Device drivers infrastructure

The Basic Device Driver-Model Structures

struct bus_type

The bus type of the device

Definition

struct bus_type {
  const char              *name;
  const char              *dev_name;
  struct device           *dev_root;
  const struct attribute_group **bus_groups;
  const struct attribute_group **dev_groups;
  const struct attribute_group **drv_groups;
  int (*match)(struct device *dev, struct device_driver *drv);
  int (*uevent)(struct device *dev, struct kobj_uevent_env *env);
  int (*probe)(struct device *dev);
  int (*remove)(struct device *dev);
  void (*shutdown)(struct device *dev);
  int (*online)(struct device *dev);
  int (*offline)(struct device *dev);
  int (*suspend)(struct device *dev, pm_message_t state);
  int (*resume)(struct device *dev);
  int (*num_vf)(struct device *dev);
  int (*dma_configure)(struct device *dev);
  const struct dev_pm_ops *pm;
  const struct iommu_ops *iommu_ops;
  struct subsys_private *p;
  struct lock_class_key lock_key;
  bool need_parent_lock;
};

Members

name
The name of the bus.
dev_name
Used for subsystems to enumerate devices like (“foo``u``”, dev->id).
dev_root
Default device to use as the parent.
bus_groups
Default attributes of the bus.
dev_groups
Default attributes of the devices on the bus.
drv_groups
Default attributes of the device drivers on the bus.
match
Called, perhaps multiple times, whenever a new device or driver is added for this bus. It should return a positive value if the given device can be handled by the given driver and zero otherwise. It may also return error code if determining that the driver supports the device is not possible. In case of -EPROBE_DEFER it will queue the device for deferred probing.
uevent
Called when a device is added, removed, or a few other things that generate uevents to add the environment variables.
probe
Called when a new device or driver add to this bus, and callback the specific driver’s probe to initial the matched device.
remove
Called when a device removed from this bus.
shutdown
Called at shut-down time to quiesce the device.
online
Called to put the device back online (after offlining it).
offline
Called to put the device offline for hot-removal. May fail.
suspend
Called when a device on this bus wants to go to sleep mode.
resume
Called to bring a device on this bus out of sleep mode.
num_vf
Called to find out how many virtual functions a device on this bus supports.
dma_configure
Called to setup DMA configuration on a device on this bus.
pm
Power management operations of this bus, callback the specific device driver’s pm-ops.
iommu_ops
IOMMU specific operations for this bus, used to attach IOMMU driver implementations to a bus and allow the driver to do bus-specific setup
p
The private data of the driver core, only the driver core can touch this.
lock_key
Lock class key for use by the lock validator
need_parent_lock
When probing or removing a device on this bus, the device core should lock the device’s parent.

Description

A bus is a channel between the processor and one or more devices. For the purposes of the device model, all devices are connected via a bus, even if it is an internal, virtual, “platform” bus. Buses can plug into each other. A USB controller is usually a PCI device, for example. The device model represents the actual connections between buses and the devices they control. A bus is represented by the bus_type structure. It contains the name, the default attributes, the bus’ methods, PM operations, and the driver core’s private data.

enum probe_type

device driver probe type to try Device drivers may opt in for special handling of their respective probe routines. This tells the core what to expect and prefer.

Constants

PROBE_DEFAULT_STRATEGY
Used by drivers that work equally well whether probed synchronously or asynchronously.
PROBE_PREFER_ASYNCHRONOUS
Drivers for “slow” devices which probing order is not essential for booting the system may opt into executing their probes asynchronously.
PROBE_FORCE_SYNCHRONOUS
Use this to annotate drivers that need their probe routines to run synchronously with driver and device registration (with the exception of -EPROBE_DEFER handling - re-probing always ends up being done asynchronously).

