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+.. _usb-hostside-api:
+
+===========================
+The Linux-USB Host Side API
+===========================
+
+Introduction to USB on Linux
+============================
+
+A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is used to connect a host, such as a PC or
+workstation, to a number of peripheral devices. USB uses a tree
+structure, with the host as the root (the system's master), hubs as
+interior nodes, and peripherals as leaves (and slaves). Modern PCs
+support several such trees of USB devices, usually
+a few USB 3.0 (5 GBit/s) or USB 3.1 (10 GBit/s) and some legacy
+USB 2.0 (480 MBit/s) busses just in case.
+
+That master/slave asymmetry was designed-in for a number of reasons, one
+being ease of use. It is not physically possible to mistake upstream and
+downstream or it does not matter with a type C plug (or they are built into the
+peripheral). Also, the host software doesn't need to deal with
+distributed auto-configuration since the pre-designated master node
+manages all that.
+
+Kernel developers added USB support to Linux early in the 2.2 kernel
+series and have been developing it further since then. Besides support
+for each new generation of USB, various host controllers gained support,
+new drivers for peripherals have been added and advanced features for latency
+measurement and improved power management introduced.
+
+Linux can run inside USB devices as well as on the hosts that control
+the devices. But USB device drivers running inside those peripherals
+don't do the same things as the ones running inside hosts, so they've
+been given a different name: *gadget drivers*. This document does not
+cover gadget drivers.
+
+USB Host-Side API Model
+=======================
+
+Host-side drivers for USB devices talk to the "usbcore" APIs. There are
+two. One is intended for *general-purpose* drivers (exposed through
+driver frameworks), and the other is for drivers that are *part of the
+core*. Such core drivers include the *hub* driver (which manages trees
+of USB devices) and several different kinds of *host controller
+drivers*, which control individual busses.
+
+The device model seen by USB drivers is relatively complex.
+
+- USB supports four kinds of data transfers (control, bulk, interrupt,
+ and isochronous). Two of them (control and bulk) use bandwidth as
+ it's available, while the other two (interrupt and isochronous) are
+ scheduled to provide guaranteed bandwidth.
+
+- The device description model includes one or more "configurations"
+ per device, only one of which is active at a time. Devices are supposed
+ to be capable of operating at lower than their top
+ speeds and may provide a BOS descriptor showing the lowest speed they
+ remain fully operational at.
+
+- From USB 3.0 on configurations have one or more "functions", which
+ provide a common functionality and are grouped together for purposes
+ of power management.
+
+- Configurations or functions have one or more "interfaces", each of which may have
+ "alternate settings". Interfaces may be standardized by USB "Class"
+ specifications, or may be specific to a vendor or device.
+
+ USB device drivers actually bind to interfaces, not devices. Think of
+ them as "interface drivers", though you may not see many devices
+ where the distinction is important. *Most USB devices are simple,
+ with only one function, one configuration, one interface, and one alternate
+ setting.*
+
+- Interfaces have one or more "endpoints", each of which supports one
+ type and direction of data transfer such as "bulk out" or "interrupt
+ in". The entire configuration may have up to sixteen endpoints in
+ each direction, allocated as needed among all the interfaces.
+
+- Data transfer on USB is packetized; each endpoint has a maximum
+ packet size. Drivers must often be aware of conventions such as
+ flagging the end of bulk transfers using "short" (including zero
+ length) packets.
+
+- The Linux USB API supports synchronous calls for control and bulk
+ messages. It also supports asynchronous calls for all kinds of data
+ transfer, using request structures called "URBs" (USB Request
+ Blocks).
+
+Accordingly, the USB Core API exposed to device drivers covers quite a
+lot of territory. You'll probably need to consult the USB 3.0
+specification, available online from www.usb.org at no cost, as well as
+class or device specifications.
+
+The only host-side drivers that actually touch hardware (reading/writing
+registers, handling IRQs, and so on) are the HCDs. In theory, all HCDs
+provide the same functionality through the same API. In practice, that's
+becoming more true, but there are still differences
+that crop up especially with fault handling on the less common controllers.
+Different controllers don't
+necessarily report the same aspects of failures, and recovery from
+faults (including software-induced ones like unlinking an URB) isn't yet
+fully consistent. Device driver authors should make a point of doing
+disconnect testing (while the device is active) with each different host
+controller driver, to make sure drivers don't have bugs of their own as
+well as to make sure they aren't relying on some HCD-specific behavior.
