Re: [Linux-stm32] [PATCH v19 4/6] dt-bindings: remoteproc: Add compatibility for TEE support

Sumit Garg
2025-10-10T05:44:26Z

Hi Arnaud,

It's been some holidays followed by business travel leading to delay in
my response here.

On Tue, Oct 07, 2025 at 03:50:32PM +0200, Arnaud POULIQUEN wrote:
> Hello Bjorn, Mathieu, Sumit,
>
> On 9/22/25 10:57, Arnaud POULIQUEN wrote:
> >
> >
> > On 9/19/25 08:46, Sumit Garg wrote:
> > > On Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 03:47:40PM +0200, Arnaud POULIQUEN wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On 9/17/25 12:08, Sumit Garg wrote:
> > > > > On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 03:26:47PM +0200, Arnaud POULIQUEN wrote:
> > > > > > Hello Sumit,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On 9/16/25 11:14, Sumit Garg wrote:
> > > > > > > Hi Arnaud,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > First of all apologies for such a late review comment as previously I
> > > > > > > wasn't CCed or involved in the review of this
> > > > > > > patch-set. In case any of
> > > > > > > my following comments have been discussed in the
> > > > > > > past then feel free to
> > > > > > > point me at relevant discussions.
> > > > > > No worries, there are too many versions of this series
> > > > > > to follow all the
> > > > > > past discussions. I sometimes have difficulty remembering all the
> > > > > > discussions myself :)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 11:40:26AM +0200, Arnaud Pouliquen wrote:
> > > > > > > > The "st,stm32mp1-m4-tee" compatible is utilized
> > > > > > > > in a system configuration
> > > > > > > > where the Cortex-M4 firmware is loaded by the
> > > > > > > > Trusted Execution Environment
> > > > > > > > (TEE).
> > > > > > > Having a DT based compatible for a TEE service to me
> > > > > > > just feels like it
> > > > > > > is redundant here. I can see you have also used a
> > > > > > > TEE bus based device
> > > > > > > too but that is not being properly used. I know subsystems like
> > > > > > > remoteproc, SCMI and others heavily rely on DT to
> > > > > > > hardcode properties of
> > > > > > > system firmware which are rather better to be discovered dynamically.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > So I have an open question for you and the remoteproc subsystem
> > > > > > > maintainers being:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Is it feasible to rather leverage the benefits of a
> > > > > > > fully discoverable
> > > > > > > TEE bus rather than relying on platform bus/ DT to hardcode firmware
> > > > > > > properties?
> > > > > > The discoverable TEE bus does not works if the remoteproc is probed
> > > > > > before the OP-TEE bus, in such case  no possibility to know if the TEE
> > > > > > TA is not yet available or not available at all.
> > > > > > This point is mentioned in a comment in rproc_tee_register().
> > > > For the discussion, it’s probably better if I provide more
> > > > details on the
> > > > current OP-TEE implementation and the stm32mp processors.
> > > >
> > > > 1) STM32MP topology:
> > > >    - STM32MP1: only a Cortex-M4 remote processor
> > > >    -  STM32MP2x: a Cortex-M33 and a Cortex-M0 remote processors
> > > >    At this stage, only the STM32MP15 is upstreamed; the
> > > > STM32MP25 is waiting
> > > >    for this series to be merged.
> > > >
> > > > 2) OP-TEE architecture:
> > > > - A platform-agnostic Trusted Application (TA) handles the bus
> > > > service.[1]
> > > >    This TA supports managing multiple remote processors. It can
> > > > be embedded
> > > >    regardless of the number of remote processors managed in OP-TEE.
> > > >    The decision to embed this service is made at build time based on the
> > > >    presence of the remoteproc driver, so it is not device tree
> > > > dependent.
> > > >    - STM32MP15: TA activated only if the remoteproc OP-TEE
> > > > driver is probed
> > > >    - STM32MP2x: TA always activated as the OP-TEE remoteproc
> > > > driver is always
> > > > probed
> > > >
> > > > - A pseudo Trusted Application implements the platform porting[2],
> > > >    relying on registered remoteproc platform drivers.
> > > >
> > > > - Platform driver(s) manage the remote processors.[3][4]
> > > >    - If remoteproc is managed by OP-TEE: manages the remoteproc
> > > > lifecycle
> > > >    - If remoteproc is managed by Linux: provides access rights
> > > > to Linux to
> > > > manage
> > > >      the remoteproc
> > > >
> > > >    - STM32MP15: driver probed only if the remoteproc is managed
> > > > in OP-TEE
> > > >    - STM32MP2x: driver probed in both cases for the Cortex-M33
> > > >      For the STM32MP25, the TA is always present and queries the
> > > > driver to
> > > > check
> > > >      if it supports secure loading.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > [1] https://elixir.bootlin.com/op-tee/4.7.0/source/ta/remoteproc
> > > > [2]
> > > > https://elixir.bootlin.com/op-tee/4.7.0/source/core/pta/stm32mp/
> > > > remoteproc_pta.c
> > > > [3]https://elixir.bootlin.com/op-tee/4.7.0/source/core/drivers/
> > > > remoteproc/stm32_remoteproc.c
> > > > [4]https://github.com/STMicroelectronics/optee_os/blob/4.0.0-stm32mp/
> > > > core/drivers/remoteproc/stm32_remoteproc.c
> > > Thanks for the background here.
> > >
> > > > > The reason here is that you are mixing platform and TEE bus
> > > > > for remoteproc
> > > > > driver. For probe, you rely on platform bus and then try to migrate to
> > > > > TEE bus via rproc_tee_register() is the problem here.
> > > > > Instead you should
> > > > > rather probe remoteproc device on TEE bus from the beginning.
