[PATCH] mtd: nandbiterrs: Support for NAND biterrors test on platforms without raw write

[Iwo Mergler]

Hi Boris,


I have to admit that your NACK surprised me.

My patch removes an unnecessary use of raw write
from the test. It was only there because of my
original implementation, which I now consider
mistaken.

I fully agree with you that raw write should
be implemented, despite the impediments.
Although I have seen at least one NAND controller
that always computed and wrote ECC, with no way
for software to circumvent it.

Could you please elaborate a little why you
don't want a test module to work with incomplete
MTD drivers? Is that supposed to be motivating
driver writers for better implementations? ;-)

Would you accept the patch if I remove the comment
about data reshuffling drivers? It's not required
for the patch and, as you correctly pointed out,
now inaccurate.


Best regards,

Iwo


On 05/09/2016 02:44 AM, Boris Brezillon wrote:
> Hi Iwo,
>
> On Fri, 6 May 2016 10:00:12 +1000
> Iwo Mergler <iwo.mergler at netcommwireless.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>> I'm vaguely aware that there is an ongoing effort to move this
>> stuff to mtd-utils, but I was unable to find a source tree
>> with the work so far.
>>
>> Below is a single-line patch for the kernel tests, feel free
>> to apply to the userspace source as well.
>>
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Iwo
>>
>>
>> Support for NAND biterrors test on platforms without raw write
>>
>> While the default test mode relies on raw write (mtd_write_oob) to introduce
>> bit errors into a page, the rewrite test mode doesn't need it.
>>
>> Some drivers use eldritch data/ECC arrangements in a NAND page and reshuffle
>> things on-the-fly, to present a normal page view to the kernel. Typically,
>> raw write / read is unsupported on such platforms. Examples are Freescale
>> MXS and Qualcomm MDM9 and probably many others.
> Sorry, but I think such platforms should unshuffle the data/ECC
> sections to expose a standard in-band/out-of-band view to the upper
> layer.
>
> This is completely doable since ->read_page_raw()/->write_page_raw()
> can be overloaded (see the GPMI implementation or the default
> ECC_HW_SYNDROME raw implementation if you need examples).
>
> So, it's a NACK on my side.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Boris
>
>
>> Changed the overwrite test to use normal writes.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Iwo Mergler <Iwo.Mergler at netcommwireless.com>
>> ---
>>    drivers/mtd/tests/nandbiterrs.c | 2 +-
>>    1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/drivers/mtd/tests/nandbiterrs.c
>> b/drivers/mtd/tests/nandbiterrs.c
>> index 09a4cca..f26dec8 100644
>> --- a/drivers/mtd/tests/nandbiterrs.c
>> +++ b/drivers/mtd/tests/nandbiterrs.c
>> @@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ static int overwrite_test(void)
>>
>>        while (opno < max_overwrite) {
>>
>> -        err = rewrite_page(0);
>> +        err = write_page(0);
>>            if (err)
>>                break;
>>
>
>