mbox series

[net-next,v2,0/8] drivers/s390/net/ism: Add generalized interface

Message ID 20230123181752.1068-1-jaka@linux.ibm.com (mailing list archive)
Headers show
Series drivers/s390/net/ism: Add generalized interface | expand

Message

Jan Karcher Jan. 23, 2023, 6:17 p.m. UTC
Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM available
for uses outside of SMC-D.
In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation between
the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct ism_client.
Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a number
of internal helper functions for that matter.
Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to the
SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related calls.

v1 -> v2:
  Removed s390x dependency which broke config for other archs.

Stefan Raspl (8):
  net/smc: Terminate connections prior to device removal
  net/ism: Add missing calls to disable bus-mastering
  s390/ism: Introduce struct ism_dmb
  net/ism: Add new API for client registration
  net/smc: Register SMC-D as ISM client
  net/smc: Separate SMC-D and ISM APIs
  s390/ism: Consolidate SMC-D-related code
  net/smc: De-tangle ism and smc device initialization

 drivers/s390/net/ism.h     |  19 +-
 drivers/s390/net/ism_drv.c | 376 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 include/linux/ism.h        |  98 ++++++++++
 include/net/smc.h          |  24 +--
 net/smc/af_smc.c           |   9 +-
 net/smc/smc_clc.c          |  11 +-
 net/smc/smc_core.c         |  13 +-
 net/smc/smc_diag.c         |   3 +-
 net/smc/smc_ism.c          | 180 ++++++++++--------
 net/smc/smc_ism.h          |   3 +-
 net/smc/smc_pnet.c         |  40 ++--
 11 files changed, 560 insertions(+), 216 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 include/linux/ism.h

Comments

patchwork-bot+netdevbpf@kernel.org Jan. 25, 2023, 10 a.m. UTC | #1
Hello:

This series was applied to netdev/net-next.git (master)
by David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>:

On Mon, 23 Jan 2023 19:17:44 +0100 you wrote:
> Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
> device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM available
> for uses outside of SMC-D.
> In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
> ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation between
> the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
> initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
> This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
> registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct ism_client.
> Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
> dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
> calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
> Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a number
> of internal helper functions for that matter.
> Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to the
> SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
> hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related calls.
> 
> [...]

Here is the summary with links:
  - [net-next,v2,1/8] net/smc: Terminate connections prior to device removal
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/c40bff4132e5
  - [net-next,v2,2/8] net/ism: Add missing calls to disable bus-mastering
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/462502ff9acb
  - [net-next,v2,3/8] s390/ism: Introduce struct ism_dmb
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/1baedb13f1d5
  - [net-next,v2,4/8] net/ism: Add new API for client registration
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/89e7d2ba61b7
  - [net-next,v2,5/8] net/smc: Register SMC-D as ISM client
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/8747716f3942
  - [net-next,v2,6/8] net/smc: Separate SMC-D and ISM APIs
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/9de4df7b6be1
  - [net-next,v2,7/8] s390/ism: Consolidate SMC-D-related code
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/820f21009f1b
  - [net-next,v2,8/8] net/smc: De-tangle ism and smc device initialization
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net-next/c/8c81ba20349d

You are awesome, thank you!
Dust Li Jan. 29, 2023, 11:48 a.m. UTC | #2
On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 07:17:44PM +0100, Jan Karcher wrote:
>Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
>device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM available
>for uses outside of SMC-D.
>In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
>ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation between
>the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
>initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
>This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
>registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct ism_client.
>Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
>dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
>calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
>Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a number
>of internal helper functions for that matter.
>Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to the
>SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
>hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related calls.

Hi,

Great work ! This makes the SMC & ISM code much more clear !

I like this patchset, just some questions on this refactor.
I still see there are some SMC related code in
'drivers/s390/net/ism_drv.c', mainly to implement smcd_ops.

As ISM is the lower layer of SMC, I think remove the dependency
on SMC would be better ? Do you have any plan to do that ?

One more thing:
I didn't find any call for smcd_ops->set_vlan_required/reset_vlan_required,
looks it's not needed, so why not remove it, am I missed something ?

Thanks!

