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Documentation: add initial documenation for user queues
Add an initial documentation page for user mode queues. Reviewed-by: Rodrigo Siqueira <siqueira@igalia.com> Signed-off-by: Alex Deucher <alexander.deucher@amd.com>
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Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/index.rst

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userq
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Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/userq.rst

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==================
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User Mode Queues
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==================
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Introduction
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============
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Similar to the KFD, GPU engine queues move into userspace. The idea is to let
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user processes manage their submissions to the GPU engines directly, bypassing
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IOCTL calls to the driver to submit work. This reduces overhead and also allows
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the GPU to submit work to itself. Applications can set up work graphs of jobs
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across multiple GPU engines without needing trips through the CPU.
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UMDs directly interface with firmware via per application shared memory areas.
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The main vehicle for this is queue. A queue is a ring buffer with a read
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pointer (rptr) and a write pointer (wptr). The UMD writes IP specific packets
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into the queue and the firmware processes those packets, kicking off work on the
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GPU engines. The CPU in the application (or another queue or device) updates
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the wptr to tell the firmware how far into the ring buffer to process packets
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and the rtpr provides feedback to the UMD on how far the firmware has progressed
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in executing those packets. When the wptr and the rptr are equal, the queue is
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idle.
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Theory of Operation
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===================
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The various engines on modern AMD GPUs support multiple queues per engine with a
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scheduling firmware which handles dynamically scheduling user queues on the
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available hardware queue slots. When the number of user queues outnumbers the
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available hardware queue slots, the scheduling firmware dynamically maps and
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unmaps queues based on priority and time quanta. The state of each user queue
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is managed in the kernel driver in an MQD (Memory Queue Descriptor). This is a
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buffer in GPU accessible memory that stores the state of a user queue. The
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scheduling firmware uses the MQD to load the queue state into an HQD (Hardware
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Queue Descriptor) when a user queue is mapped. Each user queue requires a
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number of additional buffers which represent the ring buffer and any metadata
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needed by the engine for runtime operation. On most engines this consists of
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the ring buffer itself, a rptr buffer (where the firmware will shadow the rptr
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to userspace), a wptr buffer (where the application will write the wptr for the
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firmware to fetch it), and a doorbell. A doorbell is a piece of one of the
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device's MMIO BARs which can be mapped to specific user queues. When the
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application writes to the doorbell, it will signal the firmware to take some
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action. Writing to the doorbell wakes the firmware and causes it to fetch the
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wptr and start processing the packets in the queue. Each 4K page of the doorbell
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BAR supports specific offset ranges for specific engines. The doorbell of a
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queue must be mapped into the aperture aligned to the IP used by the queue
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(e.g., GFX, VCN, SDMA, etc.). These doorbell apertures are set up via NBIO
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registers. Doorbells are 32 bit or 64 bit (depending on the engine) chunks of
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the doorbell BAR. A 4K doorbell page provides 512 64-bit doorbells for up to
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512 user queues. A subset of each page is reserved for each IP type supported
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on the device. The user can query the doorbell ranges for each IP via the INFO
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IOCTL. See the IOCTL Interfaces section for more information.
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When an application wants to create a user queue, it allocates the necessary
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buffers for the queue (ring buffer, wptr and rptr, context save areas, etc.).
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These can be separate buffers or all part of one larger buffer. The application
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would map the buffer(s) into its GPUVM and use the GPU virtual addresses of for
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the areas of memory they want to use for the user queue. They would also
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allocate a doorbell page for the doorbells used by the user queues. The
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application would then populate the MQD in the USERQ IOCTL structure with the
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GPU virtual addresses and doorbell index they want to use. The user can also
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specify the attributes for the user queue (priority, whether the queue is secure
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for protected content, etc.). The application would then call the USERQ
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CREATE IOCTL to create the queue using the specified MQD details in the IOCTL.
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The kernel driver then validates the MQD provided by the application and
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translates the MQD into the engine specific MQD format for the IP. The IP
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specific MQD would be allocated and the queue would be added to the run list
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maintained by the scheduling firmware. Once the queue has been created, the
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application can write packets directly into the queue, update the wptr, and
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write to the doorbell offset to kick off work in the user queue.
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When the application is done with the user queue, it would call the USERQ
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FREE IOCTL to destroy it. The kernel driver would preempt the queue and
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remove it from the scheduling firmware's run list. Then the IP specific MQD
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would be freed and the user queue state would be cleaned up.
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Some engines may require the aggregated doorbell too if the engine does not
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support doorbells from unmapped queues. The aggregated doorbell is a special
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page of doorbell space which wakes the scheduler. In cases where the engine may
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be oversubscribed, some queues may not be mapped. If the doorbell is rung when
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the queue is not mapped, the engine firmware may miss the request. Some
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scheduling firmware may work around this by polling wptr shadows when the
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hardware is oversubscribed, other engines may support doorbell updates from
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unmapped queues. In the event that one of these options is not available, the
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kernel driver will map a page of aggregated doorbell space into each GPUVM
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space. The UMD will then update the doorbell and wptr as normal and then write
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to the aggregated doorbell as well.
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Special Packets
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---------------
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In order to support legacy implicit synchronization, as well as mixed user and
