platform specific, therefore must be provided by
>> firmware to the OS in order to enable proper call sequence.
>>
>> This ARM system suspend DT bindings rely on a property
>> (i.e. arm,psci-suspend-param) in the PSCI DT bindings that describes
>> how the PSCI CPU suspend power_state parameter should be defined in DT.
>
> A short while ago (after this posting), the PSCI 1.0 spec [1] was
> released, featuring the new (optional) SYSTEM_SUSPEND mechanism intended
> for suspend to RAM. This has a standard ID, and its presence can be
> detected via the new standard PSCI_FEATURES call.
>
> The fundamental mechanism is identical. We would hot unplug all but one
> CPU, and from this remaining CPU we would make a SYSTEM_SUSPEND call.
> The major differences are that SYSTEM_SUSPEND can be detected via
> PSCI_FEATURES, and doesn't need a state parameter.
>
> Given that the only mandatory addition in PSCI 1.0 over PSCI 0.2 is the
> PSCI_FEATURES call (used to detect the presence of SYSTEM_SUSPEND), I do
> not believe that implementing this should be a signficant overhead
> compared to implementing the CPU_SUSPEND based approach with PSCI 0.2.
>
> So I'd very much prefer that we require a minimal PSCI 1.0 with
> SYSTEM_SUSPEND rather than extending CPU_SUSPEND in this manner. Is
> anyone attempting to implement suspend to RAM with PSCI 0.1?
>

I too prefer have PSCI v1.0 for SYSTEM SUSPEND support, which eliminates
the need for this binding. But the question is: are silicon vendors
ready to upgrade their firmware to PSCI v1.0 for system system feature
especially since it's one of the fundamental feature needed in Android
systems.

Regards,
Sudeep