From: Lorenzo Bianconi <lorenzo.bianconi@oss.qualcomm.com>
To: netdev-bot+sashiko@kernel.org
Cc: maxime.chevallier@bootlin.com, andrew+netdev@lunn.ch,
davem@davemloft.net, edumazet@google.com, kuba@kernel.org,
pabeni@redhat.com, mcoquelin.stm32@gmail.com,
alexandre.torgue@foss.st.com, netdev@vger.kernel.org,
linux-stm32@st-md-mailman.stormreply.com,
linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org
Subject: Re: [net-next,v3] net: stmmac: drop the queue-0 pinning for GSO frames
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 23:21:04 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <apiTQN_MTy9fbMSB@lore-desk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <178837492226.3394541.13110256562881802796@kernel.org>
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> Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 4 potential
> issue(s) to consider:
>
> Critical: 0 · High: 1 · Medium: 2 · Low: 1
>
> - [High] Removing .ndo_select_queue silently disables hardware TSO/USO
> for most GSO flows on all in-tree stmmac platforms that mark every TX…
> - [Medium] The patch's stated safety property — 'stmmac_features_check()
> already validates each GSO frame against the capabilities of the queue…
> - [Medium] The patch deletes the hardware fact that the removed comment
> carried ('There is no way to determine the number of TSO/USO capable…
> - [Low] The commit claims to fix a real user-visible offload defect
> ('This also fixes the case where queue 0 is not TSO-capable while…
>
> --
>
> net: stmmac: drop the queue-0 pinning for GSO frames
>
> This drops stmmac_select_queue() and its .ndo_select_queue entry so GSO
> frames are no longer pinned to TX queue 0. The changelog argues the pinning
> is redundant because stmmac_features_check() already validates each GSO
> frame against the capabilities of the queue it is mapped to. Non-GSO
> traffic keeps going through netdev_pick_tx().
>
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260808-stmmac_select_queue-tso-fix-v2-1-67175b29772e@oss.qualcomm.com
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260807-stmmac_select_queue-tso-fix-v1-1-4c4787bad02b@oss.qualcomm.com
>
> >From the changelog:
>
> > This also fixes the case where queue 0 is not TSO-capable while other
> > queues are, which previously forced all TSO traffic into software GSO.
>
> [Severity: Low]
> Since this is described as a fix, should it carry a Fixes tag? The queue-0
> pinning being removed came in with commit 4993e5b37e8b ("net: stmmac:
> Re-work the queue selection for TSO packets"), which in turn fixed
> c5acdbee22a1 ("net: stmmac: Send TSO packets always from Queue 0").
>
> The removal also depends on the per-queue checks in
> stmmac_features_check() added by commit b55dfb173ce8 ("net: stmmac: move
> check for hardware checksum supported") and the surrounding series. Without
> those, backporting this alone removes the only thing that steered GSO
> frames to a capable queue.
>
> Could the changelog name those prerequisites so stable triage has
> something to work from?
>
> The claimed defect itself looks describable from DT, via
> stmmac_mtl_setup():
>
> plat->tx_queues_cfg[queue].coe_unsupported =
> of_property_read_bool(q_node, "snps,coe-unsupported");
>
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
> > index 66ae365e1c89f..25121d6d84995 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
> > +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
> > @@ -6428,24 +6428,6 @@ static int stmmac_setup_tc(struct net_device *ndev, enum tc_setup_type type,
> > }
> > }
> >
> > -static u16 stmmac_select_queue(struct net_device *dev, struct sk_buff *skb,
> > - struct net_device *sb_dev)
> > -{
> > - int gso = skb_shinfo(skb)->gso_type;
> > -
> > - if (gso & (SKB_GSO_TCPV4 | SKB_GSO_TCPV6 | SKB_GSO_UDP_L4)) {
> > - /*
> > - * There is no way to determine the number of TSO/USO
> > - * capable Queues. Let's use always the Queue 0
> > - * because if TSO/USO is supported then at least this
> > - * one will be capable.
