ep93xx_pata_dma_init() returns an error when dma_request_chan() fails,
which causes ep93xx_pata_probe() to abort entirely.  The probe function
already has a PIO fallback path (it checks both channel pointers before
enabling UDMA), so the DMA init should not fail the probe on non-fatal
errors.

Treat only -EPROBE_DEFER as a fatal error.  For all other failures
(ENODEV, ENXIO, configuration errors), release any allocated channels,
NULL the pointers, warn, and return 0 so the driver continues in PIO mode.

Assisted-by: Opencode:Big-Pickle
Signed-off-by: Rosen Penev <rosenp@gmail.com>
---
 drivers/ata/pata_ep93xx.c | 30 +++++++++++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/ata/pata_ep93xx.c b/drivers/ata/pata_ep93xx.c
index b2b9e0058333..3f61712af5bb 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/pata_ep93xx.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/pata_ep93xx.c
@@ -652,14 +652,22 @@ static int ep93xx_pata_dma_init(struct ep93xx_pata_data *drv_data)
 	 * start of new transfer.
 	 */
 	drv_data->dma_rx_channel = dma_request_chan(dev, "rx");
-	if (IS_ERR(drv_data->dma_rx_channel))
-		return dev_err_probe(dev, PTR_ERR(drv_data->dma_rx_channel),
-				     "rx DMA setup failed\n");
+	if (IS_ERR(drv_data->dma_rx_channel)) {
+		ret = PTR_ERR(drv_data->dma_rx_channel);
+		drv_data->dma_rx_channel = NULL;
+		if (ret == -EPROBE_DEFER)
+			return ret;
+		dev_warn(dev, "rx DMA unavailable, using PIO\n");
+		return 0;
+	}
 
 	drv_data->dma_tx_channel = dma_request_chan(&pdev->dev, "tx");
 	if (IS_ERR(drv_data->dma_tx_channel)) {
-		ret = dev_err_probe(dev, PTR_ERR(drv_data->dma_tx_channel),
-				    "tx DMA setup failed\n");
+		ret = PTR_ERR(drv_data->dma_tx_channel);
+		drv_data->dma_tx_channel = NULL;
+		if (ret == -EPROBE_DEFER)
+			goto fail_release_rx;
+		dev_warn(dev, "tx DMA unavailable, using PIO\n");
 		goto fail_release_rx;
 	}
 
@@ -670,7 +678,7 @@ static int ep93xx_pata_dma_init(struct ep93xx_pata_data *drv_data)
 	conf.src_addr_width = DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_4_BYTES;
 	ret = dmaengine_slave_config(drv_data->dma_rx_channel, &conf);
 	if (ret) {
-		dev_err_probe(dev, ret, "failed to configure rx dma channel");
+		dev_warn(dev, "failed to configure rx dma channel, using PIO\n");
 		goto fail_release_dma;
 	}
 
@@ -681,7 +689,7 @@ static int ep93xx_pata_dma_init(struct ep93xx_pata_data *drv_data)
 	conf.dst_addr_width = DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_4_BYTES;
 	ret = dmaengine_slave_config(drv_data->dma_tx_channel, &conf);
 	if (ret) {
-		dev_err_probe(dev, ret, "failed to configure tx dma channel");
+		dev_warn(dev, "failed to configure tx dma channel, using PIO\n");
 		goto fail_release_dma;
 	}
 
@@ -689,10 +697,14 @@ static int ep93xx_pata_dma_init(struct ep93xx_pata_data *drv_data)
 
 fail_release_rx:
 	dma_release_channel(drv_data->dma_rx_channel);
+	drv_data->dma_rx_channel = NULL;
+	if (ret == -EPROBE_DEFER)
+		return ret;
+	return 0;
+
 fail_release_dma:
 	ep93xx_pata_release_dma(drv_data);
-
-	return ret;
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static void ep93xx_pata_dma_start(struct ata_queued_cmd *qc)
-- 
2.54.0

On Mon, Jun 01, 2026 at 12:07:49PM -0700, Rosen Penev wrote:
> ep93xx_pata_dma_init() returns an error when dma_request_chan() fails,
> which causes ep93xx_pata_probe() to abort entirely.  The probe function
> already has a PIO fallback path (it checks both channel pointers before
> enabling UDMA), so the DMA init should not fail the probe on non-fatal
> errors.
> 
> Treat only -EPROBE_DEFER as a fatal error.  For all other failures
> (ENODEV, ENXIO, configuration errors), release any allocated channels,
> NULL the pointers, warn, and return 0 so the driver continues in PIO mode.

This patch looks correct to me, but I do think that the commit message,
which refers to -EPROBE_DEFER as a fatal error, is very misleading.

Better phrasing would be something like:
Propagate -EPROBE_DEFER, such that we allow the DMA controller driver
to load, in case we got probed before the DMA controller driver.
For all other failures (e.g. -ENODEV when the DMA controller is missing
in the device tree), fall back to PIO.


Kind regards,
Niklas