Description

Note that the end goal is to switch the kernel to use asynchronous probing by default, so annotating drivers with PROBE_PREFER_ASYNCHRONOUS is a temporary measure that allows us to speed up boot process while we are validating the rest of the drivers.

struct device_driver

The basic device driver structure

Definition

struct device_driver {
  const char              *name;
  struct bus_type         *bus;
  struct module           *owner;
  const char              *mod_name;
  bool suppress_bind_attrs;
  enum probe_type probe_type;
  const struct of_device_id       *of_match_table;
  const struct acpi_device_id     *acpi_match_table;
  int (*probe) (struct device *dev);
  int (*remove) (struct device *dev);
  void (*shutdown) (struct device *dev);
  int (*suspend) (struct device *dev, pm_message_t state);
  int (*resume) (struct device *dev);
  const struct attribute_group **groups;
  const struct dev_pm_ops *pm;
  void (*coredump) (struct device *dev);
  struct driver_private *p;
};

Members

name
Name of the device driver.
bus
The bus which the device of this driver belongs to.
owner
The module owner.
mod_name
Used for built-in modules.
suppress_bind_attrs
Disables bind/unbind via sysfs.
probe_type
Type of the probe (synchronous or asynchronous) to use.
of_match_table
The open firmware table.
acpi_match_table
The ACPI match table.
probe
Called to query the existence of a specific device, whether this driver can work with it, and bind the driver to a specific device.
remove
Called when the device is removed from the system to unbind a device from this driver.
shutdown
Called at shut-down time to quiesce the device.
suspend
Called to put the device to sleep mode. Usually to a low power state.
resume
Called to bring a device from sleep mode.
groups
Default attributes that get created by the driver core automatically.
pm
Power management operations of the device which matched this driver.
coredump
Called when sysfs entry is written to. The device driver is expected to call the dev_coredump API resulting in a uevent.
p
Driver core’s private data, no one other than the driver core can touch this.

Description

The device driver-model tracks all of the drivers known to the system. The main reason for this tracking is to enable the driver core to match up drivers with new devices. Once drivers are known objects within the system, however, a number of other things become possible. Device drivers can export information and configuration variables that are independent of any specific device.

struct subsys_interface

interfaces to device functions

Definition

struct subsys_interface {
  const char *name;
  struct bus_type *subsys;
  struct list_head node;
  int (*add_dev)(struct device *dev, struct subsys_interface *sif);
  void (*remove_dev)(struct device *dev, struct subsys_interface *sif);
};

Members

name
name of the device function
subsys
subsytem of the devices to attach to
node
the list of functions registered at the subsystem
add_dev
device hookup to device function handler
remove_dev
device hookup to device function handler

Description

Simple interfaces attached to a subsystem. Multiple interfaces can attach to a subsystem and its devices. Unlike drivers, they do not exclusively claim or control devices. Interfaces usually represent a specific functionality of a subsystem/class of devices.

struct class

device classes

Definition

struct class {
  const char              *name;
  struct module           *owner;
  const struct attribute_group    **class_groups;
  const struct attribute_group    **dev_groups;
  struct kobject                  *dev_kobj;
  int (*dev_uevent)(struct device *dev, struct kobj_uevent_env *env);
  char *(*devnode)(struct device *dev, umode_t *mode);
  void (*class_release)(struct class *class);
  void (*dev_release)(struct device *dev);
  int (*shutdown_pre)(struct device *dev);
  const struct kobj_ns_type_operations *ns_type;
  const void *(*namespace)(struct device *dev);
  void (*get_ownership)(struct device *dev, kuid_t *uid, kgid_t *gid);
  const struct dev_pm_ops *pm;
  struct subsys_private *p;
};

Members

name
Name of the class.
owner
The module owner.
class_groups
Default attributes of this class.
dev_groups
Default attributes of the devices that belong to the class.
dev_kobj
The kobject that represents this class and links it into the hierarchy.
dev_uevent
Called when a device is added, removed from this class, or a few other things that generate uevents to add the environment variables.
devnode
Callback to provide the devtmpfs.
class_release
Called to release this class.
dev_release
Called to release the device.
shutdown_pre
Called at shut-down time before driver shutdown.
ns_type
Callbacks so sysfs can detemine namespaces.
namespace
Namespace of the device belongs to this class.
get_ownership
Allows class to specify uid/gid of the sysfs directories for the devices belonging to the class. Usually tied to device’s namespace.
pm
The default device power management operations of this class.
p
The private data of the driver core, no one other than the driver core can touch this.

