Re: [PATCH v4 2/4] drm: mxsfb: Add optional DPI output bus-width configuration

[Luca Ceresoli]

On Wed Sep 16, 2026 at 11:15 AM CEST, Francesco Dolcini wrote:
> Hello Luca,
>
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2026 at 10:42:13AM +0200, Luca Ceresoli wrote:
>> > LCDIF programs LCD_DATABUS_WIDTH from the selected media bus format. The
>> > format reported by the downstream panel or bridge describes the display
>> > input, but it does not describe how the LCDIF data pins are physically
>> > wired on the board.
>> >
>> > These can differ. For example, a 16-bit LCDIF bus can be connected to a
>> > 24-bit display by wiring the available color bits to the corresponding
>> > display inputs. In that case, using the display's 24-bit format to
>> > configure LCDIF selects the wrong data-bus mode and changes the assignment
>> > of color bits on the LCD_DATA pins.
>> >
>> > Read the optional bus-width endpoint property from the LCDIF output port
>> > and use it to select the media bus format used to configure LCDIF. This
>> > allows the LCDIF bus mode to describe the physical interface
>> > independently of the downstream display format.
>> >
>> > When the optional property is absent, or it has an invalid value, continue
>> > using the format reported by the downstream display device, preserving
>> > the existing behavior. The code is not validating the DT for
>> > correctness and just fall back to the previous behavior in case of
>> > errors.
>>
>> Why? Generally speaking errors are better spotted immediately, not ignored
>> silently.
>
> My understanding is that the C driver code should not validate the DT
> and that this is the general recommendation when parsing properties from
> the DT.
>
> The DT checker is going to spot errors in the DT even earlier and in a
> static way.

Drivers typically check for invalid values.

And people writing their private dts can do mistakes and not run the static
checks. Bad on their side, sure, but having a runtime error would be useful
there.

Also consider potential regressions. Say someone has an invalid value in
their product, say bus-width = <15>, which works because the default 18
which gets used as a fallback happens to be the correct value for their
hardware. Some years later we implement the new bus-width = <15>, and then
that user upgrades to a newer kernel and their display won't work because
it will start using that incorrect bus-witch = <15>. Better stopping this
before it starts, IMO.

Luca

--
Luca Ceresoli, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com