Re: [PATCH] platform/x86:dell-laptop: Add knobs to change battery charge settings

Pali Rohár
2024-07-21T09:02:42Z

On Saturday 20 July 2024 22:06:06 Andres Salomon wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Jul 2024 11:55:07 +0200
> Pali Rohár <pali@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> > On Saturday 20 July 2024 05:24:19 Andres Salomon wrote:
> > > Thanks for the quick feedback! Responses below.
> > >
> > > On Sat, 20 Jul 2024 10:40:19 +0200
> > > Pali Rohár <pali@kernel.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > > I looked at your patch. I wrote some comments below. The main issue is
> > > > how to correctly interpret read token values.
> > > >
> [...]
> > > > > +
> > > > > +static ssize_t charge_type_show(struct device *dev,
> > > > > + struct device_attribute *attr,
> > > > > + char *buf)
> > > > > +{
> > > > > + enum battery_charging_mode mode;
> > > > > + ssize_t count = 0;
> > > > > +
> > > > > + for (mode = DELL_BAT_MODE_STANDARD; mode < DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX; mode++) {
> > > > > + if (battery_state[mode]) {
> > > > > + count += sysfs_emit_at(buf, count,
> > > > > + mode == bat_chg_current ? "[%s] " : "%s ",
> > > > > + battery_state[mode]);
> > > > > + }
> > > > > + }
> > > > > +
> > > > > + /* convert the last space to a newline */
> > > > > + count--;
> > > > > + count += sysfs_emit_at(buf, count, "\n");
> > > >
> > > > Here is missing protection in the case when number of valid modes is
> > > > zero, so count is 0 and buf was untouched.
> > > >
> > >
> > > This will never be zero (based on the hardcoded value of DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX),
> >
> > Now I see. You are iterating over members of constant array battery_state[].
> > I overlooked it and I thought that this iteration over mode values.
> >
> > What about writing the for- conditions to be visible that you are
> > iterating over the array? E.g.
> >
> > size_t i;
> > ...
> > for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(battery_state); i++) {
> > if (!battery_state[i])
> > continue;
> > count += sysfs_emit_at(buf, count, i == bat_chg_current ? "[%s] " : "%s ", battery_state[i]);
> > }
> > ...
> >
> > This has an advantage that you do not depend on DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX value,
> > compiler will calculate upper bound automatically.
> >
> > Or another way. You can define array of tokens, like it is done for
> > keyboard backlight. See how the array kbd_tokens[] is used.
> >
> > With this approach you can completely get rid of the DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX.
> >
>
> See below for a question about charge_type_store() if we get rid of
> DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX.
>
> > > but perhaps a static_assert or BUILD_BUG_ON to verify that the number of
> > > modes > 0?
> >
> > I think it is not needed.
> >
> > >
> > > > > +
> > > > > + return count;
> > > > > +}
> > > > > +
> > > > > +static ssize_t charge_type_store(struct device *dev,
> > > > > + struct device_attribute *attr,
> > > > > + const char *buf, size_t size)
> > > > > +{
> > > > > + enum battery_charging_mode mode;
> > > > > + const char *label;
> > > > > + int ret = -EINVAL;
> > > > > +
> > > > > + for (mode = DELL_BAT_MODE_STANDARD; mode < DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX; mode++) {
> > > > > + label = battery_state[mode];
> > > > > + if (label && sysfs_streq(label, buf))
> > > > > + break;
> > > > > + }
> > > > > +
> > > > > + if (mode > DELL_BAT_MODE_NONE && mode < DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX) {
> > > > > + ret = battery_charging_mode_set(mode);
> > > > > + if (!ret) {
> > > > > + bat_chg_current = mode;
> > > > > + ret = size;
> > > > > + }
> > > > > + }
> > > > > +
> > > > > + return ret;
> > > > > +}
>
> Here we're using DELL_BAT_MODE_MAX to determine if we failed to match
> any mode strings sent from the user. If we get rid of that, we're either
> going to have to use a separate variable (eg, 'bool matched = false;' and
> set it to true in case of a match), or iterate backwards (eg,
> for (mode = ARRAY_SIZE(battery_state); mode >= DELL_BAT_MODE_NONE; mode--) {
> ...
> }
> if (mode != DELL_BAT_MODE_NONE) {
> ret = battery_charging_mode_set(mode);
>
>
> Do you have a preference?

