[alsa-devel] [RFC PATCH 1/2] regmap: add configurable lock class key for lockdep

[Arjan van de Ven]

On 6/25/2015 2:35 AM, Nicolas Boichat wrote:
> From: Antti Palosaari <crope at iki.fi>
>
> Lockdep validator complains about recursive locking and deadlock
> when two different regmap instances are called in a nested order.
> That happens anytime a regmap read/write call needs to access
> another regmap.
>
> This is because, for performance reason, lockdep groups all locks
> initialized by the same mutex_init() in the same lock class.
> Therefore all regmap mutexes are in the same lock class, leading
> to lockdep "nested locking" warnings if a regmap accesses another
> regmap. However, depending on the specifics of the driver, this
> can be perfectly safe (e.g. if there is a clear hierarchy between
> a "master" regmap that uses another "slave" regmap). In these
> cases, the warning is false and should be silenced.
>
> As a solution, add configuration option to pass custom lock class
> key for lockdep validator, to be used in the regmap that needs to
> access another regmap. This removes the need for uglier workarounds
> in drivers, just to silence this warning (e.g. add custom mutex
> lock/unlock functions).

wouldn't it be better to use the mutex_lock_nested() and co to explicitly express your hierarchy?