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+====================
+Low Level Serial API
+====================
+
+
+This document is meant as a brief overview of some aspects of the new serial
+driver.  It is not complete, any questions you have should be directed to
+<rmk@arm.linux.org.uk>
+
+The reference implementation is contained within amba-pl011.c.
+
+
+
+Low Level Serial Hardware Driver
+--------------------------------
+
+The low level serial hardware driver is responsible for supplying port
+information (defined by uart_port) and a set of control methods (defined
+by uart_ops) to the core serial driver.  The low level driver is also
+responsible for handling interrupts for the port, and providing any
+console support.
+
+
+Console Support
+---------------
+
+The serial core provides a few helper functions.  This includes identifing
+the correct port structure (via uart_get_console()) and decoding command line
+arguments (uart_parse_options()).
+
+There is also a helper function (uart_console_write()) which performs a
+character by character write, translating newlines to CRLF sequences.
+Driver writers are recommended to use this function rather than implementing
+their own version.
+
+
+Locking
+-------
+
+It is the responsibility of the low level hardware driver to perform the
+necessary locking using port->lock.  There are some exceptions (which
+are described in the struct uart_ops listing below.)
+
+There are two locks.  A per-port spinlock, and an overall semaphore.
+
+From the core driver perspective, the port->lock locks the following
+data::
+
+	port->mctrl
+	port->icount
+	port->state->xmit.head (circ_buf->head)
+	port->state->xmit.tail (circ_buf->tail)
+
+The low level driver is free to use this lock to provide any additional
+locking.
+
+The port_sem semaphore is used to protect against ports being added/
+removed or reconfigured at inappropriate times. Since v2.6.27, this
+semaphore has been the 'mutex' member of the tty_port struct, and
+commonly referred to as the port mutex.
+
+
+uart_ops
+--------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/serial_core.h
+   :identifiers: uart_ops
+
+Other functions
+---------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/tty/serial/serial_core.c
+   :identifiers: uart_update_timeout uart_get_baud_rate uart_get_divisor
+           uart_match_port uart_write_wakeup uart_register_driver
+           uart_unregister_driver uart_suspend_port uart_resume_port
+           uart_add_one_port uart_remove_one_port uart_console_write
+           uart_parse_earlycon uart_parse_options uart_set_options
+           uart_get_lsr_info uart_handle_dcd_change uart_handle_cts_change
+           uart_try_toggle_sysrq uart_get_console
+
+Other notes
+-----------
+
+It is intended some day to drop the 'unused' entries from uart_port, and
+allow low level drivers to register their own individual uart_port's with
+the core.  This will allow drivers to use uart_port as a pointer to a
+structure containing both the uart_port entry with their own extensions,
+thus::
+
+	struct my_port {
+		struct uart_port	port;
+		int			my_stuff;
+	};
+
+Modem control lines via GPIO
+----------------------------
+
+Some helpers are provided in order to set/get modem control lines via GPIO.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/tty/serial/serial_mctrl_gpio.c
+   :identifiers: mctrl_gpio_init mctrl_gpio_free mctrl_gpio_to_gpiod
+           mctrl_gpio_set mctrl_gpio_get mctrl_gpio_enable_ms
+           mctrl_gpio_disable_ms