>
>v1 -> v2:
>  Removed s390x dependency which broke config for other archs.
>
>Stefan Raspl (8):
>  net/smc: Terminate connections prior to device removal
>  net/ism: Add missing calls to disable bus-mastering
>  s390/ism: Introduce struct ism_dmb
>  net/ism: Add new API for client registration
>  net/smc: Register SMC-D as ISM client
>  net/smc: Separate SMC-D and ISM APIs
>  s390/ism: Consolidate SMC-D-related code
>  net/smc: De-tangle ism and smc device initialization
>
> drivers/s390/net/ism.h     |  19 +-
> drivers/s390/net/ism_drv.c | 376 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
> include/linux/ism.h        |  98 ++++++++++
> include/net/smc.h          |  24 +--
> net/smc/af_smc.c           |   9 +-
> net/smc/smc_clc.c          |  11 +-
> net/smc/smc_core.c         |  13 +-
> net/smc/smc_diag.c         |   3 +-
> net/smc/smc_ism.c          | 180 ++++++++++--------
> net/smc/smc_ism.h          |   3 +-
> net/smc/smc_pnet.c         |  40 ++--
> 11 files changed, 560 insertions(+), 216 deletions(-)
> create mode 100644 include/linux/ism.h
>
>-- 
>2.25.1
Wen Gu Feb. 2, 2023, 1:53 p.m. UTC | #3
On 2023/1/24 02:17, Jan Karcher wrote:

> Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
> device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM available
> for uses outside of SMC-D.
> In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
> ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation between
> the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
> initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
> This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
> registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct ism_client.
> Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
> dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
> calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
> Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a number
> of internal helper functions for that matter.
> Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to the
> SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
> hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related calls.
> 

Hi,

Thanks for the great work!

We are tring to adapt loopback and virtio-ism device into SMC-D based on the new
interface and want to confirm something. (cc: Alexandra Winter, Jan Karcher, Wenjia Zhang)

 From my understanding, this patch set is from the perspective of ISM device driver
and aims to make ISM device not only used by SMC-D, which is great!

But from the perspective of SMC, SMC-D protocol now binds with the helper in
smc_ism.c (smc_ism_* helper) and some part of smc_ism.c and smcd_ops seems to be
dedicated to only serve ISM device.

For example,

- The input param of smcd_register_dev() and smcd_unregister_dev() is ism_dev,
   instead of abstract smcd_dev like before.

- the smcd->ops->register_dmb has param of ism_client, exposing specific underlay.

So I want to confirm that, which of the following is our future direction of the
SMC-D device expansion?

(1) All extended devices (eg. virtio-ism and loopback) are ISM devices and SMC-D
     only supports ISM type device.

     SMC-D protocol -> smc_ism_* helper in smc_ism.c -> only ISM device.

     Future extended device must under the definition of ism_dev, in order to share
     the ism-specific helper in smc_ism.c (such as smcd_register_dev(), smcd_ops->register_dmbs..).

     With this design intention, futher extended SMC-D used device may be like:

                     +---------------------+
                     |    SMC-D protocol   |
                     +---------------------+
                       | current helper in|
                       |    smc_ism.c     |
          +--------------------------------------------+
          |              Broad ISM device              |
          |             defined as ism_dev             |
          |  +----------+ +------------+ +----------+  |
          |  | s390 ISM | | virtio-ism | | loopback |  |
          |  +----------+ +------------+ +----------+  |
          +--------------------------------------------+

(2) All extended devices (eg. virtio-ism and loopback) are abstracted as smcd_dev and
     SMC-D protocol use the abstracted capabilities.

     SMC-D does not care about the type of the underlying device, and only focus on the
     capabilities provided by smcd_dev.

     SMC-D protocol use a kind of general helpers, which only invoking smcd_dev->ops,
     without underlay device exposed. Just like most of helpers now in smc_ism.c, such as
     smc_ism_cantalk()/smc_ism_get_chid()/smc_ism_set_conn()..

     With this design intention, futher extended SMC-D used device should be like:

                      +----------------------+
                      |     SMC-D protocol   |
                      +----------------------+
                       |   general helper   |
                       |invoke smcd_dev->ops|
                       | hiding underlay dev|
            +-----------+  +------------+  +----------+
            | smc_ism.c |  | smc_vism.c |  | smc_lo.c |
            |           |  |            |  |          |
            | s390 ISM  |  | virtio-ism |  | loopback |
            |  device   |  |   device   |  |  device  |
            +-----------+  +------------+  +----------+

IMHO, (2) is more clean and beneficial to the flexible expansion of SMC-D devices, with no
underlay devices exposed.

So (2) should be our target. Do you agree? :)

If so, maybe we should make some part of helpers or ops of SMC-D device (such as smcd_register/unregister_dev
and smcd->ops->register_dmb) more generic?

