Re: [PATCH v2 4/4] dmaengine: dma-axi-dmac: Defer freeing DMA descriptors

Nuno Sá
2026-03-31T08:53:01Z

On Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 11:24:34AM -0400, Frank Li wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 04:58:41PM +0000, Nuno Sá wrote:
> > From: Eliza Balas <eliza.balas@analog.com>
> >
> > This IP core can be used in architectures (like Microblaze) where DMA
> > descriptors are allocated with vmalloc().
>
> strage, why use vmalloc()?

It's just one of the paths in dma_alloc_coherent(). It should be
architecture dependant.

- Nuno Sá

>
> Frank
>
> > Hence, given that freeing the
> > descriptors happen in softirq context, vunmpap() will BUG().
> >
> > To solve the above, we setup a work item during allocation of the
> > descriptors and schedule in softirq context. Hence, the actual freeing
> > happens in threaded context.
> >
> > Also note that to account for the possible race where the struct axi_dmac
> > object is gone between scheduling the work and actually running it, we
> > now save and get a reference of struct device when allocating the
> > descriptor (given that's all we need in axi_dmac_free_desc()) and
> > release it in axi_dmac_free_desc().
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Eliza Balas <eliza.balas@analog.com>
> > Co-developed-by: Nuno Sá <nuno.sa@analog.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Nuno Sá <nuno.sa@analog.com>
> > ---
> > drivers/dma/dma-axi-dmac.c | 50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
> > 1 file changed, 37 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/dma/dma-axi-dmac.c b/drivers/dma/dma-axi-dmac.c
> > index 70d3ad7e7d37..46f1ead0c7d7 100644
> > --- a/drivers/dma/dma-axi-dmac.c
> > +++ b/drivers/dma/dma-axi-dmac.c
> > @@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
> > #include <linux/regmap.h>
> > #include <linux/slab.h>
> > #include <linux/spinlock.h>
> > +#include <linux/workqueue.h>
> >
> > #include <dt-bindings/dma/axi-dmac.h>
> >
> > @@ -133,6 +134,9 @@ struct axi_dmac_sg {
> > struct axi_dmac_desc {
> > struct virt_dma_desc vdesc;
> > struct axi_dmac_chan *chan;
> > + struct device *dev;
> > +
> > + struct work_struct sched_work;
> >
> > bool cyclic;
> > bool cyclic_eot;
> > @@ -666,6 +670,25 @@ static void axi_dmac_issue_pending(struct dma_chan *c)
> > spin_unlock_irqrestore(&chan->vchan.lock, flags);
> > }
> >
> > +static void axi_dmac_free_desc(struct axi_dmac_desc *desc)
> > +{
> > + struct axi_dmac_hw_desc *hw = desc->sg[0].hw;
> > + dma_addr_t hw_phys = desc->sg[0].hw_phys;
> > +
> > + dma_free_coherent(desc->dev, PAGE_ALIGN(desc->num_sgs * sizeof(*hw)),
> > + hw, hw_phys);
> > + put_device(desc->dev);
> > + kfree(desc);
> > +}
> > +
> > +static void axi_dmac_free_desc_schedule_work(struct work_struct *work)
> > +{
> > + struct axi_dmac_desc *desc = container_of(work, struct axi_dmac_desc,
> > + sched_work);
> > +
> > + axi_dmac_free_desc(desc);
> > +}
> > +
> > static struct axi_dmac_desc *
> > axi_dmac_alloc_desc(struct axi_dmac_chan *chan, unsigned int num_sgs)
> > {
> > @@ -681,6 +704,7 @@ axi_dmac_alloc_desc(struct axi_dmac_chan *chan, unsigned int num_sgs)
> > return NULL;
> > desc->num_sgs = num_sgs;
> > desc->chan = chan;
> > + desc->dev = get_device(dmac->dma_dev.dev);
> >
> > hws = dma_alloc_coherent(dev, PAGE_ALIGN(num_sgs * sizeof(*hws)),
> > &hw_phys, GFP_ATOMIC);
> > @@ -703,21 +727,18 @@ axi_dmac_alloc_desc(struct axi_dmac_chan *chan, unsigned int num_sgs)
> > /* The last hardware descriptor will trigger an interrupt */
> > desc->sg[num_sgs - 1].hw->flags = AXI_DMAC_HW_FLAG_LAST | AXI_DMAC_HW_FLAG_IRQ;
> >
> > + /*
> > + * We need to setup a work item because this IP can be used on archs
> > + * that rely on vmalloced memory for descriptors. And given that freeing
> > + * the descriptors happens in softirq context, vunmpap() will BUG().
> > + * Hence, setup the worker so that we can queue it and free the
> > + * descriptor in threaded context.
> > + */
> > + INIT_WORK(&desc->sched_work, axi_dmac_free_desc_schedule_work);
> > +
> > return desc;
> > }
> >
> > -static void axi_dmac_free_desc(struct axi_dmac_desc *desc)
> > -{
> > - struct axi_dmac *dmac = chan_to_axi_dmac(desc->chan);
> > - struct device *dev = dmac->dma_dev.dev;
> > - struct axi_dmac_hw_desc *hw = desc->sg[0].hw;
> > - dma_addr_t hw_phys = desc->sg[0].hw_phys;
> > -
> > - dma_free_coherent(dev, PAGE_ALIGN(desc->num_sgs * sizeof(*hw)),
> > - hw, hw_phys);
> > - kfree(desc);
> > -}
> > -
> > static struct axi_dmac_sg *axi_dmac_fill_linear_sg(struct axi_dmac_chan *chan,
> > enum dma_transfer_direction direction, dma_addr_t addr,
> > unsigned int num_periods, unsigned int period_len,
> > @@ -958,7 +979,10 @@ static void axi_dmac_free_chan_resources(struct dma_chan *c)
> >
> > static void axi_dmac_desc_free(struct virt_dma_desc *vdesc)
> > {
> > - axi_dmac_free_desc(to_axi_dmac_desc(vdesc));
> > + struct axi_dmac_desc *desc = to_axi_dmac_desc(vdesc);
> > +
> > + /* See the comment in axi_dmac_alloc_desc() for the why! */
> > + schedule_work(&desc->sched_work);
> > }
> >
> > static bool axi_dmac_regmap_rdwr(struct device *dev, unsigned int reg)
> >
> > --
> > 2.53.0
> >