Linux kernel for the Tronsmart Draco AW80 Telos (Allwinner A80, sun9i) - branch draco-aw80, based on mainline. Notes, issues and exported patches live in tiagoagueda/a80. https://kernel.org/
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Tiago Águeda 2e487726b2 soc: sunxi: arisc: detect a dead voltage service and restart the firmware
The coprocessor can complete a textbook startup and still be useless. The
beacon arrives, the loopback passes, the first voltage query answers
correctly, and every query from about a second later returns 0 mV for
every rail type. Nothing returns an error.

That is not cosmetic. With the voltage service dead the coprocessor still
accepts a cluster power-on request, does not raise PLL_C1, and the A15
comes up at whatever c1cpux was left at - 408 MHz, slower than an A7 -
with every return code reporting success. It was originally found by
benchmarking, not by reading the log.

Whether it happens depends on how early the firmware is started, which in
turn depends on something as incidental as whether the blob is reachable
from an initramfs. The race itself is still unidentified. What does not
require understanding it is noticing, because the symptom is
unambiguous: re-read the CPU-B rail a second after the handshake, and if
it is implausible, restart the firmware - the same reset, load, release
and handshake used to start it.

If every attempt fails the coprocessor is deliberately left not ready, so
sunxi_arisc_get_volt() returns -EAGAIN and mc_smp refuses the cluster
rather than bringing it up crippled. Four good cores beat eight bad ones.

start_delay_ms makes the race reproducible on demand, which it never was
before. With it at 2500 the beacon lands at 3.76 s and the failure occurs
every time:

  [3.757] startup beacon on ch2
  [3.761] coprocessor up, loopback ok; CPUB rail reads 1200 mV
  [4.829] voltage service dead after start 1 (CPUB reads 0 mV); restarting firmware
  [5.119] startup beacon on ch2
  [6.179] voltage service healthy after 2 starts (CPUB 1200 mV)

and the rail still reads 1200 mV ninety seconds later.

One thing learned while building that reproduction, which is worse than
the failure this fixes: at start_delay_ms=500 the beacon lands at 1.76 s
and the board does not boot at all. Every driver needing a GPIO fails -
"can't get GPIO", "Error applying setting, reverse things back" - so the
MMC controllers never probe and there is no root device. Starting the
coprocessor early does not merely kill its voltage service; early enough,
it takes the pinctrl subsystem with it.

Signed-off-by: Tiago Águeda <tiago.agueda@tiagoagueda.com>
2026-08-29 15:06:44 +00:00
arch ARM: sunxi: cap the A80's A15 cluster at 1608 MHz 2026-08-28 19:44:08 +00:00
block for-7.3/block-20260819 2026-08-20 13:55:16 -07:00
certs treewide: fix indentation and whitespace in Kconfig files 2026-05-28 21:24:42 -07:00
crypto This update includes the following changes: 2026-08-19 17:25:42 -07:00
Documentation rpmsg updates for v7.3 2026-08-25 14:13:38 -07:00
drivers soc: sunxi: arisc: detect a dead voltage service and restart the firmware 2026-08-29 15:06:44 +00:00
fs Changes since last update: 2026-08-25 12:27:41 -07:00
include soc: sunxi: add a driver for the A80 AR100 coprocessor 2026-08-27 23:42:16 +00:00
init Bootconfig updates for v7.3: 2026-08-25 08:59:09 -07:00
io_uring fuse update for 7.3 2026-08-25 07:59:44 -07:00
ipc mm.git review status for master..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-08-23 08:07:11 -07:00
kernel dma-mapping updates for Linux 7.3: 2026-08-24 11:35:46 -07:00
lib Char/Misc/IIO/etc driver update for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-25 09:38:50 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm slab changes for 7.3 2026-08-24 10:58:57 -07:00
net RDMA v7.3 merge window pull 2026-08-21 11:48:54 -07:00
rust USB / Thunderbolt changes for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-25 10:44:46 -07:00
samples Modules changes for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-21 12:47:25 -07:00
scripts Char/Misc/IIO/etc driver update for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-25 09:38:50 -07:00
security Hi, 2026-08-23 08:29:33 -07:00
sound ASoC: sun4i-i2s: add sun9i-a80 variant 2026-08-28 15:34:35 +00:00
tools Arm: 2026-08-25 11:48:04 -07:00
usr usr: Correct a spelling by changing a letter 2026-08-05 14:51:58 +02:00
virt Arm: 2026-08-25 11:48:04 -07:00
.clang-format drm/bridge: rename drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain_scoped() to drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain() 2026-07-14 17:55:51 +02:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add Nathan Chancellor 2026-08-03 21:10:12 -07:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore SPDX patches for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-22 12:06:22 -07:00
.mailmap Char/Misc/IIO/etc driver update for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-25 09:38:50 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml
COPYING
CREDITS CIFS Maintainer switch 2026-08-21 12:16:31 -07:00
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS hwspinlock updates for v7.3 2026-08-25 14:21:47 -07:00
Makefile Bootconfig updates for v7.3: 2026-08-25 08:59:09 -07:00
README README: remove out of place emdashes 2026-07-15 10:51:29 -06:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer: Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher: Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert: Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer: Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator: Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer: Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor: Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer: Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant: LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst