Re: [PATCH 2/4] clocksource: stm32: use prescaler to adjust the resolution

[Daniel Lezcano <daniel.lezcano@linaro.org>]

On 18/12/2017 10:44, Benjamin Gaignard wrote:
> 2017-12-18 10:26 GMT+01:00 Daniel Lezcano <daniel.lezcano@linaro.org>:
>> On 15/12/2017 09:52, Benjamin Gaignard wrote:
>>> Rather than use fixed prescaler values compute it to get a clock
>>> as close as possible of 10KHz and a resolution of 0.1ms.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Benjamin Gaignard <benjamin.gaignard@st.com>
>>> ---
>>>  drivers/clocksource/timer-stm32.c | 23 ++++++++++++++++-------
>>>  1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> diff --git a/drivers/clocksource/timer-stm32.c b/drivers/clocksource/timer-stm32.c
>>> index 23a321cca45b..de721d318065 100644
>>> --- a/drivers/clocksource/timer-stm32.c
>>> +++ b/drivers/clocksource/timer-stm32.c
>>> @@ -37,6 +37,11 @@
>>>
>>>  #define TIM_EGR_UG   BIT(0)
>>>
>>> +#define MAX_TIM_PSC  0xFFFF
>>> +
>>> +/* Target a 10KHz clock to get a resolution of 0.1 ms */
>>> +#define TARGETED_CLK_RATE 10000
>>> +
>>>  static int stm32_clock_event_shutdown(struct clock_event_device *evt)
>>>  {
>>>       struct timer_of *to = to_timer_of(evt);
>>> @@ -83,7 +88,7 @@ static irqreturn_t stm32_clock_event_handler(int irq, void *dev_id)
>>>  static void __init stm32_clockevent_init(struct timer_of *to)
>>>  {
>>>       unsigned long max_delta;
>>> -     int prescaler;
>>> +     unsigned long prescaler;
>>>
>>>       to->clkevt.name = "stm32_clockevent";
>>>       to->clkevt.features = CLOCK_EVT_FEAT_PERIODIC;
>>> @@ -96,13 +101,17 @@ static void __init stm32_clockevent_init(struct timer_of *to)
>>>       /* Detect whether the timer is 16 or 32 bits */
>>>       writel_relaxed(~0U, timer_of_base(to) + TIM_ARR);
>>>       max_delta = readl_relaxed(timer_of_base(to) + TIM_ARR);
>>> -     if (max_delta == ~0U) {
>>> -             prescaler = 1;
>>> +     to->clkevt.rating = 50;
>>> +     if (max_delta == ~0U)
>>>               to->clkevt.rating = 250;
>>> -     } else {
>>> -             prescaler = 1024;
>>> -             to->clkevt.rating = 50;
>>> -     }
>>> +
>>> +     /*
>>> +      * Get the highest possible prescaler value to be as close
>>> +      * as possible of TARGETED_CLK_RATE
>>> +      */
>>> +     prescaler = DIV_ROUND_CLOSEST(timer_of_rate(to), TARGETED_CLK_RATE);
>>
>> With a 90MHz or 125MHz, the prescaler will be 9000 or 12500, so much
>> more than the 1024 we have today for 16b, and 1 for 32b.
>>
>> Shouldn't the computation be weighted with the bits width ?
> 
> My goal was to get the same resolution (0.1ms) for all the timers so
> the wrap will depend of the number of bits like you describe below.

Do you really want 1ms resolution with a 32bits timer ?

>> Otherwise the timer will wrap like:
>>
>> 32bits:
>>
>> before: (2^32 / 90e6) x 1 = 47.72 seconds
>> after:  (2^32 / 90e6) x 9000 = 119.3 *hours* ~= 5days
>>
>> 16bits:
>>
>> before: (2^16 / 90e6) x 1024 = 0.745 seconds
>> after:  (2^16 / 90e6) x 9000 = 6.55 seconds
>>
>> The patch is ok to target the 10KHz timer rate for 16b with a 1ms
>> resolution wrapping up after 6.55 seconds. But not for the 32bits timer.
>> Furthermore, we can't tell anymore the 32bits timers have a rating of
>> 250 after this patch.
> 
> What is the link between rating and resolution (or wrap) ?

Low resolution => hardly suitable for real use case => bad rating.

>From include/linux/clocksource.h

[ ... ]

 *                      100-199: Base level usability.
 *                              Functional for real use, but not desired.
 *                      200-299: Good.
 *                              A correct and usable clocksource.

[ ... ]

If you want to set a timer with a delta of 12.345ms and the resolution
is 1ms. Then you end up with a timer expiring after 13ms.

> Is it a problem to get a long wrap ?

It is not a problem to go for a long wrap, it is usually interesting
when the CPU has deep idle states. But it is not worth to sacrifice the
resolution with the 32bits timer in order to have 5 days before wrap.

Keeping 47secs is fine for the moment. If you want a coarser grain, that
could be acceptable because the resolution is very high but we can
postpone that for later after solving this 16b / 32b thing.

>> Leave the 32bits part as it is and compute the prescaler only in case of
>> 16bits with the target rate, which sounds a reasonable approach.
>>
>>> +     if (prescaler > MAX_TIM_PSC)
>>> +             prescaler = MAX_TIM_PSC;
>>
>> That can happen only if the clock rate is greater than ~655MHz, that
>> could not happen today as far as I can tell regarding the DT. So if we
>> hit this condition, we should speak up in the log (pr_warn).
> 
> It is to be futur proof for next possible SoC but even if prescaler
> reach this limit
> it is not a problem the only consequence would be that resolution and
> wrap change.

Got that, but that needs to be logged with a pr_warn or pr_info.

>>>       writel_relaxed(0, timer_of_base(to) + TIM_ARR);
>>>       writel_relaxed(prescaler - 1, timer_of_base(to) + TIM_PSC);
>>
>> Can you fix this prescaler - 1 in order to be consistent with the
>> computation with 16b ? (32b prescaler = 0, 16b prescaler = clk_rate /
>> target ).
> 
> In the hardware the clock is divise by " TIM_PSC value  1" so to be coherent
> with that I need to do prescaler -1.

Ah, ok.


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