[alsa-devel] [PATCH] ASoC: cs42l73: Don't mix SNDRV_PCM_RATE_KNOT with specific rates

[Lars-Peter Clausen]

On 02/05/2014 03:35 PM, Austin, Brian wrote:
>
> On Feb 4, 2014, at 3:01 PM, Lars-Peter Clausen <lars at metafoo.de> wrote:
>
>> On 02/04/2014 09:30 PM, Austin, Brian wrote:
>>>> On Feb 4, 2014, at 13:55, "Lars-Peter Clausen" <lars at metafoo.de> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> SNDRV_PCM_RATE_KNOT means that the device can support rates that can not be
>>>> expressed using the rate bits. The driver will provide a list of those rates
>>>> specified through constraints. Any rate bits that are set in the rates mask will
>>>> be ignored. So setting other rate bits besides SNDRV_PCM_RATE_KNOT wont have any
>>>> effect, but might be confusing to the casual reader, so remove them.
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Lars-Peter Clausen <lars at metafoo.de>
>>>
>>> I don't see how this makes it any less confusing to the casual reader. I think the
>>> define works well in the descriptive sense. maybe a comment about what KNOT really
>>> means instead of just using a non-rate define?
>>
>> The thing is SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000_48000 does something if SNDRV_PCM_RATE_{KNOT,CONTINUOUS} is not set, but does nothing at all if either of them is set.
>
>
>> While when reading the code it will, in my opinion, give the impression that the rates that are
>> specified by SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000_48000 are definitely among the supported rates and somewhere else additional rates are specified as well. But this is not the case all the supported rates need to be specified somewhere else, e.g. by a rate list constraint. I find this confusing when casually reading the code. And this is the only driver that does it.
> But that is the case is it not? The device supports the rates within 8000 and 48000. There are additional rates that need to be specified. If anything I see the issue with having to specify ALL the rates supported in the constraint list. The KNOT is an addition to the .rates member. The KNOT list is added to the .rates member in the dai driver.
>

Yep, but that's not how it works and why I think it is confusing to keep 
things the SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000_48000 in there, as it might cause people to 
think that this is how it works.

When a substream is opened the constraints are set to be as permissive as 
possible. E.g. for rates this means any rate is considered valid. Going from 
there the constraints code allows you to further restrict things. This is 
done by attaching rules to the constraint. The result is the intersection of 
all the rules attached to the constraint. E.g. if you have one rule that 
says the rate must be between 16000 and 64000 and another rule that says the 
rate must be one of 8000, 16000, 32000 or 48000, the list of valid rates is 
16000, 32000, 48000. Similar if you have one rule that says the rate must be 
one of 8000, 16000 or 32000 and  another rule that says that the rate must 
be one of 16000, 22500 or 24000, the list of valid rates is 16000. It is 
only possible to further restrict the set of supported rates by one rule, it 
is not possible to make it more permissive.

When you set the rates field (and omit the KNOT or CONTINUOUS flags) the 
ALSA core will install one rule that will limit the supported rates to those 
set in the rates field. When you use snd_pcm_hw_constraint_list() this will 
add a second rule that will only allow rates in the array you specified for 
that constraint. So the result will be that only those rates that are 
allowed by both rules.

That's why you need to specify all supported rates in the constraint. Note 
that ALSA core will do nothing with the rates field if the KNOT or 
CONTINUOUS flag is set. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to specify rates 
outside of what can be specified using the standard rates.

>>
>> Also there was a bug, which is now fixed, where additionally specifying rates in the rate bitmap when KNOT or CONTINUOUS was set did something, but did the wrong thing and caused additional rates which where outside of the range of the rates set in the bitmap to be ignored. Better avoid that by not mixing KNOT or CONTINUOUS with other rate bits.
>>
> Shouldn’t the rates outside of the range of the rates bitmap be ignored?  Maybe this is a wrong interpretation of how this is supposed to work, but I thought you specify the rates that are available and add a constraint list to add rates that are not defined in ALSA. Not that the KNOT value would mean that you also have rates outside of the values you specified.
>

If you ignore rates outside the range of what is specified in the rates 
field you wouldn't be able to use rates that are lower or higher than what 
is possible to specify with the default rates.

> example: SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000_48000 | | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_KNOT means that I support all rates defined between 8 and 48 PLUS addition rates INSIDE of 8 and 48.  Is this correct?
>

It means you support some rates that need to be further specified somewhere 
else. If SNDRV_PCM_RATE_KNOT (or SNDRV_PCM_RATE_CONTINUOUS) is set in the 
rates field all other bits that might be set are fully ignored (And that's 
not a bug, it's a feature).

> Sorry Lars, I just want to have a clear understanding of what the bug is and how this fixes it.
>
> Thanks,
> Brian
>

There is no bug (anymore). I already fixed things up in the ALSA and ASoC 
core so that if KNOT or CONTINUOUS is set all the other bits are masked out 
from the rates field. Before that was done there was a bug that for some 
drivers rates were ignored that should have been valid. This patch is a 
cleanup that removes a code fragment that on the first look suggests that it 
does something while it actually does nothing. And I think you proved my 
point that this can be confusing and misleading :)

- Lars