+
+.. _usb_chapter9:
+
+USB-Standard Types
+==================
+
+In ``<linux/usb/ch9.h>`` you will find the USB data types defined in
+chapter 9 of the USB specification. These data types are used throughout
+USB, and in APIs including this host side API, gadget APIs, usb character
+devices and debugfs interfaces.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/usb/ch9.h
+ :internal:
+
+.. _usb_header:
+
+Host-Side Data Types and Macros
+===============================
+
+The host side API exposes several layers to drivers, some of which are
+more necessary than others. These support lifecycle models for host side
+drivers and devices, and support passing buffers through usbcore to some
+HCD that performs the I/O for the device driver.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/usb.h
+ :internal:
+
+USB Core APIs
+=============
+
+There are two basic I/O models in the USB API. The most elemental one is
+asynchronous: drivers submit requests in the form of an URB, and the
+URB's completion callback handles the next step. All USB transfer types
+support that model, although there are special cases for control URBs
+(which always have setup and status stages, but may not have a data
+stage) and isochronous URBs (which allow large packets and include
+per-packet fault reports). Built on top of that is synchronous API
+support, where a driver calls a routine that allocates one or more URBs,
+submits them, and waits until they complete. There are synchronous
+wrappers for single-buffer control and bulk transfers (which are awkward
+to use in some driver disconnect scenarios), and for scatterlist based
+streaming i/o (bulk or interrupt).
+
+USB drivers need to provide buffers that can be used for DMA, although
+they don't necessarily need to provide the DMA mapping themselves. There
+are APIs to use used when allocating DMA buffers, which can prevent use
+of bounce buffers on some systems. In some cases, drivers may be able to
+rely on 64bit DMA to eliminate another kind of bounce buffer.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/urb.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/message.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/file.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/driver.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/usb.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/hub.c
+ :export:
+
+Host Controller APIs
+====================
+
+These APIs are only for use by host controller drivers, most of which
+implement standard register interfaces such as XHCI, EHCI, OHCI, or UHCI. UHCI
+was one of the first interfaces, designed by Intel and also used by VIA;
+it doesn't do much in hardware. OHCI was designed later, to have the
+hardware do more work (bigger transfers, tracking protocol state, and so
+on). EHCI was designed with USB 2.0; its design has features that
+resemble OHCI (hardware does much more work) as well as UHCI (some parts
+of ISO support, TD list processing). XHCI was designed with USB 3.0. It
+continues to shift support for functionality into hardware.
+
+There are host controllers other than the "big three", although most PCI
+based controllers (and a few non-PCI based ones) use one of those
+interfaces. Not all host controllers use DMA; some use PIO, and there is
+also a simulator and a virtual host controller to pipe USB over the network.
+
+The same basic APIs are available to drivers for all those controllers.
+For historical reasons they are in two layers: :c:type:`struct
+usb_bus <usb_bus>` is a rather thin layer that became available
+in the 2.2 kernels, while :c:type:`struct usb_hcd <usb_hcd>`
+is a more featureful layer
+that lets HCDs share common code, to shrink driver size and
+significantly reduce hcd-specific behaviors.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/hcd.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/hcd-pci.c
+ :export:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/buffer.c
+ :internal:
+
+The USB character device nodes
+==============================
+
+This chapter presents the Linux character device nodes. You may prefer
+to avoid writing new kernel code for your USB driver. User mode device
+drivers are usually packaged as applications or libraries, and may use
+character devices through some programming library that wraps it.
+Such libraries include:
+
+ - `libusb <http://libusb.sourceforge.net>`__ for C/C++, and
+ - `jUSB <http://jUSB.sourceforge.net>`__ for Java.
+
+Some old information about it can be seen at the "USB Device Filesystem"
+section of the USB Guide. The latest copy of the USB Guide can be found
+at http://www.linux-usb.org/
+
+.. note::
+
+ - They were used to be implemented via *usbfs*, but this is not part of
+ the sysfs debug interface.
+
+ - This particular documentation is incomplete, especially with respect
+ to the asynchronous mode. As of kernel 2.5.66 the code and this
+ (new) documentation need to be cross-reviewed.
+
+What files are in "devtmpfs"?
+-----------------------------
+
+Conventionally mounted at ``/dev/bus/usb/``, usbfs features include:
+
+- ``/dev/bus/usb/BBB/DDD`` ... magic files exposing the each device's
+ configuration descriptors, and supporting a series of ioctls for
+ making device requests, including I/O to devices. (Purely for access
+ by programs.)
+
+Each bus is given a number (``BBB``) based on when it was enumerated; within
+each bus, each device is given a similar number (``DDD``). Those ``BBB/DDD``
+paths are not "stable" identifiers; expect them to change even if you
+always leave the devices plugged in to the same hub port. *Don't even
+think of saving these in application configuration files.* Stable
+identifiers are available, for user mode applications that want to use
+them. HID and networking devices expose these stable IDs, so that for
+example you can be sure that you told the right UPS to power down its
+second server. Pleast note that it doesn't (yet) expose those IDs.
