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+============================
+Platform Devices and Drivers
+============================
+
+See <linux/platform_device.h> for the driver model interface to the
+platform bus: platform_device, and platform_driver. This pseudo-bus
+is used to connect devices on busses with minimal infrastructure,
+like those used to integrate peripherals on many system-on-chip
+processors, or some "legacy" PC interconnects; as opposed to large
+formally specified ones like PCI or USB.
+
+
+Platform devices
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Platform devices are devices that typically appear as autonomous
+entities in the system. This includes legacy port-based devices and
+host bridges to peripheral buses, and most controllers integrated
+into system-on-chip platforms. What they usually have in common
+is direct addressing from a CPU bus. Rarely, a platform_device will
+be connected through a segment of some other kind of bus; but its
+registers will still be directly addressable.
+
+Platform devices are given a name, used in driver binding, and a
+list of resources such as addresses and IRQs::
+
+ struct platform_device {
+ const char *name;
+ u32 id;
+ struct device dev;
+ u32 num_resources;
+ struct resource *resource;
+ };
+
+
+Platform drivers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Platform drivers follow the standard driver model convention, where
+discovery/enumeration is handled outside the drivers, and drivers
+provide probe() and remove() methods. They support power management
+and shutdown notifications using the standard conventions::
+
+ struct platform_driver {
+ int (*probe)(struct platform_device *);
+ int (*remove)(struct platform_device *);
+ void (*shutdown)(struct platform_device *);
+ int (*suspend)(struct platform_device *, pm_message_t state);
+ int (*suspend_late)(struct platform_device *, pm_message_t state);
+ int (*resume_early)(struct platform_device *);
+ int (*resume)(struct platform_device *);
+ struct device_driver driver;
+ };
+
+Note that probe() should in general verify that the specified device hardware
+actually exists; sometimes platform setup code can't be sure. The probing
+can use device resources, including clocks, and device platform_data.
+
+Platform drivers register themselves the normal way::
+
+ int platform_driver_register(struct platform_driver *drv);
+
+Or, in common situations where the device is known not to be hot-pluggable,
+the probe() routine can live in an init section to reduce the driver's
+runtime memory footprint::
+
+ int platform_driver_probe(struct platform_driver *drv,
+ int (*probe)(struct platform_device *))
+
+Kernel modules can be composed of several platform drivers. The platform core
+provides helpers to register and unregister an array of drivers::
+
+ int __platform_register_drivers(struct platform_driver * const *drivers,
+ unsigned int count, struct module *owner);
+ void platform_unregister_drivers(struct platform_driver * const *drivers,
+ unsigned int count);
+
+If one of the drivers fails to register, all drivers registered up to that
+point will be unregistered in reverse order. Note that there is a convenience
+macro that passes THIS_MODULE as owner parameter::
+
+ #define platform_register_drivers(drivers, count)
+
+
+Device Enumeration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+As a rule, platform specific (and often board-specific) setup code will
+register platform devices::
+
+ int platform_device_register(struct platform_device *pdev);
+
+ int platform_add_devices(struct platform_device **pdevs, int ndev);
+
+The general rule is to register only those devices that actually exist,
+but in some cases extra devices might be registered. For example, a kernel
+might be configured to work with an external network adapter that might not
+be populated on all boards, or likewise to work with an integrated controller
+that some boards might not hook up to any peripherals.
+
+In some cases, boot firmware will export tables describing the devices
+that are populated on a given board. Without such tables, often the
+only way for system setup code to set up the correct devices is to build
+a kernel for a specific target board. Such board-specific kernels are
+common with embedded and custom systems development.
+
+In many cases, the memory and IRQ resources associated with the platform
+device are not enough to let the device's driver work. Board setup code
+will often provide additional information using the device's platform_data
+field to hold additional information.
+
+Embedded systems frequently need one or more clocks for platform devices,
+which are normally kept off until they're actively needed (to save power).
+System setup also associates those clocks with the device, so that
+calls to clk_get(&pdev->dev, clock_name) return them as needed.
+
+
+Legacy Drivers: Device Probing
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Some drivers are not fully converted to the driver model, because they take
+on a non-driver role: the driver registers its platform device, rather than
+leaving that for system infrastructure. Such drivers can't be hotplugged
+or coldplugged, since those mechanisms require device creation to be in a
+different system component than the driver.
