Re: Ordering between PCI config space writes and MMIO reads?

Michael S. Tsirkin
2006-10-24T23:09:08Z

Quoting r. Matthew Wilcox <matthew@wil.cx>:
> Subject: Re: Ordering between PCI config space writes and MMIO reads?
>
> On Tue, Oct 24, 2006 at 02:51:30PM -0700, Roland Dreier wrote:
> > > I think the right way to fix this is to ensure mmio write ordering in
> > > the pci_write_config_*() implementations. Like this.
> >
> > I'm happy to fix this in the PCI core and not force drivers to worry
> > about this.
> >
> > John, can you confirm that this patch fixes the issue for you?
>
> Hang on. I wasn't thinking clearly. mmiowb() only ensures the write
> has got as far as the shub. There's no way to fix this in the pci core
> -- any PCI-PCI bridge can reorder the two.
>
> This is only really a problem for setup (when we program the BARs), so
> it seems silly to enforce an ordering at any other time. Reluctantly, I
> must disagree with Jeff -- drivers need to fix this.

This can be true for any bridge.
Most arches, however, simply block until config write completes - this is why
driver doesn't issue any MMIO writes - and this is what we are looking for here
- a way to block the CPU until split completion for config write arrives.

By the way, e.g. the PCI Express spec says:
"Read Requests and I/O or Configuration Write Requests are permitted to be
blocked by or to pass other Read Requests and I/O or Configuration Write Requests."
so it is not clear that doing a config read will always flush all config writes
as you want.

--
MST