> > - */
> > - return 0;
> > - }
>
> [Severity: High]
> Does this lose hardware TSO/USO for most GSO flows on the in-tree
> platforms that mark every TX queue above queue 0 as TBS?
>
> dwmac-intel.c, dwmac-imx.c, dwmac-mediatek.c, dwmac-qcom-ethqos.c and
> stmmac_pci.c all do the equivalent of intel_mgbe_common_data():
>
> /* Default TX Q0 to use TSO and rest TXQ for TBS */
> if (i > 0)
> plat->tx_queues_cfg[i].tbs_en = 1;
>
> That becomes STMMAC_TBS_AVAIL at open time in __stmmac_setup_dma_desc(),
> with no ETF qdisc involved:
>
> int tbs_en = priv->plat->tx_queues_cfg[chan].tbs_en;
>
> /* Setup per-TXQ tbs flag before TX descriptor alloc */
> tx_q->tbs |= tbs_en ? STMMAC_TBS_AVAIL : 0;
>
> and stmmac_tso_channel_permitted() then returns false for those channels:
>
> /* TSO and TBS cannot co-exist */
> return !(priv->dma_conf.tx_queue[chan].tbs & STMMAC_TBS_AVAIL);
>
> The commit message says stmmac_features_check() "validates each GSO frame
> against the capabilities of the queue it is mapped to", but the check only
> demotes the frame, it does not move it:
>
> if (skb_is_gso(skb)) {
> if (!stmmac_tso_channel_permitted(priv, queue) ||
> !stmmac_tso_valid_packet(skb))
> features &= ~NETIF_F_GSO_MASK;
>
> So with the selector gone, netdev_pick_tx() hashes GSO flows over all N
> queues and roughly (N-1)/N of TCP/UDP-GSO flows on these boards end up
> segmented in software by validate_xmit_skb() rather than by the MAC. Is
> that intended, and if so could the changelog mention the throughput and
> CPU cost instead of describing the change as removing something that is
> "no longer needed"?
>
> Would a capability-aware queue selection (or a per-queue TSO map consulted
> by the selector) be needed to keep the "Q0 is the TSO queue" contract those
> platforms document?
We agreed in the previous disucssion to allow the networking stack to decide if
the selected queue should perform TSO running stmmac_features_check().
Moreover, there is no guarantee queue 0 will always support TSO for all the
platforms.
>
> > -
> > - return netdev_pick_tx(dev, skb, NULL) % dev->real_num_tx_queues;
> > -}
> > -
>
> [Severity: Medium]
> The deleted comment records a hardware fact: there is no way to determine
> which TX DMA channels were synthesized with the TSO data path. DWMAC and
> XGMAC only expose a single global TSOEN bit, surfaced as
> priv->dma_cap.tsoen, and stmmac_hw_setup() programs TSE from it for every
> non-TBS channel without any readback:
>
> if (priv->dma_cap.tsoen && priv->plat->flags & STMMAC_FLAG_TSO_EN) {
> for (chan = 0; chan < tx_cnt; chan++) {
> if (!stmmac_tso_channel_permitted(priv, chan))
> continue;
>
> stmmac_enable_tso(priv, priv->ioaddr, 1, chan);
> }
> }
>
> stmmac_features_check() only knows about tx_queues_cfg[queue].coe_unsupported
> and TBS, so on a part where only a subset of channels implement TSO it
> cannot clear NETIF_F_GSO_MASK, and stmmac_xmit() then hands the frame to
> stmmac_tso_xmit() on a channel whose DMA does not implement TSE. That
> programs an MSS context descriptor plus TDES3 in TSE/THL/payload-length
> form on a channel that decodes those bits as CIC and frame length.
>
> Is there evidence that all channels are TSO-capable on the supported parts?
