Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] PCI/ASPM: Override the ASPM and Clock PM states set by BIOS for devicetree platforms

["Diederik de Haas" <diederik@cknow-tech.com>]

On Wed Oct 15, 2025 at 8:22 AM CEST, Manivannan Sadhasivam wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 01:33:35AM +0200, Dragan Simic wrote:
>> On Tuesday, October 14, 2025 20:49 CEST, Bjorn Helgaas <helgaas@kernel.org> wrote:
>> > On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 01:30:16AM +0900, FUKAUMI Naoki wrote:
>> > > I've noticed an issue on Radxa ROCK 5A/5B boards, which are based on the
>> > > Rockchip RK3588(S) SoC.
>> > > 
>> > > When running Linux v6.18-rc1 or linux-next since 20250924, the kernel either
>> > > freezes or fails to probe M.2 Wi-Fi modules. This happens with several
>> > > different modules I've tested, including the Realtek RTL8852BE, MediaTek
>> > > MT7921E, and Intel AX210.
>> > > 
>> > > I've found that reverting the following commit (i.e., the patch I'm replying
>> > > to) resolves the problem:
>> > > commit f3ac2ff14834a0aa056ee3ae0e4b8c641c579961
>> > 
>> > <snip>
>> > 
>> > Do you know if any platforms other than Radxa ROCK 5A/5B have this
>> > problem?
>> > 
>> After thinking quite a bit about it, I think we should revert this
>> patch and replace it with another patch that allows per-SoC, or
>> maybe even per-board, opting into the forced enablement of PCIe
>> ASPM.  Let me explain, please.
>
> ASPM is a PCIe device specific feature, nothing related to SoC/board. Even if
> you limit it to certain platforms, there is no guarantee that it will be safe as
> the users can connect a buggy device to the slot and it could lead to the same
> issue.
>
>> When a new feature is introduced, it's expected that it may fail
>> on some hardware or with some specific setups, so quirking off such
>> instances, as time passes, is perfectly fine.  Such a new feature
>> didn't work before it was implemented, so it's acceptable that it
>> fails in some instances after the introduction, and that it gets
>> quirked off as time passes and more testing is performed.
>
> ASPM is not a new feature. It was introduced more than a decade before. But we
> somehow procastinated the enablement for so long until we realized that if we
> don't do it now, we wouldn't be able to do it anytime in the future.

Do you mean literally *now* or more like "we need to do it sometime"?

>> However, when some widespread feature, such as PCIe, has already
>> been in production for quite a while, introducing high-risk changes
>> to it in a blanket fashion, while intending to have the incompatible
>> or not-yet-ready platforms quirked off over time, simply isn't the
>> way to go.  Breaking stuff intentionally to find out what actually
>> doesn't work is rarely a good option.
>
> The issue is due to devices exposing ASPM capability, but behaving erratically
> when enabled. Until, we enable ASPM on these devices, we cannot know whether
> they are working or not. To avoid mass chaos, we decided to enable it only for
> devicetree platforms as a start.
>
>> Thus, I'd suggest that this patch is replaced with nother patches,
>> which would introduce an additional ASPM opt-in switch to the PCI
>> binding, allowing SoCs or boards to have it enabled _after_ proper
>> testing is performed.  The PCIe driver may emit a warning that ASPM
>> is to be enabled at some point in the future, to "bug" people about
>> the need to perform the testing, etc.
>
> Even if we emit a "YOUR DEVICE MAY BREAK" warning, nobody would care as long as
> the device works for them. We didn't decide to enable this feature overnight to
> trouble users. The fact that ASPM saves runtime power, which will benefit users
> and ofc the environment as a whole, should not be kept disabled.
>
> But does that mean, we wanted to have breakages, NO. We expected breakages as
> not all devices will play nicely with ASPM, but there is only one way to find
> out. And we do want to disable ASPM only for those devices.

I understand this logic. And I'm very much in favor of changes that
reduce power usage.
I suspect that 6.18 will become a LTS kernel, so introducing a change
which may break many devices, sounds less then ideal for such a kernel.
Kernel 6.19 OTOH sounds perfect for that. Then there's plenty of time to
encounter and fix issues which may/will come up before there is another
LTS kernel, namely ~ a year.

My 0.02.

Cheers,
  Diederik

PS: will send my bug/debug report separately

>> With all that in place, we could expect that in a year or two PCIe ASPM
>> could eventually be enabled everywhere. Getting everything tested is a
>> massive endeavor, but that's the only way not to break stuff.
>> 
>> Biting the bullet and hoping that it all goes well, I'd say, isn't
>> the right approach here.
>
> Your two year phased approach would never work as that's what we have hoped for
> more than a decade.
>
> - Mani