+
+/dev/bus/usb/BBB/DDD
+--------------------
+
+Use these files in one of these basic ways:
+
+- *They can be read,* producing first the device descriptor (18 bytes) and
+ then the descriptors for the current configuration. See the USB 2.0 spec
+ for details about those binary data formats. You'll need to convert most
+ multibyte values from little endian format to your native host byte
+ order, although a few of the fields in the device descriptor (both of
+ the BCD-encoded fields, and the vendor and product IDs) will be
+ byteswapped for you. Note that configuration descriptors include
+ descriptors for interfaces, altsettings, endpoints, and maybe additional
+ class descriptors.
+
+- *Perform USB operations* using *ioctl()* requests to make endpoint I/O
+ requests (synchronously or asynchronously) or manage the device. These
+ requests need the ``CAP_SYS_RAWIO`` capability, as well as filesystem
+ access permissions. Only one ioctl request can be made on one of these
+ device files at a time. This means that if you are synchronously reading
+ an endpoint from one thread, you won't be able to write to a different
+ endpoint from another thread until the read completes. This works for
+ *half duplex* protocols, but otherwise you'd use asynchronous i/o
+ requests.
+
+Each connected USB device has one file. The ``BBB`` indicates the bus
+number. The ``DDD`` indicates the device address on that bus. Both
+of these numbers are assigned sequentially, and can be reused, so
+you can't rely on them for stable access to devices. For example,
+it's relatively common for devices to re-enumerate while they are
+still connected (perhaps someone jostled their power supply, hub,
+or USB cable), so a device might be ``002/027`` when you first connect
+it and ``002/048`` sometime later.
+
+These files can be read as binary data. The binary data consists
+of first the device descriptor, then the descriptors for each
+configuration of the device. Multi-byte fields in the device descriptor
+are converted to host endianness by the kernel. The configuration
+descriptors are in bus endian format! The configuration descriptor
+are wTotalLength bytes apart. If a device returns less configuration
+descriptor data than indicated by wTotalLength there will be a hole in
+the file for the missing bytes. This information is also shown
+in text form by the ``/sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices`` file, described later.
+
+These files may also be used to write user-level drivers for the USB
+devices. You would open the ``/dev/bus/usb/BBB/DDD`` file read/write,
+read its descriptors to make sure it's the device you expect, and then
+bind to an interface (or perhaps several) using an ioctl call. You
+would issue more ioctls to the device to communicate to it using
+control, bulk, or other kinds of USB transfers. The IOCTLs are
+listed in the ``<linux/usbdevice_fs.h>`` file, and at this writing the
+source code (``linux/drivers/usb/core/devio.c``) is the primary reference
+for how to access devices through those files.
+
+Note that since by default these ``BBB/DDD`` files are writable only by
+root, only root can write such user mode drivers. You can selectively
+grant read/write permissions to other users by using ``chmod``. Also,
+usbfs mount options such as ``devmode=0666`` may be helpful.
+
+
+Life Cycle of User Mode Drivers
+-------------------------------
+
+Such a driver first needs to find a device file for a device it knows
+how to handle. Maybe it was told about it because a ``/sbin/hotplug``
+event handling agent chose that driver to handle the new device. Or
+maybe it's an application that scans all the ``/dev/bus/usb`` device files,
+and ignores most devices. In either case, it should :c:func:`read()`
+all the descriptors from the device file, and check them against what it
+knows how to handle. It might just reject everything except a particular
+vendor and product ID, or need a more complex policy.
+
+Never assume there will only be one such device on the system at a time!
+If your code can't handle more than one device at a time, at least
+detect when there's more than one, and have your users choose which
+device to use.
+
+Once your user mode driver knows what device to use, it interacts with
+it in either of two styles. The simple style is to make only control
+requests; some devices don't need more complex interactions than those.
+(An example might be software using vendor-specific control requests for
+some initialization or configuration tasks, with a kernel driver for the
+rest.)
+
+More likely, you need a more complex style driver: one using non-control
+endpoints, reading or writing data and claiming exclusive use of an
+interface. *Bulk* transfers are easiest to use, but only their sibling
+*interrupt* transfers work with low speed devices. Both interrupt and
+*isochronous* transfers offer service guarantees because their bandwidth
+is reserved. Such "periodic" transfers are awkward to use through usbfs,
+unless you're using the asynchronous calls. However, interrupt transfers
+can also be used in a synchronous "one shot" style.
+
+Your user-mode driver should never need to worry about cleaning up
+request state when the device is disconnected, although it should close
+its open file descriptors as soon as it starts seeing the ENODEV errors.
+
+The ioctl() Requests
+--------------------
+
+To use these ioctls, you need to include the following headers in your
+userspace program::
+
+ #include <linux/usb.h>
+ #include <linux/usbdevice_fs.h>
+ #include <asm/byteorder.h>
+
+The standard USB device model requests, from "Chapter 9" of the USB 2.0
+specification, are automatically included from the ``<linux/usb/ch9.h>``
+header.
