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diff --git a/Documentation/DMA-attributes.txt b/Documentation/DMA-attributes.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..8f8d97f65 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/DMA-attributes.txt @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +============== +DMA attributes +============== + +This document describes the semantics of the DMA attributes that are +defined in linux/dma-mapping.h. + +DMA_ATTR_WRITE_BARRIER +---------------------- + +DMA_ATTR_WRITE_BARRIER is a (write) barrier attribute for DMA. DMA +to a memory region with the DMA_ATTR_WRITE_BARRIER attribute forces +all pending DMA writes to complete, and thus provides a mechanism to +strictly order DMA from a device across all intervening busses and +bridges. This barrier is not specific to a particular type of +interconnect, it applies to the system as a whole, and so its +implementation must account for the idiosyncrasies of the system all +the way from the DMA device to memory. + +As an example of a situation where DMA_ATTR_WRITE_BARRIER would be +useful, suppose that a device does a DMA write to indicate that data is +ready and available in memory. The DMA of the "completion indication" +could race with data DMA. Mapping the memory used for completion +indications with DMA_ATTR_WRITE_BARRIER would prevent the race. + +DMA_ATTR_WEAK_ORDERING +---------------------- + +DMA_ATTR_WEAK_ORDERING specifies that reads and writes to the mapping +may be weakly ordered, that is that reads and writes may pass each other. + +Since it is optional for platforms to implement DMA_ATTR_WEAK_ORDERING, +those that do not will simply ignore the attribute and exhibit default +behavior. + +DMA_ATTR_WRITE_COMBINE +---------------------- + +DMA_ATTR_WRITE_COMBINE specifies that writes to the mapping may be +buffered to improve performance. + +Since it is optional for platforms to implement DMA_ATTR_WRITE_COMBINE, +those that do not will simply ignore the attribute and exhibit default +behavior. + +DMA_ATTR_NON_CONSISTENT +----------------------- + +DMA_ATTR_NON_CONSISTENT lets the platform to choose to return either +consistent or non-consistent memory as it sees fit. By using this API, +you are guaranteeing to the platform that you have all the correct and +necessary sync points for this memory in the driver. + +DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING +-------------------------- + +DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING lets the platform to avoid creating a kernel +virtual mapping for the allocated buffer. On some architectures creating +such mapping is non-trivial task and consumes very limited resources +(like kernel virtual address space or dma consistent address space). +Buffers allocated with this attribute can be only passed to user space +by calling dma_mmap_attrs(). By using this API, you are guaranteeing +that you won't dereference the pointer returned by dma_alloc_attr(). You +can treat it as a cookie that must be passed to dma_mmap_attrs() and +dma_free_attrs(). Make sure that both of these also get this attribute +set on each call. + +Since it is optional for platforms to implement +DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING, those that do not will simply ignore the +attribute and exhibit default behavior. + +DMA_ATTR_SKIP_CPU_SYNC +---------------------- + +By default dma_map_{single,page,sg} functions family transfer a given +buffer from CPU domain to device domain. Some advanced use cases might +require sharing a buffer between more than one device. This requires +having a mapping created separately for each device and is usually +performed by calling dma_map_{single,page,sg} function more than once +for the given buffer with device pointer to each device taking part in +the buffer sharing. The first call transfers a buffer from 'CPU' domain +to 'device' domain, what synchronizes CPU caches for the given region +(usually it means that the cache has been flushed or invalidated +depending on the dma direction). However, next calls to +dma_map_{single,page,sg}() for other devices will perform exactly the +same synchronization operation on the CPU cache. CPU cache synchronization +might be a time consuming operation, especially if the buffers are +large, so it is highly recommended to avoid it if possible. +DMA_ATTR_SKIP_CPU_SYNC allows platform code to skip synchronization of +the CPU cache for the given buffer assuming that it has been already +transferred to 'device' domain. This attribute can be also used for +dma_unmap_{single,page,sg} functions family to force buffer to stay in +device domain after releasing a mapping for it. Use this attribute with +care! + +DMA_ATTR_FORCE_CONTIGUOUS +------------------------- + +By default DMA-mapping subsystem is allowed to assemble the buffer +allocated by dma_alloc_attrs() function from individual pages if it can +be mapped as contiguous chunk into device dma address space. By +specifying this attribute the allocated buffer is forced to be contiguous +also in physical memory. + +DMA_ATTR_ALLOC_SINGLE_PAGES +--------------------------- + +This is a hint to the DMA-mapping subsystem that it's probably not worth +the time to try to allocate memory to in a way that gives better TLB +efficiency (AKA it's not worth trying to build the mapping out of larger +pages). You might want to specify this if: + +- You know that the accesses to this memory won't thrash the TLB. + You might know that the accesses are likely to be sequential or + that they aren't sequential but it's unlikely you'll ping-pong + between many addresses that are likely to be in different physical + pages. +- You know that the penalty of TLB misses while accessing the + memory will be small enough to be inconsequential. If you are + doing a heavy operation like decryption or decompression this + might be the case. +- You know that the DMA mapping is fairly transitory. If you expect + the mapping to have a short lifetime then it may be worth it to + optimize allocation (avoid coming up with large pages) instead of + getting the slight performance win of larger pages. + +Setting this hint doesn't guarantee that you won't get huge pages, but it +means that we won't try quite as hard to get them. + +.. note:: At the moment DMA_ATTR_ALLOC_SINGLE_PAGES is only implemented on ARM, + though ARM64 patches will likely be posted soon. + +DMA_ATTR_NO_WARN +---------------- + +This tells the DMA-mapping subsystem to suppress allocation failure reports +(similarly to __GFP_NOWARN). + +On some architectures allocation failures are reported with error messages +to the system logs. Although this can help to identify and debug problems, +drivers which handle failures (eg, retry later) have no problems with them, +and can actually flood the system logs with error messages that aren't any +problem at all, depending on the implementation of the retry mechanism. + +So, this provides a way for drivers to avoid those error messages on calls +where allocation failures are not a problem, and shouldn't bother the logs. + +.. note:: At the moment DMA_ATTR_NO_WARN is only implemented on PowerPC. + +DMA_ATTR_PRIVILEGED +------------------- + +Some advanced peripherals such as remote processors and GPUs perform +accesses to DMA buffers in both privileged "supervisor" and unprivileged +"user" modes. This attribute is used to indicate to the DMA-mapping +subsystem that the buffer is fully accessible at the elevated privilege +level (and ideally inaccessible or at least read-only at the +lesser-privileged levels). |