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+=======================
+The Userspace I/O HOWTO
+=======================
+
+:Author: Hans-Jürgen Koch Linux developer, Linutronix
+:Date: 2006-12-11
+
+About this document
+===================
+
+Translations
+------------
+
+If you know of any translations for this document, or you are interested
+in translating it, please email me hjk@hansjkoch.de.
+
+Preface
+-------
+
+For many types of devices, creating a Linux kernel driver is overkill.
+All that is really needed is some way to handle an interrupt and provide
+access to the memory space of the device. The logic of controlling the
+device does not necessarily have to be within the kernel, as the device
+does not need to take advantage of any of other resources that the
+kernel provides. One such common class of devices that are like this are
+for industrial I/O cards.
+
+To address this situation, the userspace I/O system (UIO) was designed.
+For typical industrial I/O cards, only a very small kernel module is
+needed. The main part of the driver will run in user space. This
+simplifies development and reduces the risk of serious bugs within a
+kernel module.
+
+Please note that UIO is not an universal driver interface. Devices that
+are already handled well by other kernel subsystems (like networking or
+serial or USB) are no candidates for an UIO driver. Hardware that is
+ideally suited for an UIO driver fulfills all of the following:
+
+- The device has memory that can be mapped. The device can be
+ controlled completely by writing to this memory.
+
+- The device usually generates interrupts.
+
+- The device does not fit into one of the standard kernel subsystems.
+
+Acknowledgments
+---------------
+
+I'd like to thank Thomas Gleixner and Benedikt Spranger of Linutronix,
+who have not only written most of the UIO code, but also helped greatly
+writing this HOWTO by giving me all kinds of background information.
+
+Feedback
+--------
+
+Find something wrong with this document? (Or perhaps something right?) I
+would love to hear from you. Please email me at hjk@hansjkoch.de.
+
+About UIO
+=========
+
+If you use UIO for your card's driver, here's what you get:
+
+- only one small kernel module to write and maintain.
+
+- develop the main part of your driver in user space, with all the
+ tools and libraries you're used to.
+
+- bugs in your driver won't crash the kernel.
+
+- updates of your driver can take place without recompiling the kernel.
+
+How UIO works
+-------------
+
+Each UIO device is accessed through a device file and several sysfs
+attribute files. The device file will be called ``/dev/uio0`` for the
+first device, and ``/dev/uio1``, ``/dev/uio2`` and so on for subsequent
+devices.
+
+``/dev/uioX`` is used to access the address space of the card. Just use
+:c:func:`mmap()` to access registers or RAM locations of your card.
+
+Interrupts are handled by reading from ``/dev/uioX``. A blocking
+:c:func:`read()` from ``/dev/uioX`` will return as soon as an
+interrupt occurs. You can also use :c:func:`select()` on
+``/dev/uioX`` to wait for an interrupt. The integer value read from
+``/dev/uioX`` represents the total interrupt count. You can use this
+number to figure out if you missed some interrupts.
+
+For some hardware that has more than one interrupt source internally,
+but not separate IRQ mask and status registers, there might be
+situations where userspace cannot determine what the interrupt source
+was if the kernel handler disables them by writing to the chip's IRQ
+register. In such a case, the kernel has to disable the IRQ completely
+to leave the chip's register untouched. Now the userspace part can
+determine the cause of the interrupt, but it cannot re-enable
+interrupts. Another cornercase is chips where re-enabling interrupts is
+a read-modify-write operation to a combined IRQ status/acknowledge
+register. This would be racy if a new interrupt occurred simultaneously.
+
+To address these problems, UIO also implements a write() function. It is
+normally not used and can be ignored for hardware that has only a single
+interrupt source or has separate IRQ mask and status registers. If you
+need it, however, a write to ``/dev/uioX`` will call the
+:c:func:`irqcontrol()` function implemented by the driver. You have
+to write a 32-bit value that is usually either 0 or 1 to disable or
+enable interrupts. If a driver does not implement
+:c:func:`irqcontrol()`, :c:func:`write()` will return with
+``-ENOSYS``.
