This is a note to let you know that I've just added the patch titled usb-storage: Add quirk to defeat Kindle's automatic unload to the 5.11-stable tree which can be found at: http://www.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git;a=summary The filename of the patch is: usb-storage-add-quirk-to-defeat-kindle-s-automatic-unload.patch and it can be found in the queue-5.11 subdirectory. If you, or anyone else, feels it should not be added to the stable tree, please let <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> know about it. >From 546aa0e4ea6ed81b6c51baeebc4364542fa3f3a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alan Stern <stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2021 15:06:54 -0400 Subject: usb-storage: Add quirk to defeat Kindle's automatic unload From: Alan Stern <stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> commit 546aa0e4ea6ed81b6c51baeebc4364542fa3f3a7 upstream. Matthias reports that the Amazon Kindle automatically removes its emulated media if it doesn't receive another SCSI command within about one second after a SYNCHRONIZE CACHE. It does so even when the host has sent a PREVENT MEDIUM REMOVAL command. The reason for this behavior isn't clear, although it's not hard to make some guesses. At any rate, the results can be unexpected for anyone who tries to access the Kindle in an unusual fashion, and in theory they can lead to data loss (for example, if one file is closed and synchronized while other files are still in the middle of being written). To avoid such problems, this patch creates a new usb-storage quirks flag telling the driver always to issue a REQUEST SENSE following a SYNCHRONIZE CACHE command, and adds an unusual_devs entry for the Kindle with the flag set. This is sufficient to prevent the Kindle from doing its automatic unload, without interfering with proper operation. Another possible way to deal with this would be to increase the frequency of TEST UNIT READY polling that the kernel normally carries out for removable-media storage devices. However that would increase the overall load on the system and it is not as reliable, because the user can override the polling interval. Changing the driver's behavior is safer and has minimal overhead. CC: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Reported-and-tested-by: Matthias Schwarzott <zzam@xxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Alan Stern <stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20210317190654.GA497856@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- drivers/usb/storage/transport.c | 7 +++++++ drivers/usb/storage/unusual_devs.h | 12 ++++++++++++ include/linux/usb_usual.h | 2 ++ 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+) --- a/drivers/usb/storage/transport.c +++ b/drivers/usb/storage/transport.c @@ -656,6 +656,13 @@ void usb_stor_invoke_transport(struct sc need_auto_sense = 1; } + /* Some devices (Kindle) require another command after SYNC CACHE */ + if ((us->fflags & US_FL_SENSE_AFTER_SYNC) && + srb->cmnd[0] == SYNCHRONIZE_CACHE) { + usb_stor_dbg(us, "-- sense after SYNC CACHE\n"); + need_auto_sense = 1; + } + /* * If we have a failure, we're going to do a REQUEST_SENSE * automatically. Note that we differentiate between a command --- a/drivers/usb/storage/unusual_devs.h +++ b/drivers/usb/storage/unusual_devs.h @@ -2212,6 +2212,18 @@ UNUSUAL_DEV( 0x1908, 0x3335, 0x0200, 0x0 US_FL_NO_READ_DISC_INFO ), /* + * Reported by Matthias Schwarzott <zzam@xxxxxxxxxx> + * The Amazon Kindle treats SYNCHRONIZE CACHE as an indication that + * the host may be finished with it, and automatically ejects its + * emulated media unless it receives another command within one second. + */ +UNUSUAL_DEV( 0x1949, 0x0004, 0x0000, 0x9999, + "Amazon", + "Kindle", + USB_SC_DEVICE, USB_PR_DEVICE, NULL, + US_FL_SENSE_AFTER_SYNC ), + +/* * Reported by Oliver Neukum <oneukum@xxxxxxxx> * This device morphes spontaneously into another device if the access * pattern of Windows isn't followed. Thus writable media would be dirty --- a/include/linux/usb_usual.h +++ b/include/linux/usb_usual.h @@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ /* lies about caching, so always sync */ \ US_FLAG(NO_SAME, 0x40000000) \ /* Cannot handle WRITE_SAME */ \ + US_FLAG(SENSE_AFTER_SYNC, 0x80000000) \ + /* Do REQUEST_SENSE after SYNCHRONIZE_CACHE */ \ #define US_FLAG(name, value) US_FL_##name = value , enum { US_DO_ALL_FLAGS }; Patches currently in stable-queue which might be from stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are queue-5.11/usb-storage-add-quirk-to-defeat-kindle-s-automatic-unload.patch