Re: [PATCH net-next v2 11/18] net: macb: single dma_alloc_coherent() for DMA descriptors

From: Sean Anderson
Date: Tue Jul 01 2025 - 12:33:47 EST


On 6/27/25 05:08, Théo Lebrun wrote:
> Move from two (Tx/Rx) dma_alloc_coherent() for DMA descriptor rings *per
> queue* to two dma_alloc_coherent() overall.
>
> Issue is with how all queues share the same register for configuring the
> upper 32-bits of Tx/Rx descriptor rings. For example, with Tx, notice
> how TBQPH does *not* depend on the queue index:
>
> #define GEM_TBQP(hw_q) (0x0440 + ((hw_q) << 2))
> #define GEM_TBQPH(hw_q) (0x04C8)
>
> queue_writel(queue, TBQP, lower_32_bits(queue->tx_ring_dma));
> #ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_DMA_ADDR_T_64BIT
> if (bp->hw_dma_cap & HW_DMA_CAP_64B)
> queue_writel(queue, TBQPH, upper_32_bits(queue->tx_ring_dma));
> #endif
>
> To maxime our chances of getting valid DMA addresses, we do a single

maximize

> dma_alloc_coherent() across queues.

Is there really any chance involved (other than avoiding ENOMEM)?

> This improves the odds because
> alloc_pages() guarantees natural alignment. It cannot ensure valid DMA
> addresses because of IOMMU or codepaths that don't go through
> alloc_pages().
>
> We error out if all rings don't have the same upper 32 bits, which is
> better than the current (theoretical, not reproduced) silent corruption
> caused by hardware that accesses invalid addresses.

I think this is addressed by the previous patch.

> Two considerations:
> - dma_alloc_coherent() gives us page alignment. Here we remove this
> containst meaning each queue's ring won't be page-aligned anymore.

constraint

> - This can save some memory. Less allocations means less overhead

fewer

> (constant cost per alloc) and less wasted bytes due to alignment
> constraints.

I think it's probably a bit of a wash with reasonably-sized rings.
Although the prefetch probably interacts poorly with the default "round"
power-of-two ring sizes.

> Fixes: 02c958dd3446 ("net/macb: add TX multiqueue support for gem")
> Signed-off-by: Théo Lebrun <theo.lebrun@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c | 83 ++++++++++++++++++--------------
> 1 file changed, 46 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
> index d3b3635998cad095246edf8a75faebbcf7115355..48b75d95861317b9925b366446c7572c7e186628 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
> @@ -2445,33 +2445,32 @@ static void macb_free_rx_buffers(struct macb *bp)
>
> static void macb_free_consistent(struct macb *bp)
> {
> - struct macb_queue *queue;
> + size_t size, tx_size_per_queue, rx_size_per_queue;
> + struct macb_queue *queue, *queue0 = bp->queues;
> + struct device *dev = &bp->pdev->dev;
> unsigned int q;
> - int size;
>
> if (bp->rx_ring_tieoff) {
> - dma_free_coherent(&bp->pdev->dev, macb_dma_desc_get_size(bp),
> + dma_free_coherent(dev, macb_dma_desc_get_size(bp),
> bp->rx_ring_tieoff, bp->rx_ring_tieoff_dma);
> bp->rx_ring_tieoff = NULL;
> }
>
> bp->macbgem_ops.mog_free_rx_buffers(bp);
>
> + tx_size_per_queue = TX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->tx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> + size = bp->num_queues * tx_size_per_queue;

Can you refactor the size calculation into a helper function?

> + dma_free_coherent(dev, size, queue0->tx_ring, queue0->tx_ring_dma);
> +
> + rx_size_per_queue = RX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->rx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> + size = bp->num_queues * rx_size_per_queue;
> + dma_free_coherent(dev, size, queue0->rx_ring, queue0->rx_ring_dma);
> +
> for (q = 0, queue = bp->queues; q < bp->num_queues; ++q, ++queue) {
> kfree(queue->tx_skb);
> queue->tx_skb = NULL;
> - if (queue->tx_ring) {
> - size = TX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->tx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> - dma_free_coherent(&bp->pdev->dev, size,
> - queue->tx_ring, queue->tx_ring_dma);
> - queue->tx_ring = NULL;
> - }
> - if (queue->rx_ring) {
> - size = RX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->rx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> - dma_free_coherent(&bp->pdev->dev, size,
> - queue->rx_ring, queue->rx_ring_dma);
> - queue->rx_ring = NULL;
> - }
> + queue->tx_ring = NULL; /* Single buffer owned by queue0 */
> + queue->rx_ring = NULL; /* Single buffer owned by queue0 */

OK, but queue0 doesn't own the ring either at this point (it's free'd).

