I have been trying to work out why the "vmalloc=500M" boot argument is needed in order to do H264 video decode/encode using OpenMAX.
I know this argument is necessary because if I don't use it I get this error when I run "firmware_loader $HDVPSS_ID /usr/share/ti/ti-media-controller-utils/dm816x_hdvpss.xem3 start -i2c 0":
"Usage : firmware_loader <Processor Id> <Location of Firmware> <start|stop> [-mmap <memory_map_file>] [-i2c <0|1>]
===Mandatory arguments===
<Processor Id> 0: DSP, 1: Video-M3, 2: Vpss-M3
<Location of Firmware> firmware binary file
<start|stop> to start/stop the firmware
===Optional arguments===
-mmap input memory map bin file name
-i2c 0: i2c init not done by M3, 1(default): i2c init done by M3
FIRMWARE: isI2cInitRequiredOnM3: 0
FIRMWARE: Default memory configuration is used
MemCfg: DCMM (Dynamically Configurable Memory Map) Version : 2.1.2.1
FIRMWARE: Memory Configuration status : In Progress
FIRMWARE: 2 start Successful
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 059fc260
pgd = ee514000
[059fc260] *pgd=00000000
Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] PREEMPT
last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/syslinkipc/syslinkipc_RingIO/dev
Modules linked in: vpss(+) syslink
CPU: 0 Not tainted (2.6.37+ #4)
PC is at strcmp+0x14/0x40
LR is at platform_match+0x64/0x70
pc : [<c04391cc>] lr : [<c0480428>] psr: 60000013
sp : ee4a1e30 ip : 059fc260 fp : ee4a1e3c
r10: 00000000 r9 : ee4a0000 r8 : c0740870
r7 : ee38e980 r6 : bf12d1b0 r5 : c02fa820 r4 : 00000000
r3 : c04803c4 r2 : 00000000 r1 : bf1298e3 r0 : 059fc260
Flags: nZCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode SVC_32 ISA ARM Segment user
Control: 10c5387d Table: ae514019 DAC: 00000015
Process modprobe (pid: 738, stack limit = 0xee4a02e8)
Stack: (0xee4a1e30 to 0xee4a2000)
1e20: ee4a1e54 ee4a1e40 c0480428 c04391c4
1e40: c02fa828 c047f320 ee4a1e74 ee4a1e58 c047f348 c04803d0 00000000 c047f320
1e60: bf12d1b0 ee38e980 ee4a1e9c ee4a1e78 c047e9b8 c047f32c ee01ccb8 ee032f30
1e80: c04351cc 00000001 bf12d19c bf12d1b0 ee4a1eac ee4a1ea0 c047f084 c047e974
1ea0: ee4a1edc ee4a1eb0 c047e290 c047f070 bf1298e3 ee4a1ec0 00000001 bf12d19c
1ec0: bf12d1b0 000a97f8 bf131000 00000000 ee4a1f04 ee4a1ee0 c047f6c0 c047e1e8
1ee0: 00000001 bf12d19c 000a9600 000a97f8 bf131000 ee4a0000 ee4a1f14 ee4a1f08
1f00: c04805e0 c047f61c ee4a1f34 ee4a1f18 c0480614 c04805a0 00000000 bf12d520
1f20: 000a9600 000a97f8 ee4a1f44 ee4a1f38 bf131030 c0480600 ee4a1f7c ee4a1f48
1f40: c0300434 bf13100c bf12d520 000a9600 000a97f8 c0305864 00000000 bf12d520
1f60: 000a9600 000a97f8 c0305864 00000000 ee4a1fa4 ee4a1f80 c035d088 c0300370
1f80: 000a97f8 000a9788 00019470 00000000 00000004 00000080 00000000 ee4a1fa8
1fa0: c03056e0 c035cff8 00019470 00000000 000a97f8 00019470 000a9600 000a9788
1fc0: 00019470 00000000 00000004 00000080 000a9718 000a97f8 000a9788 000a9738
1fe0: bee849c0 bee849b0 00019e80 401a2740 60000010 000a97f8 c0b89460 c0b89480
Backtrace:
[<c04391b8>] (strcmp+0x0/0x40) from [<c0480428>] (platform_match+0x64/0x70)
[<c04803c4>] (platform_match+0x0/0x70) from [<c047f348>] (__driver_attach+0x28/0x8c)
r5:c047f320 r4:c02fa828
[<c047f320>] (__driver_attach+0x0/0x8c) from [<c047e9b8>] (bus_for_each_dev+0x50/0x84)
r7:ee38e980 r6:bf12d1b0 r5:c047f320 r4:00000000
[<c047e968>] (bus_for_each_dev+0x0/0x84) from [<c047f084>] (driver_attach+0x20/0x28)
r6:bf12d1b0 r5:bf12d19c r4:00000001
[<c047f064>] (driver_attach+0x0/0x28) from [<c047e290>] (bus_add_driver+0xb4/0x234)
[<c047e1dc>] (bus_add_driver+0x0/0x234) from [<c047f6c0>] (driver_register+0xb0/0x13c)
[<c047f610>] (driver_register+0x0/0x13c) from [<c04805e0>] (platform_driver_register+0x4c/0x60)
r9:ee4a0000 r8:bf131000 r7:000a97f8 r6:000a9600 r5:bf12d19c
r4:00000001
[<c0480594>] (platform_driver_register+0x0/0x60) from [<c0480614>] (platform_driver_probe+0x20/0xa0)
[<c04805f4>] (platform_driver_probe+0x0/0xa0) from [<bf131030>] (init_module+0x30/0x5c [vpss])
r7:000a97f8 r6:000a9600 r5:bf12d520 r4:00000000
[<bf131000>] (init_module+0x0/0x5c [vpss]) from [<c0300434>] (do_one_initcall+0xd0/0x1a4)
[<c0300364>] (do_one_initcall+0x0/0x1a4) from [<c035d088>] (sys_init_module+0x9c/0x1bc)
[<c035cfec>] (sys_init_module+0x0/0x1bc) from [<c03056e0>] (ret_fast_syscall+0x0/0x30)
r7:00000080 r6:00000004 r5:00000000 r4:00019470
Code: e92dd800 e24cb004 e3a02000 e1a0c000 (e7dc0002)
---[ end trace e119577968a36405 ]---
Segmentation fault
ti81xxfb: gave up waiting for init of module vpss.
ti81xxfb: Unknown symbol vps_grpx_get_ctrl (err -16)"
My current theories are that something is causing the syslink module to run its Memory_alloc, Memory_valloc or Memory_calloc function (the ringio component of syslink commanded by the HDVPSS binary over IPC?) which would cause vmalloc to be called to allocate memory. Thing is, I can't work out what is causing vmalloc to be called to allocate such a large amount of memory.
In the capture_encode example I've also looked at, there are no more than 64MB of memory allocated as a result of the "OMX_AllocateBuffer" calls yet I see that in /proc/meminfo the "VmallocUsed" field increases by about 190MB when I run the capture_encode example.
Please could someone from TI explain to me the purpose of the "vmalloc=" kernel parameter in the context of video encode/decode and also tell me how so much memory gets allocated as a result of the capture_encode program being run?
Thanks,
Ralph