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kernel queues, we need a synchronization mechanism that is secure. Because
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kernel queues or memory management tasks depend on kernel fences, we need a way
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for user queues to update memory that the kernel can use for a fence, that can't
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be messed with by a bad actor. To support this, we've added a protected fence
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packet. This packet works by writing a monotonically increasing value to
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a memory location that only privileged clients have write access to. User
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queues only have read access. When this packet is executed, the memory location
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is updated and other queues (kernel or user) can see the results. The
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user application would submit this packet in their command stream. The actual
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packet format varies from IP to IP (GFX/Compute, SDMA, VCN, etc.), but the
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behavior is the same. The packet submission is handled in userspace. The
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kernel driver sets up the privileged memory used for each user queue when it
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sets the queues up when the application creates them.
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Memory Management
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=================
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It is assumed that all buffers mapped into the GPUVM space for the process are
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valid when engines on the GPU are running. The kernel driver will only allow
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user queues to run when all buffers are mapped. If there is a memory event that
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requires buffer migration, the kernel driver will preempt the user queues,
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migrate buffers to where they need to be, update the GPUVM page tables and
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invaldidate the TLB, and then resume the user queues.
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Interaction with Kernel Queues
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==============================
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Depending on the IP and the scheduling firmware, you can enable kernel queues
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and user queues at the same time, however, you are limited by the HQD slots.
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Kernel queues are always mapped so any work that goes into kernel queues will
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take priority. This limits the available HQD slots for user queues.
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Not all IPs will support user queues on all GPUs. As such, UMDs will need to
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support both user queues and kernel queues depending on the IP. For example, a
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GPU may support user queues for GFX, compute, and SDMA, but not for VCN, JPEG,
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and VPE. UMDs need to support both. The kernel driver provides a way to
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determine if user queues and kernel queues are supported on a per IP basis.
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UMDs can query this information via the INFO IOCTL and determine whether to use
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kernel queues or user queues for each IP.
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Queue Resets
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============
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For most engines, queues can be reset individually. GFX, compute, and SDMA
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queues can be reset individually. When a hung queue is detected, it can be
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reset either via the scheduling firmware or MMIO. Since there are no kernel
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fences for most user queues, they will usually only be detected when some other
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event happens; e.g., a memory event which requires migration of buffers. When
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the queues are preempted, if the queue is hung, the preemption will fail.
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Driver will then look up the queues that failed to preempt and reset them and
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record which queues are hung.
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On the UMD side, we will add a USERQ QUERY_STATUS IOCTL to query the queue
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status. UMD will provide the queue id in the IOCTL and the kernel driver
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will check if it has already recorded the queue as hung (e.g., due to failed
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peemption) and report back the status.
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IOCTL Interfaces
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================
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GPU virtual addresses used for queues and related data (rptrs, wptrs, context
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save areas, etc.) should be validated by the kernel mode driver to prevent the
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user from specifying invalid GPU virtual addresses. If the user provides
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invalid GPU virtual addresses or doorbell indicies, the IOCTL should return an
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error message. These buffers should also be tracked in the kernel driver so
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that if the user attempts to unmap the buffer(s) from the GPUVM, the umap call
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would return an error.
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INFO
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----
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There are several new INFO queries related to user queues in order to query the
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size of user queue meta data needed for a user queue (e.g., context save areas
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or shadow buffers), whether kernel or user queues or both are supported
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for each IP type, and the offsets for each IP type in each doorbell page.
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USERQ
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-----
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The USERQ IOCTL is used for creating, freeing, and querying the status of user
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queues. It supports 3 opcodes:
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1. CREATE - Create a user queue. The application provides an MQD-like structure
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that defines the type of queue and associated metadata and flags for that
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queue type. Returns the queue id.
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2. FREE - Free a user queue.
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3. QUERY_STATUS - Query that status of a queue. Used to check if the queue is
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healthy or not. E.g., if the queue has been reset. (WIP)
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USERQ_SIGNAL
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------------
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The USERQ_SIGNAL IOCTL is used to provide a list of sync objects to be signaled.
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USERQ_WAIT
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----------
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The USERQ_WAIT IOCTL is used to provide a list of sync object to be waited on.
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Kernel and User Queues
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======================
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In order to properly validate and test performance, we have a driver option to
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select what type of queues are enabled (kernel queues, user queues or both).
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The user_queue driver parameter allows you to enable kernel queues only (0),
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user queues and kernel queues (1), and user queues only (2). Enabling user
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queues only will free up static queue assignments that would otherwise be used
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by kernel queues for use by the scheduling firmware. Some kernel queues are
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required for kernel driver operation and they will always be created. When the
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kernel queues are not enabled, they are not registered with the drm scheduler
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and the CS IOCTL will reject any incoming command submissions which target those
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queue types. Kernel queues only mirrors the behavior on all existing GPUs.
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Enabling both queues allows for backwards compatibility with old userspace while
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still supporting user queues.

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