diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/spufs/spufs.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/spufs/spufs.rst | 273 |
1 files changed, 273 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/spufs/spufs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/spufs/spufs.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..8a42859bb --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/spufs/spufs.rst @@ -0,0 +1,273 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +===== +spufs +===== + +Name +==== + + spufs - the SPU file system + + +Description +=========== + + The SPU file system is used on PowerPC machines that implement the Cell + Broadband Engine Architecture in order to access Synergistic Processor + Units (SPUs). + + The file system provides a name space similar to posix shared memory or + message queues. Users that have write permissions on the file system + can use spu_create(2) to establish SPU contexts in the spufs root. + + Every SPU context is represented by a directory containing a predefined + set of files. These files can be used for manipulating the state of the + logical SPU. Users can change permissions on those files, but not actu- + ally add or remove files. + + +Mount Options +============= + + uid=<uid> + set the user owning the mount point, the default is 0 (root). + + gid=<gid> + set the group owning the mount point, the default is 0 (root). + + +Files +===== + + The files in spufs mostly follow the standard behavior for regular sys- + tem calls like read(2) or write(2), but often support only a subset of + the operations supported on regular file systems. This list details the + supported operations and the deviations from the behaviour in the + respective man pages. + + All files that support the read(2) operation also support readv(2) and + all files that support the write(2) operation also support writev(2). + All files support the access(2) and stat(2) family of operations, but + only the st_mode, st_nlink, st_uid and st_gid fields of struct stat + contain reliable information. + + All files support the chmod(2)/fchmod(2) and chown(2)/fchown(2) opera- + tions, but will not be able to grant permissions that contradict the + possible operations, e.g. read access on the wbox file. + + The current set of files is: + + + /mem + the contents of the local storage memory of the SPU. This can be + accessed like a regular shared memory file and contains both code and + data in the address space of the SPU. The possible operations on an + open mem file are: + + read(2), pread(2), write(2), pwrite(2), lseek(2) + These operate as documented, with the exception that seek(2), + write(2) and pwrite(2) are not supported beyond the end of the + file. The file size is the size of the local storage of the SPU, + which normally is 256 kilobytes. + + mmap(2) + Mapping mem into the process address space gives access to the + SPU local storage within the process address space. Only + MAP_SHARED mappings are allowed. + + + /mbox + The first SPU to CPU communication mailbox. This file is read-only and + can be read in units of 32 bits. The file can only be used in non- + blocking mode and it even poll() will not block on it. The possible + operations on an open mbox file are: + + read(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, read returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. If there is no data available in the mail + box, the return value is set to -1 and errno becomes EAGAIN. + When data has been read successfully, four bytes are placed in + the data buffer and the value four is returned. + + + /ibox + The second SPU to CPU communication mailbox. This file is similar to + the first mailbox file, but can be read in blocking I/O mode, and the + poll family of system calls can be used to wait for it. The possible + operations on an open ibox file are: + + read(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, read returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. If there is no data available in the mail + box and the file descriptor has been opened with O_NONBLOCK, the + return value is set to -1 and errno becomes EAGAIN. + + If there is no data available in the mail box and the file + descriptor has been opened without O_NONBLOCK, the call will + block until the SPU writes to its interrupt mailbox channel. + When data has been read successfully, four bytes are placed in + the data buffer and the value four is returned. + + poll(2) + Poll on the ibox file returns (POLLIN | POLLRDNORM) whenever + data is available for reading. + + + /wbox + The CPU to SPU communation mailbox. It is write-only and can be written + in units of 32 bits. If the mailbox is full, write() will block and + poll can be used to wait for it becoming empty again. The possible + operations on an open wbox file are: write(2) If a count smaller than + four is requested, write returns -1 and sets errno to EINVAL. If there + is no space available in the mail box and the file descriptor has been + opened with O_NONBLOCK, the return value is set to -1 and errno becomes + EAGAIN. + + If there is no space available in the mail box and the file descriptor + has been opened without O_NONBLOCK, the call will block until the SPU + reads from its PPE mailbox channel. When data has been read success- + fully, four bytes are placed in the data buffer and the value four is + returned. + + poll(2) + Poll on the ibox file returns (POLLOUT | POLLWRNORM) whenever + space is available for writing. + + + /mbox_stat, /ibox_stat, /wbox_stat + Read-only files that contain the