linux/include
Petr Mladek c83e3d2912 braille: nbcon: Allow to use a serial console with NBCON API as Braille console
The Braille console is not registered in console_list. Instead, it is
integrated with the virtual terminal (VT) and shows what is displayed
on the terminal. It writes the data using con->write*() callback
of the associated serial console driver.

braille_write() is called from the VT code under console_lock().
The associated serial console driver can be converted to the NBCON API
though. The situation is similar to flushing nbcon consoles in the legacy
loop when some boot consoles are still registered, see
nbcon_legacy_emit_next_record().

But there is a big difference though. braille_write() is not directly
called from the code paths flushing registered consoles. The VT code
expects that braille_write() succeeds. It does not replay the message
when it can't acquire the ownership. As a result, braille_write():

  + must try harder to get the ownership.

  + has to be synchronized only against non-printk serial console
    which depend nbcon_device_try_acquire() using NBCON_PRIO_NORMAL.

Let's look at it from another side and try to simulate the original
locking using the NBCON API:

  1. Take con->device_lock(), aka the port->lock in the legacy serial
     console driver.

  2. Acquire nbcon context to provide some synchronization for a panic()
     context. Use NBCON_PRIO_NORMAL because it contends only with
     nbcon_device_try_acquire() users. Do it in a busy loop. It should
     always succeed when con->device_lock() succeeded because all other
     users do the same. The only exception is when the context get acquired
     by a CPU handling panic.

  3. In panic, disable interrupts and try to acquire the nbcon context.
     Use NBCON_PRIO_PANIC. And try even an unsafe takeover because
     otherwise the Braille console won't see the text shown during panic().
     It is similar to the oops_in_progress/trylock handling in the legacy
     serial console driver.

Finally, avoid the newline prepending logic in the existing serial console
drivers when they are used as a Braille console. As explained above,
the Braille console shows the last modified line on the terminal (VT).
braille_write() is called when single characters are added. Most
messages are not ended by newline. Anyway, the VT code does not have
logic to reply partially printed messages.

Fixes: 13189fa73a ("printk: nbcon: Rely on kthreads for normal operation")
Reviewed-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@linutronix.de>
[pmladek@suse.com: Remove white space changes in braille_register_console(). Typo fix.]
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20261001140727.124398-2-pmladek@suse.com
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
2026-10-02 10:26:42 +02:00
..
acpi ACPI: bus: Drop two fields from struct acpi_device_pnp 2026-09-01 21:45:50 +02:00
asm-generic kho: make boot time huge page allocation work nicely with KHO 2026-08-23 09:17:38 -07:00
clocksource hyperv-next for v7.3-rc1 2026-08-26 16:47:40 -07:00
crypto
cxl
drm Merge drm/drm-fixes into drm-misc-fixes 2026-09-01 09:38:51 +02:00
dt-bindings sound fixes for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-28 10:01:02 -07:00
hyperv
keys tpm: Initial step to reorganize TPM public headers 2026-08-25 18:13:35 +03:00
kunit
kvm KVM/arm64 changes for 7.3 2026-08-24 12:42:07 -04:00
linux braille: nbcon: Allow to use a serial console with NBCON API as Braille console 2026-10-02 10:26:42 +02:00
math-emu
media
memory
misc
net ipv6: mcast: use copy-on-write RCU updates in ip6_mc_source() 2026-08-31 17:54:45 -07:00
pcmcia
ras
rdma
rv mm.git review status for linus..mm-stable 2026-08-27 09:17:06 -07:00
scsi SCSI updates for 7.3 2026-08-29 11:55:36 -07:00
soc Mostly the usual clk driver updates and new SoC additions plus non-critical 2026-08-26 11:14:30 -07:00
sound ALSA: rawmidi: Another workaround for false-positive mutex lockdep warning 2026-08-25 15:55:37 +02:00
target
trace Including fixes from bluetooth. 2026-09-03 10:18:12 -07:00
uapi integrity-v7.3-rc2 2026-09-04 19:36:11 -07:00
ufs
vdso
video fbdev: maxine: fix 64-bit build error 2026-08-20 23:45:07 +02:00
xen
Kbuild