+
+Unless noted otherwise, the ioctl requests described here will update
+the modification time on the usbfs file to which they are applied
+(unless they fail). A return of zero indicates success; otherwise, a
+standard USB error code is returned (These are documented in
+:ref:`usb-error-codes`).
+
+Each of these files multiplexes access to several I/O streams, one per
+endpoint. Each device has one control endpoint (endpoint zero) which
+supports a limited RPC style RPC access. Devices are configured by
+hub_wq (in the kernel) setting a device-wide *configuration* that
+affects things like power consumption and basic functionality. The
+endpoints are part of USB *interfaces*, which may have *altsettings*
+affecting things like which endpoints are available. Many devices only
+have a single configuration and interface, so drivers for them will
+ignore configurations and altsettings.
+
+Management/Status Requests
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A number of usbfs requests don't deal very directly with device I/O.
+They mostly relate to device management and status. These are all
+synchronous requests.
+
+USBDEVFS_CLAIMINTERFACE
+ This is used to force usbfs to claim a specific interface, which has
+ not previously been claimed by usbfs or any other kernel driver. The
+ ioctl parameter is an integer holding the number of the interface
+ (bInterfaceNumber from descriptor).
+
+ Note that if your driver doesn't claim an interface before trying to
+ use one of its endpoints, and no other driver has bound to it, then
+ the interface is automatically claimed by usbfs.
+
+ This claim will be released by a RELEASEINTERFACE ioctl, or by
+ closing the file descriptor. File modification time is not updated
+ by this request.
+
+USBDEVFS_CONNECTINFO
+ Says whether the device is lowspeed. The ioctl parameter points to a
+ structure like this::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_connectinfo {
+ unsigned int devnum;
+ unsigned char slow;
+ };
+
+ File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+ *You can't tell whether a "not slow" device is connected at high
+ speed (480 MBit/sec) or just full speed (12 MBit/sec).* You should
+ know the devnum value already, it's the DDD value of the device file
+ name.
+
+USBDEVFS_GETDRIVER
+ Returns the name of the kernel driver bound to a given interface (a
+ string). Parameter is a pointer to this structure, which is
+ modified::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_getdriver {
+ unsigned int interface;
+ char driver[USBDEVFS_MAXDRIVERNAME + 1];
+ };
+
+ File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+USBDEVFS_IOCTL
+ Passes a request from userspace through to a kernel driver that has
+ an ioctl entry in the *struct usb_driver* it registered::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_ioctl {
+ int ifno;
+ int ioctl_code;
+ void *data;
+ };
+
+ /* user mode call looks like this.
+ * 'request' becomes the driver->ioctl() 'code' parameter.
+ * the size of 'param' is encoded in 'request', and that data
+ * is copied to or from the driver->ioctl() 'buf' parameter.
+ */
+ static int
+ usbdev_ioctl (int fd, int ifno, unsigned request, void *param)
+ {
+ struct usbdevfs_ioctl wrapper;
+
+ wrapper.ifno = ifno;
+ wrapper.ioctl_code = request;
+ wrapper.data = param;
+
+ return ioctl (fd, USBDEVFS_IOCTL, &wrapper);
+ }
+
+ File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+ This request lets kernel drivers talk to user mode code through
+ filesystem operations even when they don't create a character or
+ block special device. It's also been used to do things like ask
+ devices what device special file should be used. Two pre-defined
+ ioctls are used to disconnect and reconnect kernel drivers, so that
+ user mode code can completely manage binding and configuration of
+ devices.
+
+USBDEVFS_RELEASEINTERFACE
+ This is used to release the claim usbfs made on interface, either
+ implicitly or because of a USBDEVFS_CLAIMINTERFACE call, before the
+ file descriptor is closed. The ioctl parameter is an integer holding
+ the number of the interface (bInterfaceNumber from descriptor); File
+ modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+ .. warning::
+
+ *No security check is made to ensure that the task which made
+ the claim is the one which is releasing it. This means that user
+ mode driver may interfere other ones.*
+
+USBDEVFS_RESETEP
+ Resets the data toggle value for an endpoint (bulk or interrupt) to
+ DATA0. The ioctl parameter is an integer endpoint number (1 to 15,
+ as identified in the endpoint descriptor), with USB_DIR_IN added
+ if the device's endpoint sends data to the host.
+
+ .. Warning::
+
+ *Avoid using this request. It should probably be removed.* Using
+ it typically means the device and driver will lose toggle
+ synchronization. If you really lost synchronization, you likely
+ need to completely handshake with the device, using a request
+ like CLEAR_HALT or SET_INTERFACE.
+
+USBDEVFS_DROP_PRIVILEGES
+ This is used to relinquish the ability to do certain operations
+ which are considered to be privileged on a usbfs file descriptor.