> }
> }
>
> @@ -2513,37 +2512,47 @@ static int macb_alloc_rx_buffers(struct macb *bp)
>
> static int macb_alloc_consistent(struct macb *bp)
> {
> + size_t size, tx_size_per_queue, rx_size_per_queue;
> + dma_addr_t tx_dma, rx_dma;
> + struct device *dev = &bp->pdev->dev;
> struct macb_queue *queue;
> unsigned int q;
> - int size;
> + void *tx, *rx;
> +
> + /*
> + * Upper 32-bits of Tx/Rx DMA descriptor for each queues much match!
> + * We cannot enforce this guarantee, the best we can do is do a single
> + * allocation and hope it will land into alloc_pages() that guarantees
> + * natural alignment of physical addresses.
> + */
> +
> + tx_size_per_queue = TX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->tx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> + size = bp->num_queues * tx_size_per_queue;
> + tx = dma_alloc_coherent(dev, size, &tx_dma, GFP_KERNEL);
> + if (!tx || upper_32_bits(tx_dma) != upper_32_bits(tx_dma + size - 1))
> + goto out_err;
> + netdev_dbg(bp->dev, "Allocated %zu bytes for %u TX rings at %08lx (mapped %p)\n",
> + size, bp->num_queues, (unsigned long)tx_dma, tx);
> +
> + rx_size_per_queue = RX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->rx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> + size = bp->num_queues * rx_size_per_queue;
> + rx = dma_alloc_coherent(dev, size, &rx_dma, GFP_KERNEL);
> + if (!rx || upper_32_bits(rx_dma) != upper_32_bits(rx_dma + size - 1))
> + goto out_err;
> + netdev_dbg(bp->dev, "Allocated %zu bytes for %u RX rings at %08lx (mapped %p)\n",
> + size, bp->num_queues, (unsigned long)rx_dma, rx);
>
> for (q = 0, queue = bp->queues; q < bp->num_queues; ++q, ++queue) {
> - size = TX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->tx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> - queue->tx_ring = dma_alloc_coherent(&bp->pdev->dev, size,
> - &queue->tx_ring_dma,
> - GFP_KERNEL);
> - if (!queue->tx_ring ||
> - upper_32_bits(queue->tx_ring_dma) != upper_32_bits(bp->queues->tx_ring_dma))
> - goto out_err;
> - netdev_dbg(bp->dev,
> - "Allocated TX ring for queue %u of %d bytes at %08lx (mapped %p)\n",
> - q, size, (unsigned long)queue->tx_ring_dma,
> - queue->tx_ring);
> + queue->tx_ring = tx + tx_size_per_queue * q;
> + queue->tx_ring_dma = tx_dma + tx_size_per_queue * q;
> +
> + queue->rx_ring = rx + rx_size_per_queue * q;
> + queue->rx_ring_dma = rx_dma + rx_size_per_queue * q;
>
> size = bp->tx_ring_size * sizeof(struct macb_tx_skb);
> queue->tx_skb = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
> if (!queue->tx_skb)
> goto out_err;
> -
> - size = RX_RING_BYTES(bp) + bp->rx_bd_rd_prefetch;
> - queue->rx_ring = dma_alloc_coherent(&bp->pdev->dev, size,
> - &queue->rx_ring_dma, GFP_KERNEL);
> - if (!queue->rx_ring ||
> - upper_32_bits(queue->rx_ring_dma) != upper_32_bits(bp->queues->rx_ring_dma))
> - goto out_err;
> - netdev_dbg(bp->dev,
> - "Allocated RX ring of %d bytes at %08lx (mapped %p)\n",
> - size, (unsigned long)queue->rx_ring_dma, queue->rx_ring);
> }
> if (bp->macbgem_ops.mog_alloc_rx_buffers(bp))
> goto out_err;
>

Reviewed-by: Sean Anderson <sean.anderson@xxxxxxxxx>