[PATCH 4/5] dma-buf: Update cpu access documentation

Daniel Vetter daniel.vetter at ffwll.ch
Fri Dec 9 18:53:08 UTC 2016


- Again move the information relevant for driver writers next to the
  callbacks.
- Put the overview and userspace interface documentation into a DOC:
  section within the code.
- Remove the text that mmap needs to be coherent - since the
  DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC landed that's no longer the case. But keep the text
  that for pte zapping exporters need to adjust the address space.
- Add a FIXME that kmap and the new begin/end stuff used by the SYNC
  ioctl don't really mix correctly. That's something I just realized
  while doing this doc rework.
- Augment function and structure docs like usual.

Cc: linux-doc at vger.kernel.org
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet at lwn.net>
Cc: Sumit Semwal <sumit.semwal at linaro.org>
Signed-off-by: Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter at intel.com>
---
 Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt    | 213 -----------------------------------
 Documentation/driver-api/dma-buf.rst |   6 +
 drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c            | 121 ++++++++++++++++++++
 include/linux/dma-buf.h              |  91 +++++++++++++--
 4 files changed, 210 insertions(+), 221 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt b/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt
index dca2fb7ac3b4..74c99edb7976 100644
--- a/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt
+++ b/Documentation/dma-buf-sharing.txt
@@ -6,205 +6,6 @@
                  <sumit dot semwal at ti dot com>
 