Thanks,
Wen Gu
Wenjia Zhang Feb. 6, 2023, 10:47 a.m. UTC | #4
On 02.02.23 14:53, Wen Gu wrote:
> 
> 
> On 2023/1/24 02:17, Jan Karcher wrote:
> 
>> Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
>> device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM 
>> available
>> for uses outside of SMC-D.
>> In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
>> ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation 
>> between
>> the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
>> initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
>> This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
>> registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct 
>> ism_client.
>> Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
>> dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
>> calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
>> Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a 
>> number
>> of internal helper functions for that matter.
>> Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to 
>> the
>> SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
>> hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related 
>> calls.
>>
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for the great work!
> 
> We are tring to adapt loopback and virtio-ism device into SMC-D based on 
> the new
> interface and want to confirm something. (cc: Alexandra Winter, Jan 
> Karcher, Wenjia Zhang)
> 
>  From my understanding, this patch set is from the perspective of ISM 
> device driver
> and aims to make ISM device not only used by SMC-D, which is great!
> 
> But from the perspective of SMC, SMC-D protocol now binds with the 
> helper in
> smc_ism.c (smc_ism_* helper) and some part of smc_ism.c and smcd_ops 
> seems to be
> dedicated to only serve ISM device.
> 
> For example,
> 
> - The input param of smcd_register_dev() and smcd_unregister_dev() is 
> ism_dev,
>    instead of abstract smcd_dev like before.
> 
> - the smcd->ops->register_dmb has param of ism_client, exposing specific 
> underlay.
> 
> So I want to confirm that, which of the following is our future 
> direction of the
> SMC-D device expansion?
> 
> (1) All extended devices (eg. virtio-ism and loopback) are ISM devices 
> and SMC-D
>      only supports ISM type device.
> 
>      SMC-D protocol -> smc_ism_* helper in smc_ism.c -> only ISM device.
> 
>      Future extended device must under the definition of ism_dev, in 
> order to share
>      the ism-specific helper in smc_ism.c (such as smcd_register_dev(), 
> smcd_ops->register_dmbs..).
> 
>      With this design intention, futher extended SMC-D used device may 
> be like:
> 
>                      +---------------------+
>                      |    SMC-D protocol   |
>                      +---------------------+
>                        | current helper in|
>                        |    smc_ism.c     |
>           +--------------------------------------------+
>           |              Broad ISM device              |
>           |             defined as ism_dev             |
>           |  +----------+ +------------+ +----------+  |
>           |  | s390 ISM | | virtio-ism | | loopback |  |
>           |  +----------+ +------------+ +----------+  |
>           +--------------------------------------------+
> 
> (2) All extended devices (eg. virtio-ism and loopback) are abstracted as 
> smcd_dev and
>      SMC-D protocol use the abstracted capabilities.
> 
>      SMC-D does not care about the type of the underlying device, and 
> only focus on the
>      capabilities provided by smcd_dev.
> 
>      SMC-D protocol use a kind of general helpers, which only invoking 
> smcd_dev->ops,
>      without underlay device exposed. Just like most of helpers now in 
> smc_ism.c, such as
>      smc_ism_cantalk()/smc_ism_get_chid()/smc_ism_set_conn()..
> 
>      With this design intention, futher extended SMC-D used device 
> should be like:
> 
>                       +----------------------+
>                       |     SMC-D protocol   |
>                       +----------------------+
>                        |   general helper   |
>                        |invoke smcd_dev->ops|
>                        | hiding underlay dev|
>             +-----------+  +------------+  +----------+
>             | smc_ism.c |  | smc_vism.c |  | smc_lo.c |
>             |           |  |            |  |          |
>             | s390 ISM  |  | virtio-ism |  | loopback |
>             |  device   |  |   device   |  |  device  |
>             +-----------+  +------------+  +----------+
> 
> IMHO, (2) is more clean and beneficial to the flexible expansion of 
> SMC-D devices, with no
> underlay devices exposed.
> 
> So (2) should be our target. Do you agree? :)
> 
> If so, maybe we should make some part of helpers or ops of SMC-D device 
> (such as smcd_register/unregister_dev
> and smcd->ops->register_dmb) more generic?
> 
> Thanks,
> Wen Gu

Currently we tend a bit more towards the first solution. The reasoning 
behind it is the following:
If we create a full blown interface, we would have an own file for every 
new device which on the one hand is clean, but on the other hand raises 
the risk of duplicated code.
So if we go down that path (2) we have to take care that we avoid 
duplicated code.

