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Re: Access problem of mtimercmp in a platform with multiple MTIMER devices

Allen Baum
 

The implication of that is that either
 - there is an mmio address that can access different instantiations of mtime/mtimecmp for each requesting hart (depending on the "cluster")
 - each "cluster" can have its own unique mmio address for mtimecmp (which may or may not be accessible to other "clusters")

Is one or either of those a preferred option? The latter sounds like it would be difficult for SW

On Tue, Sep 6, 2022 at 12:16 AM Tianyi Xia via lists.riscv.org <tianshi.xty=alibaba-inc.com@...> wrote:

In the SiFive Core-Local Interruptor (CLINT) device , a core can access the mtimcmp register of all cores in the platform.

In the ACLINT spec, If a platform implements multiple MTIMER devices, such as multiple clusters, each cluster implements one MTIMER device, then a core may not be able to access the MTIMER devices of other clusters.

As I understand, it is not necessary for a core to access the mtimecmp of other cores. Is it possible to add a recommended software usage method to the ACLINT spec, for example, it is recommended that the software only use a core to access its own mtimcmp register, but not access mtimcmp of other cores. This can avoid the problem that the software uses a core to access the MTIMER devices of other clusters, but the hardware cannot support it.
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