 
-Kernel cpu access to a dma-buf buffer object
---------------------------------------------
-
-The motivation to allow cpu access from the kernel to a dma-buf object from the
-importers side are:
-- fallback operations, e.g. if the devices is connected to a usb bus and the
-  kernel needs to shuffle the data around first before sending it away.
-- full transparency for existing users on the importer side, i.e. userspace
-  should not notice the difference between a normal object from that subsystem
-  and an imported one backed by a dma-buf. This is really important for drm
-  opengl drivers that expect to still use all the existing upload/download
-  paths.
-
-Access to a dma_buf from the kernel context involves three steps:
-
-1. Prepare access, which invalidate any necessary caches and make the object
-   available for cpu access.
-2. Access the object page-by-page with the dma_buf map apis
-3. Finish access, which will flush any necessary cpu caches and free reserved
-   resources.
-
-1. Prepare access
-
-   Before an importer can access a dma_buf object with the cpu from the kernel
-   context, it needs to notify the exporter of the access that is about to
-   happen.
-
-   Interface:
-      int dma_buf_begin_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dmabuf,
-				   enum dma_data_direction direction)
-
-   This allows the exporter to ensure that the memory is actually available for
-   cpu access - the exporter might need to allocate or swap-in and pin the
-   backing storage. The exporter also needs to ensure that cpu access is
-   coherent for the access direction. The direction can be used by the exporter
-   to optimize the cache flushing, i.e. access with a different direction (read
-   instead of write) might return stale or even bogus data (e.g. when the
-   exporter needs to copy the data to temporary storage).
-
-   This step might fail, e.g. in oom conditions.
-
-2. Accessing the buffer
-
-   To support dma_buf objects residing in highmem cpu access is page-based using
-   an api similar to kmap. Accessing a dma_buf is done in aligned chunks of
-   PAGE_SIZE size. Before accessing a chunk it needs to be mapped, which returns
-   a pointer in kernel virtual address space. Afterwards the chunk needs to be
-   unmapped again. There is no limit on how often a given chunk can be mapped
-   and unmapped, i.e. the importer does not need to call begin_cpu_access again
-   before mapping the same chunk again.
-
-   Interfaces:
-      void *dma_buf_kmap(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long);
-      void dma_buf_kunmap(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long, void *);
-
-   There are also atomic variants of these interfaces. Like for kmap they
-   facilitate non-blocking fast-paths. Neither the importer nor the exporter (in
-   the callback) is allowed to block when using these.
-
-   Interfaces:
-      void *dma_buf_kmap_atomic(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long);
-      void dma_buf_kunmap_atomic(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long, void *);
-
-   For importers all the restrictions of using kmap apply, like the limited
-   supply of kmap_atomic slots. Hence an importer shall only hold onto at most 2
-   atomic dma_buf kmaps at the same time (in any given process context).
-
-   dma_buf kmap calls outside of the range specified in begin_cpu_access are
-   undefined. If the range is not PAGE_SIZE aligned, kmap needs to succeed on
-   the partial chunks at the beginning and end but may return stale or bogus
-   data outside of the range (in these partial chunks).
-
-   Note that these calls need to always succeed. The exporter needs to complete
-   any preparations that might fail in begin_cpu_access.
-
-   For some cases the overhead of kmap can be too high, a vmap interface
-   is introduced. This interface should be used very carefully, as vmalloc
-   space is a limited resources on many architectures.
-
-   Interfaces:
-      void *dma_buf_vmap(struct dma_buf *dmabuf)
-      void dma_buf_vunmap(struct dma_buf *dmabuf, void *vaddr)
-
-   The vmap call can fail if there is no vmap support in the exporter, or if it
-   runs out of vmalloc space. Fallback to kmap should be implemented. Note that
-   the dma-buf layer keeps a reference count for all vmap access and calls down
-   into the exporter's vmap function only when no vmapping exists, and only
-   unmaps it once. Protection against concurrent vmap/vunmap calls is provided
-   by taking the dma_buf->lock mutex.
-
-3. Finish access
-
-   When the importer is done accessing the CPU, it needs to announce this to
-   the exporter (to facilitate cache flushing and unpinning of any pinned
-   resources). The result of any dma_buf kmap calls after end_cpu_access is
-   undefined.
-
-   Interface:
-      void dma_buf_end_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dma_buf,
-				  enum dma_data_direction dir);
-
-
-Direct Userspace Access/mmap Support
-------------------------------------
-
-Being able to mmap an export dma-buf buffer object has 2 main use-cases:
-- CPU fallback processing in a pipeline and
-- supporting existing mmap interfaces in importers.
-
-1. CPU fallback processing in a pipeline
-
-   In many processing pipelines it is sometimes required that the cpu can access
-   the data in a dma-buf (e.g. for thumbnail creation, snapshots, ...). To avoid
-   the need to handle this specially in userspace frameworks for buffer sharing
-   it's ideal if the dma_buf fd itself can be used to access the backing storage
-   from userspace using mmap.
-
-   Furthermore Android's ION framework already supports this (and is otherwise
-   rather similar to dma-buf from a userspace consumer side with using fds as
-   handles, too). So it's beneficial to support this in a similar fashion on
-   dma-buf to have a good transition path for existing Android userspace.
-
-   No special interfaces, userspace simply calls mmap on the dma-buf fd, making
-   sure that the cache synchronization ioctl (DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC) is *always*
-   used when the access happens. Note that DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC can fail with
-   -EAGAIN or -EINTR, in which case it must be restarted.
-
-   Some systems might need some sort of cache coherency management e.g. when
-   CPU and GPU domains are being accessed through dma-buf at the same time. To
-   circumvent this problem there are begin/end coherency markers, that forward
-   directly to existing dma-buf device drivers vfunc hooks. Userspace can make
-   use of those markers through the DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC ioctl. The sequence
-   would be used like following:
-     - mmap dma-buf fd
-     - for each drawing/upload cycle in CPU 1. SYNC_START ioctl, 2. read/write
-       to mmap area 3. SYNC_END ioctl. This can be repeated as often as you
-       want (with the new data being consumed by the GPU or say scanout device)
-     - munmap once you don't need the buffer any more
-
-    For correctness and optimal performance, it is always required to use
-    SYNC_START and SYNC_END before and after, respectively, when accessing the
-    mapped address. Userspace cannot rely on coherent access, even when there
-    are systems where it just works without calling these ioctls.
-
-2. Supporting existing mmap interfaces in importers
-
-   Similar to the motivation for kernel cpu access it is again important that
-   the userspace code of a given importing subsystem can use the same interfaces
-   with a imported dma-buf buffer object as with a native buffer object. This is
-   especially important for drm where the userspace part of contemporary OpenGL,
-   X, and other drivers is huge, and reworking them to use a different way to
-   mmap a buffer rather invasive.
-
-   The assumption in the current dma-buf interfaces is that redirecting the
-   initial mmap is all that's needed. A survey of some of the existing
-   subsystems shows that no driver seems to do any nefarious thing like syncing
-   up with outstanding asynchronous processing on the device or allocating
-   special resources at fault time. So hopefully this is good enough, since
-   adding interfaces to intercept pagefaults and allow pte shootdowns would
-   increase the complexity quite a bit.
-
-   Interface:
-      int dma_buf_mmap(struct dma_buf *, struct vm_area_struct *,
-		       unsigned long);
-
-   If the importing subsystem simply provides a special-purpose mmap call to set
-   up a mapping in userspace, calling do_mmap with dma_buf->file will equally
-   achieve that for a dma-buf object.
-
-3. Implementation notes for exporters
-
-   Because dma-buf buffers have invariant size over their lifetime, the dma-buf
-   core checks whether a vma is too large and rejects such mappings. The
-   exporter hence does not need to duplicate this check.
-
-   Because existing importing subsystems might presume coherent mappings for
-   userspace, the exporter needs to set up a coherent mapping. If that's not
-   possible, it needs to fake coherency by manually shooting down ptes when
-   leaving the cpu domain and flushing caches at fault time. Note that all the
-   dma_buf files share the same anon inode, hence the exporter needs to replace
-   the dma_buf file stored in vma->vm_file with it's own if pte shootdown is
-   required. This is because the kernel uses the underlying inode's address_space
-   for vma tracking (and hence pte tracking at shootdown time with
-   unmap_mapping_range).
-
-   If the above shootdown dance turns out to be too expensive in certain
-   scenarios, we can extend dma-buf with a more explicit cache tracking scheme
-   for userspace mappings. But the current assumption is that using mmap is
-   always a slower path, so some inefficiencies should be acceptable.
-
-   Exporters that shoot down mappings (for any reasons) shall not do any
-   synchronization at fault time with outstanding device operations.
-   Synchronization is an orthogonal issue to sharing the backing storage of a
-   buffer and hence should not be handled by dma-buf itself. This is explicitly
-   mentioned here because many people seem to want something like this, but if
-   different exporters handle this differently, buffer sharing can fail in
-   interesting ways depending upong the exporter (if userspace starts depending
-   upon this implicit synchronization).
-
 Other Interfaces Exposed to Userspace on the dma-buf FD
 ------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -240,20 +41,6 @@ Miscellaneous notes
   the exporting driver to create a dmabuf fd must provide a way to let
   userspace control setting of O_CLOEXEC flag passed in to dma_buf_fd().
 