In the context of the currently discussed changes this could mean:
- ISM is the only device right now using indirect copy,
- lo & vism should (AFAIU) copy directly.

As you may see this leaves us with the big question: How much 
abstraction is enough vs. when do we go overboard?
Wenjia Zhang Feb. 6, 2023, 10:57 a.m. UTC | #5
On 29.01.23 12:48, Dust Li wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 07:17:44PM +0100, Jan Karcher wrote:
>> Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
>> device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM available
>> for uses outside of SMC-D.
>> In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
>> ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation between
>> the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
>> initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
>> This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
>> registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct ism_client.
>> Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
>> dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
>> calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
>> Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a number
>> of internal helper functions for that matter.
>> Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to the
>> SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
>> hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related calls.
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Great work ! This makes the SMC & ISM code much more clear !
> 
> I like this patchset, just some questions on this refactor.
> I still see there are some SMC related code in
> 'drivers/s390/net/ism_drv.c', mainly to implement smcd_ops.
> 
> As ISM is the lower layer of SMC, I think remove the dependency
> on SMC would be better ? Do you have any plan to do that ?
> 
Since SMC is the main user of the ISM currently, we still want to keep 
the dependency for now, Sure, I agree with you, in the future we should 
remove the dependency.

> One more thing:
> I didn't find any call for smcd_ops->set_vlan_required/reset_vlan_required,
> looks it's not needed, so why not remove it, am I missed something ?
> 
You didn't miss anything, that’s just for the usage in case

