Enable arm_global_timer for Zynq brakes boot

Sören Brinkmann soren.brinkmann at xilinx.com
Mon Aug 5 21:28:01 EDT 2013


Hi Daniel,

On Thu, Aug 01, 2013 at 07:48:04PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> On 08/01/2013 07:43 PM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
> > On Thu, Aug 01, 2013 at 07:29:12PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> >> On 08/01/2013 01:38 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
> >>> On Thu, Aug 01, 2013 at 01:01:27AM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> >>>> On 08/01/2013 12:18 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
> >>>>> On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 11:08:51PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> >>>>>> On 07/31/2013 10:58 PM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
> >>>>>>> On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 10:49:06PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> >>>>>>>> On 07/31/2013 12:34 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
> >>>>>>>>> On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 10:47:15AM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>> On 07/30/2013 02:03 AM, Sören Brinkmann wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>>> Hi Daniel,
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 02:51:49PM +0200, Daniel Lezcano wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>>> (snip)
> >>>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>>> the CPUIDLE_FLAG_TIMER_STOP flag tells the cpuidle framework the local
> >>>>>>>>>>>> timer will be stopped when entering to the idle state. In this case, the
> >>>>>>>>>>>> cpuidle framework will call clockevents_notify(ENTER) and switches to a
> >>>>>>>>>>>> broadcast timer and will call clockevents_notify(EXIT) when exiting the
> >>>>>>>>>>>> idle state, switching the local timer back in use.
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> I've been thinking about this, trying to understand how this makes my
> >>>>>>>>>>> boot attempts on Zynq hang. IIUC, the wrongly provided TIMER_STOP flag
> >>>>>>>>>>> would make the timer core switch to a broadcast device even though it
> >>>>>>>>>>> wouldn't be necessary. But shouldn't it still work? It sounds like we do
> >>>>>>>>>>> something useless, but nothing wrong in a sense that it should result in
> >>>>>>>>>>> breakage. I guess I'm missing something obvious. This timer system will
> >>>>>>>>>>> always remain a mystery to me.
> >>>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>>> Actually this more or less leads to the question: What is this
> >>>>>>>>>>> 'broadcast timer'. I guess that is some clockevent device which is
> >>>>>>>>>>> common to all cores? (that would be the cadence_ttc for Zynq). Is the
> >>>>>>>>>>> hang pointing to some issue with that driver?
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> If you look at the /proc/timer_list, which timer is used for broadcasting ?
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> So, the correct run results (full output attached).
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> The vanilla kernel uses the twd timers as local timers and the TTC as
> >>>>>>>>> broadcast device:
> >>>>>>>>> 	Tick Device: mode:     1                                                         
> >>>>>>>>> 	Broadcast device  
> >>>>>>>>> 	Clock Event Device: ttc_clockevent
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> When I remove the offending CPUIDLE flag and add the DT fragment to
> >>>>>>>>> enable the global timer, the twd timers are still used as local timers
> >>>>>>>>> and the broadcast device is the global timer:
> >>>>>>>>> 	Tick Device: mode:     1                                                         
> >>>>>>>>> 	Broadcast device                                                                 
> >>>>>>>>> 	Clock Event Device: arm_global_timer
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Again, since boot hangs in the actually broken case, I don't see way to
> >>>>>>>>> obtain this information for that case.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Can't you use the maxcpus=1 option to ensure the system to boot up ?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Right, that works. I forgot about that option after you mentioned, that
> >>>>>>> it is most likely not that useful.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Anyway, this are those sysfs files with an unmodified cpuidle driver and
> >>>>>>> the gt enabled and having maxcpus=1 set.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> /proc/timer_list:
> >>>>>>> 	Tick Device: mode:     1
> >>>>>>> 	Broadcast device
> >>>>>>> 	Clock Event Device: arm_global_timer
> >>>>>>> 	 max_delta_ns:   12884902005
> >>>>>>> 	 min_delta_ns:   1000
> >>>>>>> 	 mult:           715827876
> >>>>>>> 	 shift:          31
> >>>>>>> 	 mode:           3
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Here the mode is 3 (CLOCK_EVT_MODE_ONESHOT)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The previous timer_list output you gave me when removing the offending
> >>>>>> cpuidle flag, it was 1 (CLOCK_EVT_MODE_SHUTDOWN).
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Is it possible you try to get this output again right after onlining the
> >>>>>> cpu1 in order to check if the broadcast device switches to SHUTDOWN ?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> How do I do that? I tried to online CPU1 after booting with maxcpus=1
> >>>>> and that didn't end well:
> >>>>> 	# echo 1 > online && cat /proc/timer_list 
> >>>>
> >>>> Hmm, I was hoping to have a small delay before the kernel hangs but
> >>>> apparently this is not the case... :(
> >>>>
> >>>> I suspect the global timer is shutdown at one moment but I don't
> >>>> understand why and when.
> >>>>
> >>>> Can you add a stack trace in the "clockevents_shutdown" function with
> >>>> the clockevent device name ? Perhaps, we may see at boot time an
> >>>> interesting trace when it hangs.
> >>>
> >>> I did this change:
> >>> 	diff --git a/kernel/time/clockevents.c b/kernel/time/clockevents.c
> >>> 	index 38959c8..3ab11c1 100644
> >>> 	--- a/kernel/time/clockevents.c
> >>> 	+++ b/kernel/time/clockevents.c
> >>> 	@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ void clockevents_set_mode(struct clock_event_device *dev,
> >>> 	  */
> >>> 	 void clockevents_shutdown(struct clock_event_device *dev)
> >>> 	 {
> >>> 	+       pr_info("ce->name:%s\n", dev->name);
> >>> 	+       dump_stack();
> >>> 	        clockevents_set_mode(dev, CLOCK_EVT_MODE_SHUTDOWN);
> >>> 	        dev->next_event.tv64 = KTIME_MAX;
> >>> 	 }
> >>>
> >>> It is hit a few times during boot, so I attach a full boot log. I really
> >>> don't know what to look for, but I hope you can spot something in it. I
> >>> really appreciate you taking the time.
> >>
> >> Thanks for the traces.
> > 
> > Sure.
> > 
> >>
> >> If you try without the ttc_clockevent configured in the kernel (but with
> >> twd and gt), does it boot ?
> > 
> > Absence of the TTC doesn't seem to make any difference. It hangs at the
> > same location.
> 
> Ok, IMO there is a problem with the broadcast device registration (may
> be vs twd).
> 
> I will check later (kid duty) :)

I was actually waiting for an update from your side and did something
else, but I seem to have run into this again. I was overhauling the
cadence_ttc (patch attached, based on tip/timers/core). And it seems to
show the same behavior as enabling the global_timer. With cpuidle off, it
works. With cpuidle, on it hangs. Removing the TIMER_STOP flag from the
C2 state makes it boot again.
It works just fine on our 3.10 kernel.

Another thing I noticed - probably unrelated but hard to tell: On
3.11-rc1 and later my system stops for quite some time at the hand off
to userspace. I.e. I see the 'freeing unused kernel memory...' line and
sometimes the following 'Welcome to Buildroot...' and then it stops and
on good kernels it continues after a while and boots through and on bad
ones it just hangs there.

	Sören

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 0001-clocksource-cadence_ttc-Use-only-one-counter.patch
Type: text/x-diff
Size: 7637 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/attachments/20130805/61292153/attachment-0001.bin>


More information about the linux-arm-kernel mailing list