On Mon, 8 Oct 2012, Hans Verkuil wrote: > On Mon October 8 2012 16:30:53 Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote: > > On Mon, 8 Oct 2012, Hans Verkuil wrote: > > > > > On Mon October 8 2012 14:23:25 Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote: > > > > Hi Hans > > > > > > > > On Fri, 5 Oct 2012, Hans Verkuil wrote: > > > > > > > > [snip] > > > > > > > > > I think the soc_camera patches should be left out for now. I suspect that > > > > > by adding core support for async i2c handling first, > > > > > > > > Ok, let's think, what this meacs - async I2C in media / V4L2 core. > > > > > > > > The main reason for our probing order problem is the master clock, > > > > typically supplied from the camera bridge to I2C subdevices, which we only > > > > want to start when necessary, i.e. when accessing the subdevice. And the > > > > subdevice driver needs that clock running during its .probe() to be able > > > > to access and verify or configure the hardware. Our current solution is to > > > > not register I2C subdevices from the platform data, as is usual for all > > > > I2C devices, but from the bridge driver and only after it has switched on > > > > the master clock. After the subdevice driver has completed its probing we > > > > switch the clock back off until the subdevice has to be activated, e.g. > > > > for video capture. > > > > > > > > Also important - when we want to unregister the bridge driver we just also > > > > unregister the I2C device. > > > > > > > > Now, to reverse the whole thing and to allow I2C devices be registered as > > > > usual - via platform data or OF, first of all we have to teach I2C > > > > subdevice drivers to recognise the "too early" situation and request > > > > deferred probing in such a case. Then it will be reprobed after each new > > > > successful probe or unregister on the system. After the bridge driver has > > > > successfully probed the subdevice driver will be re-probed and at that > > > > time it should succeed. Now, there is a problem here too: who should > > > > switch on and off the master clock? > > > > > > > > If we do it from the bridge driver, we could install an I2C bus-notifier, > > > > _before_ the subdevice driver is probed, i.e. upon the > > > > BUS_NOTIFY_BIND_DRIVER event we could turn on the clock. If subdevice > > > > probing was successful, we can then wait for the BUS_NOTIFY_BOUND_DRIVER > > > > event to switch the clock back off. BUT - if the subdevice fails probing? > > > > How do we find out about that and turn the clock back off? There is no > > > > notification event for that... Possible solutions: > > > > > > > > 1. timer - ugly and unreliable. > > > > 2. add a "probing failed" notifier event to the device core - would this > > > > be accepted? > > > > 3. let the subdevice turn the master clock on and off for the duration of > > > > probing. > > > > > > > > My vote goes for (3). Ideally this should be done using the generic clock > > > > framework. But can we really expect all drivers and platforms to switch to > > > > it quickly enough? If not, we need a V4L2-specific callback from subdevice > > > > drivers to bridge drivers to turn the clock on and off. That's what I've > > > > done "temporarily" in this patch series for soc-camera. > > > > > > > > Suppose we decide to do the same for V4L2 centrally - add call-backs. Then > > > > we can think what else we need to add to V4L2 to support asynchronous > > > > subdevice driver probing. > > > > > > I wonder, don't we have the necessary code already? V4L2 subdev drivers can > > > have internal_ops with register/unregister ops. These are called by > > > v4l2_device_register_subdev. This happens during the bridge driver's probe. > > > > > > Suppose the subdev's probe does not actually access the i2c device, but > > > instead defers that to the register callback? The bridge driver will turn on > > > the clock before calling v4l2_device_register_subdev to ensure that the > > > register callback can access the i2c registers. The register callback will > > > do any initialization and can return an error. In case of an error the i2c > > > client is automatically unregistered as well. > > > > Yes, if v4l2_i2c_new_subdev_board() is used. This has been discussed > > several times before and always what I didn't like in this is, that I2C > > device probe() in this case succeeds without even trying to access the > > hardware. And think about DT. In this case we don't instantiate the I2C > > device, OF code does it for us. What do you do then? If you let probe() > > succeed, then you will have to somehow remember the subdevice to later > > match it against