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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/driver-api/firmware')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst | 33 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst | 17 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst | 30 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst | 308 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst | 44 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst | 51 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst | 31 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst | 127 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst | 19 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst | 27 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst | 20 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst | 51 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst | 80 |
14 files changed, 849 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..bc1c961ba --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +================= +Built-in firmware +================= + +Firmware can be built-in to the kernel, this means building the firmware +into vmlinux directly, to enable avoiding having to look for firmware from +the filesystem. Instead, firmware can be looked for inside the kernel +directly. You can enable built-in firmware using the kernel configuration +options: + + * CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE + * CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR + +There are a few reasons why you might want to consider building your firmware +into the kernel with CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE: + +* Speed +* Firmware is needed for accessing the boot device, and the user doesn't + want to stuff the firmware into the boot initramfs. + +Even if you have these needs there are a few reasons why you may not be +able to make use of built-in firmware: + +* Legalese - firmware is non-GPL compatible +* Some firmware may be optional +* Firmware upgrades are possible, therefore a new firmware would implicate + a complete kernel rebuild. +* Some firmware files may be really large in size. The remote-proc subsystem + is an example subsystem which deals with these sorts of firmware +* The firmware may need to be scraped out from some device specific location + dynamically, an example is calibration data for some WiFi chipsets. This + calibration data can be unique per sold device. + diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..803cd574b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst @@ -0,0 +1,17 @@ +========================== +Firmware API core features +========================== + +The firmware API has a rich set of core features available. This section +documents these features. + +.. toctree:: + + fw_search_path + built-in-fw + firmware_cache + direct-fs-lookup + fallback-mechanisms + lookup-order + firmware-usage-guidelines + diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e04353d1b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +======================== +Direct filesystem lookup +======================== + +Direct filesystem lookup is the most common form of firmware lookup performed +by the kernel. The kernel looks for the firmware directly on the root +filesystem in the paths documented in the section 'Firmware search paths'. +The filesystem lookup is implemented in fw_get_filesystem_firmware(), it +uses common core kernel file loader facility kernel_read_file_from_path(). +The max path allowed is PATH_MAX -- currently this is 4096 characters. + +It is recommended you keep /lib/firmware paths on your root filesystem, +avoid having a separate partition for them in order to avoid possible +races with lookups and avoid uses of the custom fallback mechanisms +documented below. + +Firmware and initramfs +---------------------- + +Drivers which are built-in to the kernel should have the firmware integrated +also as part of the initramfs used to boot the kernel given that otherwise +a race is possible with loading the driver and the real rootfs not yet being +available. Stuffing the firmware into initramfs resolves this race issue, +however note that using initrd does not suffice to address the same race. + +There are circumstances that justify not wanting to include firmware into +initramfs, such as dealing with large firmware files for the +remote-proc subsystem. For such cases using a userspace fallback mechanism +is currently the only viable solution as only userspace can know for sure +when the real rootfs is ready and mounted. diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4fe8abba9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +============ +UEFI Support +============ + +UEFI stub library functions +=========================== + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/mem.c + :internal: diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..5f04c3bcd --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst @@ -0,0 +1,308 @@ +=================== +Fallback mechanisms +=================== + +A fallback mechanism is supported to allow to overcome failures to do a direct +filesystem lookup on the root filesystem or when the firmware simply cannot be +installed for practical reasons on the root filesystem. The kernel +configuration options related to supporting the firmware fallback mechanism are: + + * CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER: enables building the firmware fallback + mechanism. Most distributions enable this option today. If enabled but + CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK is disabled, only the custom fallback + mechanism is available and for the request_firmware_nowait() call. + * CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK: force enables each request to + enable the kobject uevent fallback mechanism on all firmware API calls + except request_firmware_direct(). Most distributions disable this option + today. The call request_firmware_nowait() allows for one alternative + fallback mechanism: if this kconfig option is enabled and your second + argument to request_firmware_nowait(), uevent, is set to false you are + informing the kernel that you have a custom fallback mechanism and it will + manually load the firmware. Read below for more details. + +Note that this means when having this configuration: + +CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER=y +CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK=n + +the kobject uevent fallback mechanism will never take effect even +for request_firmware_nowait() when uevent is set to true. + +Justifying the firmware fallback mechanism +========================================== + +Direct filesystem lookups may fail for a variety of reasons. Known reasons for +this are worth itemizing and documenting as it justifies the need for the +fallback mechanism: + +* Race against access with the root filesystem upon bootup. + +* Races upon resume from suspend. This is resolved by the firmware cache, but + the firmware cache is only supported if you use uevents, and its not + supported for request_firmware_into_buf(). + +* Firmware is not accessible through typical means: + + * It cannot be installed into the root filesystem + * The firmware provides very unique device specific data tailored for + the unit gathered with local information. An example is calibration + data for WiFi chipsets for mobile devices. This calibration data is + not common to all units, but tailored per unit. Such information may + be installed on a separate flash partition other than where the root + filesystem is provided. + +Types of fallback mechanisms +============================ + +There are really two fallback mechanisms available using one shared sysfs +interface as a loading facility: + +* Kobject uevent fallback mechanism +* Custom fallback mechanism + +First lets document the shared sysfs loading facility. + +Firmware sysfs loading facility +=============================== + +In order to help device drivers upload firmware using a fallback mechanism +the firmware infrastructure creates a sysfs interface to enable userspace +to load and indicate when firmware is ready. The sysfs directory is created +via fw_create_instance(). This call creates a new struct device named after +the firmware requested, and establishes it in the device hierarchy by +associating the device used to make the request as the device's parent. +The sysfs directory's file attributes are defined and controlled through +the new device's class (firmware_class) and group (fw_dev_attr_groups). +This is actually where the original firmware_class module name came from, +given that originally the only firmware loading mechanism available was the +mechanism we now use as a fallback mechanism, which registers a struct class +firmware_class. Because the attributes exposed are part of the module name, the +module name firmware_class cannot be renamed in the future, to ensure backward +compatibility with old userspace. + +To load firmware using the sysfs interface we expose a loading indicator, +and a file upload firmware into: + + * /sys/$DEVPATH/loading + * /sys/$DEVPATH/data + +To upload firmware you will echo 1 onto the loading file to indicate +you are loading firmware. You then write the firmware into the data file, +and you notify the kernel the firmware is ready by echo'ing 0 onto +the loading file. + +The firmware device used to help load firmware using sysfs is only created if +direct firmware loading fails and if the fallback mechanism is enabled for your +firmware request, this is set up with :c:func:`firmware_fallback_sysfs`. It is +important to re-iterate that no device is created if a direct filesystem lookup +succeeded. + +Using:: + + echo 1 > /sys/$DEVPATH/loading + +Will clean any previous partial load at once and make the firmware API +return an error. When loading firmware the firmware_class grows a buffer +for the firmware in PAGE_SIZE increments to hold the image as it comes in. + +firmware_data_read() and firmware_loading_show() are just provided for the +test_firmware driver for testing, they are not called in normal use or +expected to be used regularly by userspace. + +firmware_fallback_sysfs +----------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/fallback.c + :functions: firmware_fallback_sysfs + +Firmware kobject uevent fallback mechanism +========================================== + +Since a device is created for the sysfs interface to help load firmware as a +fallback mechanism userspace can be informed of the addition of the device by +relying on kobject uevents. The addition of the device into the device +hierarchy means the fallback mechanism for firmware loading has been initiated. +For details of implementation refer to fw_load_sysfs_fallback(), in particular +on the use of dev_set_uevent_suppress() and kobject_uevent(). + +The