You can use extra bool variable.

Anyway, if we figure out how the token value is going to be used, maybe
this code could be changed / simplified...

>
> [...]
> > > > > +static ssize_t charge_control_start_threshold_store(struct device *dev,
> > > > > + struct device_attribute *attr,
> > > > > + const char *buf, size_t size)
> > > > > +{
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > > > +
> > > > > +static void __init dell_battery_init(struct device *dev)
> > > > > +{
> > > > > + enum battery_charging_mode current_mode = DELL_BAT_MODE_NONE;
> > > > > +
> > > > > + dell_battery_read_req(BAT_CUSTOM_MODE_TOKEN, (int *) &current_mode);
> > > > > + if (current_mode != DELL_BAT_MODE_NONE) {
> > > >
> > > > I quite do not understand how is this code suppose to work.
> > > >
> > > > Why is there mix of custom kernel enum battery_charging_mode and return
> > > > value from Dell's API?
> > >
> > > This is from the original patch from Dell; tbh, I'm not sure. It does
> > > work, though. That is, current_mode ends up holding the correct value
> > > based on what was previously set, even if the charging mode is set from
> > > the BIOS.
> > >
> > > I just scanned through the libsmbios code to see what it's doing, and
> > > it appears to loop through every charging mode to check if its active.
> > > I'm not really sure that makes much more sense, so I'll try some more
> > > tests.
> >
> > Keyboard backlight code (kbd_get_first_active_token_bit) is doing also
> > this type scan. If I remember correctly, for every keyboard backlight
> > token we just know the boolean value - if the token is set or not.
> >
> > It would really nice to see what (raw) value is returned by the
> > dell_battery_read_req(token) function for every battery token and for
> > every initial state.
>
> I checked this. The BIOS sets the mode value in every related token
> location. I'm still not really sure what libsmbios is doing, but the
> kernel code seems to arbitrarily choose one of the token locations
> to read from. This makes sense to me now.
>
> In the BIOS when I set the mode to "ExpressCharge",
> this what I pulled for each token location:
>
> [ 5.704651] dell-laptop dell-laptop: BAT_CUSTOM_MODE_TOKEN value: 2
> [ 5.707015] dell-laptop dell-laptop: BAT_PRI_AC_MODE_TOKEN value: 2
> [ 5.709114] dell-laptop dell-laptop: BAT_ADAPTIVE_MODE_TOKEN value: 2
> [ 5.711041] dell-laptop dell-laptop: BAT_STANDARD_MODE_TOKEN value: 2
> [ 5.713705] dell-laptop dell-laptop: BAT_EXPRESS_MODE_TOKEN value: 2
>
> Similar story when I set it to Custom (all were '5'), or Standard ('1').
> When I set it from linux as well, it changed all location values.

Interesting... Anyway, I still think that the API could be similar to
what is used in keyboard backlight.

Could you please dump all information about each token? They are in
struct calling_interface_token returned by dell_smbios_find_token.

I'm interesting in tokenID, location and value.

Ideally to compare what is in token->value and then in buffer.output[1]
(in case dell_send_request does not fail).

> >
> > Because it is really suspicious if dell_battery_read_req() would return
> > value of the enum battery_charging_mode (as this is kernel enum).
> >
> >
> > Also another important thing. In past it was possible to buy from Dell
> > special batteries with long warranty (3+ years). I'm not sure if these
> > batteries are still available for end-user customers. With this type of
> > battery, it was not possible to change charging mode to ExpressCharge
> > (bios option was fade-out). I do not have such battery anymore, but I
> > would expect that the firmware disabled BAT_EXPRESS_MODE_TOKEN as mark
> > it as unavailable.
> >
> > I think that we should scan list of available tokens, like it is done
> > for keyboard backlight in kbd_init_tokens(). And export via sysfs only
> > those battery modes for which there is available token.
>
> I agree, but I'm not seeing a way to do that right now given how the
> BIOS sets the mode. Maybe libsmbios has some clues...

Try to get those dumps and I will try to do something with it.

>
>
>
>
> --
> I'm available for contract & employment work, see:
> https://spindle.queued.net/~dilinger/resume-tech.pdf