> > > > The approach is interesting, but how can we rely on Device Tree (DT) for
> > > > hardware configuration in this case?
> > > > At a minimum, I need to define memory regions and mailboxes.
> > > The hardware configuration in DT should be consumed by OP-TEE and the
> > > kernel probes remoteproc properties from OP-TEE since it's an OP-TEE
> > > mediated remoteproc service you are adding here.
> > > >  From my perspective, I would still need a driver probed by DT
> > > > that registers
> > > > a driver on the TEE bus. Therefore, I still need a mechanism to decide
> > > > whether the remote firmware is managed by the secure or
> > > > non-secure context.
> > > As I mentioned below, this should be achievable using the secure-status
> > > property without introducing the new compatible:
> > >
> > > Kernel managed remoteproc:
> > >     status = "okay"; secure-status = "disabled";     /* NS-only */
> > >
> > > OP-TEE managed remoteproc:
> > >     status = "disabled"; secure-status = "okay";     /* S-only */
> > >
> > > > Another issue would be to be able to share the remoteproc TEE service
> > > > between
> > > > several platform remoteproc drivers, in case of multi remote processor
> > > > support.
> > > Making the TEE based remoteproc service independent of DT will surely
> > > make it more scalable to other platforms too. Have a look at how OP-TEE
> > > based HWRNG service scales across platforms.
> >
> > Another important service is SCMI, which drivers use to manage clocks
> > and resets.
> > These clocks and resets are declared in the Device Tree (DT). It seems
> > to me that
> > in this case, we are closer to SCMI than to the RNG service.
> >
> > I propose we discuss this based on a concrete example with the STM32MP25.
> > Although not yet upstreamed, our plan is to manage signed firmware for the
> > Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M0.
> >
> > Please find below my view of the DT resources to address.
> >
> > STM32MP25  Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M0 nodes:
> >
> > m33_rproc {
> >   /* M33 watchdog interrupt */
> >   interrupt-parent = <&intc>;
> >   interrupts = <GIC_SPI 4 IRQ_TYPE_LEVEL_HIGH>;
> >   /* power domain management */
> >   power-domains = <&cluster_pd>, <&ret_pd>;
> >   power-domain-names = "default", "sleep";
> >   /* RPMsg mailboxes + M33 graceful shutdown request */
> >   mboxes = <&ipcc1 0x0>, <&ipcc1 0x1>, <&ipcc1 2>;
> >   mbox-names = "vq0", "vq1", "shutdown";
> >   memory-region = <&vdev0vring0>, <&vdev0vring1>, <&vdev0buffer>;
> >   status = "okay";
> > };
> >
> > m0_rproc {
> >   /* mailbox for graceful shutdown */
> >   mboxes = <&ipcc2 2>;
> >   mbox-names = "shutdown";
> >   /* M0 watchdog */
> >  interrupt-parent = <&intc>;
> >  interrupts = <GIC_SPI 7 IRQ_TYPE_LEVEL_HIGH>;
> >  /* M0 peripheral clocking (not accessible by the M0) */
> >  clocks = <&scmi_clk CK_SCMI_GPIOZ_AM>,
> >  <&scmi_clk CK_SCMI_GPIOZ>,
> >  <&scmi_clk CK_SCMI_IPCC2>,
> >  <&scmi_clk CK_SCMI_IPCC2_AM>,
> >  <&rcc CK_LPTIM3_AM>,
> >  <&rcc CK_LPUART1_AM>,
> >  <&rcc CK_CPU3_AM>,
> >  <&rcc CK_CPU3>,
> >  <&rcc CK_LPUART1_C3>,
> >  <&rcc CK_GPIOZ_C3>,
> >  <&rcc CK_LPTIM3_C3>,
> >  <&rcc CK_KER_LPUART1>,
> >  <&rcc CK_KER_LPTIM3>,
> >  <&scmi_clk CK_SCMI_GPIOZ>,
> >  <&scmi_clk CK_SCMI_IPCC2>;
> >  status = "okay";
> > };
> >
> > If we want to remove the DT, we need to consider:
> >
> > - Mechanism to differentiate Cortex-M33 and Cortex-M0:
> >   Similar to SCMI, the remoteproc OP-TEE service should support
> >  multiprocessor setups without instantiating multiple services.
> >
> > - Mailboxes:
> >
> >   A phandle is needed because the mailbox driver is managed by the
> >   Linux mailbox driver. STM32MP2 has two mailboxes.
> >   Moving towards your proposal would imply creating a mailbox service
> >   in TEE to manage non-secure mailboxes for non-secure IPC. This might
> >   not be efficient for inter-processor communication. Hardware-wise, it
> >   would require the IRQ to be handled by the secure context.
> >
> > - Memory regions:
> >  - Hardware limitation: OP-TEE is limited in the number of memory regions
> >    it can declare due to Firewall configuration. Moving IPC memory regions
> >    reaches this limit. Currently, OP-TEE defines a single region with
> > shareable
> >    access rights, which Linux splits into at least three memory regions
> > for RPMsg.
> >  - Memory mapping: Memory regions still need to be declared in Linux to
> > prevent
> >    Linux from using them.
> >  - Virtio/RPMsg: Memory region names are fixed (e.g., dev<X>vring<Y>),
> > so OP-TEE
> >   must declare memory regions in its DT according to Linux naming
> > conventions.
> >
> > - Clock and reset:
> >    Some clocks and resets are managed via SCMI, others are not. This
> > would require
> >   managing all clocks and resets through SCMI, with possible side
> > effect on the
> >   "unused" clock mechanism in Linux ( to be confirmed)
> >
> > - Power domain:
> >   Information is needed at the Linux level to determine the low power
> > mode.
> >
> > - Watchdog interrupt:
> >   Should be managed by OP-TEE, which requires the hardware to have an
> > associated
> >   secure IRQ.
> >
> > - Miscellaneous vendor DT properties:
> >    How to be sure that these can be addressed through TEE services?
> >
> > Regarding the existing DT needs, it seems to me that removing the DT
> > would require
> > moving all node resource management into TEE ( if really possible). This
> > would
> > increase TEE complexity and footprint, reduce system efficiency, and
> > make supporting
> > other platforms less scalable.