kernel's kobject uevent mechanism is implemented in lib/kobject_uevent.c, +it issues uevents to userspace. As a supplement to kobject uevents Linux +distributions could also enable CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH, which makes use of +core kernel's usermode helper (UMH) functionality to call out to a userspace +helper for kobject uevents. In practice though no standard distribution has +ever used the CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH. If CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH is +enabled this binary would be called each time kobject_uevent_env() gets called +in the kernel for each kobject uevent triggered. + +Different implementations have been supported in userspace to take advantage of +this fallback mechanism. When firmware loading was only possible using the +sysfs mechanism the userspace component "hotplug" provided the functionality of +monitoring for kobject events. Historically this was superseded be systemd's +udev, however firmware loading support was removed from udev as of systemd +commit be2ea723b1d0 ("udev: remove userspace firmware loading support") +as of v217 on August, 2014. This means most Linux distributions today are +not using or taking advantage of the firmware fallback mechanism provided +by kobject uevents. This is specially exacerbated due to the fact that most +distributions today disable CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK. + +Refer to do_firmware_uevent() for details of the kobject event variables +setup. The variables currently passed to userspace with a "kobject add" +event are: + +* FIRMWARE=firmware name +* TIMEOUT=timeout value +* ASYNC=whether or not the API request was asynchronous + +By default DEVPATH is set by the internal kernel kobject infrastructure. +Below is an example simple kobject uevent script:: + + # Both $DEVPATH and $FIRMWARE are already provided in the environment. + MY_FW_DIR=/lib/firmware/ + echo 1 > /sys/$DEVPATH/loading + cat $MY_FW_DIR/$FIRMWARE > /sys/$DEVPATH/data + echo 0 > /sys/$DEVPATH/loading + +Firmware custom fallback mechanism +================================== + +Users of the request_firmware_nowait() call have yet another option available +at their disposal: rely on the sysfs fallback mechanism but request that no +kobject uevents be issued to userspace. The original logic behind this +was that utilities other than udev might be required to lookup firmware +in non-traditional paths -- paths outside of the listing documented in the +section 'Direct filesystem lookup'. This option is not available to any of +the other API calls as uevents are always forced for them. + +Since uevents are only meaningful if the fallback mechanism is enabled +in your kernel it would seem odd to enable uevents with kernels that do not +have the fallback mechanism enabled in their kernels. Unfortunately we also +rely on the uevent flag which can be disabled by request_firmware_nowait() to +also setup the firmware cache for firmware requests. As documented above, +the firmware cache is only set up if uevent is enabled for an API call. +Although this can disable the firmware cache for request_firmware_nowait() +calls, users of this API should not use it for the purposes of disabling +the cache as that was not the original purpose of the flag. Not setting +the uevent flag means you want to opt-in for the firmware fallback mechanism +but you want to suppress kobject uevents, as you have a custom solution which +will monitor for your device addition into the device hierarchy somehow and +load firmware for you through a custom path. + +Firmware fallback timeout +========================= + +The firmware fallback mechanism has a timeout. If firmware is not loaded +onto the sysfs interface by the timeout value an error is sent to the +driver. By default the timeout is set to 60 seconds if uevents are +desirable, otherwise MAX_JIFFY_OFFSET is used (max timeout possible). +The logic behind using MAX_JIFFY_OFFSET for non-uevents is that a custom +solution will have as much time as it needs to load firmware. + +You can customize the firmware timeout by echo'ing your desired timeout into +the following file: + +* /sys/class/firmware/timeout + +If you echo 0 into it means MAX_JIFFY_OFFSET will be used. The data type +for the timeout is an int. + +EFI embedded firmware fallback mechanism +======================================== + +On some devices the system's EFI code / ROM may contain an embedded copy +of firmware for some of the system's integrated peripheral devices and +the peripheral's Linux device-driver needs to access this firmware. + +Device drivers which need such firmware can use the +firmware_request_platform() function for this, note that this is a +separate fallback mechanism from the other fallback mechanisms and +this does not use the sysfs interface. + +A device driver which needs this can describe the firmware it needs +using an efi_embedded_fw_desc struct: + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/efi_embedded_fw.h + :functions: efi_embedded_fw_desc + +The EFI embedded-fw code works by scanning all EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE memory +segments for an eight byte sequence matching prefix; if the prefix is found it +then does a sha256 over length bytes and if that matches makes a copy of length +bytes and adds that to its list with found firmwares. + +To avoid doing this somewhat expensive scan on all