Proposed NMI handling interface...

Greetings.

I wanted to propose an NMI handling interface. I have attached the header file and patches to 'arch/mips/kernel/traps.c'. The user need only specify the offset address for the NMI vector code and then they can also specify their own desired NMI function. Comments?

-Steve

/*
* linux/include/asm-mips/nmi.h
*
* NMI interface definitions
*
* Copyright (C) 2003 TimeSys Corp.
* S. James Hill ([email protected])
* ([email protected])
*

 *  This program is free software; you can redistribute  it and/or modify it
 *  under  the terms of  the GNU General  Public License as published by the
 *  Free Software Foundation;  either version 2 of the  License, or (at your
 *  option) any later version.
 *
 *  THIS  SOFTWARE  IS PROVIDED   ``AS  IS'' AND   ANY  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
 *  WARRANTIES,   INCLUDING, BUT NOT  LIMITED  TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 *  MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN
 *  NO  EVENT  SHALL   THE AUTHOR  BE    LIABLE FOR ANY   DIRECT, INDIRECT,
 *  INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
 *  NOT LIMITED   TO, PROCUREMENT OF  SUBSTITUTE GOODS  OR SERVICES; LOSS OF
 *  USE, DATA,  OR PROFITS; OR  BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
 *  ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN  CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
 *  (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
 *  THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the  GNU General Public License along
 *  with this program; if not, write  to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 *  675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

*/
#ifndef _ASM_NMI_H
#define _ASM_NMI_H

/*
* NMI vector address offset.
*/
extern unsigned long nmi_addr;

/*
* User-defined NMI function.
*/
extern void (*nmi_user_handler)(struct pt_regs *regs);

#endif

@@ -64,6 +66,11 @@
 void (*board_be_init)(void);
 int (*board_be_handler)(struct pt_regs *regs, int is_fixup);
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_NMI
+unsigned long nmi_addr = 0;
+void (*nmi_user_handler)(struct pt_regs *regs);
+#endif
+
 int kstack_depth_to_print = 24;
 
 /*

@@ -841,6 +1095,8 @@
  */
 void nmi_exception_handler(struct pt_regs *regs)
 {
+	if (nmi_user_handler)
+		nmi_user_handler(regs);
 	printk("NMI taken!!!!\n");
 	die("NMI", regs);
 	while(1) ;

@@ -1009,6 +1265,14 @@
 		restore_fp_context = fpu_emulator_restore_context;
 	}
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_NMI
+	{
+		extern char except_vec_nmi;
+
+		memcpy((void *)(KSEG0 + nmi_addr), &except_vec_nmi, 0x8);
+	}
+#endif
+
 	flush_icache_range(KSEG0, KSEG0 + 0x400);
 
 	atomic_inc(&init_mm.mm_count);	/* XXX UP?  */

You should consider something like "#define nmi_user_handler ((void
(*)(struct pt_regs *))0)" for !CONFIG_NMI and possibly also a way to return from the frontend gracefully if the backend says it's OK.

+  Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland   +
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
+        e-mail: [email protected], PGP key available        +

That hook you're proposing isn't even necessary in generic code. NMI on MIPS hardware is a fairly odd type of exception - it goes straight to 0xbfc00000 which usually is a a firmware address - and lots of firmware doesn't even offer an NMI hook. So for those cases where it's possible, you need to do something firmware anyway before jumping to Linux's NMI handler. An additional problem with the NMI design of MIPS is it's using ErrorEPC, just like cache errors so you better pray - or simply design systems only to rely on NMI for debugging and catastrophic failures.

Ralf

On Lasat boards NMI is used to reboot into Service Mode. There's no hook to override this behaviour.

// Thomas

There could be...

/Brian