Subject: Re: [RESEND PATCH v7 4/5] ndctl/papr_scm, uapi: Add support for PAPR nvdimm specific methods

From: Michael Ellerman <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 May 2020 16:48:40 +1000

Ira Weiny <[email-masked]> writes:
> On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 12:30:57AM +0530, Vaibhav Jain wrote:
>> Introduce support for Papr nvDimm Specific Methods (PDSM) in papr_scm
>> modules and add the command family to the white list of NVDIMM command
>> sets. Also advertise support for ND_CMD_CALL for the dimm
>> command mask and implement necessary scaffolding in the module to
>> handle ND_CMD_CALL ioctl and PDSM requests that we receive.
...
>> + *
>> + * Payload Version:
>> + *
>> + * A 'payload_version' field is present in PDSM header that indicates a specific
>> + * version of the structure present in PDSM Payload for a given PDSM command.
>> + * This provides backward compatibility in case the PDSM Payload structure
>> + * evolves and different structures are supported by 'papr_scm' and 'libndctl'.
>> + *
>> + * When sending a PDSM Payload to 'papr_scm', 'libndctl' should send the version
>> + * of the payload struct it supports via 'payload_version' field. The 'papr_scm'
>> + * module when servicing the PDSM envelope checks the 'payload_version' and then
>> + * uses 'payload struct version' == MIN('payload_version field',
>> + * 'max payload-struct-version supported by papr_scm') to service the PDSM.
>> + * After servicing the PDSM, 'papr_scm' put the negotiated version of payload
>> + * struct in returned 'payload_version' field.
>
> FWIW many people believe using a size rather than version is more sustainable.
> It is expected that new payload structures are larger (more features) than the
> previous payload structure.
>
> I can't find references at the moment through.

I think clone_args is a good modern example:

  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/include/uapi/linux/sched.h#n88

cheers