systems, dmi matching is +used. Drivers are expected to export a dmi_system_id array, with each entries' +driver_data pointing to an efi_embedded_fw_desc. + +To register this array with the efi-embedded-fw code, a driver needs to: + +1. Always be builtin to the kernel or store the dmi_system_id array in a + separate object file which always gets builtin. + +2. Add an extern declaration for the dmi_system_id array to + include/linux/efi_embedded_fw.h. + +3. Add the dmi_system_id array to the embedded_fw_table in + drivers/firmware/efi/embedded-firmware.c wrapped in a #ifdef testing that + the driver is being builtin. + +4. Add "select EFI_EMBEDDED_FIRMWARE if EFI_STUB" to its Kconfig entry. + +The firmware_request_platform() function will always first try to load firmware +with the specified name directly from the disk, so the EFI embedded-fw can +always be overridden by placing a file under /lib/firmware. + +Note that: + +1. The code scanning for EFI embedded-firmware runs near the end + of start_kernel(), just before calling rest_init(). For normal drivers and + subsystems using subsys_initcall() to register themselves this does not + matter. This means that code running earlier cannot use EFI + embedded-firmware. + +2. At the moment the EFI embedded-fw code assumes that firmwares always start at + an offset which is a multiple of 8 bytes, if this is not true for your case + send in a patch to fix this. + +3. At the moment the EFI embedded-fw code only works on x86 because other archs + free EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE before the EFI embedded-fw code gets a chance to + scan it. + +4. The current brute-force scanning of EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE is an ad-hoc + brute-force solution. There has been discussion to use the UEFI Platform + Initialization (PI) spec's Firmware Volume protocol. This has been rejected + because the FV Protocol relies on *internal* interfaces of the PI spec, and: + 1. The PI spec does not define peripheral firmware at all + 2. The internal interfaces of the PI spec do not guarantee any backward + compatibility. Any implementation details in FV may be subject to change, + and may vary system to system. Supporting the FV Protocol would be + difficult as it is purposely ambiguous. + +Example how to check for and extract embedded firmware +------------------------------------------------------ + +To check for, for example Silead touchscreen controller embedded firmware, +do the following: + +1. Boot the system with efi=debug on the kernel commandline + +2. cp /sys/kernel/debug/efi/boot_services_code? to your home dir + +3. Open the boot_services_code? files in a hex-editor, search for the + magic prefix for Silead firmware: F0 00 00 00 02 00 00 00, this gives you + the beginning address of the firmware inside the boot_services_code? file. + +4. The firmware has a specific pattern, it starts with a 8 byte page-address, + typically F0 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 for the first page followed by 32-bit + word-address + 32-bit value pairs. With the word-address incrementing 4 + bytes (1 word) for each pair until a page is complete. A complete page is + followed by a new page-address, followed by more word + value pairs. This + leads to a very distinct pattern. Scroll down until this pattern stops, + this gives you the end of the firmware inside the boot_services_code? file. + +5. "dd if=boot_services_code? of=firmware bs=1 skip=<begin-addr> count=<len>" + will extract the firmware for you. Inspect the firmware file in a + hexeditor to make sure you got the dd parameters correct. + +6. Copy it to /lib/firmware under the expected name to test it. + +7. If the extracted firmware works, you can use the found info to fill an + efi_embedded_fw_desc struct to describe it, run "sha256sum firmware" + to get the sha256sum to put in the sha256 field. diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..fdcfce42c --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +=================== +Firmware Guidelines +=================== + +Users switching to a newer kernel should *not* have to install newer +firmware files to keep their hardware working. At the same time updated +firmware files must not cause any regressions for users of older kernel +releases. + +Drivers that use firmware from linux-firmware should follow the rules in +this guide. (Where there is limited control of the firmware, +i.e. company doesn't support Linux, firmwares sourced from misc places, +then of course these rules will not apply strictly.) + +* Firmware files shall be designed in a way that it allows checking for + firmware ABI version changes. It is recommended that firmware files be + versioned with at least a major/minor version. It is suggested that + the firmware files in linux-firmware be named with some device + specific name, and just the major version. The firmware version should + be stored in the firmware header, or as an exception, as part of the + firmware file name, in order to let the driver detact any non-ABI + fixes/changes. The firmware files in linux-firmware should be + overwritten with the newest compatible major version. Newer major + version firmware shall remain compatible with all kernels that load + that major number. + +* If the kernel support for the hardware is normally inactive, or the + hardware isn't available for public consumption, this can + be ignored, until the first kernel release that