Description

A class is a higher-level view of a device that abstracts out low-level implementation details. Drivers may see a SCSI disk or an ATA disk, but, at the class level, they are all simply disks. Classes allow user space to work with devices based on what they do, rather than how they are connected or how they work.

devm_alloc_percpu(dev, type)

Resource-managed alloc_percpu

Parameters

dev
Device to allocate per-cpu memory for
type
Type to allocate per-cpu memory for

Description

Managed alloc_percpu. Per-cpu memory allocated with this function is automatically freed on driver detach.

Return

Pointer to allocated memory on success, NULL on failure.

struct device_connection

Device Connection Descriptor

Definition

struct device_connection {
  struct fwnode_handle    *fwnode;
  const char              *endpoint[2];
  const char              *id;
  struct list_head        list;
};

Members

fwnode
The device node of the connected device
endpoint
The names of the two devices connected together
id
Unique identifier for the connection
list
List head, private, for internal use only

NOTE

fwnode is not used together with endpoint. fwnode is used when platform firmware defines the connection. When the connection is registered with device_connection_add() endpoint is used instead.

void device_connections_add(struct device_connection * cons)

Add multiple device connections at once

Parameters

struct device_connection * cons
Zero terminated array of device connection descriptors
void device_connections_remove(struct device_connection * cons)

Remove multiple device connections at once

Parameters

struct device_connection * cons
Zero terminated array of device connection descriptors

Device link states.

Constants

DL_STATE_NONE
The presence of the drivers is not being tracked.
DL_STATE_DORMANT
None of the supplier/consumer drivers is present.
DL_STATE_AVAILABLE
The supplier driver is present, but the consumer is not.
DL_STATE_CONSUMER_PROBE
The consumer is probing (supplier driver present).
DL_STATE_ACTIVE
Both the supplier and consumer drivers are present.
DL_STATE_SUPPLIER_UNBIND
The supplier driver is unbinding.

Device link representation.

Definition

struct device_link {
  struct device *supplier;
  struct list_head s_node;
  struct device *consumer;
  struct list_head c_node;
  enum device_link_state status;
  u32 flags;
  refcount_t rpm_active;
  struct kref kref;
#ifdef CONFIG_SRCU;
  struct rcu_head rcu_head;
#endif;
  bool supplier_preactivated;
};

Members

supplier
The device on the supplier end of the link.
s_node
Hook to the supplier device’s list of links to consumers.
consumer
The device on the consumer end of the link.
c_node
Hook to the consumer device’s list of links to suppliers.
status
The state of the link (with respect to the presence of drivers).
flags
Link flags.
rpm_active
Whether or not the consumer device is runtime-PM-active.
kref
Count repeated addition of the same link.
rcu_head
An RCU head to use for deferred execution of SRCU callbacks.
supplier_preactivated
Supplier has been made active before consumer probe.
enum dl_dev_state

Device driver presence tracking information.

Constants

DL_DEV_NO_DRIVER
There is no driver attached to the device.
DL_DEV_PROBING
A driver is probing.
DL_DEV_DRIVER_BOUND
The driver has been bound to the device.
DL_DEV_UNBINDING
The driver is unbinding from the device.

Device data related to device links.

