Re: [PATCH v3 1/9] platform/x86: dell-descriptor: Use new buffer-based WMI API

Ilpo Järvinen
2026-03-31T09:44:55Z

On Sat, 14 Mar 2026, Armin Wolf wrote:

> Use the new buffer-based WMI API to also support ACPI firmware
> implementations that do not use ACPI buffers for the descriptor.
>
> Signed-off-by: Armin Wolf <W_Armin@gmx.de>
> ---
> .../platform/x86/dell/dell-wmi-descriptor.c | 94 +++++++++----------
> 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+), 47 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-wmi-descriptor.c b/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-wmi-descriptor.c
> index c2a180202719..fe42eb8bbd79 100644
> --- a/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-wmi-descriptor.c
> +++ b/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-wmi-descriptor.c
> @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
>
> #define pr_fmt(fmt) KBUILD_MODNAME ": " fmt
>
> -#include <linux/acpi.h>
> +#include <linux/compiler_attributes.h>
> #include <linux/list.h>
> #include <linux/module.h>
> #include <linux/wmi.h>
> @@ -15,6 +15,24 @@
>
> #define DELL_WMI_DESCRIPTOR_GUID "8D9DDCBC-A997-11DA-B012-B622A1EF5492"
>
> +/*
> + * Descriptor buffer is 128 byte long and contains:
> + *
> + * Name Offset Length Value
> + * Vendor Signature 0 4 "DELL"
> + * Object Signature 4 4 " WMI"
> + * WMI Interface Version 8 4 <version>
> + * WMI buffer length 12 4 <length>
> + * WMI hotfix number 16 4 <hotfix>
> + */
> +struct descriptor {
> + char vendor_signature[4];
> + char object_signature[4];
> + __le32 interface_version;
> + __le32 buffer_length;
> + __le32 hotfix_number;
> +} __packed;
> +
> struct descriptor_priv {
> struct list_head list;
> u32 interface_version;
> @@ -88,76 +106,58 @@ bool dell_wmi_get_hotfix(u32 *hotfix)
> }
> EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(dell_wmi_get_hotfix);
>
> -/*
> - * Descriptor buffer is 128 byte long and contains:
> - *
> - * Name Offset Length Value
> - * Vendor Signature 0 4 "DELL"
> - * Object Signature 4 4 " WMI"
> - * WMI Interface Version 8 4 <version>
> - * WMI buffer length 12 4 <length>
> - * WMI hotfix number 16 4 <hotfix>
> - */
> -static int dell_wmi_descriptor_probe(struct wmi_device *wdev,
> - const void *context)
> +static int dell_wmi_descriptor_probe(struct wmi_device *wdev, const void *context)
> {
> - union acpi_object *obj = NULL;
> struct descriptor_priv *priv;
> - u32 *buffer;
> + struct wmi_buffer buffer;
> + struct descriptor *desc;
> int ret;
>
> - obj = wmidev_block_query(wdev, 0);
> - if (!obj) {
> - dev_err(&wdev->dev, "failed to read Dell WMI descriptor\n");
> - ret = -EIO;
> - goto out;
> - }
> + ret = wmidev_query_block(wdev, 0, &buffer);
> + if (ret < 0)
> + return ret;
>
> - if (obj->type != ACPI_TYPE_BUFFER) {
> - dev_err(&wdev->dev, "Dell descriptor has wrong type\n");
> + if (buffer.length < sizeof(*desc)) {

Hi again,

Thinking some more of this...

Since many of these drivers will need to do this size check and assign
into some variable that is different from the one passed to
wmidev_query_block(), would it make sense to move those into generic code?
It probably requires a macro so you'd have access to type information.

--
i.

> + dev_err(&wdev->dev,
> + "Dell descriptor buffer contains not enough data (%zu)\n",
> + buffer.length);
> ret = -EINVAL;
> descriptor_valid = ret;
> goto out;
> }
>
> - /* Although it's not technically a failure, this would lead to
> - * unexpected behavior
> - */
> - if (obj->buffer.length != 128) {
> - dev_err(&wdev->dev,
> - "Dell descriptor buffer has unexpected length (%d)\n",
> - obj->buffer.length);
> - ret = -EINVAL;
> + desc = buffer.data;
> +
> + if (strncmp(desc->vendor_signature, "DELL", sizeof(desc->vendor_signature))) {
> + dev_err(&wdev->dev, "Dell descriptor buffer has invalid vendor signature (%4ph)\n",
> + desc->vendor_signature);
> + ret = -ENOMSG;
> descriptor_valid = ret;
> goto out;
> }
>
> - buffer = (u32 *)obj->buffer.pointer;
> -
> - if (strncmp(obj->string.pointer, "DELL WMI", 8) != 0) {
> - dev_err(&wdev->dev, "Dell descriptor buffer has invalid signature (%8ph)\n",
> - buffer);
> - ret = -EINVAL;
> + if (strncmp(desc->object_signature, " WMI", sizeof(desc->vendor_signature))) {
> + dev_err(&wdev->dev, "Dell descriptor buffer has invalid object signature (%4ph)\n",
> + desc->object_signature);
> + ret = -ENOMSG;
> descriptor_valid = ret;
> goto out;
> }
> descriptor_valid = 0;
>
> - if (buffer[2] != 0 && buffer[2] != 1)
> - dev_warn(&wdev->dev, "Dell descriptor buffer has unknown version (%lu)\n",
> - (unsigned long) buffer[2]);
> -
> - priv = devm_kzalloc(&wdev->dev, sizeof(struct descriptor_priv),
> - GFP_KERNEL);
> + if (le32_to_cpu(desc->interface_version) > 2)
> + dev_warn(&wdev->dev, "Dell descriptor buffer has unknown version (%u)\n",
> + le32_to_cpu(desc->interface_version));
>
> + priv = devm_kzalloc(&wdev->dev, sizeof(*priv), GFP_KERNEL);
> if (!priv) {
> ret = -ENOMEM;
> goto out;
> }
>
> - priv->interface_version = buffer[2];
> - priv->size = buffer[3];
> - priv->hotfix = buffer[4];
> + priv->interface_version = le32_to_cpu(desc->interface_version);
> + priv->size = le32_to_cpu(desc->buffer_length);
> + priv->hotfix = le32_to_cpu(desc->hotfix_number);
> ret = 0;
> dev_set_drvdata(&wdev->dev, priv);
> mutex_lock(&list_mutex);
> @@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ static int dell_wmi_descriptor_probe(struct wmi_device *wdev,
> (unsigned long) priv->hotfix);
>
> out:
> - kfree(obj);
> + kfree(buffer.data);
> return ret;
> }
>
>