From: Johannes Schneider <johannes.schneider@leica-geosystems.com>
To: barebox@lists.infradead.org
Cc: Johannes Schneider <johannes.schneider@leica-geosystems.com>
Subject: [PATCH v1 7/7] mci: imx-esdhc: support DMA in the i.MX8M PBL eMMC loader
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2026 19:43:24 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260627194324.2230643-7-johannes.schneider@leica-geosystems.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260627194324.2230643-1-johannes.schneider@leica-geosystems.com>
The PBL eMMC loader was hardwired to PIO via esdhc_use_pio_mode(): IN_PBL
forced PIO unconditionally. PIO is slow -- on an i.MX8MM board loading the
~1.6 MB next stage took ~559 ms; SDMA/ADMA2 do it in ~21 ms.
Let esdhc_use_pio_mode() in the PBL honour the SDHCI DMA flags, add a
transfer-mode choice for the loader (PIO default / SDMA / ADMA2), and route
both the imx8m and imx8mp/imx8mn loaders through shared helpers. The PBL has
no mci and runs before BL31, so host.sdhci.version is set by hand (no
__sdhci_read_caps()) and the ADMA2 descriptor table lives in a static buffer
(the PBL has no allocator), compiled in only for the ADMA2 option.
On the imx8mp loader the DMA mode is set up *before* the bootpart EXT_CSD
read so that read also goes through ADMA: a PIO transfer preceding the first
ADMA transfer wedges the uSDHC ADMA engine. Either way the loader retries in
PIO if the DMA attempt fails, so a misconfigured board still boots.
SDMA and ADMA2 perform identically here (the transfer is bus-bound), and SDMA
needs no descriptor table, so it is the simpler default for boards that just
want the speedup.
Assisted-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context)
Signed-off-by: Johannes Schneider <johannes.schneider@leica-geosystems.com>
---
drivers/mci/Kconfig | 21 +++++++++++
drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-common.c | 16 ++++++--
drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-pbl.c | 68 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
3 files changed, 96 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/mci/Kconfig b/drivers/mci/Kconfig
index cd8862722c..e071bb5650 100644
--- a/drivers/mci/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/mci/Kconfig
@@ -288,6 +288,27 @@ config MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL
bool
select MCI_SDHCI
+choice
+ prompt "i.MX8M PBL eMMC loader transfer mode"
+ default MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_PIO
+ depends on MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL
+ help
+ How the i.MX8M PBL reads the next boot stage from eMMC. DMA is much
+ faster than PIO; on failure the loader falls back to PIO so the board
+ still boots. ADMA2 additionally needs the board PBL to set up an early
+ malloc pool (pbl_malloc_init) for the descriptor table; SDMA does not.
+
+config MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_PIO
+ bool "PIO"
+
+config MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_SDMA
+ bool "SDMA"
+
+config MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_ADMA2
+ bool "ADMA2"
+
+endchoice
+
config MCI_ATMEL_PBL
bool
select MCI_ATMEL
diff --git a/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-common.c b/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-common.c
index a0c2dee32d..1bf70d4e65 100644
--- a/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-common.c
+++ b/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-common.c
@@ -295,9 +295,17 @@ void esdhc_populate_sdhci(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host)
SDHCI_QUIRK_NO_ENDATTR_IN_NOPDESC;
}
-static bool esdhc_use_pio_mode(void)
+static bool esdhc_use_pio_mode(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host)
{
- return IN_PBL || IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PIO);
+ /*
+ * In the PBL default to PIO, unless a caller explicitly opted into
+ * ADMA2 (SDHCI_USE_ADMA, descriptor table set up) or SDMA
+ * (SDHCI_USE_SDMA).
+ */
+ if (IN_PBL)
+ return !(host->sdhci.flags & (SDHCI_USE_ADMA | SDHCI_USE_SDMA));
+
+ return IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PIO);
}
static int esdhc_setup_data(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host, struct mci_data *data,
@@ -317,7 +325,7 @@ static int esdhc_setup_data(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host, struct mci_data *data,
host->sdhci.sdma_boundary = 0;
- if (esdhc_use_pio_mode())
+ if (esdhc_use_pio_mode(host))
sdhci_setup_data_pio(&host->sdhci, data);
else
sdhci_setup_data_dma(&host->sdhci, data, dma);
@@ -411,7 +419,7 @@ int __esdhc_send_cmd(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host, struct mci_cmd *cmd,
/* Wait until all of the blocks are transferred */
if (data) {
- if (esdhc_use_pio_mode())
+ if (esdhc_use_pio_mode(host))
ret = sdhci_transfer_data_pio(&host->sdhci, cmd, data);
else
ret = sdhci_transfer_data_dma(&host->sdhci, cmd, data, dma);
diff --git a/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-pbl.c b/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-pbl.c
index fe06d418b0..80e80b24a0 100644
--- a/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-pbl.c
+++ b/drivers/mci/imx-esdhc-pbl.c
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@
static u8 ext_csd[512] __aligned(64);
+#ifdef CONFIG_MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_ADMA2
+/* ADMA2 descriptor table for the PBL eMMC loader (the PBL has no allocator). */
+static u8 esdhc_adma_table[SDHCI_DEFAULT_ADMA_DESCS * SDHCI_ADMA2_32_DESC_SZ]
+ __aligned(8);
+#endif
+
static int esdhc_send_ext_csd(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host)
{
struct mci_cmd cmd = {};
@@ -252,6 +258,51 @@ int imx7_esdhc_start_image(int instance)
* Return: If image successfully loaded, returns 0.
