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diff --git a/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations b/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..966610aa4620 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/i2c/DMA-considerations @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +================= +Linux I2C and DMA +================= + +Given that i2c is a low-speed bus, over which the majority of messages +transferred are small, it is not considered a prime user of DMA access. At this +time of writing, only 10% of I2C bus master drivers have DMA support +implemented. And the vast majority of transactions are so small that setting up +DMA for it will likely add more overhead than a plain PIO transfer. + +Therefore, it is *not* mandatory that the buffer of an I2C message is DMA safe. +It does not seem reasonable to apply additional burdens when the feature is so +rarely used. However, it is recommended to use a DMA-safe buffer if your +message size is likely applicable for DMA. Most drivers have this threshold +around 8 bytes (as of today, this is mostly an educated guess, however). For +any message of 16 byte or larger, it is probably a really good idea. Please +note that other subsystems you use might add requirements. E.g., if your +I2C bus master driver is using USB as a bridge, then you need to have DMA +safe buffers always, because USB requires it. + +Clients +------- + +For clients, if you use a DMA safe buffer in i2c_msg, set the I2C_M_DMA_SAFE +flag with it. Then, the I2C core and drivers know they can safely operate DMA +on it. Note that using this flag is optional. I2C host drivers which are not +updated to use this flag will work like before. And like before, they risk +using an unsafe DMA buffer. To improve this situation, using I2C_M_DMA_SAFE in +more and more clients and host drivers is the planned way forward. Note also +that setting this flag makes only sense in kernel space. User space data is +copied into kernel space anyhow. The I2C core makes sure the destination +buffers in kernel space are always DMA capable. Also, when the core emulates +SMBus transactions via I2C, the buffers for block transfers are DMA safe. Users +of i2c_master_send() and i2c_master_recv() functions can now use DMA safe +variants (i2c_master_send_dmasafe() and i2c_master_recv_dmasafe()) once they +know their buffers are DMA safe. Users of i2c_transfer() must set the +I2C_M_DMA_SAFE flag manually. + +Masters +------- + +Bus master drivers wishing to implement safe DMA can use helper functions from +the I2C core. One gives you a DMA-safe buffer for a given i2c_msg as long as a +certain threshold is met:: + + dma_buf = i2c_get_dma_safe_msg_buf(msg, threshold_in_byte); + +If a buffer is returned, it is either msg->buf for the I2C_M_DMA_SAFE case or a +bounce buffer. But you don't need to care about that detail, just use the +returned buffer. If NULL is returned, the threshold was not met or a bounce +buffer could not be allocated. Fall back to PIO in that case. + +In any case, a buffer obtained from above needs to be released. It ensures data +is copied back to the message and a potentially used bounce buffer is freed:: + + i2c_release_dma_safe_msg_buf(msg, dma_buf); + +The bounce buffer handling from the core is generic and simple. It will always +allocate a new bounce buffer. If you want a more sophisticated handling (e.g. +reusing pre-allocated buffers), you are free to implement your own. + +Please also check the in-kernel documentation for details. The i2c-sh_mobile +driver can be used as a reference example how to use the above helpers. + +Final note: If you plan to use DMA with I2C (or with anything else, actually) +make sure you have CONFIG_DMA_API_DEBUG enabled during development. It can help +you find various issues which can be complex to debug otherwise. |