Re: [RFC PATCH 0/3] pinctrl: can_sleep and pinctrl_gpio_direction

[Hans Verkuil <hverkuil-cisco@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 08/12/2021 01:30, Linus Walleij wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 7, 2021 at 11:14 PM Andy Shevchenko
> <andy.shevchenko@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Monday, December 6, 2021, Hans Verkuil <hverkuil-cisco@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Based on this discussion:
>>>
>>> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-gpio/CACRpkdb3q4-9O3dHS6QDWnZZ5JJjXWXS9KPvwXVaowLMRhcejA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/T/#t
>>>
>>> I propose this RFC series.
>>
>>
>> When I first saw your report I was thinking about actually adding a new callback ->set_direction_atomic()
>> and then make pinctrl use it, otherwise like you do, I.e. issue a warning when it’s called in atomic context
> 
> The problem is inside of pinctrl core, not in any driver. It takes a
> mutex when going over
> the GPIO ranges.
> 
> I suggested maybe just replacing these mutexes with spinlocks, or RCU.

RCU or spinlock would most likely work as a replacement for pinctrldev_list_mutex, but
not for pctldev->mutex. I didn't see any obvious way of replacing it with something else.

I'm open to any suggestions, but for now this was the best I could come up with, given
my limited knowledge of the gpio/pinctrl subsystems. It at least warns you that something
is wrong.

Personally I think that for combined gpio/pinctrl drivers it doesn't make sense to take
this additional loop through the pinctrl core, regardless of whatever locking mechanism
is used. I actually think that it obfuscates those drivers a bit, but that might just be
me.

Regards,

	Hans

> 
> Yours,
> Linus Walleij
>