[PATCH v2 09/11] dma: provide the streaming DMA API in the PBL (opt-in via PBL_HAS_DMA)

Johannes Schneider johannes.schneider at leica-geosystems.com
Sat Jul 4 05:26:26 PDT 2026


The PBL has always gotten no-op dma_map_single()/dma_sync_single_for_*()/
dma_unmap_single() stubs, on the assumption that DMA buffers live in
uncached memory because the MMU is only turned on in barebox_arm_entry().
That assumption breaks the moment a PBL DMA user runs with the MMU (and
thus the D-cache) on -- which is the direction the i.MX8M PBL is moving in
for a fast, warm-cache next-stage load.

Add an opt-in CONFIG_PBL_HAS_DMA that routes the PBL through the same real
dma_map/dma_sync implementation (drivers/dma/map.c) and arch cache
maintenance (arch_sync_dma_for_*) that barebox proper uses, rather than the
stubs. It is a plain selectable bool: boards/drivers that do PBL DMA with
the MMU on select it; everyone else is byte-for-byte unchanged and keeps
the stubs.

On ARM this also builds dma_$(S64_32).o (arch_sync_dma_for_device) for the
PBL; arch_sync_dma_for_cpu and the dma_{inv,flush}_range cache ops already
come in via the PBL-linked mmu-common.o / mmu_$(S64_32).o.

No functional change unless PBL_HAS_DMA is selected.

Assisted-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context)
Signed-off-by: Johannes Schneider <johannes.schneider at leica-geosystems.com>

---

Notes:
    v2:
    - New patch. Adds the dma_map/dma_sync cache-maintenance infrastructure
      the PBL was missing, behind an opt-in CONFIG_PBL_HAS_DMA (Sascha).

 arch/arm/cpu/Makefile |  1 +
 common/Kconfig        | 12 ++++++++++++
 drivers/dma/Makefile  |  1 +
 include/dma.h         |  7 ++++---
 4 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm/cpu/Makefile b/arch/arm/cpu/Makefile
index 467ef17bfd..d1e94d9a13 100644
--- a/arch/arm/cpu/Makefile
+++ b/arch/arm/cpu/Makefile
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ pbl-$(CONFIG_ARM_EXCEPTIONS_PBL) += exceptions_$(S64_32).o interrupts_$(S64_32).
 obj-pbl-$(CONFIG_MMU) += mmu-common.o
 obj-pbl-$(CONFIG_MMU) += mmu_$(S64_32).o
 obj-$(CONFIG_MMU) += dma_$(S64_32).o
+pbl-$(CONFIG_PBL_HAS_DMA) += dma_$(S64_32).o
 obj-pbl-y += lowlevel_$(S64_32).o
 obj-pbl-$(CONFIG_CPU_32v7) += hyp.o
 AFLAGS_hyp.o :=-Wa,-march=armv7-a -Wa,-mcpu=all
diff --git a/common/Kconfig b/common/Kconfig
index 2c75844be9..055f169431 100644
--- a/common/Kconfig
+++ b/common/Kconfig
@@ -87,6 +87,18 @@ config HAS_DMA
 	  Drivers that depend on a DMA implementation can depend on this
 	  config, so that you don't get a compilation error.
 
+config PBL_HAS_DMA
+	bool
+	depends on HAS_DMA && MMU
+	help
+	  Make the streaming DMA API -- dma_map_single(),
+	  dma_sync_single_for_cpu()/_for_device() and dma_unmap_single() --
+	  available in the PBL, backed by the same arch_sync_dma_for_*() cache
+	  maintenance barebox proper uses. Without this the PBL only gets no-op
+	  stubs that assume DMA buffers live in uncached memory, which is only
+	  true while the MMU (and thus the D-cache) is off. A PBL DMA user that
+	  runs with the MMU on must select this so its transfers stay coherent.
+
 config GENERIC_GPIO
 	bool
 
diff --git a/drivers/dma/Makefile b/drivers/dma/Makefile
index 66f9dc2756..c941b69c89 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/dma/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
 obj-$(CONFIG_DMADEVICES)	+= dma-devices.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_HAS_DMA)		+= map.o
+pbl-$(CONFIG_PBL_HAS_DMA)	+= map.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_DMA_API_DEBUG)	+= debug.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_MXS_APBH_DMA)	+= apbh_dma.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_OF_DMA_COHERENCY)	+= of_fixups.o
diff --git a/include/dma.h b/include/dma.h
index 60937a69aa..2a6f3d804a 100644
--- a/include/dma.h
+++ b/include/dma.h
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ void arch_sync_dma_for_device(void *vaddr, size_t size,
 			      enum dma_data_direction dir);
 #endif
 
-#if IN_PROPER
+#if IN_PROPER || IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PBL_HAS_DMA)
 void dma_sync_single_for_cpu(struct device *dev, dma_addr_t address,
 			     size_t size, enum dma_data_direction dir);
 
@@ -116,8 +116,9 @@ void dma_unmap_single(struct device *dev, dma_addr_t dma_addr,
 		      size_t size, enum dma_data_direction dir);
 #else
 /*
- * assumes buffers are in coherent/uncached memory, e.g. because
- * MMU is only enabled in barebox_arm_entry which hasn't run yet.
+ * PBL without CONFIG_PBL_HAS_DMA: assumes buffers are in coherent/uncached
+ * memory, e.g. because the MMU is only enabled in barebox_arm_entry which
+ * hasn't run yet. Select PBL_HAS_DMA to get real cache maintenance instead.
  */
 static inline void dma_sync_single_for_cpu(struct device *dev, dma_addr_t address,
 					   size_t size, enum dma_data_direction dir)
-- 
2.43.0




More information about the barebox mailing list