+ This includes claiming arbitrary interfaces, resetting a device on
+ which there are currently claimed interfaces from other users, and
+ issuing USBDEVFS_IOCTL calls. The ioctl parameter is a 32 bit mask
+ of interfaces the user is allowed to claim on this file descriptor.
+ You may issue this ioctl more than one time to narrow said mask.
+
+Synchronous I/O Support
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Synchronous requests involve the kernel blocking until the user mode
+request completes, either by finishing successfully or by reporting an
+error. In most cases this is the simplest way to use usbfs, although as
+noted above it does prevent performing I/O to more than one endpoint at
+a time.
+
+USBDEVFS_BULK
+ Issues a bulk read or write request to the device. The ioctl
+ parameter is a pointer to this structure::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_bulktransfer {
+ unsigned int ep;
+ unsigned int len;
+ unsigned int timeout; /* in milliseconds */
+ void *data;
+ };
+
+ The ``ep`` value identifies a bulk endpoint number (1 to 15, as
+ identified in an endpoint descriptor), masked with USB_DIR_IN when
+ referring to an endpoint which sends data to the host from the
+ device. The length of the data buffer is identified by ``len``; Recent
+ kernels support requests up to about 128KBytes. *FIXME say how read
+ length is returned, and how short reads are handled.*.
+
+USBDEVFS_CLEAR_HALT
+ Clears endpoint halt (stall) and resets the endpoint toggle. This is
+ only meaningful for bulk or interrupt endpoints. The ioctl parameter
+ is an integer endpoint number (1 to 15, as identified in an endpoint
+ descriptor), masked with USB_DIR_IN when referring to an endpoint
+ which sends data to the host from the device.
+
+ Use this on bulk or interrupt endpoints which have stalled,
+ returning ``-EPIPE`` status to a data transfer request. Do not issue
+ the control request directly, since that could invalidate the host's
+ record of the data toggle.
+
+USBDEVFS_CONTROL
+ Issues a control request to the device. The ioctl parameter points
+ to a structure like this::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_ctrltransfer {
+ __u8 bRequestType;
+ __u8 bRequest;
+ __u16 wValue;
+ __u16 wIndex;
+ __u16 wLength;
+ __u32 timeout; /* in milliseconds */
+ void *data;
+ };
+
+ The first eight bytes of this structure are the contents of the
+ SETUP packet to be sent to the device; see the USB 2.0 specification
+ for details. The bRequestType value is composed by combining a
+ ``USB_TYPE_*`` value, a ``USB_DIR_*`` value, and a ``USB_RECIP_*``
+ value (from ``linux/usb.h``). If wLength is nonzero, it describes
+ the length of the data buffer, which is either written to the device
+ (USB_DIR_OUT) or read from the device (USB_DIR_IN).
+
+ At this writing, you can't transfer more than 4 KBytes of data to or
+ from a device; usbfs has a limit, and some host controller drivers
+ have a limit. (That's not usually a problem.) *Also* there's no way
+ to say it's not OK to get a short read back from the device.
+
+USBDEVFS_RESET
+ Does a USB level device reset. The ioctl parameter is ignored. After
+ the reset, this rebinds all device interfaces. File modification
+ time is not updated by this request.
+
+.. warning::
+
+ *Avoid using this call* until some usbcore bugs get fixed, since
+ it does not fully synchronize device, interface, and driver (not
+ just usbfs) state.
+
+USBDEVFS_SETINTERFACE
+ Sets the alternate setting for an interface. The ioctl parameter is
+ a pointer to a structure like this::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_setinterface {
+ unsigned int interface;
+ unsigned int altsetting;
+ };
+
+ File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+ Those struct members are from some interface descriptor applying to
+ the current configuration. The interface number is the
+ bInterfaceNumber value, and the altsetting number is the
+ bAlternateSetting value. (This resets each endpoint in the
+ interface.)
+
+USBDEVFS_SETCONFIGURATION
+ Issues the :c:func:`usb_set_configuration()` call for the
+ device. The parameter is an integer holding the number of a
+ configuration (bConfigurationValue from descriptor). File
+ modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+.. warning::
+
+ *Avoid using this call* until some usbcore bugs get fixed, since
+ it does not fully synchronize device, interface, and driver (not
+ just usbfs) state.
+
+Asynchronous I/O Support
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+As mentioned above, there are situations where it may be important to
+initiate concurrent operations from user mode code. This is particularly
+important for periodic transfers (interrupt and isochronous), but it can
+be used for other kinds of USB requests too. In such cases, the
+asynchronous requests described here are essential. Rather than
+submitting one request and having the kernel block until it completes,
+the blocking is separate.
+
+These requests are packaged into a structure that resembles the URB used
+by kernel device drivers. (No POSIX Async I/O support here, sorry.) It
+identifies the endpoint type (``USBDEVFS_URB_TYPE_*``), endpoint
+(number, masked with USB_DIR_IN as appropriate), buffer and length,
+and a user "context" value serving to uniquely identify each request.
