Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 29 Apr 2016 16:01:58 -0700 | Subject | Re: [PATCH v2 0/4] Patches to allow consistent mmc / mmcblk numbering w/ device tree | From | Doug Anderson <> |
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Hi,
On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 3:44 PM, Russell King - ARM Linux <linux@arm.linux.org.uk> wrote: > My reply would be... why should MMC have special handling that no > other subsystem has?
No other subsystem?
* i2c allows numbering devices by alias * rtc allows numbering devices by alias. * serial allows numbering devices by alias. * spi allows numbering devices by alias. * watchdog allows numbering devices by alias.
...at least that's my impression doing a grep for of_alias_get_id(), which I suggested earlier in this thread but apparently wasn't done.
> Here's another example. Plug in several USB serial adapters. Which > USB serial /dev/ttyUSB* device corresponds to which adapter? The > answer is... it depends on the order you plug them in, which could > well be different from the order in which they are found if the > machine reboots. That's a very real problem.
USB is, by definition, hotplug and probable and there is no ordering. For peripherals built-in to a SoC there is a sane ordering. Thus hotplug peripherals and builtin peripherals shouldn't have the same requirements.
Quite honestly, it _would_ be quite convenient that if you are on a SoC and you know it has builtin USB controllers to have the root hubs numbered in a sane and consistent manner. An area for a future patch, maybe.
> However, the answer to this problem is not to find some way to bind > a particular /dev/ttyUSB* node to a particular USB device, but to > use the solution(s) already provided - iow, /dev/serial/by-id or > /dev/serial/by-path trees which give a stable view of these devices. > > Now, while that allows the appropriate /dev/ttyUSB* device to be > found, it doesn't solve the "which ttyUSB* entry in the kernel > message log corresponds with which adapter" (which is the basis > of your point #1.) That's not solved, and isn't purposely isn't > solved for any kernel subsystem. > > Another example - I have boards here with multiple RTCs... guess > what happens with those? Yep, same problem. They get dynamic > /dev/rtc* assignment.
Are you quite certain about that? See above.
> Another example - I have a board with three ethernet devices... > yep, same problem again, the order depends on the driver probe > order, and they get dynamically assigned eth* names.
Ethernet is often provided by USB and thus hotplug and probable. Quite honestly if there was a builtin Ethernet adapter provided on a SoC (not connected over USB), it would be super handy if it was forced to be "eth0" (and if there were more than one if they could be ordered in a way that made sense for that SoC). Dynamic ordering could come after.
> The list of subsystems that have this property is large, because > it's all dependent on the device/driver probing order.
Sure. For hotplug, there is no sane device ordering.
For things built in to an SoC, there is sane device ordering. Dynamic ordering should come after static.
> So, please answer this question: why should _only_ MMC be treated > as a special case? Please give a _technical_ reason rather than a > _personal_ reason.
Because technically it makes it easier for people to understand their system to have a sane ordering for builtin peripherals.
-Doug
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