-- If an exporter needs to manually flush caches and hence needs to fake
-  coherency for mmap support, it needs to be able to zap all the ptes pointing
-  at the backing storage. Now linux mm needs a struct address_space associated
-  with the struct file stored in vma->vm_file to do that with the function
-  unmap_mapping_range. But the dma_buf framework only backs every dma_buf fd
-  with the anon_file struct file, i.e. all dma_bufs share the same file.
-
-  Hence exporters need to setup their own file (and address_space) association
-  by setting vma->vm_file and adjusting vma->vm_pgoff in the dma_buf mmap
-  callback. In the specific case of a gem driver the exporter could use the
-  shmem file already provided by gem (and set vm_pgoff = 0). Exporters can then
-  zap ptes by unmapping the corresponding range of the struct address_space
-  associated with their own file.
-
 References:
 [1] struct dma_buf_ops in include/linux/dma-buf.h
 [2] All interfaces mentioned above defined in include/linux/dma-buf.h
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/dma-buf.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/dma-buf.rst
index 906d1532efad..92e417035e16 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-api/dma-buf.rst
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/dma-buf.rst
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@ Basic Operation and Device DMA Access
 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c
    :doc: dma buf device access
 
+CPU Access to DMA Buffer Objects
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c
+   :doc: cpu access
+
 Kernel Functions and Structures Reference
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c b/drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c
index 09f948fd62ad..0933c01e6d8c 100644
--- a/drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c
+++ b/drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c
@@ -640,6 +640,121 @@ void dma_buf_unmap_attachment(struct dma_buf_attachment *attach,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(dma_buf_unmap_attachment);
 
