diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/vgaarbiter.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/vgaarbiter.txt | 194 |
1 files changed, 194 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/vgaarbiter.txt b/Documentation/vgaarbiter.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..43a9b069 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vgaarbiter.txt @@ -0,0 +1,194 @@ + +VGA Arbiter +=========== + +Graphic devices are accessed through ranges in I/O or memory space. While most +modern devices allow relocation of such ranges, some "Legacy" VGA devices +implemented on PCI will typically have the same "hard-decoded" addresses as +they did on ISA. For more details see "PCI Bus Binding to IEEE Std 1275-1994 +Standard for Boot (Initialization Configuration) Firmware Revision 2.1" +Section 7, Legacy Devices. + +The Resource Access Control (RAC) module inside the X server [0] existed for +the legacy VGA arbitration task (besides other bus management tasks) when more +than one legacy device co-exists on the same machine. But the problem happens +when these devices are trying to be accessed by different userspace clients +(e.g. two server in parallel). Their address assignments conflict. Moreover, +ideally, being an userspace application, it is not the role of the the X +server to control bus resources. Therefore an arbitration scheme outside of +the X server is needed to control the sharing of these resources. This +document introduces the operation of the VGA arbiter implemented for Linux +kernel. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +I. Details and Theory of Operation + I.1 vgaarb + I.2 libpciaccess + I.3 xf86VGAArbiter (X server implementation) +II. Credits +III.References + + +I. Details and Theory of Operation +================================== + +I.1 vgaarb +---------- + +The vgaarb is a module of the Linux Kernel. When it is initially loaded, it +scans all PCI devices and adds the VGA ones inside the arbitration. The +arbiter then enables/disables the decoding on different devices of the VGA +legacy instructions. Device which do not want/need to use the arbiter may +explicitly tell it by calling vga_set_legacy_decoding(). + +The kernel exports a char device interface (/dev/vga_arbiter) to the clients, +which has the following semantics: + + open : open user instance of the arbiter. By default, it's attached to + the default VGA device of the system. + + close : close user instance. Release locks made by the user + + read : return a string indicating the status of the target like: + + "<card_ID>,decodes=<io_state>,owns=<io_state>,locks=<io_state> (ic,mc)" + + An IO state string is of the form {io,mem,io+mem,none}, mc and + ic are respectively mem and io lock counts (for debugging/ + diagnostic only). "decodes" indicate what the card currently + decodes, "owns" indicates what is currently enabled on it, and + "locks" indicates what is locked by this card. If the card is + unplugged, we get "invalid" then for card_ID and an -ENODEV + error is returned for any command until a new card is targeted. + + + write : write a command to the arbiter. List of commands: + + target <card_ID> : switch target to card <card_ID> (see below) + lock <io_state> : acquires locks on target ("none" is an invalid io_state) + trylock <io_state> : non-blocking acquire locks on target (returns EBUSY if + unsuccessful) + unlock <io_state> : release locks on target + unlock all : release all locks on target held by this user (not + implemented yet) + decodes <io_state> : set the legacy decoding attributes for the card + + poll : event if something changes on any card (not just the + target) + + card_ID is of the form "PCI:domain:bus:dev.fn". It can be set to "default" + to go back to the system default card (TODO: not implemented yet). Currently, + only PCI is supported as a prefix, but the userland API may support other bus + types in the future, even if the current kernel implementation doesn't. + +Note about locks: + +The driver keeps track of which user has which locks on which card. It +supports stacking, like the kernel one. This complexifies the implementation +a bit, but makes the arbiter more tolerant to user space problems and able +to properly cleanup in all cases when a process dies. +Currently, a max of 16 cards can have locks simultaneously issued from +user space for a given user (file descriptor instance) of the arbiter. + +In the case of devices hot-{un,}plugged, there is a hook - pci_notify() - to +notify them being added/removed in the system and automatically added/removed +in the arbiter. + +There's also a in-kernel API of the arbiter in the case of DRM, vgacon and +others which may use the arbiter. + + +I.2 libpciaccess +---------------- + +To use the vga arbiter char device it was implemented an API inside the +libpciaccess library. One field was added to struct pci_device (each device +on the system): + + /* the type of resource decoded by the device */ + int vgaarb_rsrc; + +Besides it, in pci_system were added: + + int vgaarb_fd; + int vga_count; + struct pci_device *vga_target; + struct pci_device *vga_default_dev; + + +The vga_count is usually need to keep informed how many cards are being +arbitrated, so for instance if there's only one then it can totally escape the +scheme. + + +These functions below acquire VGA resources for the given card and mark those +resources as locked. If the resources requested are "normal" (and not legacy) +resources, the arbiter will first check whether the card is doing legacy +decoding for that type of resource. If yes, the lock is "converted" into a +legacy resource lock. The arbiter will first look for all VGA cards that +might conflict and disable their IOs and/or Memory access, including VGA +forwarding on P2P bridges if necessary, so that the requested resources can +be used. Then, the card is marked as locking these resources and the IO and/or +Memory access is enabled on the card (including VGA forwarding on parent +P2P bridges if any). In the case of vga_arb_lock(), the function will block +if some conflicting card is already locking one of the required resources (or +any resource on a different bus segment, since P2P bridges don't differentiate +VGA memory and IO afaik). If the card already owns the resources, the function +succeeds. vga_arb_trylock() will return (-EBUSY) instead of blocking. Nested +calls are supported (a per-resource counter is maintained). + + +Set the target device of this client. + int pci_device_vgaarb_set_target (struct pci_device *dev); + + +For instance, in x86 if two devices on the same bus want to lock different +resources, both will succeed (lock). If devices are in different buses and +trying to lock different resources, only the first who tried succeeds. + int pci_device_vgaarb_lock (void); + int pci_device_vgaarb_trylock (void); + +Unlock resources of device. + int pci_device_vgaarb_unlock (void); + +Indicates to the arbiter if the card decodes legacy VGA IOs, legacy VGA +Memory, both, or none. All cards default to both, the card driver (fbdev for +example) should tell the arbiter if it has disabled legacy decoding, so the +card can be left out of the arbitration process (and can be safe to take +interrupts at any time. + int pci_device_vgaarb_decodes (int new_vgaarb_rsrc); + +Connects to the arbiter device, allocates the struct + int pci_device_vgaarb_init (void); + +Close the connection + void pci_device_vgaarb_fini (void); + + +I.3 xf86VGAArbiter (X server implementation) +-------------------------------------------- + +(TODO) + +X server basically wraps all the functions that touch VGA registers somehow. + + +II. Credits +=========== + +Benjamin Herrenschmidt (IBM?) started this work when he discussed such design +with the Xorg community in 2005 [1, 2]. In the end of 2007, Paulo Zanoni and +Tiago Vignatti (both of C3SL/Federal University of Paraná) proceeded his work +enhancing the kernel code to adapt as a kernel module and also did the +implementation of the user space side [3]. Now (2009) Tiago Vignatti and Dave +Airlie finally put this work in shape and queued to Jesse Barnes' PCI tree. + + +III. References +============== + +[0] http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/commit/?id=4b42448a2388d40f257774fbffdccaea87bd0347 +[1] http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2005-March/006663.html +[2] http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2005-March/006745.html +[3] http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2007-October/029507.html |