Definition

struct dev_links_info {
  struct list_head suppliers;
  struct list_head consumers;
  enum dl_dev_state status;
};

Members

suppliers
List of links to supplier devices.
consumers
List of links to consumer devices.
status
Driver status information.
struct device

The basic device structure

Definition

struct device {
  struct kobject kobj;
  struct device           *parent;
  struct device_private   *p;
  const char              *init_name;
  const struct device_type *type;
  struct bus_type *bus;
  struct device_driver *driver;
  void *platform_data;
  void *driver_data;
#ifdef CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING;
  struct mutex            lockdep_mutex;
#endif;
  struct mutex            mutex;
  struct dev_links_info   links;
  struct dev_pm_info      power;
  struct dev_pm_domain    *pm_domain;
#ifdef CONFIG_GENERIC_MSI_IRQ_DOMAIN;
  struct irq_domain       *msi_domain;
#endif;
#ifdef CONFIG_PINCTRL;
  struct dev_pin_info     *pins;
#endif;
#ifdef CONFIG_GENERIC_MSI_IRQ;
  struct list_head        msi_list;
#endif;
  const struct dma_map_ops *dma_ops;
  u64 *dma_mask;
  u64 coherent_dma_mask;
  u64 bus_dma_mask;
  unsigned long   dma_pfn_offset;
  struct device_dma_parameters *dma_parms;
  struct list_head        dma_pools;
#ifdef CONFIG_DMA_DECLARE_COHERENT;
  struct dma_coherent_mem *dma_mem;
#endif;
#ifdef CONFIG_DMA_CMA;
  struct cma *cma_area;
#endif;
  struct dev_archdata     archdata;
  struct device_node      *of_node;
  struct fwnode_handle    *fwnode;
#ifdef CONFIG_NUMA;
  int numa_node;
#endif;
  dev_t devt;
  u32 id;
  spinlock_t devres_lock;
  struct list_head        devres_head;
  struct class            *class;
  const struct attribute_group **groups;
  void (*release)(struct device *dev);
  struct iommu_group      *iommu_group;
  struct iommu_fwspec     *iommu_fwspec;
  struct iommu_param      *iommu_param;
  bool offline_disabled:1;
  bool offline:1;
  bool of_node_reused:1;
#if defined(CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_SYNC_DMA_FOR_DEVICE) ||     defined(CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_SYNC_DMA_FOR_CPU) ||     defined(CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_SYNC_DMA_FOR_CPU_ALL);
  bool dma_coherent:1;
#endif;
};

Members

kobj
A top-level, abstract class from which other classes are derived.
parent
The device’s “parent” device, the device to which it is attached. In most cases, a parent device is some sort of bus or host controller. If parent is NULL, the device, is a top-level device, which is not usually what you want.
p
Holds the private data of the driver core portions of the device. See the comment of the struct device_private for detail.
init_name
Initial name of the device.
type
The type of device. This identifies the device type and carries type-specific information.
bus
Type of bus device is on.
driver
Which driver has allocated this
platform_data
Platform data specific to the device.
driver_data
Private pointer for driver specific info.
lockdep_mutex
An optional debug lock that a subsystem can use as a peer lock to gain localized lockdep coverage of the device_lock.
mutex
Mutex to synchronize calls to its driver.
links
Links to suppliers and consumers of this device.
power
For device power management. See Documentation/driver-api/pm/devices.rst for details.
pm_domain
Provide callbacks that are executed during system suspend, hibernation, system resume and during runtime PM transitions along with subsystem-level and driver-level callbacks.
msi_domain
The generic MSI domain this device is using.
pins
For device pin management. See Documentation/driver-api/pinctl.rst for details.
msi_list
Hosts MSI descriptors
dma_ops
DMA mapping operations for this device.
dma_mask
Dma mask (if dma’ble device).
coherent_dma_mask
Like dma_mask, but for alloc_coherent mapping as not all hardware supports 64-bit addresses for consistent allocations such descriptors.
bus_dma_mask
Mask of an upstream bridge or bus which imposes a smaller DMA limit than the device itself supports.
dma_pfn_offset
offset of DMA memory range relatively of RAM
dma_parms
A low level driver may set these to teach IOMMU code about segment limitations.
dma_pools
Dma pools (if dma’ble device).
dma_mem
Internal for coherent mem override.
cma_area
Contiguous memory area for dma allocations
archdata
For arch-specific additions.
of_node
Associated device tree node.
fwnode
Associated device node supplied by platform firmware.
numa_node
NUMA node this device is close to.
devt
For creating the sysfs “dev”.
id
device instance
devres_lock
Spinlock to protect the resource of the device.
devres_head
The resources list of the device.
class
The class of the device.
groups
Optional attribute groups.
release
Callback to free the device after all references have gone away. This should be set by the allocator of the device (i.e. the bus driver that discovered the device).
iommu_group
IOMMU group the device belongs to.
iommu_fwspec
IOMMU-specific properties supplied by firmware.
iommu_param
Per device generic IOMMU runtime data
offline_disabled
If set, the device is permanently online.
offline
Set after successful invocation of bus type’s .offline().
of_node_reused
Set if the device-tree node is shared with an ancestor device.
dma_coherent
this particular device is dma coherent, even if the architecture supports non-coherent devices.