+/**
+ * DOC: cpu access
+ *
+ * There are mutliple reasons for supporting CPU access to a dma buffer object:
+ *
+ * - Fallback operations in the kernel, for example when a device is connected
+ *   over USB and the kernel needs to shuffle the data around first before
+ *   sending it away. Cache coherency is handled by braketing any transactions
+ *   with calls to dma_buf_begin_cpu_access() and dma_buf_end_cpu_access()
+ *   access.
+ *
+ *   To support dma_buf objects residing in highmem cpu access is page-based using
+ *   an api similar to kmap. Accessing a dma_buf is done in aligned chunks of
+ *   PAGE_SIZE size. Before accessing a chunk it needs to be mapped, which returns
+ *   a pointer in kernel virtual address space. Afterwards the chunk needs to be
+ *   unmapped again. There is no limit on how often a given chunk can be mapped
+ *   and unmapped, i.e. the importer does not need to call begin_cpu_access again
+ *   before mapping the same chunk again.
+ *
+ *   Interfaces::
+ *      void \*dma_buf_kmap(struct dma_buf \*, unsigned long);
+ *      void dma_buf_kunmap(struct dma_buf \*, unsigned long, void \*);
+ *
+ *   There are also atomic variants of these interfaces. Like for kmap they
+ *   facilitate non-blocking fast-paths. Neither the importer nor the exporter (in
+ *   the callback) is allowed to block when using these.
+ *
+ *   Interfaces::
+ *      void \*dma_buf_kmap_atomic(struct dma_buf \*, unsigned long);
+ *      void dma_buf_kunmap_atomic(struct dma_buf \*, unsigned long, void \*);
+ *
+ *   For importers all the restrictions of using kmap apply, like the limited
+ *   supply of kmap_atomic slots. Hence an importer shall only hold onto at most 2
+ *   atomic dma_buf kmaps at the same time (in any given process context).
+ *
+ *   dma_buf kmap calls outside of the range specified in begin_cpu_access are
+ *   undefined. If the range is not PAGE_SIZE aligned, kmap needs to succeed on
+ *   the partial chunks at the beginning and end but may return stale or bogus
+ *   data outside of the range (in these partial chunks).
+ *
+ *   Note that these calls need to always succeed. The exporter needs to complete
+ *   any preparations that might fail in begin_cpu_access.
+ *
+ *   For some cases the overhead of kmap can be too high, a vmap interface
+ *   is introduced. This interface should be used very carefully, as vmalloc
+ *   space is a limited resources on many architectures.
+ *
+ *   Interfaces::
+ *      void \*dma_buf_vmap(struct dma_buf \*dmabuf)
+ *      void dma_buf_vunmap(struct dma_buf \*dmabuf, void \*vaddr)
+ *
+ *   The vmap call can fail if there is no vmap support in the exporter, or if it
+ *   runs out of vmalloc space. Fallback to kmap should be implemented. Note that
+ *   the dma-buf layer keeps a reference count for all vmap access and calls down
+ *   into the exporter's vmap function only when no vmapping exists, and only
+ *   unmaps it once. Protection against concurrent vmap/vunmap calls is provided
+ *   by taking the dma_buf->lock mutex.
+ *
+ * - For full compatibility on the importer side with existing userspace
+ *   interfaces, which might already support mmap'ing buffers. This is needed in
+ *   many processing pipelines (e.g. feeding a software rendered image into a
+ *   hardware pipeline, thumbnail creation, snapshots, ...). Also, Android's ION
+ *   framework already supported this and for DMA buffer file descriptors to
+ *   replace ION buffers mmap support was needed.
+ *
+ *   There is no special interfaces, userspace simply calls mmap on the dma-buf
+ *   fd. But like for CPU access there's a need to braket the actual access,
+ *   which is handled by the ioctl (DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC). Note that
+ *   DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC can fail with -EAGAIN or -EINTR, in which case it must
+ *   be restarted.
+ *
+ *   Some systems might need some sort of cache coherency management e.g. when
+ *   CPU and GPU domains are being accessed through dma-buf at the same time. To
+ *   circumvent this problem there are begin/end coherency markers, that forward
+ *   directly to existing dma-buf device drivers vfunc hooks. Userspace can make
+ *   use of those markers through the DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC ioctl. The sequence
+ *   would be used like following:
+ *
+ *     - mmap dma-buf fd
+ *     - for each drawing/upload cycle in CPU 1. SYNC_START ioctl, 2. read/write
+ *       to mmap area 3. SYNC_END ioctl. This can be repeated as often as you
+ *       want (with the new data being consumed by the GPU or say scanout device)
+ *     - munmap once you don't need the buffer any more
+ *
+ *    For correctness and optimal performance, it is always required to use
+ *    SYNC_START and SYNC_END before and after, respectively, when accessing the
+ *    mapped address. Userspace cannot rely on coherent access, even when there
+ *    are systems where it just works without calling these ioctls.
+ *
+ * - And as a CPU fallback in userspace processing pipelines.
+ *
+ *   Similar to the motivation for kernel cpu access it is again important that
+ *   the userspace code of a given importing subsystem can use the same interfaces
+ *   with a imported dma-buf buffer object as with a native buffer object. This is
+ *   especially important for drm where the userspace part of contemporary OpenGL,
+ *   X, and other drivers is huge, and reworking them to use a different way to
+ *   mmap a buffer rather invasive.
+ *
+ *   The assumption in the current dma-buf interfaces is that redirecting the
+ *   initial mmap is all that's needed. A survey of some of the existing
+ *   subsystems shows that no driver seems to do any nefarious thing like syncing
+ *   up with outstanding asynchronous processing on the device or allocating
+ *   special resources at fault time. So hopefully this is good enough, since
+ *   adding interfaces to intercept pagefaults and allow pte shootdowns would
+ *   increase the complexity quite a bit.
+ *
+ *   Interface::
+ *      int dma_buf_mmap(struct dma_buf \*, struct vm_area_struct \*,
+ *		       unsigned long);
+ *
+ *   If the importing subsystem simply provides a special-purpose mmap call to set
+ *   up a mapping in userspace, calling do_mmap with dma_buf->file will equally
+ *   achieve that for a dma-buf object.
+ */
+
 static int __dma_buf_begin_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dmabuf,
 				      enum dma_data_direction direction)
 {
@@ -665,6 +780,10 @@ static int __dma_buf_begin_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dmabuf,
  * @dmabuf:	[in]	buffer to prepare cpu access for.
  * @direction:	[in]	length of range for cpu access.
  *
+ * After the cpu access is complete the caller should call
+ * dma_buf_end_cpu_access(). Only when cpu access is braketed by both calls is
+ * it guaranteed to be coherent with other DMA access.
+ *
  * Can return negative error values, returns 0 on success.
  */
 int dma_buf_begin_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dmabuf,
@@ -697,6 +816,8 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(dma_buf_begin_cpu_access);
  * @dmabuf:	[in]	buffer to complete cpu access for.
  * @direction:	[in]	length of range for cpu access.
  *
+ * This terminates CPU access started with dma_buf_begin_cpu_access().
+ *
  * Can return negative error values, returns 0 on success.
  */
 int dma_buf_end_cpu_access(struct dma_buf *dmabuf,
diff --git a/include/linux/dma-buf.h b/include/linux/dma-buf.h
index 6df170fb243f..57828154e440 100644
--- a/include/linux/dma-buf.h
+++ b/include/linux/dma-buf.h
@@ -39,10 +39,6 @@ struct dma_buf_attachment;
 
