5 files changed, 229 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/CodingStyle b/Documentation/CodingStyle
index 22e5f9036f3c..eb7db3c19227 100644
--- a/Documentation/CodingStyle
+++ b/Documentation/CodingStyle
@@ -410,7 +410,26 @@ Kernel messages do not have to be terminated with a period.
 Printing numbers in parentheses (%d) adds no value and should be avoided.
 
 
-                Chapter 13: References
+                Chapter 13: Allocating memory
+
+The kernel provides the following general purpose memory allocators:
+kmalloc(), kzalloc(), kcalloc(), and vmalloc().  Please refer to the API
+documentation for further information about them.
+
+The preferred form for passing a size of a struct is the following:
+
+        p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), ...);
+
+The alternative form where struct name is spelled out hurts readability and
+introduces an opportunity for a bug when the pointer variable type is changed
+but the corresponding sizeof that is passed to a memory allocator is not.
+
+Casting the return value which is a void pointer is redundant. The conversion
+from void pointer to any other pointer type is guaranteed by the C programming
+language.
+
+
+                Chapter 14: References
 
 The C Programming Language, Second Edition
 by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking.tmpl b/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking.tmpl
index 6367bba32d22..582032eea872 100644
--- a/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking.tmpl
+++ b/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking.tmpl
@@ -1105,7 +1105,7 @@ static struct block_device_operations opt_fops = {
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
-      Function names as strings (__func__).
+      Function names as strings (__FUNCTION__).
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
diff --git a/Documentation/dell_rbu.txt b/Documentation/dell_rbu.txt
index bcfa5c35036b..95d7f62e4dbc 100644
--- a/Documentation/dell_rbu.txt
+++ b/Documentation/dell_rbu.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ the BIOS on Dell servers (starting from servers sold since 1999), desktops
 and notebooks (starting from those sold in 2005).
 Please go to  http://support.dell.com register and you can find info on
 OpenManage and Dell Update packages (DUP).
+Libsmbios can also be used to update BIOS on Dell systems go to
+http://linux.dell.com/libsmbios/ for details.
 
 Dell_RBU driver supports BIOS update using the monilothic image and packetized
 image methods. In case of moniolithic the driver allocates a contiguous chunk
@@ -22,8 +24,8 @@ would place each packet in contiguous physical memory. The driver also
 maintains a link list of packets for reading them back.
 If the dell_rbu driver is unloaded all the allocated memory is freed.
 
-The rbu driver needs to have an application which will inform the BIOS to
-enable the update in the next system reboot.
+The rbu driver needs to have an application (as mentioned above)which will
+inform the BIOS to enable the update in the next system reboot.
 
 The user should not unload the rbu driver after downloading the BIOS image
 or updating.
@@ -42,9 +44,11 @@ In case of packet mechanism the single memory can be broken in smaller chuks
 of contiguous memory and the BIOS image is scattered in these packets.
 
 By default the driver uses monolithic memory for the update type. This can be
-changed to contiguous during the driver load time by specifying the load
+changed to packets during the driver load time by specifying the load
 parameter image_type=packet.  This can also be changed later as below
 echo packet > /sys/devices/platform/dell_rbu/image_type
+Also echoing either mono ,packet or init in to image_type will free up the
+memory allocated by the driver.
 
 Do the steps below to download the BIOS image.
 1) echo 1 > /sys/class/firmware/dell_rbu/loading
@@ -53,9 +57,13 @@ Do the steps below to download the BIOS image.
 
 The /sys/class/firmware/dell_rbu/ entries will remain till the following is
 done.
-echo -1 > /sys/class/firmware/dell_rbu/loading
-
+echo -1 > /sys/class/firmware/dell_rbu/loading.
 Until this step is completed the drivr cannot be unloaded.
+If an user by accident executes steps 1 and 3 above without executing step 2;
+it will make the /sys/class/firmware/dell_rbu/ entries to disappear.
+The entries can be recreated by doing the following
+echo init > /sys/devices/platform/dell_rbu/image_type
+NOTE: echoing init in image_type does not change it original value.
 
 Also the driver provides /sys/devices/platform/dell_rbu/data readonly file to
 read back the image downloaded. This is useful in case of packet update
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/relayfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/relayfs.txt
index d24e1b0d4f39..d803abed29f0 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/relayfs.txt
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/relayfs.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ retrieve the data as it becomes available.
 
