A few questions on imx-sdma

[Shawn Guo]

Hi Sascha,

I got a few questions when studying imx-sdma.  Can you please help me
understand?

* In function sdma_prep_slave_sg, we always get "sdmac->flags = 0;"
at line 889.  What's the code blow at line 934 for?

	if (sdmac->flags & IMX_DMA_SG_LOOP) {
		param |= BD_INTR;
		if (i + 1 == sg_len)
			param |= BD_WRAP;
	}

* We have sdmac->status set to DMA_ERROR in err_out of function 
sdma_prep_dma_cyclic.  Would it be good for us to do the same for
function sdma_prep_slave_sg.  Otherwise, sdmac->status stays at
DMA_IN_PROGRESS, which will make the function return immediately
next time it gets called?

* It seems the only use of sdmac->status is to check if the channel
is DMA_IN_PROGRESS when "prep" functions get called.  Is it a worth
to check DMA_ERROR or DMA_SUCCESS for every single buffer descriptor
(BD) in interrupt handler?

* In handler mxc_sdma_handle_channel_normal, callback function gets
called and last_completed get assigned the cookie no matter
sdmac->status is DMA_SUCCESS or DMA_ERROR.  How would dma client know
if this tx succeeded or failed?

* Related to question above, dma client can call function
dma_async_is_tx_complete to know if the tx succeeded or failed by
manipulating cookie.  But is there any way for client to know the
failure in loop (cyclic) case?  In this case, client gets no way to
query tx status, however any period (BD) in the cyclic could fail.
Currently, we always do callback in cyclic handler whether status is
DMA_ERROR or DMA_SUCCESS, and the client (i.e. imx audio driver)
always assumes the callback means a successful period.  But what if
one period in the cyclic fails?

* Regarding to cyclic case again, is DMA_TERMINATE_ALL
(down to function sdma_disable_channel) the only way for client to
stop the tx?  I do not know the exact behavior of sdma when STATSTOP
bit gets set.  But if it's in the middle of a BD transfer process,
will this bit setting possibly cause data corruption?

-- 
Regards,
Shawn