Example

For devices on custom boards, as typical of embedded
and SOC based hardware, Linux often uses platform_data to point to board-specific structures describing devices and how they are wired. That can include what ports are available, chip variants, which GPIO pins act in what additional roles, and so on. This shrinks the “Board Support Packages” (BSPs) and minimizes board-specific #ifdefs in drivers.

Description

At the lowest level, every device in a Linux system is represented by an instance of struct device. The device structure contains the information that the device model core needs to model the system. Most subsystems, however, track additional information about the devices they host. As a result, it is rare for devices to be represented by bare device structures; instead, that structure, like kobject structures, is usually embedded within a higher-level representation of the device.

bool device_iommu_mapped(struct device * dev)

Returns true when the device DMA is translated by an IOMMU

Parameters

struct device * dev
Device to perform the check on
module_driver(__driver, __register, __unregister, )

Helper macro for drivers that don’t do anything special in module init/exit. This eliminates a lot of boilerplate. Each module may only use this macro once, and calling it replaces module_init() and module_exit().

Parameters

__driver
driver name
__register
register function for this driver type
__unregister
unregister function for this driver type
...
Additional arguments to be passed to __register and __unregister.

Description

Use this macro to construct bus specific macros for registering drivers, and do not use it on its own.

builtin_driver(__driver, __register, )

Helper macro for drivers that don’t do anything special in init and have no exit. This eliminates some boilerplate. Each driver may only use this macro once, and calling it replaces device_initcall (or in some cases, the legacy __initcall). This is meant to be a direct parallel of module_driver() above but without the __exit stuff that is not used for builtin cases.

Parameters

__driver
driver name
__register
register function for this driver type
...
Additional arguments to be passed to __register

Description

Use this macro to construct bus specific macros for registering drivers, and do not use it on its own.

Device Drivers Base

void driver_init(void)

initialize driver model.

Parameters

void
no arguments

Description

Call the driver model init functions to initialize their subsystems. Called early from init/main.c.

int driver_for_each_device(struct device_driver * drv, struct device * start, void * data, int (*fn) (struct device *, void *)

Iterator for devices bound to a driver.

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
Driver we’re iterating.
struct device * start
Device to begin with
void * data
Data to pass to the callback.
int (*)(struct device *, void *) fn
Function to call for each device.

Description

Iterate over the drv’s list of devices calling fn for each one.

struct device * driver_find_device(struct device_driver * drv, struct device * start, const void * data, int (*match) (struct device *dev, const void *data)

device iterator for locating a particular device.

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
The device’s driver
struct device * start
Device to begin with
const void * data
Data to pass to match function
int (*)(struct device *dev, const void *data) match
Callback function to check device

Description

This is similar to the driver_for_each_device() function above, but it returns a reference to a device that is ‘found’ for later use, as determined by the match callback.