 The format of the data logged into the channel buffers is completely
 up to the relayfs client; relayfs does however provide hooks which
-allow clients to impose some stucture on the buffer data.  Nor does
+allow clients to impose some structure on the buffer data.  Nor does
 relayfs implement any form of data filtering - this also is left to
 the client.  The purpose is to keep relayfs as simple as possible.
 
diff --git a/Documentation/ia64/mca.txt b/Documentation/ia64/mca.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a71cc6a67ef7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/ia64/mca.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+An ad-hoc collection of notes on IA64 MCA and INIT processing.  Feel
+free to update it with notes about any area that is not clear.
+
+---
+
+MCA/INIT are completely asynchronous.  They can occur at any time, when
+the OS is in any state.  Including when one of the cpus is already
+holding a spinlock.  Trying to get any lock from MCA/INIT state is
+asking for deadlock.  Also the state of structures that are protected
+by locks is indeterminate, including linked lists.
+
+---
+
+The complicated ia64 MCA process.  All of this is mandated by Intel's
+specification for ia64 SAL, error recovery and and unwind, it is not as
+if we have a choice here.
+
+* MCA occurs on one cpu, usually due to a double bit memory error.
+  This is the monarch cpu.
+
+* SAL sends an MCA rendezvous interrupt (which is a normal interrupt)
+  to all the other cpus, the slaves.
+
+* Slave cpus that receive the MCA interrupt call down into SAL, they
+  end up spinning disabled while the MCA is being serviced.
+
+* If any slave cpu was already spinning disabled when the MCA occurred
+  then it cannot service the MCA interrupt.  SAL waits ~20 seconds then
+  sends an unmaskable INIT event to the slave cpus that have not
+  already rendezvoused.
+
+* Because MCA/INIT can be delivered at any time, including when the cpu
+  is down in PAL in physical mode, the registers at the time of the
+  event are _completely_ undefined.  In particular the MCA/INIT
+  handlers cannot rely on the thread pointer, PAL physical mode can
+  (and does) modify TP.  It is allowed to do that as long as it resets
+  TP on return.  However MCA/INIT events expose us to these PAL
+  internal TP changes.  Hence curr_task().
+
+* If an MCA/INIT event occurs while the kernel was running (not user
+  space) and the kernel has called PAL then the MCA/INIT handler cannot
+  assume that the kernel stack is in a fit state to be used.  Mainly
+  because PAL may or may not maintain the stack pointer internally.
+  Because the MCA/INIT handlers cannot trust the kernel stack, they
+  have to use their own, per-cpu stacks.  The MCA/INIT stacks are
+  preformatted with just enough task state to let the relevant handlers
+  do their job.
+
+* Unlike most other architectures, the ia64 struct task is embedded in
+  the kernel stack[1].  So switching to a new kernel stack means that
+  we switch to a new task as well.  Because various bits of the kernel
+  assume that current points into the struct task, switching to a new
+  stack also means a new value for current.
+
+* Once all slaves have rendezvoused and are spinning disabled, the
+  monarch is entered.  The monarch now tries to diagnose the problem
+  and decide if it can recover or not.
+
+* Part of the monarch's job is to look at the state of all the other
+  tasks.  The only way to do that on ia64 is to call the unwinder,
+  as mandated by Intel.
+
+* The starting point for the unwind depends on whether a task is
+  running or not.  That is, whether it is on a cpu or is blocked.  The
+  monarch has to determine whether or not a task is on a cpu before it
+  knows how to start unwinding it.  The tasks that received an MCA or
+  INIT event are no longer running, they have been converted to blocked
+  tasks.  But (and its a big but), the cpus that received the MCA
+  rendezvous interrupt are still running on their normal kernel stacks!
+
+* To distinguish between these two cases, the monarch must know which
+  tasks are on a cpu and which are not.  Hence each slave cpu that
+  switches to an MCA/INIT stack, registers its new stack using
+  set_curr_task(), so the monarch can tell that the _original_ task is
+  no longer running on that cpu.  That gives us a decent chance of
+  getting a valid backtrace of the _original_ task.
+
+* MCA/INIT can be nested, to a depth of 2 on any cpu.  In the case of a
+  nested error, we want diagnostics on the MCA/INIT handler that
+  failed, not on the task that was originally running.  Again this
+  requires set_curr_task() so the MCA/INIT handlers can register their
+  own stack as running on that cpu.  Then a recursive error gets a
+  trace of the failing handler's "task".
+
+[1] My (Keith Owens) original design called for ia64 to separate its
