[PATCH V2 3/9] clk: imx: Support building SCU clock driver as module

Aisheng Dong aisheng.dong at nxp.com
Tue Jun 23 22:59:09 EDT 2020


> From: Anson Huang <anson.huang at nxp.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2020 10:36 AM
> 
> > Subject: RE: [PATCH V2 3/9] clk: imx: Support building SCU clock
> > driver as module
> >
> > > From: Stephen Boyd <sboyd at kernel.org>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2020 8:58 AM
> > > Subject: RE: [PATCH V2 3/9] clk: imx: Support building SCU clock
> > > driver as module
> > >
> > > Quoting Aisheng Dong (2020-06-23 02:00:47)
> > > > > From: Stephen Boyd <sboyd at kernel.org>
> > > > > Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2020 4:34 PM
> > > > > Subject: RE: [PATCH V2 3/9] clk: imx: Support building SCU clock
> > > > > driver as module
> > > > >
> > > > > Quoting Aisheng Dong (2020-06-22 20:42:19)
> > > > > > > From: Stephen Boyd <sboyd at kernel.org>
> > > > > > > Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2020 11:28 AM
> > > > > > > Subject: RE: [PATCH V2 3/9] clk: imx: Support building SCU
> > > > > > > clock driver as module
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Quoting Aisheng Dong (2020-06-17 18:58:51)
> > > > > > > > > From: Anson Huang <anson.huang at nxp.com>
> > > > > > > > > > > +obj-$(CONFIG_MXC_CLK_SCU) += mxc-clk-scu.o
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > Like i.MX pinctrl, I'm not sure if it's really
> > > > > > > > > > necessary to build core libraries as modules. Probably
> > > > > > > > > > the simplest way is only building platform drivers
> > > > > > > > > > part as module. And leave those core libraries
> > > > > > > built in kernel.
> > > > > > > > > > This may make the code a bit cleaner.
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Will discuss this with Linaro guys about it, previous
> > > > > > > > > requirement I received is all SoC specific modules need
> > > > > > > > > to be built as
> > > > > module.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Okay. AFAIK it's not conflict.
> > > > > > > > You still make drivers into modules.
> > > > > > > > Only difference is for those common libraries part, we
> > > > > > > > don't convert them into module Which is less meaningless.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > What is the benefit of making the core part of the SoC
> > > > > > > driver not a
> > > module?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Usually we could try to build it as module if it's not hard.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > One question is sometimes those core part are shared with some
> > > > > > platforms
> > > > > which can't built as module.
> > > > > > For i.MX case, it's mainly patch 4:
> > > > > > [V2,4/9] clk: imx: Support building i.MX common clock driver
> > > > > > as module
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Those libraries are also used by i.MX6&7 which can't build as module.
> > > > > > So we need an extra workaround patch to forcely 'select' it
> > > > > > under arch/arm/mach-imx/Kconfig [V2,2/9] ARM: imx: Select
> > > > > > MXC_CLK for ARCH_MXC Then the users can't configure it as
> > > > > > module in order to not break build.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If build-in those common libraries, the implementation could
> > > > > > be a bit easier
> > > > > and cleaner.
> > > > > > So I'm not sure if we still have to build them as module.
> > > > > > How would you suggest for such case?
> > > > >
> > > > > Stop using 'select MXC_CLK' when requiring the core library code?
> > > > > Instead, make it a 'depends' and then that will make depending
> > > > > modules (i.e. the SoC files) that want to be builtin force the
> > > > > core module to be builtin too. Other modular configs that depend
> > > > > on the core will
> > > still be modular.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > It seems not work.
> > > > Patch 4 already changes it to depend on ARCH_MXC which can only be 'Y'.
> > > > [V2,4/9] clk: imx: Support building i.MX common clock driver as
> > > > module diff --git a/drivers/clk/imx/Kconfig
> > > > b/drivers/clk/imx/Kconfig index ded0643..678113b 100644
> > > > --- a/drivers/clk/imx/Kconfig
> > > > +++ b/drivers/clk/imx/Kconfig
> > > > @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
> > > >  # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0  # common clock support for
> > > > NXP i.MX SoC family.
> > > >  config MXC_CLK
> > > > -       bool
> > > > -       def_bool ARCH_MXC
> > > > +       tristate "IMX clock"
> > > > +       depends on ARCH_MXC
> > > >
> > > > But user can still set MXC_CLK to be m, either via make menuconfig
> > > > or
> > > defconfig.
> > >
> > > Isn't that what we want?
> >
> > No, if user set MXC_CLK to m, the build will break for i.MX6&7.
> >
> > > Why does ARCH_MXC being enabled mandate that it is builtin? Is some
> > > architecture level code calling into the clk driver?
> >
> >
> > It's mainly because there's no Kconfig options for i.MX6 &7 clock drivers.
> > It just reuses ARCH config CONFIG_SOC_XXX which can only be y.
> > e.g.
> > obj-$(CONFIG_SOC_IMX6Q)  += clk-imx6q.o
> > obj-$(CONFIG_SOC_IMX6SL) += clk-imx6sl.o
> > obj-$(CONFIG_SOC_IMX7ULP) += clk-imx7ulp.o
> > obj-$(CONFIG_SOC_VF610)  += clk-vf610.o ..
> >
> > If setting MXC_CLK to m, the platform clock drivers will fail to build
> > due to miss to find symbols defined in the common clock library by
> > CONFIG_MXC_CLK.
> > So we have to avoid users to be able to config MXC_CLK to m for i.MX6&7.
> > Only depends on ARCH_MXC mean user still can set it to m.
> 
> I think for i.MX6/7, although MXC_CLK is tristate, but it is selected by
> ARCH_MXC which is always "y", so MXC_CLK can ONLY be "y" even it is explicitly
> set to "m" in imx_v6_v7_defconfig file. So that means MXC_CLK can ONLY
> support built-in for i.MX6/7 SoCs, and that is what we want?
> 

Yes, I'm trying to explain to Stephen why we have to select MXC_CLK in ARCH_MXC
And what issues we will met if not select it.

Regards
Aisheng

> Anson


More information about the linux-arm-kernel mailing list