 /**
  * struct dma_buf_ops - operations possible on struct dma_buf
- * @begin_cpu_access: [optional] called before cpu access to invalidate cpu
- * 		      caches and allocate backing storage (if not yet done)
- * 		      respectively pin the object into memory.
- * @end_cpu_access: [optional] called after cpu access to flush caches.
  * @kmap_atomic: maps a page from the buffer into kernel address
  * 		 space, users may not block until the subsequent unmap call.
  * 		 This callback must not sleep.
@@ -50,10 +46,6 @@ struct dma_buf_attachment;
  * 		   This Callback must not sleep.
  * @kmap: maps a page from the buffer into kernel address space.
  * @kunmap: [optional] unmaps a page from the buffer.
- * @mmap: used to expose the backing storage to userspace. Note that the
- * 	  mapping needs to be coherent - if the exporter doesn't directly
- * 	  support this, it needs to fake coherency by shooting down any ptes
- * 	  when transitioning away from the cpu domain.
  * @vmap: [optional] creates a virtual mapping for the buffer into kernel
  *	  address space. Same restrictions as for vmap and friends apply.
  * @vunmap: [optional] unmaps a vmap from the buffer
@@ -164,13 +156,96 @@ struct dma_buf_ops {
 	 */
 	void (*release)(struct dma_buf *);
 