I can see your arguments regarding some DT properties which are hard to
discover via OP-TEE service and I have been trying to think of how to
handle it in a proper manner for a device on discoverable TEE bus. One
of my fellow kernel maintainers pointed out that other discoverable
buses in the kernel like PCI etc. already solved this DT dependencies
via having device specific bindings. You can have a look at a one
particular example of PCI device binding here [1]. In case of OP-TEE,
you can have a similar device binding with UUID under the OP-TEE
firmware DT node.

The current approach you are taking via probing device on platform bus
and then trying to move onto TEE bus isn't at all the compatible with
the driver model, it simply sets a bad example for the driver model.

[1] Documentation/devicetree/bindings/net/wireless/qcom,ath11k-pci.yaml

> >
> > That said, it probably also depends on the TEE implementation.
> > And  we should support both. This could be done by introducing a second
> > UUID.
> > but in this case should it be the same driver?
>
> I am unsure how to move forward here. It seems to me that addressing Sumit's
> request for a TEE without a device tree is not compatible with the current
> OP-TEE implementation, at least for the STM32MP platforms.
>
> Perhaps the simplest approach is to abandon the effort to make this generic
> and instead rename tee_remoteproc.c to stm32_tee_remoteproc.c, making it
> platform-dependent. Then, if another platform wants to reuse it with OP-TEE
> FFA or another TEE, the file can be renamed.
>
> Does this proposal would make sense to you?

No, we should try to avoid a vendor specific TEE driver especially if it's based
on similar OP-TEE based service which should be able to abstract out the vendor
implementation for the kernel.

-Sumit