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-Deferred IO
------------
-
-Deferred IO is a way to delay and repurpose IO. It uses host memory as a
-buffer and the MMU pagefault as a pretrigger for when to perform the device
-IO. The following example may be a useful explanation of how one such setup
-works:
-
-- userspace app like Xfbdev mmaps framebuffer
-- deferred IO and driver sets up fault and page_mkwrite handlers
-- userspace app tries to write to mmaped vaddress
-- we get pagefault and reach fault handler
-- fault handler finds and returns physical page
-- we get page_mkwrite where we add this page to a list
-- schedule a workqueue task to be run after a delay
-- app continues writing to that page with no additional cost. this is
- the key benefit.
-- the workqueue task comes in and mkcleans the pages on the list, then
- completes the work associated with updating the framebuffer. this is
- the real work talking to the device.
-- app tries to write to the address (that has now been mkcleaned)
-- get pagefault and the above sequence occurs again
-
-As can be seen from above, one benefit is roughly to allow bursty framebuffer
-writes to occur at minimum cost. Then after some time when hopefully things
-have gone quiet, we go and really update the framebuffer which would be
-a relatively more expensive operation.
-
-For some types of nonvolatile high latency displays, the desired image is
-the final image rather than the intermediate stages which is why it's okay
-to not update for each write that is occurring.
-
-It may be the case that this is useful in other scenarios as well. Paul Mundt
-has mentioned a case where it is beneficial to use the page count to decide
-whether to coalesce and issue SG DMA or to do memory bursts.
-
-Another one may be if one has a device framebuffer that is in an usual format,
-say diagonally shifting RGB, this may then be a mechanism for you to allow
-apps to pretend to have a normal framebuffer but reswizzle for the device
-framebuffer at vsync time based on the touched pagelist.
-
-How to use it: (for applications)
----------------------------------
-No changes needed. mmap the framebuffer like normal and just use it.
-
-How to use it: (for fbdev drivers)
-----------------------------------
-The following example may be helpful.
-
-1. Setup your structure. Eg:
-
-static struct fb_deferred_io hecubafb_defio = {
- .delay = HZ,
- .deferred_io = hecubafb_dpy_deferred_io,
-};
-
-The delay is the minimum delay between when the page_mkwrite trigger occurs
-and when the deferred_io callback is called. The deferred_io callback is
-explained below.
-
-2. Setup your deferred IO callback. Eg:
-static void hecubafb_dpy_deferred_io(struct fb_info *info,
- struct list_head *pagelist)
-
-The deferred_io callback is where you would perform all your IO to the display
-device. You receive the pagelist which is the list of pages that were written
-to during the delay. You must not modify this list. This callback is called
-from a workqueue.
-
-3. Call init
- info->fbdefio = &hecubafb_defio;
- fb_deferred_io_init(info);
-
-4. Call cleanup
- fb_deferred_io_cleanup(info);