1 files changed, 75 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sync.txt b/Documentation/sync.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a2d05e7fa19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/sync.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+Motivation:
+
+In complicated DMA pipelines such as graphics (multimedia, camera, gpu, display)
+a consumer of a buffer needs to know when the producer has finished producing
+it.  Likewise the producer needs to know when the consumer is finished with the
+buffer so it can reuse it.  A particular buffer may be consumed by multiple
+consumers which will retain the buffer for different amounts of time.  In
+addition, a consumer may consume multiple buffers atomically.
+The sync framework adds an API which allows synchronization between the
+producers and consumers in a generic way while also allowing platforms which
+have shared hardware synchronization primitives to exploit them.
+
+Goals:
+	* provide a generic API for expressing synchronization dependencies
+	* allow drivers to exploit hardware synchronization between hardware
+	  blocks
+	* provide a userspace API that allows a compositor to manage
+	  dependencies.
+	* provide rich telemetry data to allow debugging slowdowns and stalls of
+	   the graphics pipeline.
+
+Objects:
+	* sync_timeline
+	* sync_pt
+	* sync_fence
+
+sync_timeline:
+
+A sync_timeline is an abstract monotonically increasing counter. In general,
+each driver/hardware block context will have one of these.  They can be backed
+by the appropriate hardware or rely on the generic sw_sync implementation.
+Timelines are only ever created through their specific implementations
+(i.e. sw_sync.)
+
+sync_pt:
+
+A sync_pt is an abstract value which marks a point on a sync_timeline. Sync_pts
+have a single timeline parent.  They have 3 states: active, signaled, and error.
+They start in active state and transition, once, to either signaled (when the
+timeline counter advances beyond the sync_pt’s value) or error state.
+
+sync_fence:
+
+Sync_fences are the primary primitives used by drivers to coordinate
+synchronization of their buffers.  They are a collection of sync_pts which may
+or may not have the same timeline parent.  A sync_pt can only exist in one fence
+and the fence's list of sync_pts is immutable once created.  Fences can be
+waited on synchronously or asynchronously.  Two fences can also be merged to
+create a third fence containing a copy of the two fences’ sync_pts.  Fences are
+backed by file descriptors to allow userspace to coordinate the display pipeline
+dependencies.
+
+Use:
+
+A driver implementing sync support should have a work submission function which:
+     * takes a fence argument specifying when to begin work
+     * asynchronously queues that work to kick off when the fence is signaled
+     * returns a fence to indicate when its work will be done.
+     * signals the returned fence once the work is completed.
+
+Consider an imaginary display driver that has the following API:
+/*
+ * assumes buf is ready to be displayed.
+ * blocks until the buffer is on screen.
+ */
+    void display_buffer(struct dma_buf *buf);
+
+The new API will become:
+/*
+ * will display buf when fence is signaled.
+ * returns immediately with a fence that will signal when buf
+ * is no longer displayed.
+ */
+struct sync_fence* display_buffer(struct dma_buf *buf,
+                                 struct sync_fence *fence);