[RFC PATCH v2 0/3] RFC: tiny-dm: Proposal for using driver model in SPL

Walter Lozano walter.lozano at collabora.com
Fri Jul 10 06:12:07 CEST 2020


Hi Simon,

On 2/7/20 18:10, Simon Glass wrote:
> This series provides a proposed enhancement to driver model to reduce
> overhead in SPL.
>
> These patches should not be reviewed other than to comment on the
> approach. The code is all lumped together in a few patches and so cannot
> be applied as is.
>
> For now, the source tree is available at:
>
>     https://gitlab.denx.de/u-boot/custodians/u-boot-dm/-/tree/dtoc-working
>
> Comments welcome!
>
> Benefits (good news)
> --------------------
>
> As an example of the impact of tiny-dm, chromebook_jerry is converted to
> use it. This shows approximately a 30% reduction in code and data size and
> a 85% reduction in malloc() space over of-platdata:
>
>     text	   data	    bss	    dec	    hex	filename
>    25248	   1836	     12	  27096	   69d8	spl/u-boot-spl (original with DT)
>    19727	   3436	     12	  23175	   5a87	spl/u-boot-spl (OF_PLATDATA)
>      78%    187%    100%     86%         as %age of original
>
>    13784	   1408	     12	  15204	   3b64	spl/u-boot-spl (SPL_TINY)
>      70%     41%    100%     66%         as %age of platdata
>      55%     77%    100%     56%         as %age of original
>
> SPL malloc() usage drops from 944 bytes (OF_PLATDATA) to 116 (SPL_TINY).
>
> Overall the 'overhead' of tiny-dm is much less than the full driver
> model. Code size is currently about 600 bytes for these functions on
> Thumb2:
>
>     00000054 T tiny_dev_probe
>     00000034 T tiny_dev_get_by_drvdata
>     00000024 T tiny_dev_find
>     0000001a T tiny_dev_get
>     0000003c T tinydev_alloc_data
>     0000002a t tinydev_lookup_data
>     00000022 T tinydev_ensure_data
>     00000014 T tinydev_get_data
>     00000004 T tinydev_get_parent
>
> Effort (bad news)
> -----------------
>
> Unfortunately it is quite a bit of work to convert drivers over to
> tiny-dm. First, the of-platdata conversion must be done. But on top of
> that, tiny-dm needs entirely separate code for dealing with devices. This
> means that instead of 'struct udevice' and 'struct uclass' there is just
> 'struct tinydev'. Each driver and uclass must be modified to support
> both, pulling common code into internal static functions.
>
> Another option
> --------------
>
> Note: It is assumed that any board that is space-contrained should use
> of-platdata in SPL (see doc/driver-model/of-plat.rst). This is shown to
> reduce device-tree overhead by approximately 4KB.
>
> Designing tiny-dm has suggested a number of things that could be changed
> in the current driver model to make it more space-efficient for TPL and
> SPL. The ones with least impact on driver code are (CS=reduces code size,
> DS=reduces data size):
>
>     CS - drop driver_bind() and create devices (struct udevice) at
>          build-time
>     CS - allocate all device- and uclass-private data at build-time
>     CS - remove all but the basic operations for each uclass (e.g. SPI
>          flash only supports reading)
>     DS - use 8-bit indexes instead of 32/64-bit pointers for device
>          pointers possible since these are created at build-time)
>     DS - use singly-linked lists
>     DS - use 16-bit offsets to private data, instead of 32/64-bit pointers
>          (possible since it is all in SRAM relative to malloc() base,
>          presumably word-aligned and < 256KB)
>     DS - move private pointers into a separate data structure so that NULLs
>          are not stored
>     CS / DS - Combine req_seq and seq and calculate the new value at
>          build-time
>
> More difficult are:
>
>     DS - drop some of the lesser-used driver and uclass methods
>     DS - drop all uclass methods except init()
>     DS - drop all driver methods except probe()
>     CS / DS - drop uclasses and require drivers to manually call uclass
>          functions
>
> Even with all of this we would not reach tiny-dm and it would muddy up the
> driver-model datas structures. But we might come close to tiny-dm on size
> and there are some advantages:
>
> - much of the benefit would apply to all boards that use of-platdata (i.e.
>    with very little effort on behalf of board maintainers)
> - the impact on the code base is much less (we keep a single, unified
>    driver mode in SPL and U-Boot proper)
>
> Overall I think it is worth looking at this option. While it doesn't have
> the 'nuclear' impact of tiny-dm, neither does it mess with the U-Boot
> driver code as much and it is easier to learn.

Thanks for your hard work on this topic.

I think that there is great value in this research and in this 
conclusion. It is clear that there two different approaches, but I feel 
that the improvement to  the current DM implementation would have a 
higher impact in the community.

Since the first version of this proposal I have been thinking in a 
solution that takes some of the advantages of tiny-dm idea but that does 
not require so much effort. This seems to be aligned with what you have 
been explaining in this section.

I found interesting your proposal about simplification some data 
structures. In this sense one of my ideas, a bit biased by some of the 
improvements in dtoc, is to change the the definition of struct driver 
based on if OF_PLATDATA is enabled, and in this case remove some 
properties.

struct driver {
#if !CONFIG_IS_ENABLED(OF_PLATDATA)
         char *name;
#endif
         enum uclass_id id;
#if !CONFIG_IS_ENABLED(OF_PLATDATA)
         const struct udevice_id *of_match;
#endif
         int (*bind)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*probe)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*remove)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*unbind)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*ofdata_to_platdata)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*child_post_bind)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*child_pre_probe)(struct udevice *dev);
         int (*child_post_remove)(struct udevice *dev);
         int priv_auto_alloc_size;
         int platdata_auto_alloc_size;
         int per_child_auto_alloc_size;
         int per_child_platdata_auto_alloc_size;
         const void *ops;        /* driver-specific operations */
         uint32_t flags;
#if CONFIG_IS_ENABLED(ACPIGEN)
         struct acpi_ops *acpi_ops;
#endif
};

By just removing those properties, we save some bytes as we get rid of 
several strings. Also maybe it would be nice to add some macros to make 
it cleaner in drivers to use or not those properties, instead of adding 
lots of #if.

I feel, as you clearly expressed, that some additional refactotring can 
be made to make the logic be more similar to the tiny-dm one. I also 
found interesting that several of your proposals will have impact in 
U-Boot, not only in TPL/SPL.

> Changes in v2:
> - Various updates, and ported to chromebook_jerry (rockchip)
>
> Simon Glass (3):
>    dm: Driver and uclass changes for tiny-dm
>    dm: Arch-specific changes for tiny-dm
>    dm: Core changes for tiny-dm
>
>   arch/arm/dts/rk3288-u-boot.dtsi               |  17 +-
>   arch/arm/dts/rk3288-veyron.dtsi               |  26 +-
>   arch/arm/dts/rk3288.dtsi                      |   3 +
>   arch/arm/include/asm/arch-rockchip/clock.h    |   9 +
>   .../include/asm/arch-rockchip/sdram_rk3288.h  |  21 ++
>   arch/arm/include/asm/arch-rockchip/spi.h      |   1 +
>   arch/arm/include/asm/io.h                     |  18 +
>   arch/arm/mach-rockchip/rk3288/clk_rk3288.c    |  46 +++
>   arch/arm/mach-rockchip/rk3288/rk3288.c        |   2 +
>   arch/arm/mach-rockchip/rk3288/syscon_rk3288.c |  45 +--
>   arch/arm/mach-rockchip/sdram.c                |  33 +-
>   arch/sandbox/cpu/u-boot-spl.lds               |  12 +
>   arch/sandbox/dts/sandbox.dts                  |   3 +-
>   arch/sandbox/dts/sandbox.dtsi                 |   2 +-
>   arch/x86/cpu/apollolake/cpu_spl.c             |   5 +-
>   arch/x86/cpu/apollolake/uart.c                |  56 ++++
>   arch/x86/dts/chromebook_coral.dts             |   1 +
>   arch/x86/lib/tpl.c                            |   4 +-
>   board/Synology/ds109/ds109.c                  |   3 +-
>   common/console.c                              |   2 +-
>   common/log.c                                  |  36 +-
>   common/malloc_simple.c                        |  31 ++
>   common/spl/spl.c                              |  17 +-
>   common/spl/spl_spi.c                          |  91 +++--
>   configs/chromebook_coral_defconfig            |   1 +
>   configs/chromebook_jerry_defconfig            |  11 +
>   configs/rock2_defconfig                       |   3 +
>   doc/develop/debugging.rst                     |  35 ++
>   doc/driver-model/tiny-dm.rst                  | 315 +++++++++++++++++
>   drivers/clk/Kconfig                           |  54 +++
>   drivers/clk/Makefile                          |   4 +-
>   drivers/clk/clk-uclass.c                      |  53 ++-
>   drivers/clk/rockchip/clk_rk3288.c             | 106 ++++--
>   drivers/core/Kconfig                          | 106 ++++++
>   drivers/core/Makefile                         |   3 +
>   drivers/core/of_extra.c                       |  49 ++-
>   drivers/core/regmap.c                         |   3 +-
>   drivers/core/syscon-uclass.c                  |  68 +++-
>   drivers/core/tiny.c                           | 249 ++++++++++++++
>   drivers/mtd/spi/Kconfig                       |  18 +
>   drivers/mtd/spi/sf-uclass.c                   |  76 +++++
>   drivers/mtd/spi/sf_probe.c                    |   4 +
>   drivers/mtd/spi/spi-nor-tiny.c                | 166 ++++++++-
>   drivers/ram/Kconfig                           |  18 +
>   drivers/ram/ram-uclass.c                      |  12 +
>   drivers/ram/rockchip/sdram_rk3188.c           |   2 +-
>   drivers/ram/rockchip/sdram_rk322x.c           |   2 +-
>   drivers/ram/rockchip/sdram_rk3288.c           | 231 ++++++++-----
>   drivers/ram/rockchip/sdram_rk3328.c           |   2 +-
>   drivers/ram/rockchip/sdram_rk3399.c           |   2 +-
>   drivers/reset/reset-rockchip.c                |   4 +-
>   drivers/serial/Kconfig                        |  38 +++
>   drivers/serial/ns16550.c                      | 195 +++++++++--
>   drivers/serial/sandbox.c                      |  59 +++-
>   drivers/serial/serial-uclass.c                |  77 +++++
>   drivers/serial/serial_omap.c                  |   2 +-
>   drivers/serial/serial_rockchip.c              |  59 ++++
>   drivers/spi/Kconfig                           |  18 +
>   drivers/spi/Makefile                          |   2 +
>   drivers/spi/rk_spi.c                          | 301 ++++++++++++-----
>   drivers/spi/spi-uclass.c                      |  77 +++++
>   drivers/sysreset/Kconfig                      |  18 +
>   drivers/sysreset/sysreset-uclass.c            | 124 ++++---
>   drivers/sysreset/sysreset_rockchip.c          |  61 +++-
>   include/asm-generic/global_data.h             |   7 +-
>   include/clk-uclass.h                          |  11 +
>   include/clk.h                                 |  32 +-
>   include/dm/device.h                           | 121 +++++++
>   include/dm/of_extra.h                         |   6 +
>   include/dm/platdata.h                         |  20 +-
>   include/dm/tiny_struct.h                      |  42 +++
>   include/linker_lists.h                        |   6 +
>   include/linux/mtd/mtd.h                       |  23 +-
>   include/linux/mtd/spi-nor.h                   |  22 ++
>   include/log.h                                 |   6 +
>   include/malloc.h                              |   3 +
>   include/ns16550.h                             |   7 +-
>   include/ram.h                                 |  25 ++
>   include/regmap.h                              |   4 +-
>   include/serial.h                              |  45 ++-
>   include/spi.h                                 |  31 ++
>   include/spi_flash.h                           |   7 +
>   include/spl.h                                 |   8 +-
>   include/syscon.h                              |   2 +
>   include/sysreset.h                            |   9 +
>   scripts/Makefile.spl                          |   6 +-
>   tools/dtoc/dtb_platdata.py                    | 316 +++++++++++++++---
>   tools/dtoc/dtoc_test_simple.dts               |  12 +-
>   tools/dtoc/fdt.py                             |   7 +-
>   tools/dtoc/main.py                            |   9 +-
>   tools/dtoc/test_dtoc.py                       |  91 ++++-
>   tools/patman/tools.py                         |   4 +-
>   92 files changed, 3454 insertions(+), 540 deletions(-)
>   create mode 100644 doc/develop/debugging.rst
>   create mode 100644 doc/driver-model/tiny-dm.rst
>   create mode 100644 drivers/core/tiny.c
>   create mode 100644 include/dm/tiny_struct.h
>
Regards,

Walter



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