+    struct task and the kernel stacks.  Then the MCA/INIT data would be
+    chained stacks like i386 interrupt stacks.  But that required
+    radical surgery on the rest of ia64, plus extra hard wired TLB
+    entries with its associated performance degradation.  David
+    Mosberger vetoed that approach.  Which meant that separate kernel
+    stacks meant separate "tasks" for the MCA/INIT handlers.
+
+---
+
+INIT is less complicated than MCA.  Pressing the nmi button or using
+the equivalent command on the management console sends INIT to all
+cpus.  SAL picks one one of the cpus as the monarch and the rest are
+slaves.  All the OS INIT handlers are entered at approximately the same
+time.  The OS monarch prints the state of all tasks and returns, after
+which the slaves return and the system resumes.
+
+At least that is what is supposed to happen.  Alas there are broken
+versions of SAL out there.  Some drive all the cpus as monarchs.  Some
+drive them all as slaves.  Some drive one cpu as monarch, wait for that
+cpu to return from the OS then drive the rest as slaves.  Some versions
+of SAL cannot even cope with returning from the OS, they spin inside
+SAL on resume.  The OS INIT code has workarounds for some of these
+broken SAL symptoms, but some simply cannot be fixed from the OS side.
+
+---
+
+The scheduler hooks used by ia64 (curr_task, set_curr_task) are layer
+violations.  Unfortunately MCA/INIT start off as massive layer
+violations (can occur at _any_ time) and they build from there.
+
+At least ia64 makes an attempt at recovering from hardware errors, but
+it is a difficult problem because of the asynchronous nature of these
+errors.  When processing an unmaskable interrupt we sometimes need
+special code to cope with our inability to take any locks.
+
+---
+
+How is ia64 MCA/INIT different from x86 NMI?
+
+* x86 NMI typically gets delivered to one cpu.  MCA/INIT gets sent to
+  all cpus.
+
+* x86 NMI cannot be nested.  MCA/INIT can be nested, to a depth of 2
+  per cpu.
+
+* x86 has a separate struct task which points to one of multiple kernel
+  stacks.  ia64 has the struct task embedded in the single kernel
+  stack, so switching stack means switching task.
+
+* x86 does not call the BIOS so the NMI handler does not have to worry
+  about any registers having changed.  MCA/INIT can occur while the cpu
+  is in PAL in physical mode, with undefined registers and an undefined
+  kernel stack.
+
+* i386 backtrace is not very sensitive to whether a process is running
+  or not.  ia64 unwind is very, very sensitive to whether a process is
+  running or not.
+
+---
+
+What happens when MCA/INIT is delivered what a cpu is running user
+space code?
+
+The user mode registers are stored in the RSE area of the MCA/INIT on
+entry to the OS and are restored from there on return to SAL, so user
+mode registers are preserved across a recoverable MCA/INIT.  Since the
+OS has no idea what unwind data is available for the user space stack,
+MCA/INIT never tries to backtrace user space.  Which means that the OS
+does not bother making the user space process look like a blocked task,
+i.e. the OS does not copy pt_regs and switch_stack to the user space
+stack.  Also the OS has no idea how big the user space RSE and memory
+stacks are, which makes it too risky to copy the saved state to a user
+mode stack.
+
+---
+
+How do we get a backtrace on the tasks that were running when MCA/INIT
+was delivered?
+
+mca.c:::ia64_mca_modify_original_stack().  That identifies and
+verifies the original kernel stack, copies the dirty registers from
+the MCA/INIT stack's RSE to the original stack's RSE, copies the
+skeleton struct pt_regs and switch_stack to the original stack, fills
+in the skeleton structures from the PAL minstate area and updates the
+original stack's thread.ksp.  That makes the original stack look
+exactly like any other blocked task, i.e. it now appears to be
+sleeping.  To get a backtrace, just start with thread.ksp for the
+original task and unwind like any other sleeping task.
+
+---
+
+How do we identify the tasks that were running when MCA/INIT was
+delivered?
+
+If the previous task has been verified and converted to a blocked
+state, then sos->prev_task on the MCA/INIT stack is updated to point to
+the previous task.  You can look at that field in dumps or debuggers.
+To help distinguish between the handler and the original tasks,
+handlers have _TIF_MCA_INIT set in thread_info.flags.
+
+The sos data is always in the MCA/INIT handler stack, at offset
+MCA_SOS_OFFSET.  You can get that value from mca_asm.h or calculate it
+as KERNEL_STACK_SIZE - sizeof(struct pt_regs) - sizeof(struct
+ia64_sal_os_state), with 16 byte alignment for all structures.
+
+Also the comm field of the MCA/INIT task is modified to include the pid
+of the original task, for humans to use.  For example, a comm field of
+'MCA 12159' means that pid 12159 was running when the MCA was
+delivered.