+
+To handle interrupts properly, your custom kernel module can provide its
+own interrupt handler. It will automatically be called by the built-in
+handler.
+
+For cards that don't generate interrupts but need to be polled, there is
+the possibility to set up a timer that triggers the interrupt handler at
+configurable time intervals. This interrupt simulation is done by
+calling :c:func:`uio_event_notify()` from the timer's event
+handler.
+
+Each driver provides attributes that are used to read or write
+variables. These attributes are accessible through sysfs files. A custom
+kernel driver module can add its own attributes to the device owned by
+the uio driver, but not added to the UIO device itself at this time.
+This might change in the future if it would be found to be useful.
+
+The following standard attributes are provided by the UIO framework:
+
+- ``name``: The name of your device. It is recommended to use the name
+ of your kernel module for this.
+
+- ``version``: A version string defined by your driver. This allows the
+ user space part of your driver to deal with different versions of the
+ kernel module.
+
+- ``event``: The total number of interrupts handled by the driver since
+ the last time the device node was read.
+
+These attributes appear under the ``/sys/class/uio/uioX`` directory.
+Please note that this directory might be a symlink, and not a real
+directory. Any userspace code that accesses it must be able to handle
+this.
+
+Each UIO device can make one or more memory regions available for memory
+mapping. This is necessary because some industrial I/O cards require
+access to more than one PCI memory region in a driver.
+
+Each mapping has its own directory in sysfs, the first mapping appears
+as ``/sys/class/uio/uioX/maps/map0/``. Subsequent mappings create
+directories ``map1/``, ``map2/``, and so on. These directories will only
+appear if the size of the mapping is not 0.
+
+Each ``mapX/`` directory contains four read-only files that show
+attributes of the memory:
+
+- ``name``: A string identifier for this mapping. This is optional, the
+ string can be empty. Drivers can set this to make it easier for
+ userspace to find the correct mapping.
+
+- ``addr``: The address of memory that can be mapped.
+
+- ``size``: The size, in bytes, of the memory pointed to by addr.
+
+- ``offset``: The offset, in bytes, that has to be added to the pointer
+ returned by :c:func:`mmap()` to get to the actual device memory.
+ This is important if the device's memory is not page aligned.
+ Remember that pointers returned by :c:func:`mmap()` are always
+ page aligned, so it is good style to always add this offset.
+
+From userspace, the different mappings are distinguished by adjusting
+the ``offset`` parameter of the :c:func:`mmap()` call. To map the
+memory of mapping N, you have to use N times the page size as your
+offset::
+
+ offset = N * getpagesize();
+
+Sometimes there is hardware with memory-like regions that can not be
+mapped with the technique described here, but there are still ways to
+access them from userspace. The most common example are x86 ioports. On
+x86 systems, userspace can access these ioports using
+:c:func:`ioperm()`, :c:func:`iopl()`, :c:func:`inb()`,
+:c:func:`outb()`, and similar functions.
+
+Since these ioport regions can not be mapped, they will not appear under
+``/sys/class/uio/uioX/maps/`` like the normal memory described above.
+Without information about the port regions a hardware has to offer, it
+becomes difficult for the userspace part of the driver to find out which
+ports belong to which UIO device.
+
+To address this situation, the new directory
+``/sys/class/uio/uioX/portio/`` was added. It only exists if the driver
+wants to pass information about one or more port regions to userspace.
+If that is the case, subdirectories named ``port0``, ``port1``, and so
+on, will appear underneath ``/sys/class/uio/uioX/portio/``.
+
+Each ``portX/`` directory contains four read-only files that show name,
+start, size, and type of the port region:
+
+- ``name``: A string identifier for this port region. The string is
+ optional and can be empty. Drivers can set it to make it easier for
+ userspace to find a certain port region.
+
+- ``start``: The first port of this region.
+
+- ``size``: The number of ports in this region.
+
+- ``porttype``: A string describing the type of port.
+
+Writing your own kernel module
+==============================
+
+Please have a look at ``uio_cif.c`` as an example. The following
+paragraphs explain the different sections of this file.
+
+struct uio_info
+---------------
+
+This structure tells the framework the details of your driver, Some of
+the members are required, others are optional.
