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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-07 18:49:45 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-07 18:49:45 +0000 |
commit | 2c3c1048746a4622d8c89a29670120dc8fab93c4 (patch) | |
tree | 848558de17fb3008cdf4d861b01ac7781903ce39 /Documentation/driver-api/gpio/intro.rst | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | linux-upstream.tar.xz linux-upstream.zip |
Adding upstream version 6.1.76.upstream/6.1.76upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to '')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/gpio/intro.rst | 124 |
1 files changed, 124 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/gpio/intro.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/gpio/intro.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..c9c19243b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/gpio/intro.rst @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +============ +Introduction +============ + + +GPIO Interfaces +=============== + +The documents in this directory give detailed instructions on how to access +GPIOs in drivers, and how to write a driver for a device that provides GPIOs +itself. + +Due to the history of GPIO interfaces in the kernel, there are two different +ways to obtain and use GPIOs: + + - The descriptor-based interface is the preferred way to manipulate GPIOs, + and is described by all the files in this directory excepted legacy.rst. + - The legacy integer-based interface which is considered deprecated (but still + usable for compatibility reasons) is documented in legacy.rst. + +The remainder of this document applies to the new descriptor-based interface. +legacy.rst contains the same information applied to the legacy +integer-based interface. + + +What is a GPIO? +=============== + +A "General Purpose Input/Output" (GPIO) is a flexible software-controlled +digital signal. They are provided from many kinds of chips, and are familiar +to Linux developers working with embedded and custom hardware. Each GPIO +represents a bit connected to a particular pin, or "ball" on Ball Grid Array +(BGA) packages. Board schematics show which external hardware connects to +which GPIOs. Drivers can be written generically, so that board setup code +passes such pin configuration data to drivers. + +System-on-Chip (SOC) processors heavily rely on GPIOs. In some cases, every +non-dedicated pin can be configured as a GPIO; and most chips have at least +several dozen of them. Programmable logic devices (like FPGAs) can easily +provide GPIOs; multifunction chips like power managers, and audio codecs +often have a few such pins to help with pin scarcity on SOCs; and there are +also "GPIO Expander" chips that connect using the I2C or SPI serial buses. +Most PC southbridges have a few dozen GPIO-capable pins (with only the BIOS +firmware knowing how they're used). + +The exact capabilities of GPIOs vary between systems. Common options: + + - Output values are writable (high=1, low=0). Some chips also have + options about how that value is driven, so that for example only one + value might be driven, supporting "wire-OR" and similar schemes for the + other value (notably, "open drain" signaling). + + - Input values are likewise readable (1, 0). Some chips support readback + of pins configured as "output", which is very useful in such "wire-OR" + cases (to support bidirectional signaling). GPIO controllers may have + input de-glitch/debounce logic, sometimes with software controls. + + - Inputs can often be used as IRQ signals, often edge triggered but + sometimes level triggered. Such IRQs may be configurable as system + wakeup events, to wake the system from a low power state. + + - Usually a GPIO will be configurable as either input or output, as needed + by different product boards; single direction ones exist too. + + - Most GPIOs can be accessed while holding spinlocks, but those accessed + through a serial bus normally can't. Some systems support both types. + +On a given board each GPIO is used for one specific purpose like monitoring +MMC/SD card insertion/removal, detecting card write-protect status, driving +a LED, configuring a transceiver, bit-banging a serial bus, poking a hardware +watchdog, sensing a switch, and so on. + + +Common GPIO Properties +====================== + +These properties are met through all the other documents of the GPIO interface +and it is useful to understand them, especially if you need to define GPIO +mappings. + +Active-High and Active-Low +-------------------------- +It is natural to assume that a GPIO is "active" when its output signal is 1 +("high"), and inactive when it is 0 ("low"). However in practice the signal of a +GPIO may be inverted before is reaches its destination, or a device could decide +to have different conventions about what "active" means. Such decisions should +be transparent to device drivers, therefore it is possible to define a GPIO as +being either active-high ("1" means "active", the default) or active-low ("0" +means "active") so that drivers only need to worry about the logical signal and +not about what happens at the line level. + +Open Drain and Open Source +-------------------------- +Sometimes shared signals need to use "open drain" (where only the low signal +level is actually driven), or "open source" (where only the high signal level is +driven) signaling. That term applies to CMOS transistors; "open collector" is +used for TTL. A pullup or pulldown resistor causes the high or low signal level. +This is sometimes called a "wire-AND"; or more practically, from the negative +logic (low=true) perspective this is a "wire-OR". + +One common example of an open drain signal is a shared active-low IRQ line. +Also, bidirectional data bus signals sometimes use open drain signals. + +Some GPIO controllers directly support open drain and open source outputs; many +don't. When you need open drain signaling but your hardware doesn't directly +support it, there's a common idiom you can use to emulate it with any GPIO pin +that can be used as either an input or an output: + + **LOW**: ``gpiod_direction_output(gpio, 0)`` ... this drives the signal and + overrides the pullup. + + **HIGH**: ``gpiod_direction_input(gpio)`` ... this turns off the output, so + the pullup (or some other device) controls the signal. + +The same logic can be applied to emulate open source signaling, by driving the +high signal and configuring the GPIO as input for low. This open drain/open +source emulation can be handled transparently by the GPIO framework. + +If you are "driving" the signal high but gpiod_get_value(gpio) reports a low +value (after the appropriate rise time passes), you know some other component is +driving the shared signal low. That's not necessarily an error. As one common +example, that's how I2C clocks are stretched: a slave that needs a slower clock +delays the rising edge of SCK, and the I2C master adjusts its signaling rate +accordingly. |