enables that hardware. + This means no major version bumps without the kernel retaining + backwards compatibility for the older major versions. Minor version + bumps should not introduce new features that newer kernels depend on + non-optionally. + +* If a security fix needs lockstep firmware and kernel fixes in order to + be successful, then all supported major versions in the linux-firmware + repo that are required by currently supported stable/LTS kernels, + should be updated with the security fix. The kernel patches should + detect if the firmware is new enough to declare if the security issue + is fixed. All communications around security fixes should point at + both the firmware and kernel fixes. If a security fix requires + deprecating old major versions, then this should only be done as a + last option, and be stated clearly in all communications. + diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..417b9e834 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +============== +Firmware cache +============== + +When Linux resumes from suspend some device drivers require firmware lookups to +re-initialize devices. During resume there may be a period of time during which +firmware lookups are not possible, during this short period of time firmware +requests will fail. Time is of essence though, and delaying drivers to wait for +the root filesystem for firmware delays user experience with device +functionality. In order to support these requirements the firmware +infrastructure implements a firmware cache for device drivers for most API +calls, automatically behind the scenes. + +The firmware cache makes using certain firmware API calls safe during a device +driver's suspend and resume callback. Users of these API calls needn't cache +the firmware by themselves for dealing with firmware loss during system resume. + +The firmware cache works by requesting for firmware prior to suspend and +caching it in memory. Upon resume device drivers using the firmware API will +have access to the firmware immediately, without having to wait for the root +filesystem to mount or dealing with possible race issues with lookups as the +root filesystem mounts. + +Some implementation details about the firmware cache setup: + +* The firmware cache is setup by adding a devres entry for each device that + uses all synchronous call except :c:func:`request_firmware_into_buf`. + +* If an asynchronous call is used the firmware cache is only set up for a + device if the second argument (uevent) to request_firmware_nowait() is + true. When uevent is true it requests that a kobject uevent be sent to + userspace for the firmware request through the sysfs fallback mechanism + if the firmware file is not found. + +* If the firmware cache is determined to be needed as per the above two + criteria the firmware cache is setup by adding a devres entry for the + device making the firmware request. + +* The firmware devres entry is maintained throughout the lifetime of the + device. This means that even if you release_firmware() the firmware cache + will still be used on resume from suspend. + +* The timeout for the fallback mechanism is temporarily reduced to 10 seconds + as the firmware cache is set up during suspend, the timeout is set back to + the old value you had configured after the cache is set up. + +* Upon suspend any pending non-uevent firmware requests are killed to avoid + stalling the kernel, this is done with kill_requests_without_uevent(). Kernel + calls requiring the non-uevent therefore need to implement their own firmware + cache mechanism but must not use the firmware API on suspend. + diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..d7cb1e8f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +===================== +Firmware search paths +===================== + +The following search paths are used to look for firmware on your +root filesystem. + +* fw_path_para - module parameter - default is empty so this is ignored +* /lib/firmware/updates/UTS_RELEASE/ +* /lib/firmware/updates/ +* /lib/firmware/UTS_RELEASE/ +* /lib/firmware/ + +The module parameter ''path'' can be passed to the firmware_class module +to activate the first optional custom fw_path_para. The custom path can +only be up to 256 characters long. The kernel parameter passed would be: + +* 'firmware_class.path=$CUSTOMIZED_PATH' + +There is an alternative to customize the path at run time after bootup, you +can use the file: + +* /sys/module/firmware_class/parameters/path + +You would echo into it your custom path and firmware requested will be searched +for there first. Be aware that newline characters will be taken into account +and may not produce the intended effects. For instance you might want to use: + +echo -n /path/to/script > /sys/module/firmware_class/parameters/path + +to ensure that your script is being used. diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..edf1d0c5e --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst @@ -0,0 +1,127 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +=================== +Firmware Upload API +=================== + +A device driver that registers with the firmware loader will expose +persistent sysfs nodes to enable users to initiate firmware updates for +that device. It is the responsibility of the device driver and/or the +device itself to perform any validation on the data received. Firmware +upload uses the same *loading* and *data* sysfs files described in