+
+- ``const char *name``: Required. The name of your driver as it will
+ appear in sysfs. I recommend using the name of your module for this.
+
+- ``const char *version``: Required. This string appears in
+ ``/sys/class/uio/uioX/version``.
+
+- ``struct uio_mem mem[ MAX_UIO_MAPS ]``: Required if you have memory
+ that can be mapped with :c:func:`mmap()`. For each mapping you
+ need to fill one of the ``uio_mem`` structures. See the description
+ below for details.
+
+- ``struct uio_port port[ MAX_UIO_PORTS_REGIONS ]``: Required if you
+ want to pass information about ioports to userspace. For each port
+ region you need to fill one of the ``uio_port`` structures. See the
+ description below for details.
+
+- ``long irq``: Required. If your hardware generates an interrupt, it's
+ your modules task to determine the irq number during initialization.
+ If you don't have a hardware generated interrupt but want to trigger
+ the interrupt handler in some other way, set ``irq`` to
+ ``UIO_IRQ_CUSTOM``. If you had no interrupt at all, you could set
+ ``irq`` to ``UIO_IRQ_NONE``, though this rarely makes sense.
+
+- ``unsigned long irq_flags``: Required if you've set ``irq`` to a
+ hardware interrupt number. The flags given here will be used in the
+ call to :c:func:`request_irq()`.
+
+- ``int (*mmap)(struct uio_info *info, struct vm_area_struct *vma)``:
+ Optional. If you need a special :c:func:`mmap()`
+ function, you can set it here. If this pointer is not NULL, your
+ :c:func:`mmap()` will be called instead of the built-in one.
+
+- ``int (*open)(struct uio_info *info, struct inode *inode)``:
+ Optional. You might want to have your own :c:func:`open()`,
+ e.g. to enable interrupts only when your device is actually used.
+
+- ``int (*release)(struct uio_info *info, struct inode *inode)``:
+ Optional. If you define your own :c:func:`open()`, you will
+ probably also want a custom :c:func:`release()` function.
+
+- ``int (*irqcontrol)(struct uio_info *info, s32 irq_on)``:
+ Optional. If you need to be able to enable or disable interrupts
+ from userspace by writing to ``/dev/uioX``, you can implement this
+ function. The parameter ``irq_on`` will be 0 to disable interrupts
+ and 1 to enable them.
+
+Usually, your device will have one or more memory regions that can be
+mapped to user space. For each region, you have to set up a
+``struct uio_mem`` in the ``mem[]`` array. Here's a description of the
+fields of ``struct uio_mem``:
+
+- ``const char *name``: Optional. Set this to help identify the memory
+ region, it will show up in the corresponding sysfs node.
+
+- ``int memtype``: Required if the mapping is used. Set this to
+ ``UIO_MEM_PHYS`` if you have physical memory on your card to be
+ mapped. Use ``UIO_MEM_LOGICAL`` for logical memory (e.g. allocated
+ with :c:func:`__get_free_pages()` but not kmalloc()). There's also
+ ``UIO_MEM_VIRTUAL`` for virtual memory.
+
+- ``phys_addr_t addr``: Required if the mapping is used. Fill in the
+ address of your memory block. This address is the one that appears in
+ sysfs.
+
+- ``resource_size_t size``: Fill in the size of the memory block that
+ ``addr`` points to. If ``size`` is zero, the mapping is considered
+ unused. Note that you *must* initialize ``size`` with zero for all
+ unused mappings.
+
+- ``void *internal_addr``: If you have to access this memory region
+ from within your kernel module, you will want to map it internally by
+ using something like :c:func:`ioremap()`. Addresses returned by
+ this function cannot be mapped to user space, so you must not store
+ it in ``addr``. Use ``internal_addr`` instead to remember such an
+ address.
+
+Please do not touch the ``map`` element of ``struct uio_mem``! It is
+used by the UIO framework to set up sysfs files for this mapping. Simply
+leave it alone.