+(It's usually a pointer to per-request data.) Flags can modify requests
+(not as many as supported for kernel drivers).
+
+Each request can specify a realtime signal number (between SIGRTMIN and
+SIGRTMAX, inclusive) to request a signal be sent when the request
+completes.
+
+When usbfs returns these urbs, the status value is updated, and the
+buffer may have been modified. Except for isochronous transfers, the
+actual_length is updated to say how many bytes were transferred; if the
+USBDEVFS_URB_DISABLE_SPD flag is set ("short packets are not OK"), if
+fewer bytes were read than were requested then you get an error report::
+
+ struct usbdevfs_iso_packet_desc {
+ unsigned int length;
+ unsigned int actual_length;
+ unsigned int status;
+ };
+
+ struct usbdevfs_urb {
+ unsigned char type;
+ unsigned char endpoint;
+ int status;
+ unsigned int flags;
+ void *buffer;
+ int buffer_length;
+ int actual_length;
+ int start_frame;
+ int number_of_packets;
+ int error_count;
+ unsigned int signr;
+ void *usercontext;
+ struct usbdevfs_iso_packet_desc iso_frame_desc[];
+ };
+
+For these asynchronous requests, the file modification time reflects
+when the request was initiated. This contrasts with their use with the
+synchronous requests, where it reflects when requests complete.
+
+USBDEVFS_DISCARDURB
+ *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+USBDEVFS_DISCSIGNAL
+ *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+USBDEVFS_REAPURB
+ *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+USBDEVFS_REAPURBNDELAY
+ *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request.
+
+USBDEVFS_SUBMITURB
+ *TBS*
+
+The USB devices
+===============
+
+The USB devices are now exported via debugfs:
+
+- ``/sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices`` ... a text file showing each of the USB
+ devices on known to the kernel, and their configuration descriptors.
+ You can also poll() this to learn about new devices.
+
+/sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices
+-----------------------------
+
+This file is handy for status viewing tools in user mode, which can scan
+the text format and ignore most of it. More detailed device status
+(including class and vendor status) is available from device-specific
+files. For information about the current format of this file, see below.
+
+This file, in combination with the poll() system call, can also be used
+to detect when devices are added or removed::
+
+ int fd;
+ struct pollfd pfd;
+
+ fd = open("/sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices", O_RDONLY);
+ pfd = { fd, POLLIN, 0 };
+ for (;;) {
+ /* The first time through, this call will return immediately. */
+ poll(&pfd, 1, -1);
+
+ /* To see what's changed, compare the file's previous and current
+ contents or scan the filesystem. (Scanning is more precise.) */
+ }
+
+Note that this behavior is intended to be used for informational and
+debug purposes. It would be more appropriate to use programs such as
+udev or HAL to initialize a device or start a user-mode helper program,
+for instance.
+
+In this file, each device's output has multiple lines of ASCII output.
+
+I made it ASCII instead of binary on purpose, so that someone
+can obtain some useful data from it without the use of an
+auxiliary program. However, with an auxiliary program, the numbers
+in the first 4 columns of each ``T:`` line (topology info:
+Lev, Prnt, Port, Cnt) can be used to build a USB topology diagram.
+
+Each line is tagged with a one-character ID for that line::
+
+ T = Topology (etc.)
+ B = Bandwidth (applies only to USB host controllers, which are
+ virtualized as root hubs)
+ D = Device descriptor info.
+ P = Product ID info. (from Device descriptor, but they won't fit
+ together on one line)
+ S = String descriptors.
+ C = Configuration descriptor info. (* = active configuration)
+ I = Interface descriptor info.
+ E = Endpoint descriptor info.
+
+/sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices output format
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Legend::
+ d = decimal number (may have leading spaces or 0's)
+ x = hexadecimal number (may have leading spaces or 0's)
+ s = string
+
+
+
+Topology info
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+::
+
+ T: Bus=dd Lev=dd Prnt=dd Port=dd Cnt=dd Dev#=ddd Spd=dddd MxCh=dd
+ | | | | | | | | |__MaxChildren
+ | | | | | | | |__Device Speed in Mbps
+ | | | | | | |__DeviceNumber
+ | | | | | |__Count of devices at this level
+ | | | | |__Connector/Port on Parent for this device
+ | | | |__Parent DeviceNumber
+ | | |__Level in topology for this bus
+ | |__Bus number
+ |__Topology info tag
+
+Speed may be:
+
+ ======= ======================================================
+ 1.5 Mbit/s for low speed USB
+ 12 Mbit/s for full speed USB
+ 480 Mbit/s for high speed USB (added for USB 2.0);
+ also used for Wireless USB, which has no fixed speed
+ 5000 Mbit/s for SuperSpeed USB (added for USB 3.0)
+ ======= ======================================================
+
+For reasons lost in the mists of time, the Port number is always
+too low by 1. For example, a device plugged into port 4 will
+show up with ``Port=03``.
