Re: [PATCH v5] platform/x86: dell-laptop: Implement platform_profile

["Limonciello, Mario" <mario.limonciello@amd.com>]

On 5/11/2024 10:05 AM, Shen, Yijun wrote:
> 
> Internal Use - Confidential
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mario Limonciello <mario.limonciello@amd.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 11:53 PM
>> To: Shen, Yijun <Yijun_Shen@Dell.com>; Lyndon Sanche
>> <lsanche@lyndeno.ca>
>> Cc: pali@kernel.org; W_Armin@gmx.de;
>> srinivas.pandruvada@linux.intel.com; ilpo.jarvinen@linux.intel.com;
>> lkp@intel.com; Hans de Goede <hdegoede@redhat.com>; Matthew Garrett
>> <mjg59@srcf.ucam.org>; Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>; Heiner Kallweit
>> <hkallweit1@gmail.com>; Vegard Nossum <vegard.nossum@oracle.com>;
>> platform-driver-x86@vger.kernel.org; linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org; Dell Client
>> Kernel <Dell.Client.Kernel@dell.com>
>> Subject: Re: RE: [PATCH v5] platform/x86: dell-laptop: Implement
>> platform_profile
>>
>>
>> [EXTERNAL EMAIL]
>>
>> On 5/8/2024 09:24, Shen, Yijun wrote:
>>> Hi Lyndon,
>>>
>>>    Thanks for working on this patch.
>>>
>>>>
>>>    Dell side has an initial testing with this patch on some laptops, it looks
>> good. While changing the platform profile:
>>> 1. The corresponding USTT option in BIOS will be changed.
>>> 2. thermald will not be impacted. The related PSVT and ITMT will be loaded.
>>>    Some Dell DTs does not have the USTT, Dell'll have a check if nothing is
>> broken.
>>
>> Hi Alex!
>>
>> Have you had a check both on both your AMD laptops and workstations too,
>> or just the Intel ones?  I think it would be good to make sure it's getting the
>> correct experience in both cases.
>>
> Hi Mario,
> 
>   I've a check for this, for both laptop and workstation, the dell_laptop module will not be loaded. So, AMD platform will not be impacted by this patch series.
> Follow is one example output with workstation.
>   #lsmod | grep dell
>     dell_wmi               28672  0
>     dell_smbios            32768  1 dell_wmi
>     dcdbas                 20480  1 dell_smbios
>     dell_wmi_descriptor    20480  2 dell_wmi,dell_smbios
>     sparse_keymap          12288  1 dell_wmi
>     ledtrig_audio          12288  3 snd_ctl_led,snd_hda_codec_generic,dell_wmi
>     video                  73728  2 dell_wmi,nvidia_modeset
>     wmi                    40960  5 video,dell_wmi,wmi_bmof,dell_smbios,dell_wmi_descriptor
> 

Ah; right that makes sense.  In that case, is dell-laptop even the right 
place for this patch series?  I would think the same policies for the 
platform profile should be able to apply to desktop/workstation.

The v6 of this series would block smbios-thermal-ctl from working on a 
workstation too.

>>>
>>>     Additional, with this patch, follow behavior is found:
>>>    1. For example, the platform profile is quiet.
>>>    2. Reboot the system and change the USTT to performance.
>>>    3. Boot to desktop, the platform profile is "quiet", the USTT will be
>> changed back to "quiet".
>>>    This looks like not a proper user experience. The platform profile should
>> honor the BIOS setting, aka, the platform profile should be switched to
>> "performance".
>>>
>>
>> I agree, this sounds like the initial profile needs to be read from the BIOS
>> settings too.
>>
>> Furthermore I wanted to ask is there also a WMI setting that corresponds to
>> this that dell-wmi-sysman offers?
>   Yes, Mario, you're right. This thermal setting could also be toggled by dell-wmi-sysman.
> But, for the Dell consumer AMD laptops, like Alienware, the BIOS is another variant which is different with the workstation one.
> With this variant BIOS, there is no USTT and also no dell_wmi/dell-wmi-sysman.
> 
>> I'm wondering if both should be probed in case the SMBIOS one goes away one day.
>   Yep, I think this is a good suggestion.
> 

Great! Although something I wonder is if the policy when changed with 
dell-wmi-sysman is immediate or requires a reboot.  A lot of the 
settings in there aren't effective until after a reboot.

If this is one of them then it might not be a good idea to make it work 
for both.