Re: [PATCH] driver core: platform: Use devres group to free driver probe resources

Claudiu Beznea
2025-02-15T13:51:11Z

Hi, Greg,

On 15.02.2025 15:25, Greg KH wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 15, 2025 at 03:08:49PM +0200, Claudiu wrote:
>> From: Claudiu Beznea <claudiu.beznea.uj@bp.renesas.com>
>>
>> On the Renesas RZ/G3S (and other Renesas SoCs, e.g., RZ/G2{L, LC, UL}),
>> clocks are managed through PM domains. These PM domains, registered on
>> behalf of the clock controller driver, are configured with
>> GENPD_FLAG_PM_CLK. In most of the Renesas drivers used by RZ SoCs, the
>> clocks are enabled/disabled using runtime PM APIs. The power domains may
>> also have power_on/power_off support implemented. After the device PM
>> domain is powered off any CPU accesses to these domains leads to system
>> aborts.
>>
>> During probe, devices are attached to the PM domain controlling their
>> clocks and power. Similarly, during removal, devices are detached from the
>> PM domain.
>>
>> The detachment call stack is as follows:
>>
>> device_driver_detach() ->
>> device_release_driver_internal() ->
>> __device_release_driver() ->
>> device_remove() ->
>> platform_remove() ->
>> dev_pm_domain_detach()
>>
>> During driver unbind, after the device is detached from its PM domain,
>> the device_unbind_cleanup() function is called, which subsequently invokes
>> devres_release_all(). This function handles devres resource cleanup.
>>
>> If runtime PM is enabled in driver probe via devm_pm_runtime_enable(), the
>> cleanup process triggers the action or reset function for disabling runtime
>> PM. This function is pm_runtime_disable_action(), which leads to the
>> following call stack of interest when called:
>>
>> pm_runtime_disable_action() ->
>> pm_runtime_dont_use_autosuspend() ->
>> __pm_runtime_use_autosuspend() ->
>> update_autosuspend() ->
>> rpm_idle()
>>
>> The rpm_idle() function attempts to resume the device at runtime. However,
>> at the point it is called, the device is no longer part of a PM domain
>> (which manages clocks and power states). If the driver implements its own
>> runtime PM APIs for specific functionalities - such as the rzg2l_adc
>> driver - while also relying on the power domain subsystem for power
>> management, rpm_idle() will invoke the driver's runtime PM API. However,
>> since the device is no longer part of a PM domain at this point, the PM
>> domain's runtime PM APIs will not be called. This leads to system aborts on
>> Renesas SoCs.
>>
>> Another identified case is when a subsystem performs various cleanups
>> using device_unbind_cleanup(), calling driver-specific APIs in the process.
>> A known example is the thermal subsystem, which may call driver-specific
>> APIs to disable the thermal device. The relevant call stack in this case
>> is:
>>
>> device_driver_detach() ->
>> device_release_driver_internal() ->
>> device_unbind_cleanup() ->
>> devres_release_all() ->
>> devm_thermal_of_zone_release() ->
>> thermal_zone_device_disable() ->
>> thermal_zone_device_set_mode() ->
>> struct thermal_zone_device_ops::change_mode()
>>
>> At the moment the driver-specific change_mode() API is called, the device
>> is no longer part of its PM domain. Accessing its registers without proper
>> power management leads to system aborts.
>>
>> Open a devres group before calling the driver probe, and close it
>> immediately after the driver remove function is called and before
>> dev_pm_domain_detach(). This ensures that driver-specific devm actions or
>> reset functions are executed immediately after the driver remove function
>> completes. Additionally, it prevents driver-specific runtime PM APIs from
>> being called when the device is no longer part of its power domain.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Claudiu Beznea <claudiu.beznea.uj@bp.renesas.com>
>> ---
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Although Ulf gave its green light for the approaches on both IIO [1],
>> [2] and thermal subsystems [3], Jonathan considered unacceptable the
>> approaches in [1], [2] as he considered it may lead to dificult to
>> maintain code and code opened to subtle bugs (due to the potential of
>> mixing devres and non-devres calls). He pointed out a similar approach
>> that was done for the I2C bus [4], [5].
>>
>> As the discussions in [1], [2] stopped w/o a clear conclusion, this
>> patch tries to revive it by proposing a similar approach that was done
>> for the I2C bus.
>>
>> Please let me know you input.
>
> I'm with Jonathan here, the devres stuff is getting crazy here and you
> have drivers mixing them and side affects happening and lots of
> confusion. Your change here is only going to make it even more
> confusing, and shouldn't actually solve it for other busses (i.e. what
> about iio devices NOT on the platform bus?)

You're right, other busses will still have this problem.

>
> Why can't your individual driver handle this instead?

Initially I tried it at the driver level by using non-devres PM runtime
enable API but wasn't considered OK by all parties.

I haven't thought about having devres_open_group()/devres_close_group() in
the driver itself but it should work.

Thank you,
Claudiu

>
> thanks,
>
> greg k-h