Hi Arnd, On Wednesday 03 August 2016 01:12 PM, Arnd Bergmann wrote: > On Wednesday, August 3, 2016 11:33:19 AM CEST Kishon Vijay Abraham I wrote: >> Hi, >> >> The PCIe controller present in TI's DRA7 SoC is capable of operating either in >> Root Complex mode or Endpoint mode. (It uses Synopsys Designware Core).I'd >> assume most of the PCIe controllers on other platforms that use Designware core >> should also be capable to operate in endpoint mode. But linux kernel right now >> supports only RC mode. >> >> PCIe endpoint support discussion came up briefly before [1] but it was felt the >> practical use case will find firmware more suitable and endpoint support in >> kernel can be used only for validation or demo. >> >> Validation or demo is itself a valid use case in my opinion (consider something >> similar to gadget zero for USB). There can be other use cases as well. The RC >> can use the SoC with EP mode support as an accelerator to accomplish specific >> task. Here RC gives data to the EP. The EP processes the data. The processing >> can be done either in ARM itself or it can use other hardware accelerators >> (like DSP, IVA-HD etc..) present in the EP system. If HW accelerator is used, >> the linux kernel running in ARM can be used to accomplish other tasks. Once EP >> mode support is added, I think more use cases will be added. >> >> From the high level this should look _similar_ to the gadget framework of USB. >> One difference from USB would be this should allow HW components (like DSP, PRU >> etc.. and maybe even some peripheral) in the EP system to be used by RC system. > > (Adding Jon Mason) > > We have the drivers/ntb framework, which in theory should be able to handle > this, but in practice is only used for a very small number of bridge > implementations, and is also limited in the way it can be configured > (compared to USB gadget) > >> So these are the high-level steps that I thought would be needed to add EP >> support in linux. >> *) move pcie-designware.c out of drivers/pci/host (maybe create a >> drivers/pci/designware/ folder?). All users of pcie-designware.c should be >> moved here. >> This is in preparation for adding EP mode support to designware. > > A lot of the other drivers in drivers/pci/host support endpoint mode too, > I don't think moving them all elsewhere is helpful or necessary here. having drivers that support endpoint in *host* directory might be misleading IMO. > >> *) Add library functions in pcie-designware.c specific to EP mode like >> initializing general ecam registers, BAR registers etc.. These functions should >> be invoked from a *function* driver (function driver should determine the use >> of a particular EP). >> >> *) Add a sample *function* driver that can be used just for validation. This >> function driver will invoke the previously added functions in PCIe controller >> to initialize ecam, BAR etc.. This will invoke the PCIe controller functions >> through *ep-core* layer. That way the same function driver can be made to work >> with different PCIe controllers. (A PCIe driver corresponding to this function >> driver should also be implemented in RC side) >> >> *) Add *ep-core* layer to bind the function driver to the controller driver and >> using which the function driver will invoke controller driver callbacks (to >> initialize ecam, BAR registers etc..) > > I think we should first have a rough idea what the framework should look like, > and how it handles having multiple hardware implementation and multiple > protocol implementations, before we modify a particular driver. > > So this step here should come a bit earlier than the others. Okay. That makes sense to me as well. > >> *) Modify platform driver to support EP mode (in my case pci-dra7xx.c). >> >> *) dt binding specific to EP mode should be created. > > Right. Thanks Kishon -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-pci" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