+	/**
+	 * @begin_cpu_access:
+	 *
+	 * This is called from dma_buf_begin_cpu_access() and allows the
+	 * exporter to ensure that the memory is actually available for cpu
+	 * access - the exporter might need to allocate or swap-in and pin the
+	 * backing storage. The exporter also needs to ensure that cpu access is
+	 * coherent for the access direction. The direction can be used by the
+	 * exporter to optimize the cache flushing, i.e. access with a different
+	 * direction (read instead of write) might return stale or even bogus
+	 * data (e.g. when the exporter needs to copy the data to temporary
+	 * storage).
+	 *
+	 * This callback is optional.
+	 *
+	 * FIXME: This is both called through the DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC command
+	 * from userspace (where storage shouldn't be pinned to avoid handing
+	 * de-factor mlock rights to userspace) and for the kernel-internal
+	 * users of the various kmap interfaces, where the backing storage must
+	 * be pinned to guarantee that the atomic kmap calls can succeed. Since
+	 * there's no in-kernel users of the kmap interfaces yet this isn't a
+	 * real problem.
+	 *
+	 * Returns:
+	 *
+	 * 0 on success or a negative error code on failure. This can for
+	 * example fail when the backing storage can't be allocated. Can also
+	 * return -ERESTARTSYS or -EINTR when the call has been interrupted and
+	 * needs to be restarted.
+	 */
 	int (*begin_cpu_access)(struct dma_buf *, enum dma_data_direction);
+
+	/**
+	 * @end_cpu_access:
+	 *
+	 * This is called from dma_buf_end_cpu_access() when the importer is
+	 * done accessing the CPU. The exporter can use this to flush caches and
+	 * unpin any resources pinned in @begin_cpu_access.
+	 * The result of any dma_buf kmap calls after end_cpu_access is
+	 * undefined.
+	 *
+	 * This callback is optional.
+	 *
+	 * Returns:
+	 *
+	 * 0 on success or a negative error code on failure. Can return
+	 * -ERESTARTSYS or -EINTR when the call has been interrupted and needs
+	 * to be restarted.
+	 */
 	int (*end_cpu_access)(struct dma_buf *, enum dma_data_direction);
 	void *(*kmap_atomic)(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long);
 	void (*kunmap_atomic)(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long, void *);
 	void *(*kmap)(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long);
 	void (*kunmap)(struct dma_buf *, unsigned long, void *);
 
+	/**
+	 * @mmap:
+	 *
+	 * This callback is used by the dma_buf_mmap() function
+	 *
+	 * Note that the mapping needs to be incoherent, userspace is expected
+	 * to braket CPU access using the DMA_BUF_IOCTL_SYNC interface.
+	 *
+	 * Because dma-buf buffers have invariant size over their lifetime, the
+	 * dma-buf core checks whether a vma is too large and rejects such
+	 * mappings. The exporter hence does not need to duplicate this check.
+	 * Drivers do not need to check this themselves.
+	 *
+	 * If an exporter needs to manually flush caches and hence needs to fake
+	 * coherency for mmap support, it needs to be able to zap all the ptes
+	 * pointing at the backing storage. Now linux mm needs a struct
+	 * address_space associated with the struct file stored in vma->vm_file
+	 * to do that with the function unmap_mapping_range. But the dma_buf
+	 * framework only backs every dma_buf fd with the anon_file struct file,
+	 * i.e. all dma_bufs share the same file.
+	 *
+	 * Hence exporters need to setup their own file (and address_space)
+	 * association by setting vma->vm_file and adjusting vma->vm_pgoff in
+	 * the dma_buf mmap callback. In the specific case of a gem driver the
+	 * exporter could use the shmem file already provided by gem (and set
+	 * vm_pgoff = 0). Exporters can then zap ptes by unmapping the
+	 * corresponding range of the struct address_space associated with their
+	 * own file.
+	 *
+	 * This callback is optional.
+	 *
+	 * Returns:
+	 *
+	 * 0 on success or a negative error code on failure.
+	 */
 	int (*mmap)(struct dma_buf *, struct vm_area_struct *vma);
 
 	void *(*vmap)(struct dma_buf *);
-- 
2.10.2



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