> If not, would a per-queue tso capability consulted by
> stmmac_features_check() be the replacement for the removed workaround?
As pointed out above I guess it is up to the networking stack to decide if hw
TSO can be used or the traffic should be segmented in sw. I do not think always
use queue 0 for TSO is the right approach.
>
> > static int stmmac_set_mac_address(struct net_device *ndev, void *addr)
> > {
> > struct stmmac_priv *priv = netdev_priv(ndev);
> > @@ -7302,7 +7284,6 @@ static const struct net_device_ops stmmac_netdev_ops = {
> > .ndo_eth_ioctl = stmmac_ioctl,
> > .ndo_get_stats64 = stmmac_get_stats64,
> > .ndo_setup_tc = stmmac_setup_tc,
> > - .ndo_select_queue = stmmac_select_queue,
>
> [Severity: Medium]
> Does the "features_check validates the queue it is mapped to" argument hold
> on the AF_PACKET PACKET_QDISC_BYPASS path? __dev_direct_xmit() runs the
> feature validation before assigning the real queue:
>
> net/core/dev.c:__dev_direct_xmit() {
> ...
> skb = validate_xmit_skb_list(skb, dev, &again);
> if (skb != orig_skb)
> goto drop;
>
> skb_set_queue_mapping(skb, queue_id);
> ...
> }
>
> and with .ndo_select_queue gone, packet_pick_tx_queue() takes the else
> branch, so queue_id can be any queue:
>
> net/packet/af_packet.c:packet_pick_tx_queue() {
> ...
> skb_record_rx_queue(skb, cpu % dev->real_num_tx_queues);
> if (ops->ndo_select_queue) {
> queue_index = ops->ndo_select_queue(dev, skb, NULL);
> queue_index = netdev_cap_txqueue(dev, queue_index);
> } else {
> queue_index = netdev_pick_tx(dev, skb, NULL);
> }
> ...
> }
>
> The mapping stmmac_features_check() reads via skb_get_queue_mapping() is
> therefore (cpu % real_num_tx_queues) + 1, not queue_id. When the evaluated
> queue is TSO-permitted but the queue actually used is not, NETIF_F_GSO_MASK
> survives and stmmac_xmit() dispatches unconditionally:
>
> if (skb_is_gso(skb))
> return stmmac_tso_xmit(skb, dev);
>
> Before this patch the same ordering existed but was harmless, because
> packet_pick_tx_queue() consulted ndo_select_queue and GSO frames always
> went out on queue 0. Is something needed to close that now?
>
> Separately, that mapping can be real_num_tx_queues itself when
> cpu % real_num_tx_queues == real_num_tx_queues - 1. Can this read past
> priv->plat->tx_queues_cfg[] and priv->dma_conf.tx_queue[] in
> stmmac_features_check() when real_num_tx_queues == MTL_MAX_TX_QUEUES?
I guess this issue was already present even before this patch (e.g. for non-TSO
traffic transmitted by a AF_PACKET socket where PACKET_QDISC_BYPASS is
enabled). I guess we should fix it with a dedicated patch (e.g. verifying
queue is never greater than MTL_MAX_TX_QUEUES in stmmac_features_check()).
Regards,
Lorenzo
>
> --
> Sashiko AI review · https://netdev-ai.bots.linux.dev/sashiko/#/patchset/20260831-stmmac_select_queue-tso-fix-v3-1-d9c215fe7a85%40oss.qualcomm.com
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-09-02 21:21 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-08-31 6:48 [PATCH net-next v3] net: stmmac: drop the queue-0 pinning for GSO frames Lorenzo Bianconi
2026-09-02 18:48 ` [net-next,v3] " netdev-bot+sashiko
2026-09-02 21:21 ` Lorenzo Bianconi [this message]
2026-09-03 10:03 ` Paolo Abeni
2026-09-03 10:10 ` [PATCH net-next v3] " patchwork-bot+netdevbpf
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