[RFC PATCH] of/platform: Disable sysfb if a simple-framebuffer node is found

[Javier Martinez Canillas]

Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann at suse.de> writes:

> Hi
>
> Am 18.11.23 um 12:10 schrieb Javier Martinez Canillas:
>> Ard Biesheuvel <ardb at kernel.org> writes:
>> 
>> Hello Ard,
>> 
>>> On Fri, 17 Nov 2023 at 00:09, Rob Herring <robh at kernel.org> wrote:
>> 
>> [...]
>> 
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This could also lead to an interesting scenario. As simple-framebuffer
>>>>>> can define its memory in a /reserved-memory node, but that is ignored
>>>>>> in EFI boot. Probably would work, but only because EFI probably
>>>>>> generates its memory map table from the /reserved-memory nodes.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I see. So what would be the solution then? Ignoring creating a platform
>>>>> device for "simple-framebuffer" if booted using EFI and have an EFI-GOP?
>>>>
>>>> Shrug. I don't really know anything more about EFI FB, but I would
>>>> guess it can't support handling resources like clocks, power domains,
>>>> regulators, etc. that simple-fb can. So if a platform needs those, do
>>>> we say they should not setup EFI-GOP? Or is there a use case for
>>>> having both? Clients that don't muck with resources can use EFI-GOP
>>>> and those that do use simple-fb. For example, does/can grub use
>>>> EFI-GOP, but not simple-fb?
>>>>
>>>
>>> The EFI GOP is just a dumb framebuffer, and it is not even generally
>>> possible to cross reference the GOP with a particular device in the
>>> device hierarchy unless you e.g., compare the BARs of each device with
>>> the region described by the GOP protocol.
>>>
>>> GRUB for EFI will use the GOP and nothing else, but only at boot time
>>> (the GOP protocol is more than a magic linear memory region, it also
>>> implements a Blt() abstraction that permits the use of framebuffers
>>> that are not mapped linearly into the address space at all, and GRUB
>>> makes use of this)
>>>
>>> The EFI stub will only expose GOPs to the kernel if they are in fact
>>> linear framebuffers, but has zero insight into whether the hardware
>>> needs clocks and regulators, and whether or not the framebuffer needs
>>> IOMMU pass through (which might be the case if the scanout is using
>>> DMA into system memory)
>>>
>>> So calling EFI GOP 'source of truth' is rather generous, and I think
>>> it makes sense to prioritize more accurate descriptions of the
>>> underlying framebuffer over EFI GOP.
>>>
>> 
>> That was my opinion as well and the reason why I called the DTB the
>> single source of truth.
>> 
>>> However, making 'simple-framebuffer' magic in this regard doesn't seem
>>> like a great approach to me. Is there a better way we could get the
>>> resource conflict to be decided in a way where the EFI GOP gets
>>> superseded if its resources are claimed by another device?
>>>
>> 
>> There is an aperture [0] framework that is used by the fbdev and DRM
>> subsystems to allow native drivers to remove any conflicting devices
>> that share the same framebuffer aperture.
>> 
>> But it only makes sense for native drivers to use that I think, but
>> in this case is about two drivers that attempt to use the same frame
>> buffer provided by the firmware but getting it from different places.
>> 
>> I don't have a better idea than this patch but maybe Thomas or Sima do?
>
> At SUSE, we've carried such a patch in our repos for some time. It works 
> around the double-framebuffer problem in a similar way. [1]
>

Thanks for the information. I see that your patch is basically mine but
doing it unconditionally while this one only does the sysfb_disable() if
a "simple-framebuffer" DT node has been found.

> As Javier mentioned, we do track the framebuffer ranges for EFI/VESA/OF 
> framebuffers in the graphics aperture helpers. Fbdev has done this for 
> decades, and the current codebase extends and harmonizes this 
> functionality among fbdev and DRM drivers.
>
> WRT DT vs EFI: AFAIK the EFI support on affected platforms looks at the 
> DT to set up the EFI framebuffer. So IMHO the DT is the authoritative 
> source on the framebuffer.
>

Agreed. Sima Vetter also mentioned on IRC that they think this patch is
the least bad option. Rob, Ard any thoughts? Maybe we can land this as
a fix and then figure how this could be better handled in the long term?

> Best regards
> Thomas
>
> [1] https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1204315
>

-- 
Best regards,

Javier Martinez Canillas
Core Platforms
Red Hat