[PATCH v2] spi: intel: Update help text of PCI and Platform drivers

[PATCH v2] spi: intel: Update help text of PCI and Platform drivers

[Mauro Lima]

Modern intel hardware uses controllers that work in hardware
sequencing mode. In this mode, the controller exposes a subset
of operations, like read, write and erase, making it easier
and less error-prone for use.
On the other hand, most of the controllers handled by the
platform driver use software sequencing that exposes the
entire set of operations i.e. exposes the low level SPI-NOR
opcodes to the software for use.
Update PCI and Platform help text with this information.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Lima <mauro.lima@eclypsium.com>
---
 For the record of the base commit:

 Given that the PCI driver handles controllers that only work with
 hardware sequencing, we can remove the dangerous tag.
 This patch is the second part of Mika's suggestion [1].
 The first part was accepted in [2].

 [1] https://lore.kernel.org/r/Y1d9glOgHsQlZe2L@black.fi.intel.com/
 [2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-spi/20230201205455.550308-1-mauro.lima@eclypsium.com/

 This patch continues the work addressing the comments in the previous
 patch adding information about hardware and software sequencing.
 Discussion: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230206183143.75274-1-mauro.lima@eclypsium.com/

 v1->v2:
 Addressing comments from the review of v1
 Link:
 https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230208175253.117714-1-mauro.lima@eclypsium.com/

 drivers/spi/Kconfig | 20 ++++++++++----------
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/spi/Kconfig b/drivers/spi/Kconfig
index 3a362c450cb6..db033d424bb5 100644
--- a/drivers/spi/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/spi/Kconfig
@@ -454,13 +454,12 @@ config SPI_INTEL_PCI
 	select SPI_INTEL
 	help
 	  This enables PCI support for the Intel PCH/PCU SPI controller in
-	  master mode. This controller is present in modern Intel hardware
-	  and is used to hold BIOS and other persistent settings. This
-	  driver only supports hardware sequencing mode. Using this
-	  driver it is possible to upgrade BIOS directly from Linux.
-
-	  Say N here unless you know what you are doing. Overwriting the
-	  SPI flash may render the system unbootable.
+	  master mode. This controller is used to hold BIOS and other
+	  persistent settings. Controllers present in modern Intel hardware
+	  only work in hardware sequencing mode, this means that the
+	  controller exposes a subset of operations that makes it safer to
+	  use. Using this driver it is possible to upgrade BIOS directly
+	  from Linux.
 
 	  To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the module
 	  will be called spi-intel-pci.
@@ -473,9 +472,10 @@ config SPI_INTEL_PLATFORM
 	help
 	  This enables platform support for the Intel PCH/PCU SPI
 	  controller in master mode that is used to hold BIOS and other
-	  persistent settings. Most of these controllers are using
-	  software sequencing mode. Using this driver it is possible to
-	  upgrade BIOS directly from Linux.
+	  persistent settings. Most of these controllers work in
+	  software sequencing mode, which means that the controller
+	  exposes the low level SPI-NOR opcodes to the software. Using
+	  this driver it is possible to upgrade BIOS directly from Linux.
 
 	  Say N here unless you know what you are doing. Overwriting the
 	  SPI flash may render the system unbootable.

base-commit: 7db738b5fea4533fa217dfb05c506c15bd0964d9
-- 
2.39.1

Re: [PATCH v2] spi: intel: Update help text of PCI and Platform drivers

[Mika Westerberg]

On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 01:41:58PM -0300, Mauro Lima wrote:
> Modern intel hardware uses controllers that work in hardware
> sequencing mode. In this mode, the controller exposes a subset
> of operations, like read, write and erase, making it easier
> and less error-prone for use.
> On the other hand, most of the controllers handled by the
> platform driver use software sequencing that exposes the
> entire set of operations i.e. exposes the low level SPI-NOR
> opcodes to the software for use.
> Update PCI and Platform help text with this information.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Mauro Lima <mauro.lima@eclypsium.com>

Acked-by: Mika Westerberg <mika.westerberg@linux.intel.com>

Re: [PATCH v2] spi: intel: Update help text of PCI and Platform drivers

[Mark Brown]

On Fri, 10 Feb 2023 13:41:58 -0300, Mauro Lima wrote:
> Modern intel hardware uses controllers that work in hardware
> sequencing mode. In this mode, the controller exposes a subset
> of operations, like read, write and erase, making it easier
> and less error-prone for use.
> On the other hand, most of the controllers handled by the
> platform driver use software sequencing that exposes the
> entire set of operations i.e. exposes the low level SPI-NOR
> opcodes to the software for use.
> Update PCI and Platform help text with this information.
> 
> [...]

Applied to

   https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/broonie/spi.git for-next

Thanks!

[1/1] spi: intel: Update help text of PCI and Platform drivers
      commit: 2ea9b08a661274b9b7b182327bf6ffe29605d671

All being well this means that it will be integrated into the linux-next
tree (usually sometime in the next 24 hours) and sent to Linus during
the next merge window (or sooner if it is a bug fix), however if
problems are discovered then the patch may be dropped or reverted.

You may get further e-mails resulting from automated or manual testing
and review of the tree, please engage with people reporting problems and
send followup patches addressing any issues that are reported if needed.

If any updates are required or you are submitting further changes they
should be sent as incremental updates against current git, existing
patches will not be replaced.

Please add any relevant lists and maintainers to the CCs when replying
to this mail.

Thanks,
Mark