the +documentation for firmware fallback. It also adds additional sysfs files +to provide status on the transfer of the firmware image to the device. + +Register for firmware upload +============================ + +A device driver registers for firmware upload by calling +firmware_upload_register(). Among the parameter list is a name to +identify the device under /sys/class/firmware. A user may initiate a +firmware upload by echoing a 1 to the *loading* sysfs file for the target +device. Next, the user writes the firmware image to the *data* sysfs +file. After writing the firmware data, the user echos 0 to the *loading* +sysfs file to signal completion. Echoing 0 to *loading* also triggers the +transfer of the firmware to the lower-lever device driver in the context +of a kernel worker thread. + +To use the firmware upload API, write a driver that implements a set of +ops. The probe function calls firmware_upload_register() and the remove +function calls firmware_upload_unregister() such as:: + + static const struct fw_upload_ops m10bmc_ops = { + .prepare = m10bmc_sec_prepare, + .write = m10bmc_sec_write, + .poll_complete = m10bmc_sec_poll_complete, + .cancel = m10bmc_sec_cancel, + .cleanup = m10bmc_sec_cleanup, + }; + + static int m10bmc_sec_probe(struct platform_device *pdev) + { + const char *fw_name, *truncate; + struct m10bmc_sec *sec; + struct fw_upload *fwl; + unsigned int len; + + sec = devm_kzalloc(&pdev->dev, sizeof(*sec), GFP_KERNEL); + if (!sec) + return -ENOMEM; + + sec->dev = &pdev->dev; + sec->m10bmc = dev_get_drvdata(pdev->dev.parent); + dev_set_drvdata(&pdev->dev, sec); + + fw_name = dev_name(sec->dev); + truncate = strstr(fw_name, ".auto"); + len = (truncate) ? truncate - fw_name : strlen(fw_name); + sec->fw_name = kmemdup_nul(fw_name, len, GFP_KERNEL); + + fwl = firmware_upload_register(THIS_MODULE, sec->dev, sec->fw_name, + &m10bmc_ops, sec); + if (IS_ERR(fwl)) { + dev_err(sec->dev, "Firmware Upload driver failed to start\n"); + kfree(sec->fw_name); + return PTR_ERR(fwl); + } + + sec->fwl = fwl; + return 0; + } + + static int m10bmc_sec_remove(struct platform_device *pdev) + { + struct m10bmc_sec *sec = dev_get_drvdata(&pdev->dev); + + firmware_upload_unregister(sec->fwl); + kfree(sec->fw_name); + return 0; + } + +firmware_upload_register +------------------------ +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c + :identifiers: firmware_upload_register + +firmware_upload_unregister +-------------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c + :identifiers: firmware_upload_unregister + +Firmware Upload Ops +------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware.h + :identifiers: fw_upload_ops + +Firmware Upload Progress Codes +------------------------------ +The following progress codes are used internally by the firmware loader. +Corresponding strings are reported through the status sysfs node that +is described below and are documented in the ABI documentation. + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.h + :identifiers: fw_upload_prog + +Firmware Upload Error Codes +--------------------------- +The following error codes may be returned by the driver ops in case of +failure: + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware.h + :identifiers: fw_upload_err + +Sysfs Attributes +================ + +In addition to the *loading* and *data* sysfs files, there are additional +sysfs files to monitor the status of the data transfer to the target +device and to determine the final pass/fail status of the transfer. +Depending on the device and the size of the firmware image, a firmware +update could take milliseconds or minutes. + +The additional sysfs files are: + +* status - provides an indication of the progress of a firmware update +* error - provides error information for a failed firmware update +* remaining_size - tracks the data transfer portion of an update +* cancel - echo 1 to this file to cancel the update diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9d2c19dc8 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +================== +Linux Firmware API +================== + +.. toctree:: + + introduction + core + efi/index + request_firmware + fw_upload + other_interfaces + +.. only:: subproject and html + + Indices + ======= + + * :ref:`genindex` diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..211cb44eb --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +============ +Introduction +============ + +The firmware API enables kernel code to request files required +for functionality from userspace, the uses vary: + +* Microcode for CPU errata +* Device driver firmware, required to be loaded onto device + microcontrollers +* Device driver information data (calibration data, EEPROM overrides), + some of which can be completely optional. + +Types of firmware requests +========================== + +There are two types of calls: + +* Synchronous +* Asynchronous + +Which one you use vary depending on your requirements, the rule of thumb +however is you should strive to use the asynchronous APIs unless you also +are already using asynchronous initialization mechanisms which will not +stall or delay boot. Even if loading firmware does not take a lot of time +processing firmware might, and this can still delay boot or initialization, +as such mechanisms such as asynchronous probe can help supplement drivers. diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..6064672a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +===================== +Firmware