[PATCH] PM: runtime: Allow rpm_resume() to succeed when runtime PM is disabled

[Ulf Hansson]

On Tue, 30 Nov 2021 at 18:26, Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael at kernel.org> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Nov 30, 2021 at 5:41 PM Ulf Hansson <ulf.hansson at linaro.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 30 Nov 2021 at 14:02, Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael at kernel.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Nov 30, 2021 at 12:58 PM Ulf Hansson <ulf.hansson at linaro.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > [...]
> > > >
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > Am I thinking correctly that this is mostly about working around the
> > > > > > > > > > limitations of pm_runtime_force_suspend()?
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > No, this isn't related at all.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > The cpuidle-psci driver doesn't have PM callbacks, thus using
> > > > > > > > > pm_runtime_force_suspend() would not work here.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Just wanted to send a ping on this to see if we can come to a
> > > > > > > > conclusion. Or maybe we did? :-)
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I think in the end, what slightly bothers me, is that the behavior is
> > > > > > > > a bit inconsistent. Although, maybe it's the best we can do.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I've been thinking about this and it looks like we can do better, but
> > > > > > > instead of talking about this I'd rather send a patch.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Alright.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I was thinking along the lines of make similar changes for
> > > > > > rpm_idle|suspend(). That would make the behaviour even more
> > > > > > consistent, I think.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Perhaps that's what you have in mind? :-)
> > > > >
> > > > > Well, not exactly.
> > > > >
> > > > > The idea is to add another counter (called restrain_depth in the patch)
> > > > > to prevent rpm_resume() from running the callback when that is potentially
> > > > > problematic.  With that, it is possible to actually distinguish devices
> > > > > with PM-runtime enabled and it allows the PM-runtime status to be checked
> > > > > when it is still known to be meaningful.
> > > >
> > > > Hmm, I don't quite understand the benefit of introducing a new flag
> > > > for this. rpm_resume() already checks the disable_depth to understand
> > > > when it's safe to invoke the callback. Maybe there is a reason why
> > > > that isn't sufficient?
> > >
> > > The problem is that disable_depth > 0 may very well mean that runtime
> > > PM has not been enabled at all for the given device which IMO is a
> > > problem.
> > >
> > > As it stands, it is necessary to make assumptions, like disable_depth
> > > == 1 meaning that runtime PM is really enabled, but the PM core has
> > > disabled it temporarily, which is somewhat questionable.
> > >
> > > Another problem with disabling is that it causes rpm_resume() to fail
> > > even if the status is RPM_ACTIVE and it has to do that exactly because
> > > it cannot know why runtime PM has been disabled.  If it has never been
> > > enabled, rpm_resume() must fail, but if it has been disabled
> > > temporarily, rpm_resume() may return 1 when the status is RPM_ACTIVE.
> > >
> > > The new count allows the "enabled in general, but temporarily disabled
> > > at the moment" to be handled cleanly.
> >
> > My overall comment is that I fail to understand why we need to
> > distinguish between these two cases. To me, it shouldn't really
> > matter, *why* runtime PM is (or have been) disabled for the device.
>
> It matters if you want to trust the status, because "disabled" means
> "the status doesn't matter".

Well, that doesn't really match how the runtime PM interface is being
used today.

For example, we have a whole bunch of helper functions, allowing us to
update and check the runtime PM state of the device, even when the
disable_depth > 0. Some functions, like pm_runtime_set_active() for
example, even take parents and device-links into account.

>
> If you want the status to stay meaningful, but prevent callbacks from
> running, you need something else.
>
> > The important point is that the default state for a device is
> > RPM_SUSPENDED and someone has moved into RPM_ACTIVE, for whatever
> > reason. That should be sufficient to allow rpm_resume() to return '1'
> > when disable_depth > 0, shouldn't it?
>
> No, because there is no rule by which the status of devices with
> PM-runtime disabled must be RPM_SUSPENDED.

That's not what I was trying to say.

The initial/default runtime PM state for a device is RPM_SUSPENDED,
which is being set in pm_runtime_init(). Although, I agree that it
can't be trusted that this state actually reflects the state of the
HW, it's still a valid state for the device from a runtime PM point of
view.

However, and more importantly, if the state has moved to RPM_ACTIVE,
someone must have deliberately moved the device into that state. For
this reason, I believe it seems reasonable to trust it, both from HW
point of view, but definitely also from a runtime PM point of view. If
not, then what should we do?

[...]

Kind regards
Uffe