bridges... > > Yes, but you need that information anyway. The bridge still needs to call > v4l2_device_register_subdev so it needs to know which subdevs are loaded. But how do you get the subdev pointer? With the notifier I get it from i2c_get_clientdata(client) and what do you do without it? How do you get to the client? > And can't it get that from DT as well? No, I don't think there is a way to get a device pointer from a DT node. > In my view you cannot do a proper initialization unless you have both the > bridge driver and all subdev drivers loaded and instantiated. They need one > another. So I am perfectly fine with letting the probe function do next to > nothing and postponing that until register() is called. I2C and actual probing > to check if it's the right device is a bad idea in general since you have no > idea what a hardware access to an unknown i2c device will do. There are still > some corner cases where that is needed, but I do not think that that is an > issue here. > > It would simplify things a lot IMHO. Also note that the register() op will > work with any device, not just i2c. That may be a useful property as well. And what if the subdevice device is not yet instantiated by OF by the time your bridge driver probes? Thanks Guennadi > > > In addition, during the register op the subdev driver can call into the > > > bridge driver since it knows the v4l2_device struct. > > > > > > This has also the advantage that subdev drivers can change to this model > > > gradually. Only drivers that need master clocks, etc. need to move any probe > > > code that actually accesses hardware to the register op. Others can remain > > > as. Nor should this change behavior of existing drivers as this happens > > > all in the V4L2 core. > > > > > > The bridge driver may still have to wait until all i2c drivers are loaded, > > > though. But that can definitely be handled centrally (i.e.: 'I need these > > > drivers, wait until all are loaded'). > > > > > > > 1. We'll have to create these V4L2 clock start and stop functions, that, > > > > supplied (in case of I2C) with client address and adapter number will find > > > > the correct v4l2_device instance and call its callbacks. > > > > > > > > 2. The I2C notifier. I'm not sure, whether this one should be common. Of > > > > common tasks we have to refcount the I2C adapter and register the > > > > subdevice. Then we'd have to call the bridge driver's callback. Is it > > > > worth it doing this centrally or rather allow individual drivers to do > > > > that themselves? > > > > > > > > Also, ideally OF-compatible (I2C) drivers should run with no platform > > > > data, but soc-camera is using I2C device platform data intensively. To > > > > avoid modifying the soc-camera core and all drivers, I also trigger on the > > > > BUS_NOTIFY_BIND_DRIVER event and assign a reference to the dynamically > > > > created platform data to the I2C device. Would we also want to do this for > > > > all V4L2 bridge drivers? We could call this a "prepare" callback or > > > > something similar... > > > > > > Well, subdev drivers should either parse the OF data, or use the platform_data. > > > The way soc_camera uses platform_data is one reason why it is so hard to > > > reuse subdevs for non-soc_camera drivers. All the callbacks in soc_camera_link > > > should be replaced by calls to the v4l2_device notify() callback. After that we > > > can see what is needed to drop struct soc_camera_link altogether as platform_data. > > > > They don't have to be, they are not (or should not be) called by > > subdevices. > > Then why are those callbacks in a struct that subdevs can access? I always > have a hard time with soc_camera figuring out who is using what when :-( > > > > > 3. Bridge driver unregistering. Here we have to put the subdevice driver > > > > back into the deferred-probe state... Ugliness alert: I'm doing this by > > > > unregistering and re-registering the I2C device... For that I also have to > > > > create a copy of devices I2C board-info data. Lovely, ain't it? This I'd > > > > be happy to move to the V4L2 core;-) > > > > > > By just using the unregister ops this should be greatly simplified as well. > > > > Sorry, which unregister ops do you mean? internal_ops->unregistered()? > > Yes. > > > Yes, but only if we somehow go your way and use dummy probe() methods... > > Of course. > > Regards, > > Hans > --- Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D. Freelance Open-Source Software Developer http://www.open-technology.de/ -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-media" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
