Re: [PATCH V2 1/2] PCI/DOE: Remove the pci_doe_flush_mb() call

[Ira Weiny <ira.weiny@intel.com>]

On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 08:53:16PM +0100, Lukas Wunner wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 07:53:23AM -0800, ira.weiny@intel.com wrote:
> > Each struct doe_mb is managed as part of the PCI device.  They can't go
> > away as long as the PCI device exists.  pci_doe_flush_mb() was set up to
> > flush the workqueue and prevent any further submissions to the mailboxes
> > when the PCI device goes away.  Unfortunately, this was fundamentally
> > flawed.  There was no guarantee that a struct doe_mb remained after
> > pci_doe_flush_mb() returned.  Therefore, the doe_mb state could be
> > invalid when those threads waiting on the workqueue were flushed.
> > 
> > Fortunately the current code is safe because all callers make a
> > synchronous call to pci_doe_submit_task() and maintain a reference on the
> > PCI device.
> > 
> > For these reasons, pci_doe_flush_mb() will never be called while tasks
> > are being processed and there is no use for it.
> 
> Going forward my plan is to allocate all existing DOE mailboxes
> of a device upon enumeration.  That will allow concurrent use
> of a mailbox by multiple drivers.
> 
> When a pci_dev goes away, say, because it's been hot-removed,
> we need a way to abort all ongoing DOE exchanges.
> 
> pci_doe_flush_mb() seems to do just that so I'm not sure why
> it's being removed?

I guess I was not explicit enough in the commit message.  1) it is not used
today.  More importantly 2) it does not work.

Because we are not using it currently I thought it best to remove it rather
than try and fix it.  Once we have a use then we can figure out how to make
sure the doe_mb[*] is valid until all tasks are flushed.

Ira

[*] Probably with a reference on the struct as was discussed before.

	-- https://lore.kernel.org/all/20221122094627.00003f2c@Huawei.com/

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Lukas