lookup order +===================== + +Different functionality is available to enable firmware to be found. +Below is chronological order of how firmware will be looked for once +a driver issues a firmware API call. + +* The ''Built-in firmware'' is checked first, if the firmware is present we + return it immediately +* The ''Firmware cache'' is looked at next. If the firmware is found we + return it immediately +* The ''Direct filesystem lookup'' is performed next, if found we + return it immediately +* The ''Platform firmware fallback'' is performed next, but only when + firmware_request_platform() is used, if found we return it immediately +* If no firmware has been found and the fallback mechanism was enabled + the sysfs interface is created. After this either a kobject uevent + is issued or the custom firmware loading is relied upon for firmware + loading up to the timeout value. diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..06ac89ada --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +Other Firmware Interfaces +========================= + +DMI Interfaces +-------------- + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c + :export: + +EDD Interfaces +-------------- + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/edd.c + :internal: + +Generic System Framebuffers Interface +------------------------------------- + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/sysfb.c + :export: + +Intel Stratix10 SoC Service Layer +--------------------------------- +Some features of the Intel Stratix10 SoC require a level of privilege +higher than the kernel is granted. Such secure features include +FPGA programming. In terms of the ARMv8 architecture, the kernel runs +at Exception Level 1 (EL1), access to the features requires +Exception Level 3 (EL3). + +The Intel Stratix10 SoC service layer provides an in kernel API for +drivers to request access to the secure features. The requests are queued +and processed one by one. ARM’s SMCCC is used to pass the execution +of the requests on to a secure monitor (EL3). + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h + :functions: stratix10_svc_command_code + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h + :functions: stratix10_svc_client_msg + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h + :functions: stratix10_svc_command_config_type + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h + :functions: stratix10_svc_cb_data + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h + :functions: stratix10_svc_client + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/stratix10-svc.c + :export: diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0d6ea0329 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +==================== +request_firmware API +==================== + +You would typically load firmware and then load it into your device somehow. +The typical firmware work flow is reflected below:: + + if(request_firmware(&fw_entry, $FIRMWARE, device) == 0) + copy_fw_to_device(fw_entry->data, fw_entry->size); + release_firmware(fw_entry); + +Synchronous firmware requests +============================= + +Synchronous firmware requests will wait until the firmware is found or until +an error is returned. + +request_firmware +---------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: request_firmware + +firmware_request_nowarn +----------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: firmware_request_nowarn + +firmware_request_platform +------------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: firmware_request_platform + +request_firmware_direct +----------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: request_firmware_direct + +request_firmware_into_buf +------------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: request_firmware_into_buf + +Asynchronous firmware requests +============================== + +Asynchronous firmware requests allow driver code to not have to wait +until the firmware or an error is returned. Function callbacks are +provided so that when the firmware or an error is found the driver is +informed through the callback. request_firmware_nowait() cannot be called +in atomic contexts. + +request_firmware_nowait +----------------------- +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: request_firmware_nowait + +Special optimizations on reboot +=============================== + +Some devices have an optimization in place to enable the firmware to be +retained during system reboot. When such optimizations are used the driver +author must ensure the firmware is still available on resume from suspend, +this can be done with firmware_request_cache() instead of requesting for the +firmware to be loaded. + +firmware_request_cache() +------------------------ +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c + :functions: firmware_request_cache + +request firmware API expected driver use +======================================== + +Once an API call returns you process the firmware and then release the +firmware. For example if you used request_firmware() and it returns, +the driver has the firmware image accessible in fw_entry->{data,size}. +If something went wrong request_firmware() returns non-zero and fw_entry +is set to NULL. Once your driver is done with processing the firmware it +can call release_firmware(fw_entry) to release the firmware image +and any related resource. |