Subject: [PATCH 00/20] PCI: Convert all dynamic sysfs attributes to static

From: Krzysztof Wilczyński <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:50:20 +0000

Hello,

This series converts every dynamically allocated PCI sysfs attribute to
a static const definition.  After the full series, pci_sysfs_init() and
sysfs_initialized are gone, and every sysfs file is created by the
driver model at device_add() time.

Currently, the PCI resource files (resourceN, resourceN_wc) and the
legacy bus files (legacy_io, legacy_mem) are created dynamically
from two unsynchronised paths:

Path A: late_initcall

  pci_sysfs_init                        (late_initcall)
    sysfs_initialized = 1
    for_each_pci_dev
      pci_create_sysfs_dev_files
        sysfs_create_bin_file           (resourceN, resourceN_wc)
    pci_find_next_bus
      pci_create_legacy_files
        sysfs_create_bin_file           (legacy_io, legacy_mem)

Path B: device registration / hotplug

  pci_bus_add_devices
    pci_bus_add_device
      pci_create_sysfs_dev_files
        if (!sysfs_initialized) return  <- only guard
        sysfs_create_bin_file           (resourceN, resourceN_wc)

On most ACPI systems this does not race because PCI enumeration
completes at subsys_initcall time, before pci_sysfs_init() runs:

  subsys_initcall (level 4):
    acpi_pci_root_add
      pci_bus_add_device
        pci_create_sysfs_dev_files
          if (!sysfs_initialized)          <- not yet set
            return -EACCES

  late_initcall (level 7):
    pci_sysfs_init
      sysfs_initialized = 1
      for_each_pci_dev
        pci_create_sysfs_dev_files         <- creates the files, no race

On Devicetree platforms the host controller is a platform driver that
probes via the driver model, often on a workqueue, and overlaps with the
late_initcall:

  CPU 0 (late_initcall)                CPU 1 (driver probe)
  ---------------------------          ----------------------------
  pci_sysfs_init()
    sysfs_initialized = 1
    for_each_pci_dev(pdev)             pci_bus_add_device(pdev)
      pci_create_sysfs_dev_files()       pci_create_sysfs_dev_files()
        sysfs_create_bin_file()            sysfs_create_bin_file()
                                             -> "duplicate filename"

The same happens on ACPI when probing is asynchronous (hv_pci on
Azure, RISC-V with ACPI).

The duplicate causes sysfs_create_bin_file() to fail with -EEXIST.
pci_create_resource_files() then calls pci_remove_resource_files() in
its error unwind, tearing down files the other thread created and
still references through pdev->res_attr[].  This has caused kernel
panics on i.MX6 and boot failures on other platforms.

Several different fixes have been proposed over the years: reordering
the sysfs_initialized assignment, adding locks, checking
pci_dev_is_added(), setting pdev->res_attr[] to NULL after kfree
(which only prevents a double-free on the teardown path, not the
error unwind removing the other thread's files).  None would address the
root cause.

This has been reported a few times:

  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20230105174736.GA1154719@bhelgaas/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20200716110423.xtfyb3n6tn5ixedh@pali/
  - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/
  - https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=215515
  - https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216888

With static attributes the driver model creates sysfs entries once per
device at device_add() time, under the device lock, eliminating the
late_initcall iteration and the race along with it.

	Krzysztof

---
Changes in v3:
  https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/

  - Updated for modern kernel releases and expanded scope.  The
    v2 only covered the generic resource files.  This version
    also converts Alpha's sparse/dense resource files and the
    legacy bus attributes, removing pci_sysfs_init() entirely.
  - Split the single macro definition into three distinct ones
    (per I/O, UC, and WC), to make sure that each carries only
    the callbacks its resource type needs.
  - Updated to use the new .bin_size callback, as the attributes
    are const, to replace using a->size directly, which was not
    ideal.  This required changes to pci_llseek_resource(), to
    ensure that it would work for device and bus-level attributes.
  - Updated the __resource_resize_store() to include CAP_SYS_ADMIN
    capabilities check.
  - Added the security_locked_down() check to Alpha's
    pci_mmap_resource(), to align with other architectures.

Changes in v2:
  https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/[email-masked]/

  - Refactored code so that the macros, helpers and internal
    functions can be used to correctly leverage the read(),
    write() and mmap() callbacks rather than to use the
    .is_bin_visible() callback to set up sysfs objects
    internals as this is not supported.
  - Refactored some if-statements to check for a resource
    flag first, and then call either arch_can_pci_mmap_io()
    or arch_can_pci_mmap_wc(), plus store result of testing
    for IORESOURCE_MEM and IORESOURCE_PREFETCH flags into
    a boolean variable, as per Bjorn Helgaas' suggestion.
  - Renamed pci_read_resource_io() and pci_write_resource_io()
    callbacks so that these are not specifically tied to I/O
    BARs read() and write() operations also as per Bjorn
    Helgaas' suggestion.
  - Updated style for code handling bitwise operations to
    match the style that is preferred as per Bjorn Helgaas'
    suggestion.
  - Updated commit messages adding more details about the
    implementation as requested by Bjorn Helgaas.

Krzysztof Wilczyński (20):
  PCI/sysfs: Use PCI resource accessor macros
  PCI/sysfs: Only allow supported resource types in I/O and MMIO helpers
  PCI/sysfs: Use BAR length in pci_llseek_resource() when attr->size is
    zero
  PCI/sysfs: Add CAP_SYS_ADMIN check to __resource_resize_store()
  PCI/sysfs: Add static PCI resource attribute macros
  PCI/sysfs: Convert PCI resource files to static attributes
  PCI/sysfs: Convert __resource_resize_store() to use static attributes
  PCI/sysfs: Add stubs for pci_{create,remove}_sysfs_dev_files()
  PCI/sysfs: Limit pci_sysfs_init() late_initcall compile scope
  alpha/PCI: Add security_locked_down() check to pci_mmap_resource()
  alpha/PCI: Use BAR index in sysfs attr->private instead of resource
    pointer
  alpha/PCI: Use PCI resource accessor macros
  alpha/PCI: Clean up __pci_mmap_fits()
  alpha/PCI: Add static PCI resource attribute macros
  alpha/PCI: Convert resource files to static attributes
  PCI/sysfs: Remove pci_{create,remove}_sysfs_dev_files()
  alpha/PCI: Compute legacy size in pci_mmap_legacy_page_range()
  PCI/sysfs: Add __weak pci_legacy_has_sparse() helper
  PCI/sysfs: Convert legacy I/O and memory attributes to static
    definitions
  PCI/sysfs: Remove pci_create_legacy_files() and pci_sysfs_init()

 arch/alpha/include/asm/pci.h   |  13 +-
 arch/alpha/kernel/pci-sysfs.c  | 369 +++++++++++----------
 arch/powerpc/include/asm/pci.h |   2 -
 drivers/pci/bus.c              |   1 -
 drivers/pci/pci-sysfs.c        | 575 +++++++++++++++++++--------------
 drivers/pci/pci.h              |  16 +-
 drivers/pci/probe.c            |   6 -
 drivers/pci/remove.c           |   3 -
 include/linux/pci.h            |   9 -
 9 files changed, 545 insertions(+), 449 deletions(-)

--
2.53.0