[PATCH] doc: Add documentation for the genalloc subsystem

[PATCH] doc: Add documentation for the genalloc subsystem

[Jonathan Corbet]

Genalloc/genpool has kerneldoc comments, but nothing has ever been pulled
into the docs themselves.  Here's a first attempt, repurposed from an
article I wrote at https://lwn.net/Articles/729653/.

Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
---
 Documentation/core-api/genalloc.rst | 144 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 Documentation/core-api/index.rst    |   1 +
 2 files changed, 145 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/core-api/genalloc.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/genalloc.rst b/Documentation/core-api/genalloc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6981fd627ccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/genalloc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+The genalloc/genpool subsystem
+==============================
+
+There are a number of memory-allocation subsystems in the kernel, each
+aimed at a specific need.  Sometimes, however, a kernel developer needs to
+implement a new allocator for a specific range of special-purpose memory;
+often that memory is located on a device somewhere.  The author of the
+driver for that device can certainly write a little allocator to get the
+job done, but that is the way to fill the kernel with dozens of poorly
+tested allocators.  Back in 2005, Jes Sorensen lifted one of those
+allocators from the sym53c8xx_2 driver and posted_ it as a generic module
+for the creation of ad hoc memory allocators.  This code was merged
+for the 2.6.13 release; it has been modified considerably since then.
+
+.. _posted https://lwn.net/Articles/125842/
+
+Code using this allocator should include <linux/genalloc.h>.  The action
+begins with the creation of a pool using one of:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_create		
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: devm_gen_pool_create
+
+A call to :c:func:`gen_pool_create` will create a pool.  The granularity of
+allocations is set with min_alloc_order; it is a log-base-2 number like
+those used by the page allocator, but it refers to bytes rather than pages.
+So, if min_alloc_order is passed as 3, then all allocations will be a
+multiple of eight bytes.  Increasing min_alloc_order decreases the memory
+required to track the memory in the pool.  The nid parameter specifies
+which NUMA node should be used for the allocation of the housekeeping
+structures; it can be -1 if the caller doesn't care.
+
+The "managed" interface :c:func:`devm_gen_pool_create` ties the pool to a
+specific device.  Among other things, it will automatically clean up the
+pool when the given device is destroyed.
+
+A pool is shut down with:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_destroy
+
+It's worth noting that, if there are still allocations outstanding from the
+given pool, this function will take the rather extreme step of invoking
+BUG(), crashing the entire system.  You have been warned.
+
+A freshly created pool has no memory to allocate.  It is fairly useless in
+that state, so one of the first orders of business is usually to add memory
+to the pool.  That can be done with one of:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/genalloc.h
+   :functions: gen_pool_add
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_add_virt
+
+A call to :c:func:`gen_pool_add` will place the size bytes of memory
+starting at addr (in the kernel's virtual address space) into the given
+pool, once again using nid as the node ID for ancillary memory allocations.
+The :c:func:`gen_pool_add_virt` variant associates an explicit physical
+address with the memory; this is only necessary if the pool will be used
+for DMA allocations.
+
+The functions for allocating memory from the pool (and putting it back)
+are:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_alloc
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_dma_alloc
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_free
+
+As one would expect, :c:func:`gen_pool_alloc` will allocate size< bytes
+from the given pool.  The :c:func:`gen_pool_dma_alloc` variant allocates
+memory for use with DMA operations, returning the associated physical
+address in the space pointed to by dma.  This will only work if the memory
+was added with :c:func:`gen_pool_add_virt`.  Note that this function
+departs from the usual genpool pattern of using unsigned long values to
+represent kernel addresses; it returns a void * instead.
+
+That all seems relatively simple; indeed, some developers clearly found it
+to be too simple.  After all, the interface above provides no control over
+how the allocation functions choose which specific piece of memory to
+return.  If that sort of control is needed, the following functions will be
+of interest:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_alloc_algo
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_set_algo
+
+Allocations with :c:func:`gen_pool_alloc_algo` specify an algorithm to be
+used to choose the memory to be allocated; the default algorithm can be set
+with :c:func:`gen_pool_set_algo`.  The data value is passed to the
+algorithm; most ignore it, but it is occasionally needed.  One can,
+naturally, write a special-purpose algorithm, but there is a fair set
+already available:
+
+- gen_pool_first_fit is a simple first-fit allocator; this is the default
+  algorithm if none other has been specified.
+
+- gen_pool_first_fit_align forces the allocation to have a specific
+  alignment (passed via data in a genpool_data_align structure).
+
+- gen_pool_first_fit_order_align aligns the allocation to the order of the
+  size.  A 60-byte allocation will thus be 64-byte aligned, for example.
+
+- gen_pool_best_fit, as one would expect, is a simple best-fit allocator.
+
+- gen_pool_fixed_alloc allocates at a specific offset (passed in a
+  genpool_data_fixed structure via the data parameter) within the pool.
+  If the indicated memory is not available the allocation fails.
+
+There is a handful of other functions, mostly for purposes like querying
+the space available in the pool or iterating through chunks of memory.
+Most users, however, should not need much beyond what has been described
+above.  With luck, wider awareness of this module will help to prevent the
+writing of special-purpose memory allocators in the future.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_virt_to_phys
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_for_each_chunk
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: addr_in_gen_pool
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_avail
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_size
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: gen_pool_get
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/genalloc.c
+   :functions: of_gen_pool_get
diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/index.rst b/Documentation/core-api/index.rst
index 0606be3a3111..d5bbe035316d 100644
--- a/Documentation/core-api/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/index.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Core utilities
    genericirq
    flexible-arrays
    librs
+   genalloc
 
 Interfaces for kernel debugging
 ===============================
-- 
2.13.4