On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 11:23:51AM +0100, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote: > Em Fri, 29 Apr 2022 12:10:07 +0200 > Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> escreveu: > > > On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 10:15:03AM +0100, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote: > > > HI Greg, > > > > > > Em Fri, 29 Apr 2022 10:30:33 +0200 > > > Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> escreveu: > > > > > > > On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 09:07:57AM +0100, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote: > > > > > Hi Daniel, > > > > > > > > > > Em Fri, 29 Apr 2022 09:54:10 +0200 > > > > > Daniel Vetter <daniel@xxxxxxxx> escreveu: > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 07:31:15AM +0100, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote: > > > > > > > Sometimes, device drivers are bound using indirect references, > > > > > > > which is not visible when looking at /proc/modules or lsmod. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Add a function to allow setting up module references for such > > > > > > > cases. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Reviewed-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@xxxxxxxxx> > > > > > > > Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@xxxxxxxxxx> > > > > > > > > > > > > This sounds like duct tape at the wrong level. We should have a > > > > > > device_link connecting these devices, and maybe device_link internally > > > > > > needs to make sure the respective driver modules stay around for long > > > > > > enough too. But open-coding this all over the place into every driver that > > > > > > has some kind of cross-driver dependency sounds terrible. > > > > > > > > > > > > Or maybe the bug is that the snd driver keeps accessing the hw/component > > > > > > side when that is just plain gone. Iirc there's still fundamental issues > > > > > > there on the sound side of things, which have been attempted to paper over > > > > > > by timeouts and stuff like that in the past instead of enforcing a hard > > > > > > link between the snd and i915 side. > > > > > > > > > > I agree with you that the device link between snd-hda and the DRM driver > > > > > should properly handle unbinding on both directions. This is something > > > > > that require further discussions with ALSA and DRM people, and we should > > > > > keep working on it. > > > > > > > > > > Yet, the binding between those drivers do exist, but, despite other > > > > > similar inter-driver bindings being properly reported by lsmod, this one > > > > > is invisible for userspace. > > > > > > > > > > What this series does is to make such binding visible. As simple as that. > > > > > > > > It also increases the reference count, and creates a user/kernel api > > > > with the symlinks, right? Will the reference count increase prevent the > > > > modules from now being unloadable? > > > > > > > > This feels like a very "weak" link between modules that should not be > > > > needed if reference counting is implemented properly (so that things are > > > > cleaned up in the correct order.) > > > > > > The refcount increment exists even without this patch, as > > > hda_component_master_bind() at sound/hda/hdac_component.c uses > > > try_module_get() when it creates the device link. > > > > Ok, then why shouldn't try_module_get() be creating this link instead of > > having to manually do it this way again? You don't want to have to go > > around and add this call to all users of that function, right? > > Works for me, but this is not a too trivial change, as the new > try_module_get() function will require two parameters, instead of one: > > - the module to be referenced; > - the module which will reference it. > > On trivial cases, one will be THIS_MODULE, but, in the specific case > of snd_hda, the binding is done via an ancillary routine under > snd_hda_core, but the actual binding happens at snd_hda_intel. For calls that want to increment a module reference on behalf of a different code segment than is calling it, create a new function so we can audit-the-heck out of those code paths as odds are, they are unsafe. For the normal code path, just turn try_module_get() into a macro that includes THIS_MODULE as part of it like we do for the driver register functions (see usb_register_driver() in include/linux/usb.h as an example of how to do that.) > Ok, we could add a __try_module_get() (or whatever other name that > would properly express what it does) with two parameters, and then > define try_module_get() as: > > #define try_module_get(mod) __try_module_get(mod, THIS_MODULE) Yes, that's the way forward. thanks, greg k-h