* A negative error code is returned when this function fails.
*/
+/*
+ * Configure the PBL eMMC loader's DMA mode (ADMA2 or SDMA per Kconfig). The
+ * PBL has no mci, so host->sdhci.version is set by hand because
+ * __sdhci_read_caps() cannot run.
+ */
+static void imx8m_esdhc_pbl_setup_dma(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host)
+{
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_SDMA)) {
+ host->sdhci.version = SDHCI_SPEC_300;
+ host->sdhci.flags |= SDHCI_USE_SDMA;
+ }
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_MCI_IMX_ESDHC_PBL_ADMA2
+ host->sdhci.version = SDHCI_SPEC_300;
+ host->sdhci.adma_table = esdhc_adma_table;
+ host->sdhci.adma_addr = virt_to_phys(esdhc_adma_table);
+ host->sdhci.desc_sz = SDHCI_ADMA2_32_DESC_SZ;
+ host->sdhci.adma_table_cnt = SDHCI_DEFAULT_ADMA_DESCS;
+ host->sdhci.adma_table_sz = sizeof(esdhc_adma_table);
+ host->sdhci.flags |= SDHCI_USE_ADMA;
+#endif
+}
+
+static int imx8m_esdhc_load_image_dma(struct fsl_esdhc_host *host,
+ struct esdhc_soc_data *data, int instance,
+ void *bl33, u32 offset, u32 ivt_offset)
+{
+ int ret;
+
+ ret = esdhc_load_image(host, MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR,
+ (ptrdiff_t)bl33, offset, ivt_offset, false);
+ if (!ret)
+ return 0;
+
+ /* Fall back to PIO so a failed DMA attempt still boots. */
+ if (host->sdhci.flags & (SDHCI_USE_ADMA | SDHCI_USE_SDMA)) {
+ host->sdhci.flags &= ~(SDHCI_USE_ADMA | SDHCI_USE_SDMA);
+ imx8m_esdhc_init(host, data, instance);
+ ret = esdhc_load_image(host, MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR,
+ (ptrdiff_t)bl33, offset, ivt_offset, false);
+ }
+
+ return ret;
+}
+
int imx8m_esdhc_load_image(int instance, void *bl33)
{
struct esdhc_soc_data data;
@@ -262,9 +313,10 @@ int imx8m_esdhc_load_image(int instance, void *bl33)
if (ret)
return ret;
- return esdhc_load_image(&host, MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR,
- (ptrdiff_t)bl33, SZ_32K, SZ_1K,
- false);
+ imx8m_esdhc_pbl_setup_dma(&host);
+
+ return imx8m_esdhc_load_image_dma(&host, &data, instance, bl33,
+ SZ_32K, SZ_1K);
}
/**
@@ -291,10 +343,16 @@ int imx8mp_esdhc_load_image(int instance, void *bl33)
if (ret)
return ret;
+ /*
+ * Set up DMA first so the EXT_CSD read below also goes through ADMA --
+ * a PIO transfer before the first ADMA transfer wedges the 8MP uSDHC.
+ */
+ imx8m_esdhc_pbl_setup_dma(&host);
+
offset = esdhc_bootpart_active(&host)? 0 : SZ_32K;
- return esdhc_load_image(&host, MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR,
- (ptrdiff_t)bl33, offset, 0, false);
+ return imx8m_esdhc_load_image_dma(&host, &data, instance, bl33,
+ offset, 0);
}
int imx8mn_esdhc_load_image(int instance, void *bl33)
--
2.43.0
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-06-27 19:45 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-27 19:43 [PATCH v1 1/7] dma: make dma_mapping_error() NULL-safe Johannes Schneider
2026-06-27 19:43 ` [PATCH v1 2/7] mci: sdhci: bail out on ADMA/transfer errors instead of hanging Johannes Schneider
2026-06-27 19:43 ` [PATCH v1 3/7] mci: sdhci: honor BROKEN_ADMA_ZEROLEN_DESC / NO_ENDATTR_IN_NOPDESC quirks Johannes Schneider
2026-06-27 19:43 ` [PATCH v1 4/7] mci: imx-esdhc: mark the uSDHC ADMA2 descriptor quirks Johannes Schneider
2026-06-27 19:43 ` [PATCH v1 5/7] mci: imx-esdhc: support HS400 and HS400ES on i.MX8M Johannes Schneider
2026-06-27 19:43 ` [PATCH v1 6/7] mci: imx-esdhc: make the transfer mode selectable (PIO/SDMA/ADMA2) Johannes Schneider
2026-06-27 19:43 ` Johannes Schneider [this message]
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