> Thanks!
> 
>>
>> v1 -> v2:
>>   Removed s390x dependency which broke config for other archs.
>>
>> Stefan Raspl (8):
>>   net/smc: Terminate connections prior to device removal
>>   net/ism: Add missing calls to disable bus-mastering
>>   s390/ism: Introduce struct ism_dmb
>>   net/ism: Add new API for client registration
>>   net/smc: Register SMC-D as ISM client
>>   net/smc: Separate SMC-D and ISM APIs
>>   s390/ism: Consolidate SMC-D-related code
>>   net/smc: De-tangle ism and smc device initialization
>>
>> drivers/s390/net/ism.h     |  19 +-
>> drivers/s390/net/ism_drv.c | 376 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
>> include/linux/ism.h        |  98 ++++++++++
>> include/net/smc.h          |  24 +--
>> net/smc/af_smc.c           |   9 +-
>> net/smc/smc_clc.c          |  11 +-
>> net/smc/smc_core.c         |  13 +-
>> net/smc/smc_diag.c         |   3 +-
>> net/smc/smc_ism.c          | 180 ++++++++++--------
>> net/smc/smc_ism.h          |   3 +-
>> net/smc/smc_pnet.c         |  40 ++--
>> 11 files changed, 560 insertions(+), 216 deletions(-)
>> create mode 100644 include/linux/ism.h
>>
>> -- 
>> 2.25.1
Wen Gu Feb. 8, 2023, 11:59 a.m. UTC | #6
On 2023/2/6 18:47, Wenjia Zhang wrote:
> 
> 
> On 02.02.23 14:53, Wen Gu wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 2023/1/24 02:17, Jan Karcher wrote:
>>
>>> Previously, there was no clean separation between SMC-D code and the ISM
>>> device driver.This patch series addresses the situation to make ISM available
>>> for uses outside of SMC-D.
>>> In detail: SMC-D offers an interface via struct smcd_ops, which only the
>>> ISM module implements so far. However, there is no real separation between
>>> the smcd and ism modules, which starts right with the ISM device
>>> initialization, which calls directly into the SMC-D code.
>>> This patch series introduces a new API in the ISM module, which allows
>>> registration of arbitrary clients via include/linux/ism.h: struct ism_client.
>>> Furthermore, it introduces a "pure" struct ism_dev (i.e. getting rid of
>>> dependencies on SMC-D in the device structure), and adds a number of API
>>> calls for data transfers via ISM (see ism_register_dmb() & friends).
>>> Still, the ISM module implements the SMC-D API, and therefore has a number
>>> of internal helper functions for that matter.
>>> Note that the ISM API is consciously kept thin for now (as compared to the
>>> SMC-D API calls), as a number of API calls are only used with SMC-D and
>>> hardly have any meaningful usage beyond SMC-D, e.g. the VLAN-related calls.
>>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Thanks for the great work!
>>
>> We are tring to adapt loopback and virtio-ism device into SMC-D based on the new
>> interface and want to confirm something. (cc: Alexandra Winter, Jan Karcher, Wenjia Zhang)
>>
>>  From my understanding, this patch set is from the perspective of ISM device driver
>> and aims to make ISM device not only used by SMC-D, which is great!
>>
>> But from the perspective of SMC, SMC-D protocol now binds with the helper in
>> smc_ism.c (smc_ism_* helper) and some part of smc_ism.c and smcd_ops seems to be
>> dedicated to only serve ISM device.
>>
>> For example,
>>
>> - The input param of smcd_register_dev() and smcd_unregister_dev() is ism_dev,
>>    instead of abstract smcd_dev like before.
>>
>> - the smcd->ops->register_dmb has param of ism_client, exposing specific underlay.
>>
>> So I want to confirm that, which of the following is our future direction of the
>> SMC-D device expansion?
>>
>> (1) All extended devices (eg. virtio-ism and loopback) are ISM devices and SMC-D
>>      only supports ISM type device.
>>
>>      SMC-D protocol -> smc_ism_* helper in smc_ism.c -> only ISM device.
>>
>>      Future extended device must under the definition of ism_dev, in order to share
>>      the ism-specific helper in smc_ism.c (such as smcd_register_dev(), smcd_ops->register_dmbs..).
>>
>>      With this design intention, futher extended SMC-D used device may be like:
>>
>>                      +---------------------+
>>                      |    SMC-D protocol   |
>>                      +---------------------+
>>                        | current helper in|
>>                        |    smc_ism.c     |
>>           +--------------------------------------------+
>>           |              Broad ISM device              |
>>           |             defined as ism_dev             |
>>           |  +----------+ +------------+ +----------+  |
>>           |  | s390 ISM | | virtio-ism | | loopback |  |
>>           |  +----------+ +------------+ +----------+  |
>>           +--------------------------------------------+
>>
>> (2) All extended devices (eg. virtio-ism and loopback) are abstracted as smcd_dev and
>>      SMC-D protocol use the abstracted capabilities.
>>
>>      SMC-D does not care about the type of the underlying device, and only focus on the
>>      capabilities provided by smcd_dev.
>>
>>      SMC-D protocol use a kind of general helpers, which only invoking smcd_dev->ops,
>>      without underlay device exposed. Just like most of helpers now in smc_ism.c, such as
>>      smc_ism_cantalk()/smc_ism_get_chid()/smc_ism_set_conn()..
>>
>>      With this design intention, futher extended SMC-D used device should be like:
>>
>>                       +----------------------+
>>                       |     SMC-D protocol   |
>>                       +----------------------+
>>                        |   general helper   |
>>                        |invoke smcd_dev->ops|
>>                        | hiding underlay dev|
>>             +-----------+  +------------+  +----------+
>>             | smc_ism.c |  | smc_vism.c |  | smc_lo.c |
>>             |           |  |            |  |          |
>>             | s390 ISM  |  | virtio-ism |  | loopback |
>>             |  device   |  |   device   |  |  device  |
>>             +-----------+  +------------+  +----------+
>>
>> IMHO, (2) is more clean and beneficial to the flexible expansion of SMC-D devices, with no
>> underlay devices exposed.
>>
>> So (2) should be our target. Do you agree? :)
>>
>> If so, maybe we should make some part of helpers or ops of SMC-D device (such as smcd_register/unregister_dev
>> and smcd->ops->register_dmb) more generic?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Wen Gu
> 
> Currently we tend a bit more towards the first solution. The reasoning behind it is the following:
> If we create a full blown interface, we would have an own file for every new device which on the one hand is clean, but 
> on the other hand raises the risk of duplicated code.
> So if we go down that path (2) we have to take care that we avoid duplicated code.
> 
> In the context of the currently discussed changes this could mean:
> - ISM is the only device right now using indirect copy,
> - lo & vism should (AFAIU) copy directly.
> 
> As you may see this leaves us with the big question: How much abstraction is enough vs. when do we go overboard?

I see.

I can understand the difficulty in designing proper abstract and generic helpers, especially when the user's
(lo and vism) implementation code has not been finalized.

I think we can keep optimizing this based on the update of smcd-lo and smcd-vism patches (which will be sent
out as soon as possible).

Thanks,
Wen