[REPOST PATCH 1/8] fence: dma-buf cross-device synchronization (v17)

[James Bottomley]

On Thu, 2014-06-19 at 11:19 -0700, Greg KH wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 01:45:30PM -0400, Rob Clark wrote:
> > On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 1:00 PM, Greg KH <gregkh at linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> > > On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 10:00:18AM -0400, Rob Clark wrote:
> > >> On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 9:13 PM, Greg KH <gregkh at linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> > >> > On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 12:36:54PM +0200, Maarten Lankhorst wrote:
> > >> >> +#define CREATE_TRACE_POINTS
> > >> >> +#include <trace/events/fence.h>
> > >> >> +
> > >> >> +EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL(fence_annotate_wait_on);
> > >> >> +EXPORT_TRACEPOINT_SYMBOL(fence_emit);
> > >> >
> > >> > Are you really willing to live with these as tracepoints for forever?
> > >> > What is the use of them in debugging?  Was it just for debugging the
> > >> > fence code, or for something else?
> > >> >
> > >> >> +/**
> > >> >> + * fence_context_alloc - allocate an array of fence contexts
> > >> >> + * @num:     [in]    amount of contexts to allocate
> > >> >> + *
> > >> >> + * This function will return the first index of the number of fences allocated.
> > >> >> + * The fence context is used for setting fence->context to a unique number.
> > >> >> + */
> > >> >> +unsigned fence_context_alloc(unsigned num)
> > >> >> +{
> > >> >> +     BUG_ON(!num);
> > >> >> +     return atomic_add_return(num, &fence_context_counter) - num;
> > >> >> +}
> > >> >> +EXPORT_SYMBOL(fence_context_alloc);
> > >> >
> > >> > EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()?  Same goes for all of the exports in here.
> > >> > Traditionally all of the driver core exports have been with this
> > >> > marking, any objection to making that change here as well?
> > >>
> > >> tbh, I prefer EXPORT_SYMBOL()..  well, I'd prefer even more if there
> > >> wasn't even a need for EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(), but sadly it is a fact of
> > >> life.  We already went through this debate once with dma-buf.  We
> > >> aren't going to change $evil_vendor's mind about non-gpl modules.  The
> > >> only result will be a more flugly convoluted solution (ie. use syncpt
> > >> EXPORT_SYMBOL() on top of fence EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()) just as a
> > >> workaround, with the result that no-one benefits.
> > >
> > > It has been proven that using _GPL() exports have caused companies to
> > > release their code "properly" over the years, so as these really are
> > > Linux-only apis, please change them to be marked this way, it helps
> > > everyone out in the end.
> > 
> > Well, maybe that is the true in some cases.  But it certainly didn't
> > work out that way for dma-buf.  And I think the end result is worse.
> > 
> > I don't really like coming down on the side of EXPORT_SYMBOL() instead
> > of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(), but if we do use EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() then the
> > result will only be creative workarounds using the _GPL symbols
> > indirectly by whatever is available via EXPORT_SYMBOL().  I don't
> > really see how that will be better.
> 
> You are saying that you _know_ companies will violate our license, so
> you should just "give up"?  And how do you know people aren't working on
> preventing those "indirect" usages as well?  :)
> 
> Sorry, I'm not going to give up here, again, it has proven to work in
> the past in changing the ways of _very_ large companies, why stop now?

When you try to train a dog, you have to be consistent about it.  We're
fantastically inconsistent in symbol exports.

For instance, the mutex primitives are all EXPORT_SYMBOL(), so we're
telling proprietary modules they can use them.  However, when the kernel
is built with CONFIG_DEBUG_MUTEX, they all become
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() ... what type of crazy message is that supposed to
send?  It's OK to use mutexes but it's potentially a GPL violation to
debug them?

We either need to decide that we have a defined and consistent part of
our API that's GPL only or make the bold statement that we don't have
any part of our API that's usable by non-GPL modules.  Right at the
minute we do neither and it confuses people no end about what is and
isn't allowed.

James