+
+The only "good" reason for this is to handle older system designs which, like
+original IBM PCs, rely on error-prone "probe-the-hardware" models for hardware
+configuration. Newer systems have largely abandoned that model, in favor of
+bus-level support for dynamic configuration (PCI, USB), or device tables
+provided by the boot firmware (e.g. PNPACPI on x86). There are too many
+conflicting options about what might be where, and even educated guesses by
+an operating system will be wrong often enough to make trouble.
+
+This style of driver is discouraged. If you're updating such a driver,
+please try to move the device enumeration to a more appropriate location,
+outside the driver. This will usually be cleanup, since such drivers
+tend to already have "normal" modes, such as ones using device nodes that
+were created by PNP or by platform device setup.
+
+None the less, there are some APIs to support such legacy drivers. Avoid
+using these calls except with such hotplug-deficient drivers::
+
+ struct platform_device *platform_device_alloc(
+ const char *name, int id);
+
+You can use platform_device_alloc() to dynamically allocate a device, which
+you will then initialize with resources and platform_device_register().
+A better solution is usually::
+
+ struct platform_device *platform_device_register_simple(
+ const char *name, int id,
+ struct resource *res, unsigned int nres);
+
+You can use platform_device_register_simple() as a one-step call to allocate
+and register a device.
+
+
+Device Naming and Driver Binding
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The platform_device.dev.bus_id is the canonical name for the devices.
+It's built from two components:
+
+ * platform_device.name ... which is also used to for driver matching.
+
+ * platform_device.id ... the device instance number, or else "-1"
+ to indicate there's only one.
+
+These are concatenated, so name/id "serial"/0 indicates bus_id "serial.0", and
+"serial/3" indicates bus_id "serial.3"; both would use the platform_driver
+named "serial". While "my_rtc"/-1 would be bus_id "my_rtc" (no instance id)
+and use the platform_driver called "my_rtc".
+
+Driver binding is performed automatically by the driver core, invoking
+driver probe() after finding a match between device and driver. If the
+probe() succeeds, the driver and device are bound as usual. There are
+three different ways to find such a match:
+
+ - Whenever a device is registered, the drivers for that bus are
+ checked for matches. Platform devices should be registered very
+ early during system boot.
+
+ - When a driver is registered using platform_driver_register(), all
+ unbound devices on that bus are checked for matches. Drivers
+ usually register later during booting, or by module loading.
+
+ - Registering a driver using platform_driver_probe() works just like
+ using platform_driver_register(), except that the driver won't
+ be probed later if another device registers. (Which is OK, since
+ this interface is only for use with non-hotpluggable devices.)
+
+
+Early Platform Devices and Drivers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The early platform interfaces provide platform data to platform device
+drivers early on during the system boot. The code is built on top of the
+early_param() command line parsing and can be executed very early on.
+
+Example: "earlyprintk" class early serial console in 6 steps
+
+1. Registering early platform device data
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code registers platform device data using the function
+early_platform_add_devices(). In the case of early serial console this
+should be hardware configuration for the serial port. Devices registered
+at this point will later on be matched against early platform drivers.
+
+2. Parsing kernel command line
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code calls parse_early_param() to parse the kernel
+command line. This will execute all matching early_param() callbacks.
+User specified early platform devices will be registered at this point.
+For the early serial console case the user can specify port on the
+kernel command line as "earlyprintk=serial.0" where "earlyprintk" is
+the class string, "serial" is the name of the platform driver and
+0 is the platform device id. If the id is -1 then the dot and the
+id can be omitted.
+
+3. Installing early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code may optionally force registration of all early
+platform drivers belonging to a certain class using the function
+early_platform_driver_register_all(). User specified devices from
+step 2 have priority over these. This step is omitted by the serial
+driver example since the early serial driver code should be disabled
+unless the user has specified port on the kernel command line.
+
+4. Early platform driver registration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Compiled-in platform drivers making use of early_platform_init() are
+automatically registered during step 2 or 3. The serial driver example
+should use early_platform_init("earlyprintk", &platform_driver).
+
+5. Probing of early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The architecture code calls early_platform_driver_probe() to match
+registered early platform devices associated with a certain class with
+registered early platform drivers. Matched devices will get probed().
+This step can be executed at any point during the early boot. As soon
+as possible may be good for the serial port case.
+
+6. Inside the early platform driver probe()
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+The driver code needs to take special care during early boot, especially
+when it comes to memory allocation and interrupt registration. The code
+in the probe() function can use is_early_platform_device() to check if
+it is called at early platform device or at the regular platform device
+time. The early serial driver performs register_console() at this point.
+
+For further information, see <linux/platform_device.h>.