+
+Sometimes, your device can have one or more port regions which can not
+be mapped to userspace. But if there are other possibilities for
+userspace to access these ports, it makes sense to make information
+about the ports available in sysfs. For each region, you have to set up
+a ``struct uio_port`` in the ``port[]`` array. Here's a description of
+the fields of ``struct uio_port``:
+
+- ``char *porttype``: Required. Set this to one of the predefined
+ constants. Use ``UIO_PORT_X86`` for the ioports found in x86
+ architectures.
+
+- ``unsigned long start``: Required if the port region is used. Fill in
+ the number of the first port of this region.
+
+- ``unsigned long size``: Fill in the number of ports in this region.
+ If ``size`` is zero, the region is considered unused. Note that you
+ *must* initialize ``size`` with zero for all unused regions.
+
+Please do not touch the ``portio`` element of ``struct uio_port``! It is
+used internally by the UIO framework to set up sysfs files for this
+region. Simply leave it alone.
+
+Adding an interrupt handler
+---------------------------
+
+What you need to do in your interrupt handler depends on your hardware
+and on how you want to handle it. You should try to keep the amount of
+code in your kernel interrupt handler low. If your hardware requires no
+action that you *have* to perform after each interrupt, then your
+handler can be empty.
+
+If, on the other hand, your hardware *needs* some action to be performed
+after each interrupt, then you *must* do it in your kernel module. Note
+that you cannot rely on the userspace part of your driver. Your
+userspace program can terminate at any time, possibly leaving your
+hardware in a state where proper interrupt handling is still required.
+
+There might also be applications where you want to read data from your
+hardware at each interrupt and buffer it in a piece of kernel memory
+you've allocated for that purpose. With this technique you could avoid
+loss of data if your userspace program misses an interrupt.
+
+A note on shared interrupts: Your driver should support interrupt
+sharing whenever this is possible. It is possible if and only if your
+driver can detect whether your hardware has triggered the interrupt or
+not. This is usually done by looking at an interrupt status register. If
+your driver sees that the IRQ bit is actually set, it will perform its
+actions, and the handler returns IRQ_HANDLED. If the driver detects
+that it was not your hardware that caused the interrupt, it will do
+nothing and return IRQ_NONE, allowing the kernel to call the next
+possible interrupt handler.
+
+If you decide not to support shared interrupts, your card won't work in
+computers with no free interrupts. As this frequently happens on the PC
+platform, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by supporting interrupt
+sharing.
+
+Using uio_pdrv for platform devices
+-----------------------------------
+
+In many cases, UIO drivers for platform devices can be handled in a
+generic way. In the same place where you define your
+``struct platform_device``, you simply also implement your interrupt
+handler and fill your ``struct uio_info``. A pointer to this
+``struct uio_info`` is then used as ``platform_data`` for your platform
+device.
+
+You also need to set up an array of ``struct resource`` containing
+addresses and sizes of your memory mappings. This information is passed
+to the driver using the ``.resource`` and ``.num_resources`` elements of
+``struct platform_device``.
+
+You now have to set the ``.name`` element of ``struct platform_device``
+to ``"uio_pdrv"`` to use the generic UIO platform device driver. This
+driver will fill the ``mem[]`` array according to the resources given,
+and register the device.
+
+The advantage of this approach is that you only have to edit a file you
+need to edit anyway. You do not have to create an extra driver.
+
+Using uio_pdrv_genirq for platform devices
+------------------------------------------
+
+Especially in embedded devices, you frequently find chips where the irq
+pin is tied to its own dedicated interrupt line. In such cases, where
+you can be really sure the interrupt is not shared, we can take the
+concept of ``uio_pdrv`` one step further and use a generic interrupt
+handler. That's what ``uio_pdrv_genirq`` does.
+
+The setup for this driver is the same as described above for
+``uio_pdrv``, except that you do not implement an interrupt handler. The
+``.handler`` element of ``struct uio_info`` must remain ``NULL``. The
+``.irq_flags`` element must not contain ``IRQF_SHARED``.
+
+You will set the ``.name`` element of ``struct platform_device`` to
+``"uio_pdrv_genirq"`` to use this driver.
