Can I use VFP in work queue context ?

[Woodruff, Richard]

> From: linux-arm-kernel-bounces at lists.infradead.org [mailto:linux-arm-kernel-
> bounces at lists.infradead.org] On Behalf Of Siarhei Siamashka

> I also thought about the possibility to use NEON in the kernel some time ago,
> but did not pursue it further, expecting negative feedback similar to what you
> are getting now ;-)
>
> Some MMX/SSE2 code exists in the kernel already if you grep the sources. It
> might give you some ideas. Naturally preemption has to be disabled and NEON
> state fully saved/restored on entry/exit, like in 'kernel_fpu_begin' and
> 'kernel_fpu_end' functions for x86. For ARM Cortex-A8 using NEON may be a bit
> more difficult because NEON is in a separate power domain and may be switched
> off at the time you want to use it. There may be some other technical problems
> for sure, so the comments from someone knowledgeable would be very
> interesting to read.

VFP/NEON executed in the kernel while in some others processes context does seem like a big no (or at least requiring details as you point out).

But a work queue is built on a half backed process which is schedulable.  VFP context handling is tied to a process so it would seem a smaller task to allow VFP to work against this. If the work queue executes in a unique context it could follow the same lazy strategy a user space one does.

Or is that way off?

Regards,
Richard W.