Re: [Patch v2] Make PCI extended config space (MMCONFIG) a driver opt-in

Tony Camuso
2008-01-29T15:16:58Z

Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:15:02 -0500
> Tony Camuso <tcamuso@redhat.com> wrote:
>
>> Greg,
>>
>> The problem with Arjan's patch, if I understand it correctly, is that
>> it requires drivers to make a call to access extended PCI config
>> space.
>>
>> And, IIRC, Arjan's patch encumbers drivers for all arch's, even those
>> that have no MMCONFIG problems.
>>
>> The patches proposed by Loic, Ivan, Matthew, and myself, all address
>> the problem in an x86-specific manner that is transparent to the
>> drivers.
>
> this is not quite correct; the patches from Loic, Ivan, Matthew and you are for a different
> problem statement.
>
> Your patch problem statement is "need to fix mmconfig", my patch problem statement is "need
> to not make users who don't need it suffer". These are orthogonal problems.
>
>

Yes, but your patch also makes users who need extended PCI config space suffer.

Right now, that isn't a lot of people in x86 land, but your patch encumbers drivers
for non-x86 archs with an additional call to access space that they've never had
a problem with.

As more PCI express drivers start to take advantage of AER and other advanced
express capabilities, the extra call to address a condition specific to legacy
x86 hardware is, IMNSHO, a kludge.

The patches submitted by the others fix the problems with MMCONFIG without
encumbering the drivers to be aware of any difference between legacy config
space and extended config space.

I have tested these patches on a number of systems exhibiting various MMCONFIG-
related pathologies, and they work.