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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/debugfs.txt | 158 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/debugfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/debugfs.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..ed52af60c2d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/debugfs.txt @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +Copyright 2009 Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> + +Debugfs exists as a simple way for kernel developers to make information +available to user space. Unlike /proc, which is only meant for information +about a process, or sysfs, which has strict one-value-per-file rules, +debugfs has no rules at all. Developers can put any information they want +there. The debugfs filesystem is also intended to not serve as a stable +ABI to user space; in theory, there are no stability constraints placed on +files exported there. The real world is not always so simple, though [1]; +even debugfs interfaces are best designed with the idea that they will need +to be maintained forever. + +Debugfs is typically mounted with a command like: + + mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug + +(Or an equivalent /etc/fstab line). + +Note that the debugfs API is exported GPL-only to modules. + +Code using debugfs should include <linux/debugfs.h>. Then, the first order +of business will be to create at least one directory to hold a set of +debugfs files: + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_dir(const char *name, struct dentry *parent); + +This call, if successful, will make a directory called name underneath the +indicated parent directory. If parent is NULL, the directory will be +created in the debugfs root. On success, the return value is a struct +dentry pointer which can be used to create files in the directory (and to +clean it up at the end). A NULL return value indicates that something went +wrong. If ERR_PTR(-ENODEV) is returned, that is an indication that the +kernel has been built without debugfs support and none of the functions +described below will work. + +The most general way to create a file within a debugfs directory is with: + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_file(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, void *data, + const struct file_operations *fops); + +Here, name is the name of the file to create, mode describes the access +permissions the file should have, parent indicates the directory which +should hold the file, data will be stored in the i_private field of the +resulting inode structure, and fops is a set of file operations which +implement the file's behavior. At a minimum, the read() and/or write() +operations should be provided; others can be included as needed. Again, +the return value will be a dentry pointer to the created file, NULL for +error, or ERR_PTR(-ENODEV) if debugfs support is missing. + +In a number of cases, the creation of a set of file operations is not +actually necessary; the debugfs code provides a number of helper functions +for simple situations. Files containing a single integer value can be +created with any of: + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_u8(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u8 *value); + struct dentry *debugfs_create_u16(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u16 *value); + struct dentry *debugfs_create_u32(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u32 *value); + struct dentry *debugfs_create_u64(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u64 *value); + +These files support both reading and writing the given value; if a specific +file should not be written to, simply set the mode bits accordingly. The +values in these files are in decimal; if hexadecimal is more appropriate, +the following functions can be used instead: + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_x8(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u8 *value); + struct dentry *debugfs_create_x16(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u16 *value); + struct dentry *debugfs_create_x32(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u32 *value); + +Note that there is no debugfs_create_x64(). + +These functions are useful as long as the developer knows the size of the +value to be exported. Some types can have different widths on different +architectures, though, complicating the situation somewhat. There is a +function meant to help out in one special case: + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_size_t(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, + size_t *value); + +As might be expected, this function will create a debugfs file to represent +a variable of type size_t. + +Boolean values can be placed in debugfs with: + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_bool(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, u32 *value); + +A read on the resulting file will yield either Y (for non-zero values) or +N, followed by a newline. If written to, it will accept either upper- or +lower-case values, or 1 or 0. Any other input will be silently ignored. + +Finally, a block of arbitrary binary data can be exported with: + + struct debugfs_blob_wrapper { + void *data; + unsigned long size; + }; + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_blob(const char *name, mode_t mode, + struct dentry *parent, + struct debugfs_blob_wrapper *blob); + +A read of this file will return the data pointed to by the +debugfs_blob_wrapper structure. Some drivers use "blobs" as a simple way +to return several lines of (static) formatted text output. This function +can be used to export binary information, but there does not appear to be +any code which does so in the mainline. Note that all files created with +debugfs_create_blob() are read-only. + +There are a couple of other directory-oriented helper functions: + + struct dentry *debugfs_rename(struct dentry *old_dir, + struct dentry *old_dentry, + struct dentry *new_dir, + const char *new_name); + + struct dentry *debugfs_create_symlink(const char *name, + struct dentry *parent, + const char *target); + +A call to debugfs_rename() will give a new name to an existing debugfs +file, possibly in a different directory. The new_name must not exist prior +to the call; the return value is old_dentry with updated information. +Symbolic links can be created with debugfs_create_symlink(). + +There is one important thing that all debugfs users must take into account: +there is no automatic cleanup of any directories created in debugfs. If a +module is unloaded without explicitly removing debugfs entries, the result +will be a lot of stale pointers and no end of highly antisocial behavior. +So all debugfs users - at least those which can be built as modules - must +be prepared to remove all files and directories they create there. A file +can be removed with: + + void debugfs_remove(struct dentry *dentry); + +The dentry value can be NULL, in which case nothing will be removed. + +Once upon a time, debugfs users were required to remember the dentry +pointer for every debugfs file they created so that all files could be +cleaned up. We live in more civilized times now, though, and debugfs users +can call: + + void debugfs_remove_recursive(struct dentry *dentry); + +If this function is passed a pointer for the dentry corresponding to the +top-level directory, the entire hierarchy below that directory will be +removed. + +Notes: + [1] http://lwn.net/Articles/309298/ |