[PATCH v4 04/11] PCI: liveupdate: Document driver binding responsibilities

David Matlack
2026-04-23T21:23:34Z

Document how driver binding works during a Live Update and what the PCI
core expects of drivers and users. Note that this is only a description
of the current division of responsibilities. These can change in the
future if we decide.

Signed-off-by: David Matlack <dmatlack@google.com>
---
drivers/pci/liveupdate.c | 16 ++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 16 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/pci/liveupdate.c b/drivers/pci/liveupdate.c
index e616cecc37c8..c0a30d16d9b8 100644
--- a/drivers/pci/liveupdate.c
+++ b/drivers/pci/liveupdate.c
@@ -77,6 +77,22 @@
* preserved. These may be relaxed in the future:
*
* * The device cannot be a Virtual Function (VF).
+ *
+ * Driver Binding
+ * ==============
+ *
+ * In the outgoing kernel, it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that it
+ * does not release a device between pci_liveupdate_preserve() and
+ * pci_liveupdate_unpreserve().
+ *
+ * In the incoming kernel, it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that it
+ * does not release a preserved device between probe() and
+ * pci_liveupdate_finish().
+ *
+ * It is the user's responsibility to ensure that incoming preserved devices are
+ * bound to the correct driver. i.e. The PCI core does not protect against a
+ * device getting preserved by driver A in the outgoing kernel and then getting
+ * bound to driver B in the incoming kernel.
*/