Re: [PATCH v3 7/7] clocksource/drivers/arm_arch_timer: validate arch_timer_rate

From: Thomas Gleixner
Date: Thu Feb 13 2020 - 19:36:10 EST


Ionela Voinescu <ionela.voinescu@xxxxxxx> writes:

> From: Valentin Schneider <valentin.schneider@xxxxxxx>
>
> Using an arch timer with a frequency of less than 1MHz can result in an
> incorrect functionality of the system which assumes a reasonable rate.
>
> One example is the use of activity monitors for frequency invariance
> which uses the rate of the arch timer as the known rate of the constant
> cycle counter in computing its ratio compared to the maximum frequency
> of a CPU. For arch timer frequencies less than 1MHz this ratio could
> end up being 0 which is an invalid value for its use.
>
> Therefore, warn if the arch timer rate is below 1MHz which contravenes
> the recommended architecture interval of 1 to 50MHz.
>
> Signed-off-by: Ionela Voinescu <ionela.voinescu@xxxxxxx>

So this patch is from Valentin. Where is his Signed-off-by?

>
> +static int validate_timer_rate(void)
> +{
> + if (!arch_timer_rate)
> + return -EINVAL;
> +
> + /* Arch timer frequency < 1MHz can cause trouble */
> + WARN_ON(arch_timer_rate < 1000000);

This does not make sense to me. If the rate is out of bounds then why
warn an just continue instead of making it fail?

Thanks,

tglx