Re: [RFC PATCH] watchdog: s3c2410_wdt: Add max and min timeout values

Krzysztof Kozlowski
2016-03-03T12:26:30Z

2016-03-03 20:55 GMT+09:00 Javier Martinez Canillas <javier@osg.samsung.com>:
> Hello Guenter,
>
>
> On 03/03/2016 01:50 AM, Guenter Roeck wrote:
>> A watchdog driver using a non-static clock must register a clock change
>> notifier
>> to handle the clock rate change and update its settings accordingly.
>>
>> I would also argue that the maximum timeout should be set to the minimum
>> possible value (probably associated with the highest possible frequency).
>> All other cases might end up causing trouble if a clock frequency
>> chance results in an enforced timeout change, since there is currently
>> no mechanism to inform user space about such a change.
>>
>> Example: maximum possible timeout changes from 1 minute to 30 seconds.
>> The timeout was set to 1 minute, and has to be reduced to 30 seconds.
>> Very likely result is that the watchdog will reset the system because
>> user space still believes that the timeout is 60 seconds and doesn't
>> ping the watchdog often enough to prevent it.
>>
>
> Agreed.
>
> In any case this discussion is not related to this patch since currently
> in mainline the watchdog source clock is fixed and does not change.
>
> So, $SUBJECT solves the issue of not having the fixed .{min,max}_timeout
> defined to allow the watchdog_timeout_invalid() function to check values
> set by WDIOC_SETTIMEOUT and avoid calling the .set_timeout callback.
>
> If later someone tries to scale a parent clock used by many drivers, then
> the submitter should make sure that no regressions are added by the patch.

Sounds good. For this patch then:
Reviewed-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <k.kozlowski@samsung.com>

Best regards,
Krzysztof