Re: [PATCH v2 3/4] dt-bindings: mfd: Add Delta TN48M CPLD drivers bindings

[Lee Jones <lee.jones@linaro.org>]

On Tue, 01 Jun 2021, Lee Jones wrote:

> On Mon, 31 May 2021, Robert Marko wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 9:52 AM Lee Jones <lee.jones@linaro.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, 25 May 2021, Robert Marko wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Tue, May 25, 2021 at 9:46 AM Lee Jones <lee.jones@linaro.org> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > On Mon, 24 May 2021, Rob Herring wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Mon, May 24, 2021 at 02:05:38PM +0200, Robert Marko wrote:
> > > > > > > Add binding documents for the Delta TN48M CPLD drivers.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Signed-off-by: Robert Marko <robert.marko@sartura.hr>
> > > > > > > ---
> > > > > > > Changes in v2:
> > > > > > > * Implement MFD as a simple I2C MFD
> > > > > > > * Add GPIO bindings as separate
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I don't understand why this changed. This doesn't look like an MFD to
> > > > > > me. Make your binding complete if there are missing functions.
> > > > > > Otherwise, stick with what I already ok'ed.
> > > > >
> > > > > Right.  What else, besides GPIO, does this do?
> > > >
> > > > It currently does not do anything else as hwmon driver was essentially
> > > > NACK-ed for not exposing standard attributes.
> > >
> > > Once this provides more than GPIO capabilities i.e. becomes a proper
> > > Multi-Function Device, then it can use the MFD framework.  Until then,
> > > it's a GPIO device I'm afraid.
> > >
> > > Are you going to re-author the HWMON driver to conform?
> > hwmon cannot be reathored as it has no standard hwmon attributes.
> > 
> > >
> > > > The CPLD itself has PSU status-related information, bootstrap related
> > > > information,
> > > > various resets for the CPU-s, OOB ethernet PHY, information on the exact board
> > > > model it's running etc.
> > > >
> > > > PSU and model-related info stuff is gonna be exposed via a misc driver
> > > > in debugfs as
> > > > we have user-space SW depending on that.
> > > > I thought we agreed on that as v1 MFD driver was exposing those directly and
> > > > not doing anything else.
> > >
> > > Yes, we agreed that creating an MFD driver just to expose chip
> > > attributes was not an acceptable solution.
> > >
> > > > So I moved to use the simple I2C MFD driver, this is all modeled on the sl28cpld
> > > > which currently uses the same driver and then GPIO regmap as I do.
> > > >
> > > > Other stuff like the resets is probably gonna get exposed later when
> > > > it's required
> > > > to control it directly.
> > >
> > > In order for this driver to tick the MFD box, it's going to need more
> > > than one function.
> > 
> > Understood, would a debug driver count or I can expose the resets via
> > a reset driver
> > as we have a future use for them?
> 
> CPLDs and FPGAs are funny ones and are often difficult to support in
> Linux.  Especially if they can change their behaviour.
> 
> It's hard to make a solid suggestion as to how your device is handled
> without knowing the intricacies of the device.
> 
> Why do you require one single Regmap anyway?  Are they register banks
> not neatly separated on a per-function basis?

Also, if this is really just a GPIO expander, can't the GPIO driver
output something to /sysfs that identifies it to userspace instead?

-- 
Lee Jones [李琼斯]
Senior Technical Lead - Developer Services
Linaro.org │ Open source software for Arm SoCs
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