Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: [Linaro-mm-sig] [PATCHv2 3/4] staging: android: ion: Add an ioctl for ABI checking | From | Laura Abbott <> | Date | Fri, 2 Sep 2016 15:14:08 -0700 |
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On 09/02/2016 02:33 PM, Arnd Bergmann wrote: > On Friday, September 2, 2016 1:33:44 PM CEST Laura Abbott wrote: >> On 09/02/2016 02:02 AM, Arnd Bergmann wrote: >>> On Thursday, September 1, 2016 3:40:43 PM CEST Laura Abbott wrote: >>> >>>> --- a/drivers/staging/android/ion/ion-ioctl.c >>>> +++ b/drivers/staging/android/ion/ion-ioctl.c >>>> @@ -22,6 +22,29 @@ >>>> #include "ion_priv.h" >>>> #include "compat_ion.h" >>>> >>>> +union ion_ioctl_arg { >>>> + struct ion_fd_data fd; >>>> + struct ion_allocation_data allocation; >>>> + struct ion_handle_data handle; >>>> + struct ion_custom_data custom; >>>> + struct ion_abi_version abi_version; >>>> +}; >>> >>> Are you introducing this, or just clarifying the defintion of the >>> existing interface. For new interfaces, we should not have a union >>> as an ioctl argument. Instead each ioctl command should have one >>> specific structure (or better a scalar argument). >>> >> >> This was just a structure inside ion_ioctl. I pulled it out for >> the validate function. It's not an actual argument to any ioctl from >> userspace. ion_ioctl copies using _IOC_SIZE. > > Ok, got it. This is fine from an interface point of view, just > a bit unusual in the way it's written. > >>>> +static int validate_ioctl_arg(unsigned int cmd, union ion_ioctl_arg *arg) >>>> +{ >>>> + int ret = 0; >>>> + >>>> + switch (cmd) { >>>> + case ION_IOC_ABI_VERSION: >>>> + ret = arg->abi_version.reserved != 0; >>>> + break; >>>> + default: >>>> + break; >>>> + } >>>> + >>>> + return ret ? -EINVAL : 0; >>>> +} >>> >>> I agree with Greg, ioctl interfaces should normally not be versioned, >>> the usual way is to try a command and see if it fails or not. >>> >> >> The concern was trying ioctls that wouldn't actually fail or would >> have some other unexpected side effect. >> >> My conclusion from the other thread was that assuming we don't botch >> up adding new ioctls in the future or make incompatible changes to >> these in the future we shouldn't technically need it. I was still >> trying to hedge my bets against the future but that might just be >> making the problem worse? > > We've had a number of cases where versioned ABIs just didn't work out. > > The versions are either used to distinguish incompatible APIs, which > we should avoid to start with, or they are used for backwards-compatible > extensions that you should detect by checking whether an ioctl > succeeds. Relying on the API version number breaks if you get a partial > backport of features from a later version, and it's unclear what a > user space tool should expect when the kernel reports a newer ABI > than it knows. > > I think the wireless extensions and KVM are examples of versioned > APIs that turned out to make things more complicated than they > would have been otherwise. >
Okay it sounds like the answer is to strive to never run into a case where versioned ioctls are necessary. Shouldn't be too hard, right? ;)
>>>> +/** >>>> + * struct ion_abi_version >>>> + * >>>> + * @version - current ABI version >>>> + */ >>>> + >>>> +#define ION_ABI_VERSION KERNEL_VERSION(0, 1, 0) >>>> + >>>> +struct ion_abi_version { >>>> + __u32 abi_version; >>>> + __u32 reserved; >>>> +}; >>>> + >>> >>> This interface doesn't really need a "reserved" field, you could >>> as well use a __u32 by itself. If you ever need a second field, >>> just add a new command number. >>> >> >> The botching-ioctls.txt document suggested everything should be aligned >> to 64-bits. Was I interpreting that too literally? > > I didn't even know that file existed ;-) > > I'm pretty sure the paragraph refers to the problem of x86 of having > a structure like > > struct ioctl_arg { > __u64 first; > __u32 second; > }; > > which is 12 bytes long on x86, but 16 bytes long including implied > padding on all 64-bit architectures and most (maybe all) 32-bit ones > other than x86. >
Right, that's the problem it's trying to avoid.
> If there is no 64-bit member in the struct, there is no need for padding > at the end. >
That's what I thought as well. I think I'll submit a patch to the docs clarifying a few things.
> Arnd >
Thanks, Laura
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