[Intel-gfx] [RFC] [PATCH] quick_dump: A dump utility different than reg_dumper

[Ben Widawsky]

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:51:01 +0200
Daniel Vetter <daniel at ffwll.ch> wrote:

> On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 01:58:37PM -0700, Ben Widawsky wrote:
> > On 2012-09-22 11:05, Daniel Vetter wrote:
> > >And a quick comment on your approach here: I'm not too sure
> > >whether the
> > >file-base register block approach scales, respectively why exactly
> > >this is
> > >better than frobbing the reg_dumper tool. Since that one has the
> > >concept
> > >of register blocks already, too.
> > 
> > It doesn't scale. It scales better than reg_dumper was my goal and
> > point (IMO).
> > 
> > The exact problem that was trying to be solved is Valleyview (and I
> > assure you there will be more such products coming). Valleyview took
> > a huge chunk of well known registers, and changed their offsets.
> > Modifying this in reg dumper is of course possible, but it's
> > tedious. I wanted to have easy to modify text files with an easy
> > python front end (the offsets could even be applied in the script
> > extremely easily).
> 
> If the issue is just the base-address moving around, I think we could
> solve that with some refactoring ...
> -Daniel

That's exactly an example of the problem it's trying to solve. When
working on new platforms (which is happening much more frequently then
it used to), we shouldn't have to refactor an existing tool to make it
do what we want in preparation for power-on, or even worse, during
power-on. I want something quick, and dirty that gets the information I
need, and migrate it over time to intel_reg_dumper. Furthermore, doing
the range dump can be trivially added with your scripting language of
choice.

Almost as important, it takes away from the maintenance burden on a
useful tool like reg_dumper for one off platforms like the stupid vlv
we are currently working with (ie. things which will never ship).

I'm not sure at this point if you're genuinely opposed, or just looking
for holes to poke. Maybe you can clarify, because frankly, I'm using
this tool for my own needs, and whether or not I push it is fairly
don't care.