+
+Bandwidth info
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+::
+
+ B: Alloc=ddd/ddd us (xx%), #Int=ddd, #Iso=ddd
+ | | | |__Number of isochronous requests
+ | | |__Number of interrupt requests
+ | |__Total Bandwidth allocated to this bus
+ |__Bandwidth info tag
+
+Bandwidth allocation is an approximation of how much of one frame
+(millisecond) is in use. It reflects only periodic transfers, which
+are the only transfers that reserve bandwidth. Control and bulk
+transfers use all other bandwidth, including reserved bandwidth that
+is not used for transfers (such as for short packets).
+
+The percentage is how much of the "reserved" bandwidth is scheduled by
+those transfers. For a low or full speed bus (loosely, "USB 1.1"),
+90% of the bus bandwidth is reserved. For a high speed bus (loosely,
+"USB 2.0") 80% is reserved.
+
+
+Device descriptor info & Product ID info
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+::
+
+ D: Ver=x.xx Cls=xx(s) Sub=xx Prot=xx MxPS=dd #Cfgs=dd
+ P: Vendor=xxxx ProdID=xxxx Rev=xx.xx
+
+where::
+
+ D: Ver=x.xx Cls=xx(sssss) Sub=xx Prot=xx MxPS=dd #Cfgs=dd
+ | | | | | | |__NumberConfigurations
+ | | | | | |__MaxPacketSize of Default Endpoint
+ | | | | |__DeviceProtocol
+ | | | |__DeviceSubClass
+ | | |__DeviceClass
+ | |__Device USB version
+ |__Device info tag #1
+
+where::
+
+ P: Vendor=xxxx ProdID=xxxx Rev=xx.xx
+ | | | |__Product revision number
+ | | |__Product ID code
+ | |__Vendor ID code
+ |__Device info tag #2
+
+
+String descriptor info
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+::
+
+ S: Manufacturer=ssss
+ | |__Manufacturer of this device as read from the device.
+ | For USB host controller drivers (virtual root hubs) this may
+ | be omitted, or (for newer drivers) will identify the kernel
+ | version and the driver which provides this hub emulation.
+ |__String info tag
+
+ S: Product=ssss
+ | |__Product description of this device as read from the device.
+ | For older USB host controller drivers (virtual root hubs) this
+ | indicates the driver; for newer ones, it's a product (and vendor)
+ | description that often comes from the kernel's PCI ID database.
+ |__String info tag
+
+ S: SerialNumber=ssss
+ | |__Serial Number of this device as read from the device.
+ | For USB host controller drivers (virtual root hubs) this is
+ | some unique ID, normally a bus ID (address or slot name) that
+ | can't be shared with any other device.
+ |__String info tag
+
+
+
+Configuration descriptor info
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+::
+
+ C:* #Ifs=dd Cfg#=dd Atr=xx MPwr=dddmA
+ | | | | | |__MaxPower in mA
+ | | | | |__Attributes
+ | | | |__ConfiguratioNumber
+ | | |__NumberOfInterfaces
+ | |__ "*" indicates the active configuration (others are " ")
+ |__Config info tag
+
+USB devices may have multiple configurations, each of which act
+rather differently. For example, a bus-powered configuration
+might be much less capable than one that is self-powered. Only
+one device configuration can be active at a time; most devices
+have only one configuration.
+
+Each configuration consists of one or more interfaces. Each
+interface serves a distinct "function", which is typically bound
+to a different USB device driver. One common example is a USB
+speaker with an audio interface for playback, and a HID interface
+for use with software volume control.
+
+Interface descriptor info (can be multiple per Config)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+::
+
+ I:* If#=dd Alt=dd #EPs=dd Cls=xx(sssss) Sub=xx Prot=xx Driver=ssss
+ | | | | | | | | |__Driver name
+ | | | | | | | | or "(none)"
+ | | | | | | | |__InterfaceProtocol
+ | | | | | | |__InterfaceSubClass
+ | | | | | |__InterfaceClass
+ | | | | |__NumberOfEndpoints
+ | | | |__AlternateSettingNumber
+ | | |__InterfaceNumber
+ | |__ "*" indicates the active altsetting (others are " ")
+ |__Interface info tag
+
+A given interface may have one or more "alternate" settings.
+For example, default settings may not use more than a small
+amount of periodic bandwidth. To use significant fractions
+of bus bandwidth, drivers must select a non-default altsetting.
+
+Only one setting for an interface may be active at a time, and
+only one driver may bind to an interface at a time. Most devices
+have only one alternate setting per interface.
