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-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst | 286 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..06f818b1d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst @@ -0,0 +1,286 @@ +============== +Device Drivers +============== + +See the kerneldoc for the struct device_driver. + +Allocation +~~~~~~~~~~ + +Device drivers are statically allocated structures. Though there may +be multiple devices in a system that a driver supports, struct +device_driver represents the driver as a whole (not a particular +device instance). + +Initialization +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The driver must initialize at least the name and bus fields. It should +also initialize the devclass field (when it arrives), so it may obtain +the proper linkage internally. It should also initialize as many of +the callbacks as possible, though each is optional. + +Declaration +~~~~~~~~~~~ + +As stated above, struct device_driver objects are statically +allocated. Below is an example declaration of the eepro100 +driver. This declaration is hypothetical only; it relies on the driver +being converted completely to the new model:: + + static struct device_driver eepro100_driver = { + .name = "eepro100", + .bus = &pci_bus_type, + + .probe = eepro100_probe, + .remove = eepro100_remove, + .suspend = eepro100_suspend, + .resume = eepro100_resume, + }; + +Most drivers will not be able to be converted completely to the new +model because the bus they belong to has a bus-specific structure with +bus-specific fields that cannot be generalized. + +The most common example of this are device ID structures. A driver +typically defines an array of device IDs that it supports. The format +of these structures and the semantics for comparing device IDs are +completely bus-specific. Defining them as bus-specific entities would +sacrifice type-safety, so we keep bus-specific structures around. + +Bus-specific drivers should include a generic struct device_driver in +the definition of the bus-specific driver. Like this:: + + struct pci_driver { + const struct pci_device_id *id_table; + struct device_driver driver; + }; + +A definition that included bus-specific fields would look like +(using the eepro100 driver again):: + + static struct pci_driver eepro100_driver = { + .id_table = eepro100_pci_tbl, + .driver = { + .name = "eepro100", + .bus = &pci_bus_type, + .probe = eepro100_probe, + .remove = eepro100_remove, + .suspend = eepro100_suspend, + .resume = eepro100_resume, + }, + }; + +Some may find the syntax of embedded struct initialization awkward or +even a bit ugly. So far, it's the best way we've found to do what we want... + +Registration +~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +:: + + int driver_register(struct device_driver *drv); + +The driver registers the structure on startup. For drivers that have +no bus-specific fields (i.e. don't have a bus-specific driver +structure), they would use driver_register and pass a pointer to their +struct device_driver object. + +Most drivers, however, will have a bus-specific structure and will +need to register with the bus using something like pci_driver_register. + +It is important that drivers register their driver structure as early as +possible. Registration with the core initializes several fields in the +struct device_driver object, including the reference count and the +lock. These fields are assumed to be valid at all times and may be +used by the device model core or the bus driver. + + +Transition Bus Drivers +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +By defining wrapper functions, the transition to the new model can be +made easier. Drivers can ignore the generic structure altogether and +let the bus wrapper fill in the fields. For the callbacks, the bus can +define generic callbacks that forward the call to the bus-specific +callbacks of the drivers. + +This solution is intended to be only temporary. In order to get class +information in the driver, the drivers must be modified anyway. Since +converting drivers to the new model should reduce some infrastructural +complexity and code size, it is recommended that they are converted as +class information is added. + +Access +~~~~~~ + +Once the object has been registered, it may access the common fields of +the object, like the lock and the list of devices:: + + int driver_for_each_dev(struct device_driver *drv, void *data, + int (*callback)(struct device *dev, void *data)); + +The devices field is a list of all the devices that have been bound to +the driver. The LDM core provides a helper function to operate on all +the devices a driver controls. This helper locks the driver on each +node access, and does proper reference counting on each device as it +accesses it. + + +sysfs +~~~~~ + +When a driver is registered, a sysfs directory is created in its +bus's directory. In this directory, the driver can export an interface +to userspace to control operation of the driver on a global basis; +e.g. toggling debugging output in the driver. + +A future feature of this directory will be a 'devices' directory. This +directory will contain symlinks to the directories of devices it +supports. + + + +Callbacks +~~~~~~~~~ + +:: + + int (*probe) (struct device *dev); + +The probe() entry is called in task context, with the bus's rwsem locked +and the driver partially bound to the device. Drivers commonly use +container_of() to convert "dev" to a bus-specific type, both in probe() +and other routines. That type often provides device resource data, such +as pci_dev.resource[] or platform_device.resources, which is used