The callback should return 0 if the device doesn’t match and non-zero if it does. If the callback returns non-zero, this function will return to the caller and not iterate over any more devices.

int driver_create_file(struct device_driver * drv, const struct driver_attribute * attr)

create sysfs file for driver.

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
driver.
const struct driver_attribute * attr
driver attribute descriptor.
void driver_remove_file(struct device_driver * drv, const struct driver_attribute * attr)

remove sysfs file for driver.

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
driver.
const struct driver_attribute * attr
driver attribute descriptor.
int driver_register(struct device_driver * drv)

register driver with bus

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
driver to register

Description

We pass off most of the work to the bus_add_driver() call, since most of the things we have to do deal with the bus structures.

void driver_unregister(struct device_driver * drv)

remove driver from system.

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
driver.

Description

Again, we pass off most of the work to the bus-level call.

struct device_driver * driver_find(const char * name, struct bus_type * bus)

locate driver on a bus by its name.

Parameters

const char * name
name of the driver.
struct bus_type * bus
bus to scan for the driver.

Description

Call kset_find_obj() to iterate over list of drivers on a bus to find driver by name. Return driver if found.

This routine provides no locking to prevent the driver it returns from being unregistered or unloaded while the caller is using it. The caller is responsible for preventing this.

Create a link between two devices.

Parameters

struct device * consumer
Consumer end of the link.
struct device * supplier
Supplier end of the link.
u32 flags
Link flags.

Description

The caller is responsible for the proper synchronization of the link creation with runtime PM. First, setting the DL_FLAG_PM_RUNTIME flag will cause the runtime PM framework to take the link into account. Second, if the DL_FLAG_RPM_ACTIVE flag is set in addition to it, the supplier devices will be forced into the active metastate and reference-counted upon the creation of the link. If DL_FLAG_PM_RUNTIME is not set, DL_FLAG_RPM_ACTIVE will be ignored.

If DL_FLAG_STATELESS is set in flags, the link is not going to be managed by the driver core and, in particular, the caller of this function is expected to drop the reference to the link acquired by it directly.

If that flag is not set, however, the caller of this function is handing the management of the link over to the driver core entirely and its return value can only be used to check whether or not the link is present. In that case, the DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_CONSUMER and DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_SUPPLIER device link flags can be used to indicate to the driver core when the link can be safely deleted. Namely, setting one of them in flags indicates to the driver core that the link is not going to be used (by the given caller of this function) after unbinding the consumer or supplier driver, respectively, from its device, so the link can be deleted at that point. If none of them is set, the link will be maintained until one of the devices pointed to by it (either the consumer or the supplier) is unregistered.

Also, if DL_FLAG_STATELESS, DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_CONSUMER and DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_SUPPLIER are not set in flags (that is, a persistent managed device link is being added), the DL_FLAG_AUTOPROBE_CONSUMER flag can be used to request the driver core to automaticall probe for a consmer driver after successfully binding a driver to the supplier device.

The combination of DL_FLAG_STATELESS and either DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_CONSUMER or DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_SUPPLIER set in flags at the same time is invalid and will cause NULL to be returned upfront.

A side effect of the link creation is re-ordering of dpm_list and the devices_kset list by moving the consumer device and all devices depending on it to the ends of these lists (that does not happen to devices that have not been registered when this function is called).

The supplier device is required to be registered when this function is called and NULL will be returned if that is not the case. The consumer device need not be registered, however.

Delete a stateless link between two devices.

Parameters

struct device_link * link
Device link to delete.

Description

The caller must ensure proper synchronization of this function with runtime PM. If the link was added multiple times, it needs to be deleted as often. Care is required for hotplugged devices: Their links are purged on removal and calling device_link_del() is then no longer allowed.

Delete a stateless link between two devices.

