[PATCH 01/14] ACPI: video: Add a native function parameter to acpi_video_get_backlight_type()

[Hans de Goede]

Hi,

On 5/18/22 10:55, Jani Nikula wrote:
> On Tue, 17 May 2022, Hans de Goede <hdegoede at redhat.com> wrote:
>> ATM on x86 laptops where we want userspace to use the acpi_video backlight
>> device we often register both the GPU's native backlight device and
>> acpi_video's firmware acpi_video# backlight device. This relies on
>> userspace preferring firmware type backlight devices over native ones, but
>> registering 2 backlight devices for a single display really is undesirable.
>>
>> On x86 laptops where the native GPU backlight device should be used,
>> the registering of other backlight devices is avoided by their drivers
>> using acpi_video_get_backlight_type() and only registering their backlight
>> if the return value matches their type.
>>
>> acpi_video_get_backlight_type() uses
>> backlight_device_get_by_type(BACKLIGHT_RAW) to determine if a native
>> driver is available and will never return native if this returns
>> false. This means that the GPU's native backlight registering code
>> cannot just call acpi_video_get_backlight_type() to determine if it
>> should register its backlight, since acpi_video_get_backlight_type() will
>> never return native until the native backlight has already registered.
>>
>> To fix this add a native function parameter to
>> acpi_video_get_backlight_type(), which when set to true will make
>> acpi_video_get_backlight_type() behave as if a native backlight has
>> already been registered.
>>
>> Note that all current callers are updated to pass false for the new
>> parameter, so this change in itself causes no functional changes.
> 
> 
>> diff --git a/drivers/acpi/video_detect.c b/drivers/acpi/video_detect.c
>> index becc198e4c22..0a06f0edd298 100644
>> --- a/drivers/acpi/video_detect.c
>> +++ b/drivers/acpi/video_detect.c
>> @@ -17,12 +17,14 @@
>>   * Otherwise vendor specific drivers like thinkpad_acpi, asus-laptop,
>>   * sony_acpi,... can take care about backlight brightness.
>>   *
>> - * Backlight drivers can use acpi_video_get_backlight_type() to determine
>> - * which driver should handle the backlight.
>> + * Backlight drivers can use acpi_video_get_backlight_type() to determine which
>> + * driver should handle the backlight. RAW/GPU-driver backlight drivers must
>> + * pass true for the native function argument, other drivers must pass false.
>>   *
>>   * If CONFIG_ACPI_VIDEO is neither set as "compiled in" (y) nor as a module (m)
>>   * this file will not be compiled and acpi_video_get_backlight_type() will
>> - * always return acpi_backlight_vendor.
>> + * return acpi_backlight_native when its native argument is true and
>> + * acpi_backlight_vendor when it is false.
>>   */
> 
> Frankly, I think the boolean native parameter here, and at the call
> sites, is confusing, and the slightly different explanations in the
> commit message and comment here aren't helping.

Can you elaborate the "slightly different explanations in the
commit message and comment" part a bit (so that I can fix this) ?

> I suggest adding a separate function that the native backlight drivers
> should use. I think it's more obvious all around, and easier to document
> too.

Code wise I think this would mean renaming the original and
then adding 2 wrappers, but that is fine with me. I've no real
preference either way and I'm happy with adding a new variant of
acpi_video_get_backlight_type() for the native backlight drivers
any suggestion for a name ?

Regards,

Hans