in +addition to dev->platform_data to initialize the driver. + +This callback holds the driver-specific logic to bind the driver to a +given device. That includes verifying that the device is present, that +it's a version the driver can handle, that driver data structures can +be allocated and initialized, and that any hardware can be initialized. +Drivers often store a pointer to their state with dev_set_drvdata(). +When the driver has successfully bound itself to that device, then probe() +returns zero and the driver model code will finish its part of binding +the driver to that device. + +A driver's probe() may return a negative errno value to indicate that +the driver did not bind to this device, in which case it should have +released all resources it allocated. + +Optionally, probe() may return -EPROBE_DEFER if the driver depends on +resources that are not yet available (e.g., supplied by a driver that +hasn't initialized yet). The driver core will put the device onto the +deferred probe list and will try to call it again later. If a driver +must defer, it should return -EPROBE_DEFER as early as possible to +reduce the amount of time spent on setup work that will need to be +unwound and reexecuted at a later time. + +.. warning:: + -EPROBE_DEFER must not be returned if probe() has already created + child devices, even if those child devices are removed again + in a cleanup path. If -EPROBE_DEFER is returned after a child + device has been registered, it may result in an infinite loop of + .probe() calls to the same driver. + +:: + + void (*sync_state) (struct device *dev); + +sync_state is called only once for a device. It's called when all the consumer +devices of the device have successfully probed. The list of consumers of the +device is obtained by looking at the device links connecting that device to its +consumer devices. + +The first attempt to call sync_state() is made during late_initcall_sync() to +give firmware and drivers time to link devices to each other. During the first +attempt at calling sync_state(), if all the consumers of the device at that +point in time have already probed successfully, sync_state() is called right +away. If there are no consumers of the device during the first attempt, that +too is considered as "all consumers of the device have probed" and sync_state() +is called right away. + +If during the first attempt at calling sync_state() for a device, there are +still consumers that haven't probed successfully, the sync_state() call is +postponed and reattempted in the future only when one or more consumers of the +device probe successfully. If during the reattempt, the driver core finds that +there are one or more consumers of the device that haven't probed yet, then +sync_state() call is postponed again. + +A typical use case for sync_state() is to have the kernel cleanly take over +management of devices from the bootloader. For example, if a device is left on +and at a particular hardware configuration by the bootloader, the device's +driver might need to keep the device in the boot configuration until all the +consumers of the device have probed. Once all the consumers of the device have +probed, the device's driver can synchronize the hardware state of the device to +match the aggregated software state requested by all the consumers. Hence the +name sync_state(). + +While obvious examples of resources that can benefit from sync_state() include +resources such as regulator, sync_state() can also be useful for complex +resources like IOMMUs. For example, IOMMUs with multiple consumers (devices +whose addresses are remapped by the IOMMU) might need to keep their mappings +fixed at (or additive to) the boot configuration until all its consumers have +probed. + +While the typical use case for sync_state() is to have the kernel cleanly take +over management of devices from the bootloader, the usage of sync_state() is +not restricted to that. Use it whenever it makes sense to take an action after +all the consumers of a device have probed:: + + int (*remove) (struct device *dev); + +remove is called to unbind a driver from a device. This may be +called if a device is physically removed from the system, if the +driver module is being unloaded, during a reboot sequence, or +in other cases. + +It is up to the driver to determine if the device is present or +not. It should free any resources allocated specifically for the +device; i.e. anything in the device's driver_data field. + +If the device is still present, it should quiesce the device and place +it into a supported low-power state. + +:: + + int (*suspend) (struct device *dev, pm_message_t state); + +suspend is called to put the device in a low power state. + +:: + + int (*resume) (struct device *dev); + +Resume is used to bring a device back from a low power state. + + +Attributes +~~~~~~~~~~ + +:: + + struct driver_attribute { + struct attribute attr; + ssize_t (*show)(struct device_driver *driver, char *buf); + ssize_t (*store)(struct device_driver *, const char *buf, size_t count); + }; + +Device drivers can export attributes via their sysfs directories. +Drivers can declare attributes using a DRIVER_ATTR_RW and DRIVER_ATTR_RO +macro that works identically to the DEVICE_ATTR_RW and DEVICE_ATTR_RO +macros. + +Example:: + + DRIVER_ATTR_RW(debug); + +This is equivalent to declaring:: + + struct driver_attribute driver_attr_debug; + +This can then be used to add and remove the attribute from the +driver's directory using:: + + int driver_create_file(struct device_driver *, const struct driver_attribute *); + void driver_remove_file(struct device_driver *, const struct driver_attribute *); |