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diff --git a/Documentation/rtc.txt b/Documentation/rtc.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..a129acf38 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/rtc.txt @@ -0,0 +1,140 @@ +======================================= +Real Time Clock (RTC) Drivers for Linux +======================================= + +When Linux developers talk about a "Real Time Clock", they usually mean +something that tracks wall clock time and is battery backed so that it +works even with system power off. Such clocks will normally not track +the local time zone or daylight savings time -- unless they dual boot +with MS-Windows -- but will instead be set to Coordinated Universal Time +(UTC, formerly "Greenwich Mean Time"). + +The newest non-PC hardware tends to just count seconds, like the time(2) +system call reports, but RTCs also very commonly represent time using +the Gregorian calendar and 24 hour time, as reported by gmtime(3). + +Linux has two largely-compatible userspace RTC API families you may +need to know about: + + * /dev/rtc ... is the RTC provided by PC compatible systems, + so it's not very portable to non-x86 systems. + + * /dev/rtc0, /dev/rtc1 ... are part of a framework that's + supported by a wide variety of RTC chips on all systems. + +Programmers need to understand that the PC/AT functionality is not +always available, and some systems can do much more. That is, the +RTCs use the same API to make requests in both RTC frameworks (using +different filenames of course), but the hardware may not offer the +same functionality. For example, not every RTC is hooked up to an +IRQ, so they can't all issue alarms; and where standard PC RTCs can +only issue an alarm up to 24 hours in the future, other hardware may +be able to schedule one any time in the upcoming century. + + +Old PC/AT-Compatible driver: /dev/rtc +-------------------------------------- + +All PCs (even Alpha machines) have a Real Time Clock built into them. +Usually they are built into the chipset of the computer, but some may +actually have a Motorola MC146818 (or clone) on the board. This is the +clock that keeps the date and time while your computer is turned off. + +ACPI has standardized that MC146818 functionality, and extended it in +a few ways (enabling longer alarm periods, and wake-from-hibernate). +That functionality is NOT exposed in the old driver. + +However it can also be used to generate signals from a slow 2Hz to a +relatively fast 8192Hz, in increments of powers of two. These signals +are reported by interrupt number 8. (Oh! So *that* is what IRQ 8 is +for...) It can also function as a 24hr alarm, raising IRQ 8 when the +alarm goes off. The alarm can also be programmed to only check any +subset of the three programmable values, meaning that it could be set to +ring on the 30th second of the 30th minute of every hour, for example. +The clock can also be set to generate an interrupt upon every clock +update, thus generating a 1Hz signal. + +The interrupts are reported via /dev/rtc (major 10, minor 135, read only +character device) in the form of an unsigned long. The low byte contains +the type of interrupt (update-done, alarm-rang, or periodic) that was +raised, and the remaining bytes contain the number of interrupts since +the last read. Status information is reported through the pseudo-file +/proc/driver/rtc if the /proc filesystem was enabled. The driver has +built in locking so that only one process is allowed to have the /dev/rtc +interface open at a time. + +A user process can monitor these interrupts by doing a read(2) or a +select(2) on /dev/rtc -- either will block/stop the user process until +the next interrupt is received. This is useful for things like +reasonably high frequency data acquisition where one doesn't want to +burn up 100% CPU by polling gettimeofday etc. etc. + +At high frequencies, or under high loads, the user process should check +the number of interrupts received since the last read to determine if +there has been any interrupt "pileup" so to speak. Just for reference, a +typical 486-33 running a tight read loop on /dev/rtc will start to suffer +occasional interrupt pileup (i.e. > 1 IRQ event since last read) for +frequencies above 1024Hz. So you really should check the high bytes +of the value you read, especially at frequencies above that of the +normal timer interrupt, which is 100Hz. + +Programming and/or enabling interrupt frequencies greater than 64Hz is +only allowed by root. This is perhaps a bit conservative, but we don't want +an evil user generating lots of IRQs on a slow 386sx-16, where it might have +a negative impact on performance. This 64Hz limit can be changed by writing +a different value to /proc/sys/dev/rtc/max-user-freq. Note that the +interrupt handler is only a few lines of code to minimize any possibility +of this effect. + +Also, if the kernel time is synchronized with an external source, the +kernel will write the time back to the CMOS clock every 11 minutes. In +the process of doing this, the kernel briefly turns off RTC periodic +interrupts, so be aware of this if you are doing serious work. If you +don't synchronize the kernel time with an external source (via ntp or +whatever) then the kernel will keep its hands off the RTC, allowing you +exclusive access to the device for your applications. + +The alarm and/or interrupt frequency are programmed into the RTC via +various ioctl(2) calls as listed in ./include/linux/rtc.h +Rather than write 50 pages describing the ioctl() and so on, it is +perhaps more useful to include a small test program that demonstrates +how to use them, and demonstrates the features of the driver. This is +probably a lot more useful to people interested in writing applications +that will be using this driver. See the code at the end of this document. + +(The original /dev/rtc driver was written by Paul Gortmaker.) + + +New portable "RTC Class" drivers: /dev/rtcN +-------------------------------------------- + +Because Linux supports many non-ACPI and non-PC platforms, some of which +have more than one RTC style clock, it needed a more portable solution +than expecting a single battery-backed MC146818 clone on every system. +Accordingly, a new "RTC Class" framework has been defined. It offers +three different userspace interfaces: + + * /dev/rtcN ... much the same as the older /dev/rtc interface + + * /sys/class/rtc/rtcN ... sysfs attributes support readonly + access to some RTC attributes. + + * /proc/driver/rtc ... the system clock RTC may expose itself + using a procfs interface. If there is no RTC for the system clock, + rtc0 is used by default. More information is (currently) shown + here than through sysfs. + +The RTC Class framework supports a wide variety of RTCs, ranging from those +integrated into embeddable system-on-chip (SOC) processors to discrete chips +using I2C, SPI, or some other bus to communicate with the host CPU. There's +even support for PC-style RTCs ... including the features exposed on newer PCs +through ACPI. + +The new framework also removes the "one RTC per system" restriction. For +example, maybe the low-power battery-backed RTC is a discrete I2C chip, but +a high functionality RTC is integrated into the SOC. That system might read +the system clock from the discrete RTC, but use the integrated one for all +other tasks, because of its greater functionality. + +Check out tools/testing/selftests/timers/rtctest.c for an example usage of the +ioctl interface. |