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-rw-r--r--Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt40
1 files changed, 28 insertions, 12 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt b/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt
index 480c8de3c2c4..32ac32e773e1 100644
--- a/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt
+++ b/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt
@@ -257,17 +257,15 @@ Access to a dma_buf from the kernel context involves three steps:
Interface:
int dma_buf_begin_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dmabuf,
- size_t start, size_t len,
enum dma_data_direction direction)
This allows the exporter to ensure that the memory is actually available for
cpu access - the exporter might need to allocate or swap-in and pin the
backing storage. The exporter also needs to ensure that cpu access is
- coherent for the given range and access direction. The range and access
- direction can be used by the exporter to optimize the cache flushing, i.e.
- access outside of the range or with a different direction (read instead of
- write) might return stale or even bogus data (e.g. when the exporter needs to
- copy the data to temporary storage).
+ coherent for the access direction. The direction can be used by the exporter
+ to optimize the cache flushing, i.e. access with a different direction (read
+ instead of write) might return stale or even bogus data (e.g. when the
+ exporter needs to copy the data to temporary storage).
This step might fail, e.g. in oom conditions.
@@ -322,14 +320,13 @@ Access to a dma_buf from the kernel context involves three steps:
3. Finish access
- When the importer is done accessing the range specified in begin_cpu_access,
- it needs to announce this to the exporter (to facilitate cache flushing and
- unpinning of any pinned resources). The result of any dma_buf kmap calls
- after end_cpu_access is undefined.
+ When the importer is done accessing the CPU, it needs to announce this to
+ the exporter (to facilitate cache flushing and unpinning of any pinned
+ resources). The result of any dma_buf kmap calls after end_cpu_access is
+ undefined.
Interface:
void dma_buf_end_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dma_buf,
- size_t start, size_t len,
enum dma_data_direction dir);
@@ -353,7 +350,26 @@ Being able to mmap an export dma-buf buffer object has 2 main use-cases:
handles, too). So it's beneficial to support this in a similar fashion on
dma-buf to have a good transition path for existing Android userspace.
- No special interfaces, userspace simply calls mmap on the dma-buf fd.
+ No special interfaces, userspace simply calls mmap on the dma-buf fd, making
+ sure that the cache synchronization ioctl (DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC) is *always*
+ used when the access happens. This is discussed next paragraphs.
+
+ Some systems might need some sort of cache coherency management e.g. when
+ CPU and GPU domains are being accessed through dma-buf at the same time. To
+ circumvent this problem there are begin/end coherency markers, that forward
+ directly to existing dma-buf device drivers vfunc hooks. Userspace can make
+ use of those markers through the DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC ioctl. The sequence
+ would be used like following:
+ - mmap dma-buf fd
+ - for each drawing/upload cycle in CPU 1. SYNC_START ioctl, 2. read/write
+ to mmap area 3. SYNC_END ioctl. This can be repeated as often as you
+ want (with the new data being consumed by the GPU or say scanout device)
+ - munmap once you don't need the buffer any more
+
+ Therefore, for correctness and optimal performance, systems with the memory
+ cache shared by the GPU and CPU i.e. the "coherent" and also the
+ "incoherent" are always required to use SYNC_START and SYNC_END before and
+ after, respectively, when accessing the mapped address.
2. Supporting existing mmap interfaces in importers