Re: [RFC PATCH 00/34] sun8i-codec fixes and new features - Chen-Yu Tsai

From: Chen-Yu Tsai <wens@csie.org>
To: Maxime Ripard <maxime@cerno.tech>
Cc: "Samuel Holland" <samuel@sholland.org>,
	"Mark Brown" <broonie@kernel.org>,
	"Liam Girdwood" <lgirdwood@gmail.com>,
	"Rob Herring" <robh+dt@kernel.org>,
	"Mark Rutland" <mark.rutland@arm.com>,
	"Vasily Khoruzhick" <anarsoul@gmail.com>,
	"Mylène Josserand" <mylene.josserand@free-electrons.com>,
	"Jaroslav Kysela" <perex@perex.cz>,
	"Takashi Iwai" <tiwai@suse.com>,
	Linux-ALSA <alsa-devel@alsa-project.org>,
	devicetree <devicetree@vger.kernel.org>,
	linux-arm-kernel <linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org>,
	linux-kernel <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 00/34] sun8i-codec fixes and new features
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 17:44:36 +0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAGb2v65GuwLdJ3Rkt1cyU6EroWZ6pim7-sGry5jYBoi=mubpUg@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20200217091423.y2muniz3hosquho6@gilmour.lan>

On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 5:14 PM Maxime Ripard <maxime@cerno.tech> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 12:42:16AM -0600, Samuel Holland wrote:
> > The sun8i-codec driver, as used in the Allwinner A33 and A64, currently
> > only exposes a small subset of the available hardware features. In order
> > to use the A64 in a smartphone (the PinePhone), I've added the necessary
> > functionality to the driver:
> >   * The full set of supported DAI format options
> >   * Support for AIF2 and AIF3
> >   * Additional routing knobs
> >   * Additional volume controls
> >
> > Unfortunately, due to preexisting issues with the driver, there are some
> > breaking changes, as explained further in the commit messages:
> >   * The LRCK inversion issue means we need a new compatible for the A64.
> >   * Some controls are named inaccurately, so they are renamed.
> >   * Likewise, the DAPM widgets used in device trees were either named
> >     wrong, or the device trees were using the wrong widgets in the first
> >     place. (Specifically, the links between the analog codec and digital
> >     codec happen at the ADC and DAC, not AIF1.)
> >
> > I tended to take the philosophy of "while I'm breaking things, I might
> > as well do them right", so I've probably made a few more changes than
> > absolutely necessary. I'm not sure about where all of the policy
> > boundaries are, about how far I should go to maintain compatibility. For
> > example, for the DT widget usage, I could:
> >   * Rename everything and update the DTS files (which is what I did)
> >   * Keep the old (misleading/wrong) name for the widgets, but repurpose
> >     them to work correctly
> >       (i.e. "ADC Left" would be named "AIF1 Slot 0 Left ADC", but it
> >        would work just like "ADC Left" does in this patchset)
> >   * Keep the old widgets around as a compatibility layer, but add new
> >     widgets and update the in-tree DTS files to use them
> >       (i.e. "ADC Left" would have a path from "AIF1 Slot 0 Left ADC",
> >        but "AIF1 Slot 0 Left ADC" would be a no-op widget)
> >   * Something else entirely
>
> I'm not sure this is really a concern here. We need to maintain the
> compatibility with old DT's, but those will have an A33 compatible
> too, and as far as I can see, you're not changing anything for that
> compatible, so we're in the clear?
>
> If not, then the third option would probably be the best, especially
> since it's only a couple of them.

Unfortunately the description for both chips are shared, and they're wrong.
So we probably need a new compatible (or a new driver)... or like options
2 or 3, keep the DT visible endpoints (but deprecate them), and route them
to a new set of proper widgets.

ChenYu