+
+
+Endpoint descriptor info (can be multiple per Interface)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+::
+
+ E: Ad=xx(s) Atr=xx(ssss) MxPS=dddd Ivl=dddss
+ | | | | |__Interval (max) between transfers
+ | | | |__EndpointMaxPacketSize
+ | | |__Attributes(EndpointType)
+ | |__EndpointAddress(I=In,O=Out)
+ |__Endpoint info tag
+
+The interval is nonzero for all periodic (interrupt or isochronous)
+endpoints. For high speed endpoints the transfer interval may be
+measured in microseconds rather than milliseconds.
+
+For high speed periodic endpoints, the ``EndpointMaxPacketSize`` reflects
+the per-microframe data transfer size. For "high bandwidth"
+endpoints, that can reflect two or three packets (for up to
+3KBytes every 125 usec) per endpoint.
+
+With the Linux-USB stack, periodic bandwidth reservations use the
+transfer intervals and sizes provided by URBs, which can be less
+than those found in endpoint descriptor.
+
+Usage examples
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If a user or script is interested only in Topology info, for
+example, use something like ``grep ^T: /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices``
+for only the Topology lines. A command like
+``grep -i ^[tdp]: /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices`` can be used to list
+only the lines that begin with the characters in square brackets,
+where the valid characters are TDPCIE. With a slightly more able
+script, it can display any selected lines (for example, only T, D,
+and P lines) and change their output format. (The ``procusb``
+Perl script is the beginning of this idea. It will list only
+selected lines [selected from TBDPSCIE] or "All" lines from
+``/sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices``.)
+
+The Topology lines can be used to generate a graphic/pictorial
+of the USB devices on a system's root hub. (See more below
+on how to do this.)
+
+The Interface lines can be used to determine what driver is
+being used for each device, and which altsetting it activated.
+
+The Configuration lines could be used to list maximum power
+(in milliamps) that a system's USB devices are using.
+For example, ``grep ^C: /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices``.
+
+
+Here's an example, from a system which has a UHCI root hub,
+an external hub connected to the root hub, and a mouse and
+a serial converter connected to the external hub.
+
+::
+
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
+ B: Alloc= 28/900 us ( 3%), #Int= 2, #Iso= 0
+ D: Ver= 1.00 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
+ P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 0.00
+ S: Product=USB UHCI Root Hub
+ S: SerialNumber=dce0
+ C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=40 MxPwr= 0mA
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
+ E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 8 Ivl=255ms
+
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=12 MxCh= 4
+ D: Ver= 1.00 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
+ P: Vendor=0451 ProdID=1446 Rev= 1.00
+ C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=100mA
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
+ E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 1 Ivl=255ms
+
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 3 Spd=1.5 MxCh= 0
+ D: Ver= 1.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
+ P: Vendor=04b4 ProdID=0001 Rev= 0.00
+ C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=100mA
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=01 Prot=02 Driver=mouse
+ E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 3 Ivl= 10ms
+
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=02 Cnt=02 Dev#= 4 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
+ D: Ver= 1.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
+ P: Vendor=0565 ProdID=0001 Rev= 1.08
+ S: Manufacturer=Peracom Networks, Inc.
+ S: Product=Peracom USB to Serial Converter
+ C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=100mA
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=serial
+ E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl= 16ms
+ E: Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 16 Ivl= 16ms
+ E: Ad=82(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 8 Ivl= 8ms
+
+
+Selecting only the ``T:`` and ``I:`` lines from this (for example, by using
+``procusb ti``), we have
+
+::
+
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=12 MxCh= 4
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 3 Spd=1.5 MxCh= 0
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=01 Prot=02 Driver=mouse
+ T: Bus=00 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=02 Cnt=02 Dev#= 4 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
+ I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=serial
+
+
+Physically this looks like (or could be converted to)::
+
+ +------------------+
+ | PC/root_hub (12)| Dev# = 1
+ +------------------+ (nn) is Mbps.
+ Level 0 | CN.0 | CN.1 | [CN = connector/port #]
+ +------------------+
+ /
+ /
+ +-----------------------+
+ Level 1 | Dev#2: 4-port hub (12)|
+ +-----------------------+
+ |CN.0 |CN.1 |CN.2 |CN.3 |
+ +-----------------------+
+ \ \____________________
+ \_____ \
+ \ \
+ +--------------------+ +--------------------+
+ Level 2 | Dev# 3: mouse (1.5)| | Dev# 4: serial (12)|
+ +--------------------+ +--------------------+
+
+
+
+Or, in a more tree-like structure (ports [Connectors] without
+connections could be omitted)::
+
+ PC: Dev# 1, root hub, 2 ports, 12 Mbps
+ |_ CN.0: Dev# 2, hub, 4 ports, 12 Mbps
+ |_ CN.0: Dev #3, mouse, 1.5 Mbps
+ |_ CN.1:
+ |_ CN.2: Dev #4, serial, 12 Mbps
+ |_ CN.3:
+ |_ CN.1: