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diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-api.tmpl b/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-api.tmpl index fd2ef4d29b6..a0af560ed74 100644 --- a/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-api.tmpl +++ b/Documentation/DocBook/kernel-api.tmpl @@ -408,6 +408,10 @@ X!Edrivers/pnp/system.c !Edrivers/pnp/manager.c !Edrivers/pnp/support.c </sect1> + <sect1><title>Userspace IO devices</title> +!Edrivers/uio/uio.c +!Iinclude/linux/uio_driver.h + </sect1> </chapter> <chapter id="blkdev"> diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/uio-howto.tmpl b/Documentation/DocBook/uio-howto.tmpl new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..e3bb29a8d8d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/DocBook/uio-howto.tmpl @@ -0,0 +1,611 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN" +"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" []> + +<book id="index"> +<bookinfo> +<title>The Userspace I/O HOWTO</title> + +<author> + <firstname>Hans-Jürgen</firstname> + <surname>Koch</surname> + <authorblurb><para>Linux developer, Linutronix</para></authorblurb> + <affiliation> + <orgname> + <ulink url="http://www.linutronix.de">Linutronix</ulink> + </orgname> + + <address> + <email>hjk@linutronix.de</email> + </address> + </affiliation> +</author> + +<pubdate>2006-12-11</pubdate> + +<abstract> + <para>This HOWTO describes concept and usage of Linux kernel's + Userspace I/O system.</para> +</abstract> + +<revhistory> + <revision> + <revnumber>0.3</revnumber> + <date>2007-04-29</date> + <authorinitials>hjk</authorinitials> + <revremark>Added section about userspace drivers.</revremark> + </revision> + <revision> + <revnumber>0.2</revnumber> + <date>2007-02-13</date> + <authorinitials>hjk</authorinitials> + <revremark>Update after multiple mappings were added.</revremark> + </revision> + <revision> + <revnumber>0.1</revnumber> + <date>2006-12-11</date> + <authorinitials>hjk</authorinitials> + <revremark>First draft.</revremark> + </revision> +</revhistory> +</bookinfo> + +<chapter id="aboutthisdoc"> +<?dbhtml filename="about.html"?> +<title>About this document</title> + +<sect1 id="copyright"> +<?dbhtml filename="copyright.html"?> +<title>Copyright and License</title> +<para> + Copyright (c) 2006 by Hans-Jürgen Koch.</para> +<para> +This documentation is Free Software licensed under the terms of the +GPL version 2. +</para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="translations"> +<?dbhtml filename="translations.html"?> +<title>Translations</title> + +<para>If you know of any translations for this document, or you are +interested in translating it, please email me +<email>hjk@linutronix.de</email>. +</para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="preface"> +<title>Preface</title> + <para> + 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. + </para> + <para> + 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. + </para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="thanks"> +<title>Acknowledgments</title> + <para>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.</para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="feedback"> +<title>Feedback</title> + <para>Find something wrong with this document? (Or perhaps something + right?) I would love to hear from you. Please email me at + <email>hjk@linutronix.de</email>.</para> +</sect1> +</chapter> + +<chapter id="about"> +<?dbhtml filename="about.html"?> +<title>About UIO</title> + +<para>If you use UIO for your card's driver, here's what you get:</para> + +<itemizedlist> +<listitem> + <para>only one small kernel module to write and maintain.</para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para>develop the main part of your driver in user space, + with all the tools and libraries you're used to.</para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para>bugs in your driver won't crash the kernel.</para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para>updates of your driver can take place without recompiling + the kernel.</para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para>if you need to keep some parts of your driver closed source, + you can do so without violating the GPL license on the kernel.</para> +</listitem> +</itemizedlist> + +<sect1 id="how_uio_works"> +<title>How UIO works</title> + <para> + Each UIO device is accessed through a device file and several + sysfs attribute files. The device file will be called + <filename>/dev/uio0</filename> for the first device, and + <filename>/dev/uio1</filename>, <filename>/dev/uio2</filename> + and so on for subsequent devices. + </para> + + <para><filename>/dev/uioX</filename> is used to access the + address space of the card. Just use + <function>mmap()</function> to access registers or RAM + locations of your card. + </para> + + <para> + Interrupts are handled by reading from + <filename>/dev/uioX</filename>. A blocking + <function>read()</function> from + <filename>/dev/uioX</filename> will return as soon as an + interrupt occurs. You can also use + <function>select()</function> on + <filename>/dev/uioX</filename> to wait for an interrupt. The + integer value read from <filename>/dev/uioX</filename> + represents the total interrupt count. You can use this number + to figure out if you missed some interrupts. + </para> + + <para> + To handle interrupts properly, your custom kernel module can + provide its own interrupt handler. It will automatically be + called by the built-in handler. + </para> + + <para> + 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. + See <filename>drivers/uio/uio_dummy.c</filename> for an + example of this technique. + </para> + + <para> + 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. + </para> + + <para> + The following standard attributes are provided by the UIO + framework: + </para> +<itemizedlist> +<listitem> + <para> + <filename>name</filename>: The name of your device. It is + recommended to use the name of your kernel module for this. + </para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para> + <filename>version</filename>: 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. + </para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para> + <filename>event</filename>: The total number of interrupts + handled by the driver since the last time the device node was + read. + </para> +</listitem> +</itemizedlist> +<para> + These attributes appear under the + <filename>/sys/class/uio/uioX</filename> 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. +</para> +<para> + 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. +</para> +<para> + Each mapping has its own directory in sysfs, the first mapping + appears as <filename>/sys/class/uio/uioX/maps/map0/</filename>. + Subsequent mappings create directories <filename>map1/</filename>, + <filename>map2/</filename>, and so on. These directories will only + appear if the size of the mapping is not 0. +</para> +<para> + Each <filename>mapX/</filename> directory contains two read-only files + that show start address and size of the memory: +</para> +<itemizedlist> +<listitem> + <para> + <filename>addr</filename>: The address of memory that can be mapped. + </para> +</listitem> +<listitem> + <para> + <filename>size</filename>: The size, in bytes, of the memory + pointed to by addr. + </para> +</listitem> +</itemizedlist> + +<para> + From userspace, the different mappings are distinguished by adjusting + the <varname>offset</varname> parameter of the + <function>mmap()</function> call. To map the memory of mapping N, you + have to use N times the page size as your offset: +</para> +<programlisting format="linespecific"> +offset = N * getpagesize(); +</programlisting> + +</sect1> +</chapter> + +<chapter id="using-uio_dummy" xreflabel="Using uio_dummy"> +<?dbhtml filename="using-uio_dummy.html"?> +<title>Using uio_dummy</title> + <para> + Well, there is no real use for uio_dummy. Its only purpose is + to test most parts of the UIO system (everything except + hardware interrupts), and to serve as an example for the + kernel module that you will have to write yourself. + </para> + +<sect1 id="what_uio_dummy_does"> +<title>What uio_dummy does</title> + <para> + The kernel module <filename>uio_dummy.ko</filename> creates a + device that uses a timer to generate periodic interrupts. The + interrupt handler does nothing but increment a counter. The + driver adds two custom attributes, <varname>count</varname> + and <varname>freq</varname>, that appear under + <filename>/sys/devices/platform/uio_dummy/</filename>. + </para> + + <para> + The attribute <varname>count</varname> can be read and + written. The associated file + <filename>/sys/devices/platform/uio_dummy/count</filename> + appears as a normal text file and contains the total number of + timer interrupts. If you look at it (e.g. using + <function>cat</function>), you'll notice it is slowly counting + up. + </para> + + <para> + The attribute <varname>freq</varname> can be read and written. + The content of + <filename>/sys/devices/platform/uio_dummy/freq</filename> + represents the number of system timer ticks between two timer + interrupts. The default value of <varname>freq</varname> is + the value of the kernel variable <varname>HZ</varname>, which + gives you an interval of one second. Lower values will + increase the frequency. Try the following: + </para> +<programlisting format="linespecific"> +cd /sys/devices/platform/uio_dummy/ +echo 100 > freq +</programlisting> + <para> + Use <function>cat count</function> to see how the interrupt + frequency changes. + </para> +</sect1> +</chapter> + +<chapter id="custom_kernel_module" xreflabel="Writing your own kernel module"> +<?dbhtml filename="custom_kernel_module.html"?> +<title>Writing your own kernel module</title> + <para> + Please have a look at <filename>uio_dummy.c</filename> as an + example. The following paragraphs explain the different + sections of this file. + </para> + +<sect1 id="uio_info"> +<title>struct uio_info</title> + <para> + This structure tells the framework the details of your driver, + Some of the members are required, others are optional. + </para> + +<itemizedlist> +<listitem><para> +<varname>char *name</varname>: Required. The name of your driver as +it will appear in sysfs. I recommend using the name of your module for this. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>char *version</varname>: Required. This string appears in +<filename>/sys/class/uio/uioX/version</filename>. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>struct uio_mem mem[ MAX_UIO_MAPS ]</varname>: Required if you +have memory that can be mapped with <function>mmap()</function>. For each +mapping you need to fill one of the <varname>uio_mem</varname> structures. +See the description below for details. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>long irq</varname>: 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 +<varname>irq</varname> to <varname>UIO_IRQ_CUSTOM</varname>. The +uio_dummy module does this as it triggers the event mechanism in a timer +routine. If you had no interrupt at all, you could set +<varname>irq</varname> to <varname>UIO_IRQ_NONE</varname>, though this +rarely makes sense. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>unsigned long irq_flags</varname>: Required if you've set +<varname>irq</varname> to a hardware interrupt number. The flags given +here will be used in the call to <function>request_irq()</function>. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>int (*mmap)(struct uio_info *info, struct vm_area_struct +*vma)</varname>: Optional. If you need a special +<function>mmap()</function> function, you can set it here. If this +pointer is not NULL, your <function>mmap()</function> will be called +instead of the built-in one. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>int (*open)(struct uio_info *info, struct inode *inode) +</varname>: Optional. You might want to have your own +<function>open()</function>, e.g. to enable interrupts only when your +device is actually used. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>int (*release)(struct uio_info *info, struct inode *inode) +</varname>: Optional. If you define your own +<function>open()</function>, you will probably also want a custom +<function>release()</function> function. +</para></listitem> +</itemizedlist> + +<para> +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 +<varname>struct uio_mem</varname> in the <varname>mem[]</varname> array. +Here's a description of the fields of <varname>struct uio_mem</varname>: +</para> + +<itemizedlist> +<listitem><para> +<varname>int memtype</varname>: Required if the mapping is used. Set this to +<varname>UIO_MEM_PHYS</varname> if you you have physical memory on your +card to be mapped. Use <varname>UIO_MEM_LOGICAL</varname> for logical +memory (e.g. allocated with <function>kmalloc()</function>). There's also +<varname>UIO_MEM_VIRTUAL</varname> for virtual memory. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>unsigned long addr</varname>: Required if the mapping is used. +Fill in the address of your memory block. This address is the one that +appears in sysfs. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>unsigned long size</varname>: Fill in the size of the +memory block that <varname>addr</varname> points to. If <varname>size</varname> +is zero, the mapping is considered unused. Note that you +<emphasis>must</emphasis> initialize <varname>size</varname> with zero for +all unused mappings. +</para></listitem> + +<listitem><para> +<varname>void *internal_addr</varname>: If you have to access this memory +region from within your kernel module, you will want to map it internally by +using something like <function>ioremap()</function>. Addresses +returned by this function cannot be mapped to user space, so you must not +store it in <varname>addr</varname>. Use <varname>internal_addr</varname> +instead to remember such an address. +</para></listitem> +</itemizedlist> + +<para> +Please do not touch the <varname>kobj</varname> element of +<varname>struct uio_mem</varname>! It is used by the UIO framework +to set up sysfs files for this mapping. Simply leave it alone. +</para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="adding_irq_handler"> +<title>Adding an interrupt handler</title> + <para> + 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 + <emphasis>have</emphasis> to perform after each interrupt, + then your handler can be empty.</para> <para>If, on the other + hand, your hardware <emphasis>needs</emphasis> some action to + be performed after each interrupt, then you + <emphasis>must</emphasis> 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. + </para> + + <para> + 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. + </para> + + <para> + 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. + </para> + + <para> + 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. + </para> +</sect1> + +</chapter> + +<chapter id="userspace_driver" xreflabel="Writing a driver in user space"> +<?dbhtml filename="userspace_driver.html"?> +<title>Writing a driver in userspace</title> + <para> + 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. + </para> + +<sect1 id="getting_uio_information"> +<title>Getting information about your UIO device</title> + <para> + Information about all UIO devices is available in sysfs. The + first thing you should do in your driver is check + <varname>name</varname> and <varname>version</varname> to + make sure your talking to the right device and that its kernel + driver has the version you expect. + </para> + <para> + You should also make sure that the memory mapping you need + exists and has the size you expect. + </para> + <para> + There is a tool called <varname>lsuio</varname> that lists + UIO devices and their attributes. It is available here: + </para> + <para> + <ulink url="http://www.osadl.org/projects/downloads/UIO/user/"> + http://www.osadl.org/projects/downloads/UIO/user/</ulink> + </para> + <para> + With <varname>lsuio</varname> you can quickly check if your + kernel module is loaded and which attributes it exports. + Have a look at the manpage for details. + </para> + <para> + The source code of <varname>lsuio</varname> can serve as an + example for getting information about an UIO device. + The file <filename>uio_helper.c</filename> contains a lot of + functions you could use in your userspace driver code. + </para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="mmap_device_memory"> +<title>mmap() device memory</title> + <para> + After you made sure you've got the right device with the + memory mappings you need, all you have to do is to call + <function>mmap()</function> to map the device's memory + to userspace. + </para> + <para> + The parameter <varname>offset</varname> of the + <function>mmap()</function> 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: + </para> +<programlisting format="linespecific"> + offset = N * getpagesize(); +</programlisting> + <para> + N starts from zero, so if you've got only one memory + range to map, set <varname>offset = 0</varname>. + A drawback of this technique is that memory is always + mapped beginning with its start address. + </para> +</sect1> + +<sect1 id="wait_for_interrupts"> +<title>Waiting for interrupts</title> + <para> + 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 occured. + </para> + <para> + <filename>/dev/uioX</filename> is a read-only file. A + <function>read()</function> will always block until an + interrupt occurs. There is only one legal value for the + <varname>count</varname> parameter of + <function>read()</function>, and that is the size of a + signed 32 bit integer (4). Any other value for + <varname>count</varname> causes <function>read()</function> + 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. + </para> + <para> + You can also use <function>select()</function> on + <filename>/dev/uioX</filename>. + </para> +</sect1> + +</chapter> + +<appendix id="app1"> +<title>Further information</title> +<itemizedlist> + <listitem><para> + <ulink url="http://www.osadl.org"> + OSADL homepage.</ulink> + </para></listitem> + <listitem><para> + <ulink url="http://www.linutronix.de"> + Linutronix homepage.</ulink> + </para></listitem> +</itemizedlist> +</appendix> + +</book> |