length of the current queue, i.e. how + many words can be read from mbox or ibox or how many words can be + written to wbox without blocking. The files can be read only in 4-byte + units and return a big-endian binary integer number. The possible + operations on an open ``*box_stat`` file are: + + read(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, read returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four byte value is placed in + the data buffer, containing the number of elements that can be + read from (for mbox_stat and ibox_stat) or written to (for + wbox_stat) the respective mail box without blocking or resulting + in EAGAIN. + + + /npc, /decr, /decr_status, /spu_tag_mask, /event_mask, /srr0 + Internal registers of the SPU. The representation is an ASCII string + with the numeric value of the next instruction to be executed. These + can be used in read/write mode for debugging, but normal operation of + programs should not rely on them because access to any of them except + npc requires an SPU context save and is therefore very inefficient. + + The contents of these files are: + + =================== =================================== + npc Next Program Counter + decr SPU Decrementer + decr_status Decrementer Status + spu_tag_mask MFC tag mask for SPU DMA + event_mask Event mask for SPU interrupts + srr0 Interrupt Return address register + =================== =================================== + + + The possible operations on an open npc, decr, decr_status, + spu_tag_mask, event_mask or srr0 file are: + + read(2) + When the count supplied to the read call is shorter than the + required length for the pointer value plus a newline character, + subsequent reads from the same file descriptor will result in + completing the string, regardless of changes to the register by + a running SPU task. When a complete string has been read, all + subsequent read operations will return zero bytes and a new file + descriptor needs to be opened to read the value again. + + write(2) + A write operation on the file results in setting the register to + the value given in the string. The string is parsed from the + beginning to the first non-numeric character or the end of the + buffer. Subsequent writes to the same file descriptor overwrite + the previous setting. + + + /fpcr + This file gives access to the Floating Point Status and Control Regis- + ter as a four byte long file. The operations on the fpcr file are: + + read(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, read returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four byte value is placed in + the data buffer, containing the current value of the fpcr regis- + ter. + + write(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, write returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four byte value is copied + from the data buffer, updating the value of the fpcr register. + + + /signal1, /signal2 + The two signal notification channels of an SPU. These are read-write + files that operate on a 32 bit word. Writing to one of these files + triggers an interrupt on the SPU. The value written to the signal + files can be read from the SPU through a channel read or from host user + space through the file. After the value has been read by the SPU, it + is reset to zero. The possible operations on an open signal1 or sig- + nal2 file are: + + read(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, read returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four byte value is placed in + the data buffer, containing the current value of the specified + signal notification register. + + write(2) + If a count smaller than four is requested, write returns -1 and + sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four byte value is copied + from the data buffer, updating the value of the specified signal + notification register. The signal notification register will + either be replaced with the input data or will be updated to the + bitwise OR or the old value and the input data, depending on the + contents of the signal1_type, or signal2_type respectively, + file. + + + /signal1_type, /signal2_type + These two files change the behavior of the signal1 and signal2 notifi- + cation files. The contain a numerical ASCII string which is read as + either "1" or "0". In mode 0 (overwrite), the hardware replaces the + contents of the signal channel with the data that is written to it. in + mode 1 (logical OR), the hardware accumulates the bits that are subse- + quently written to it. The possible operations on an open signal1_type + or signal2_type file are: + + read(2) + When the count supplied to the read call is shorter than the + required length for the digit plus a newline character, subse- + quent reads from the same file descriptor will result in com- + pleting the string. When a complete string has been read, all + subsequent read operations will return zero bytes and a new file + descriptor needs to be opened to read the value again. + + write(2) + A write operation on the file results in setting the register to + the value given in the string. The string is parsed from the + beginning to the first non-numeric character or the end of the + buffer. Subsequent writes to the same file descriptor overwrite + the previous setting. + + +Examples +======== + /etc/fstab entry + none /spu spufs gid=spu 0 0 + + +Authors +======= + Arnd Bergmann <arndb@de.ibm.com>, Mark Nutter <mnutter@us.ibm.com>, + Ulrich Weigand <Ulrich.Weigand@de.ibm.com> + +See Also +======== + capabilities(7), close(2), spu_create(2), spu_run(2), spufs(7) |