+
+The generic interrupt handler of ``uio_pdrv_genirq`` will simply disable
+the interrupt line using :c:func:`disable_irq_nosync()`. After
+doing its work, userspace can reenable the interrupt by writing
+0x00000001 to the UIO device file. The driver already implements an
+:c:func:`irq_control()` to make this possible, you must not
+implement your own.
+
+Using ``uio_pdrv_genirq`` not only saves a few lines of interrupt
+handler code. You also do not need to know anything about the chip's
+internal registers to create the kernel part of the driver. All you need
+to know is the irq number of the pin the chip is connected to.
+
+When used in a device-tree enabled system, the driver needs to be
+probed with the ``"of_id"`` module parameter set to the ``"compatible"``
+string of the node the driver is supposed to handle. By default, the
+node's name (without the unit address) is exposed as name for the
+UIO device in userspace. To set a custom name, a property named
+``"linux,uio-name"`` may be specified in the DT node.
+
+Using uio_dmem_genirq for platform devices
+------------------------------------------
+
+In addition to statically allocated memory ranges, they may also be a
+desire to use dynamically allocated regions in a user space driver. In
+particular, being able to access memory made available through the
+dma-mapping API, may be particularly useful. The ``uio_dmem_genirq``
+driver provides a way to accomplish this.
+
+This driver is used in a similar manner to the ``"uio_pdrv_genirq"``
+driver with respect to interrupt configuration and handling.
+
+Set the ``.name`` element of ``struct platform_device`` to
+``"uio_dmem_genirq"`` to use this driver.
+
+When using this driver, fill in the ``.platform_data`` element of
+``struct platform_device``, which is of type
+``struct uio_dmem_genirq_pdata`` and which contains the following
+elements:
+
+- ``struct uio_info uioinfo``: The same structure used as the
+ ``uio_pdrv_genirq`` platform data
+
+- ``unsigned int *dynamic_region_sizes``: Pointer to list of sizes of
+ dynamic memory regions to be mapped into user space.
+
+- ``unsigned int num_dynamic_regions``: Number of elements in
+ ``dynamic_region_sizes`` array.
+
+The dynamic regions defined in the platform data will be appended to the
+`` mem[] `` array after the platform device resources, which implies
+that the total number of static and dynamic memory regions cannot exceed
+``MAX_UIO_MAPS``.
+
+The dynamic memory regions will be allocated when the UIO device file,
+``/dev/uioX`` is opened. Similar to static memory resources, the memory
+region information for dynamic regions is then visible via sysfs at
+``/sys/class/uio/uioX/maps/mapY/*``. The dynamic memory regions will be
+freed when the UIO device file is closed. When no processes are holding
+the device file open, the address returned to userspace is ~0.
+
+Writing a driver in userspace
+=============================
+
+Once you have a working kernel module for your hardware, you can write
+the userspace part of your driver. You don't need any special libraries,
+your driver can be written in any reasonable language, you can use
+floating point numbers and so on. In short, you can use all the tools
+and libraries you'd normally use for writing a userspace application.
+
+Getting information about your UIO device
+-----------------------------------------
+
+Information about all UIO devices is available in sysfs. The first thing
+you should do in your driver is check ``name`` and ``version`` to make
+sure you're talking to the right device and that its kernel driver has
+the version you expect.
+
+You should also make sure that the memory mapping you need exists and
+has the size you expect.
+
+There is a tool called ``lsuio`` that lists UIO devices and their
+attributes. It is available here:
+
+http://www.osadl.org/projects/downloads/UIO/user/
+
+With ``lsuio`` you can quickly check if your kernel module is loaded and
+which attributes it exports. Have a look at the manpage for details.
+
+The source code of ``lsuio`` can serve as an example for getting
+information about an UIO device. The file ``uio_helper.c`` contains a
+lot of functions you could use in your userspace driver code.
+
+mmap() device memory
+--------------------
+
+After you made sure you've got the right device with the memory mappings
+you need, all you have to do is to call :c:func:`mmap()` to map the
+device's memory to userspace.
+
+The parameter ``offset`` of the :c:func:`mmap()` call has a special
+meaning for UIO devices: It is used to select which mapping of your
+device you want to map. To map the memory of mapping N, you have to use
+N times the page size as your offset::
+
+ offset = N * getpagesize();
+
+N starts from zero, so if you've got only one memory range to map, set
+``offset = 0``. A drawback of this technique is that memory is always
+mapped beginning with its start address.
+
+Waiting for interrupts
+----------------------
+
+After you successfully mapped your devices memory, you can access it
+like an ordinary array. Usually, you will perform some initialization.
+After that, your hardware starts working and will generate an interrupt
+as soon as it's finished, has some data available, or needs your
+attention because an error occurred.
+
+``/dev/uioX`` is a read-only file. A :c:func:`read()` will always
+block until an interrupt occurs. There is only one legal value for the
+``count`` parameter of :c:func:`read()`, and that is the size of a
+signed 32 bit integer (4). Any other value for ``count`` causes
+:c:func:`read()` to fail. The signed 32 bit integer read is the
+interrupt count of your device. If the value is one more than the value
+you read the last time, everything is OK. If the difference is greater
+than one, you missed interrupts.
+
+You can also use :c:func:`select()` on ``/dev/uioX``.
+
+Generic PCI UIO driver
+======================
+
+The generic driver is a kernel module named uio_pci_generic. It can
+work with any device compliant to PCI 2.3 (circa 2002) and any compliant
+PCI Express device. Using this, you only need to write the userspace
+driver, removing the need to write a hardware-specific kernel module.
+
+Making the driver recognize the device
+--------------------------------------
+
+Since the driver does not declare any device ids, it will not get loaded
+automatically and will not automatically bind to any devices, you must
+load it and allocate id to the driver yourself. For example::
+
+ modprobe uio_pci_generic
+ echo "8086 10f5" > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/uio_pci_generic/new_id
+
+If there already is a hardware specific kernel driver for your device,
+the generic driver still won't bind to it, in this case if you want to
+use the generic driver (why would you?) you'll have to manually unbind
+the hardware specific driver and bind the generic driver, like this::
+
+ echo -n 0000:00:19.0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/e1000e/unbind
+ echo -n 0000:00:19.0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/uio_pci_generic/bind
+
+You can verify that the device has been bound to the driver by looking
+for it in sysfs, for example like the following::
+
+ ls -l /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:19.0/driver
+
+Which if successful should print::
+
+ .../0000:00:19.0/driver -> ../../../bus/pci/drivers/uio_pci_generic
+
+Note that the generic driver will not bind to old PCI 2.2 devices. If
+binding the device failed, run the following command::
+
+ dmesg
+
+and look in the output for failure reasons.
+
+Things to know about uio_pci_generic
+------------------------------------
+
+Interrupts are handled using the Interrupt Disable bit in the PCI
+command register and Interrupt Status bit in the PCI status register.
+All devices compliant to PCI 2.3 (circa 2002) and all compliant PCI
+Express devices should support these bits. uio_pci_generic detects
+this support, and won't bind to devices which do not support the
+Interrupt Disable Bit in the command register.
+
+On each interrupt, uio_pci_generic sets the Interrupt Disable bit.
+This prevents the device from generating further interrupts until the
+bit is cleared. The userspace driver should clear this bit before
+blocking and waiting for more interrupts.
+
+Writing userspace driver using uio_pci_generic
+------------------------------------------------
+
+Userspace driver can use pci sysfs interface, or the libpci library that
+wraps it, to talk to the device and to re-enable interrupts by writing
+to the command register.
+
+Example code using uio_pci_generic
+----------------------------------
+
+Here is some sample userspace driver code using uio_pci_generic::
+
+ #include <stdlib.h>
+ #include <stdio.h>
+ #include <unistd.h>
+ #include <sys/types.h>
+ #include <sys/stat.h>
+ #include <fcntl.h>
+ #include <errno.h>
+
+ int main()
+ {
+ int uiofd;
+ int configfd;
+ int err;
+ int i;
+ unsigned icount;
+ unsigned char command_high;
+
+ uiofd = open("/dev/uio0", O_RDONLY);
+ if (uiofd < 0) {
+ perror("uio open:");
+ return errno;
+ }
+ configfd = open("/sys/class/uio/uio0/device/config", O_RDWR);
+ if (configfd < 0) {
+ perror("config open:");
+ return errno;
+ }
+
+ /* Read and cache command value */
+ err = pread(configfd, &command_high, 1, 5);
+ if (err != 1) {
+ perror("command config read:");
+ return errno;
+ }
+ command_high &= ~0x4;
+
+ for(i = 0;; ++i) {
+ /* Print out a message, for debugging. */
+ if (i == 0)
+ fprintf(stderr, "Started uio test driver.\n");
+ else
+ fprintf(stderr, "Interrupts: %d\n", icount);
+
+ /****************************************/
+ /* Here we got an interrupt from the
+ device. Do something to it. */
+ /****************************************/
+
+ /* Re-enable interrupts. */
+ err = pwrite(configfd, &command_high, 1, 5);
+ if (err != 1) {
+ perror("config write:");
+ break;
+ }
+
+ /* Wait for next interrupt. */
+ err = read(uiofd, &icount, 4);
+ if (err != 4) {
+ perror("uio read:");
+ break;
+ }
+
+ }
+ return errno;
+ }
+
+Generic Hyper-V UIO driver
+==========================
+
+The generic driver is a kernel module named uio_hv_generic. It
+supports devices on the Hyper-V VMBus similar to uio_pci_generic on
+PCI bus.
+
+Making the driver recognize the device
+--------------------------------------
+
+Since the driver does not declare any device GUID's, it will not get
+loaded automatically and will not automatically bind to any devices, you
+must load it and allocate id to the driver yourself. For example, to use
+the network device class GUID::
+
+ modprobe uio_hv_generic
+ echo "f8615163-df3e-46c5-913f-f2d2f965ed0e" > /sys/bus/vmbus/drivers/uio_hv_generic/new_id
+
+If there already is a hardware specific kernel driver for the device,
+the generic driver still won't bind to it, in this case if you want to
+use the generic driver for a userspace library you'll have to manually unbind
+the hardware specific driver and bind the generic driver, using the device specific GUID
+like this::
+
+ echo -n ed963694-e847-4b2a-85af-bc9cfc11d6f3 > /sys/bus/vmbus/drivers/hv_netvsc/unbind
+ echo -n ed963694-e847-4b2a-85af-bc9cfc11d6f3 > /sys/bus/vmbus/drivers/uio_hv_generic/bind
+
+You can verify that the device has been bound to the driver by looking
+for it in sysfs, for example like the following::
+
+ ls -l /sys/bus/vmbus/devices/ed963694-e847-4b2a-85af-bc9cfc11d6f3/driver
+
+Which if successful should print::
+
+ .../ed963694-e847-4b2a-85af-bc9cfc11d6f3/driver -> ../../../bus/vmbus/drivers/uio_hv_generic
+
+Things to know about uio_hv_generic
+-----------------------------------
+
+On each interrupt, uio_hv_generic sets the Interrupt Disable bit. This
+prevents the device from generating further interrupts until the bit is
+cleared. The userspace driver should clear this bit before blocking and
+waiting for more interrupts.
+
+When host rescinds a device, the interrupt file descriptor is marked down
+and any reads of the interrupt file descriptor will return -EIO. Similar
+to a closed socket or disconnected serial device.
+
+The vmbus device regions are mapped into uio device resources:
+ 0) Channel ring buffers: guest to host and host to guest
+ 1) Guest to host interrupt signalling pages
+ 2) Guest to host monitor page
+ 3) Network receive buffer region
+ 4) Network send buffer region
+
+If a subchannel is created by a request to host, then the uio_hv_generic
+device driver will create a sysfs binary file for the per-channel ring buffer.
+For example::
+
+ /sys/bus/vmbus/devices/3811fe4d-0fa0-4b62-981a-74fc1084c757/channels/21/ring
+
+Further information
+===================
+
+- `OSADL homepage. <http://www.osadl.org>`_
+
+- `Linutronix homepage. <http://www.linutronix.de>`_