Re: [PATCH iwl-next v5 12/15] ixgbe: add support for devlink reload

[Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 12:51:13PM +0100, Jedrzej Jagielski wrote:
> The E610 adapters contain an embedded chip with firmware which can be
> updated using devlink flash. The firmware which runs on this chip is
> referred to as the Embedded Management Processor firmware (EMP
> firmware).
> 
> Activating the new firmware image currently requires that the system be
> rebooted. This is not ideal as rebooting the system can cause unwanted
> downtime.
> 
> The EMP firmware itself can be reloaded by issuing a special update
> to the device called an Embedded Management Processor reset (EMP
> reset). This reset causes the device to reset and reload the EMP
> firmware.
> 
> Implement support for devlink reload with the "fw_activate" flag. This
> allows user space to request the firmware be activated immediately.
> 
> Reviewed-by: Mateusz Polchlopek <mateusz.polchlopek@intel.com>
> Co-developed-by: Slawomir Mrozowicz <slawomirx.mrozowicz@intel.com>
> Signed-off-by: Slawomir Mrozowicz <slawomirx.mrozowicz@intel.com>
> Co-developed-by: Piotr Kwapulinski <piotr.kwapulinski@intel.com>
> Signed-off-by: Piotr Kwapulinski <piotr.kwapulinski@intel.com>
> Co-developed-by: Stefan Wegrzyn <stefan.wegrzyn@intel.com>
> Signed-off-by: Stefan Wegrzyn <stefan.wegrzyn@intel.com>
> Signed-off-by: Jedrzej Jagielski <jedrzej.jagielski@intel.com>

...

> diff --git a/Documentation/networking/devlink/ixgbe.rst b/Documentation/networking/devlink/ixgbe.rst
> index 41aedf4b8017..e5fef951c6f5 100644
> --- a/Documentation/networking/devlink/ixgbe.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/networking/devlink/ixgbe.rst
> @@ -88,3 +88,18 @@ combined flash image that contains the ``fw.mgmt``, ``fw.undi``, and
>         and device serial number. It is expected that this combination be used with an
>         image customized for the specific device.
>  
> +Reload
> +======
> +
> +The ``ixgbe`` driver supports activating new firmware after a flash update
> +using ``DEVLINK_CMD_RELOAD`` with the ``DEVLINK_RELOAD_ACTION_FW_ACTIVATE``
> +action.
> +
> +.. code:: shell
> +    $ devlink dev reload pci/0000:01:00.0 reload action fw_activate
> +The new firmware is activated by issuing a device specific Embedded
> +Management Processor reset which requests the device to reset and reload the
> +EMP firmware image.
> +
> +The driver does not currently support reloading the driver via
> +``DEVLINK_RELOAD_ACTION_DRIVER_REINIT``.

Hi Jedrzej, all,

This is not a proper review. And I didn't look into this, but make htmldocs
complains that:

 .../ixgbe.rst:98: ERROR: Error in "code" directive:
 maximum 1 argument(s) allowed, 9 supplied.
 
 .. code:: shell
     $ devlink dev reload pci/0000:01:00.0 reload action fw_activate

...