summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/userspace-api/ioctl/ioctl-decoding.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/userspace-api/ioctl/ioctl-decoding.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/userspace-api/ioctl/ioctl-decoding.rst31
1 files changed, 31 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/ioctl/ioctl-decoding.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/ioctl/ioctl-decoding.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..380d6bb3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/ioctl/ioctl-decoding.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+==============================
+Decoding an IOCTL Magic Number
+==============================
+
+To decode a hex IOCTL code:
+
+Most architectures use this generic format, but check
+include/ARCH/ioctl.h for specifics, e.g. powerpc
+uses 3 bits to encode read/write and 13 bits for size.
+
+ ====== ==================================
+ bits meaning
+ ====== ==================================
+ 31-30 00 - no parameters: uses _IO macro
+ 10 - read: _IOR
+ 01 - write: _IOW
+ 11 - read/write: _IOWR
+
+ 29-16 size of arguments
+
+ 15-8 ascii character supposedly
+ unique to each driver
+
+ 7-0 function #
+ ====== ==================================
+
+
+So for example 0x82187201 is a read with arg length of 0x218,
+character 'r' function 1. Grepping the source reveals this is::
+
+ #define VFAT_IOCTL_READDIR_BOTH _IOR('r', 1, struct dirent [2])