Parameters

void * consumer
Consumer end of the link.
struct device * supplier
Supplier end of the link.

Description

The caller must ensure proper synchronization of this function with runtime PM.

const char * dev_driver_string(const struct device * dev)

Return a device’s driver name, if at all possible

Parameters

const struct device * dev
struct device to get the name of

Description

Will return the device’s driver’s name if it is bound to a device. If the device is not bound to a driver, it will return the name of the bus it is attached to. If it is not attached to a bus either, an empty string will be returned.

int devm_device_add_group(struct device * dev, const struct attribute_group * grp)

given a device, create a managed attribute group

Parameters

struct device * dev
The device to create the group for
const struct attribute_group * grp
The attribute group to create

Description

This function creates a group for the first time. It will explicitly warn and error if any of the attribute files being created already exist.

Returns 0 on success or error code on failure.

void devm_device_remove_group(struct device * dev, const struct attribute_group * grp)

Parameters

struct device * dev
device to remove the group from
const struct attribute_group * grp
group to remove

Description

This function removes a group of attributes from a device. The attributes previously have to have been created for this group, otherwise it will fail.

int devm_device_add_groups(struct device * dev, const struct attribute_group ** groups)

create a bunch of managed attribute groups

Parameters

struct device * dev
The device to create the group for
const struct attribute_group ** groups
The attribute groups to create, NULL terminated

Description

This function creates a bunch of managed attribute groups. If an error occurs when creating a group, all previously created groups will be removed, unwinding everything back to the original state when this function was called. It will explicitly warn and error if any of the attribute files being created already exist.

Returns 0 on success or error code from sysfs_create_group on failure.

void devm_device_remove_groups(struct device * dev, const struct attribute_group ** groups)

remove a list of managed groups

Parameters

struct device * dev
The device for the groups to be removed from
const struct attribute_group ** groups
NULL terminated list of groups to be removed

Description

If groups is not NULL, remove the specified groups from the device.

int device_create_file(struct device * dev, const struct device_attribute * attr)

create sysfs attribute file for device.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.
const struct device_attribute * attr
device attribute descriptor.
void device_remove_file(struct device * dev, const struct device_attribute * attr)

remove sysfs attribute file.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.
const struct device_attribute * attr
device attribute descriptor.
bool device_remove_file_self(struct device * dev, const struct device_attribute * attr)

remove sysfs attribute file from its own method.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.
const struct device_attribute * attr
device attribute descriptor.

Description

See kernfs_remove_self() for details.

int device_create_bin_file(struct device * dev, const struct bin_attribute * attr)

create sysfs binary attribute file for device.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.
const struct bin_attribute * attr
device binary attribute descriptor.
void device_remove_bin_file(struct device * dev, const struct bin_attribute * attr)

remove sysfs binary attribute file

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.
const struct bin_attribute * attr
device binary attribute descriptor.
void device_initialize(struct device * dev)

init device structure.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

This prepares the device for use by other layers by initializing its fields. It is the first half of device_register(), if called by that function, though it can also be called separately, so one may use dev’s fields. In particular, get_device()/put_device() may be used for reference counting of dev after calling this function.

All fields in dev must be initialized by the caller to 0, except for those explicitly set to some other value. The simplest approach is to use kzalloc() to allocate the structure containing dev.

NOTE

Use put_device() to give up your reference instead of freeing dev directly once you have called this function.

int dev_set_name(struct device * dev, const char * fmt, ...)

set a device name

Parameters

struct device * dev
device
const char * fmt
format string for the device’s name
...
variable arguments
int device_add(struct device * dev)

add device to device hierarchy.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

This is part 2 of device_register(), though may be called separately _iff_ device_initialize() has been called separately.

This adds dev to the kobject hierarchy via kobject_add(), adds it to the global and sibling lists for the device, then adds it to the other relevant subsystems of the driver model.

Do not call this routine or device_register() more than once for any device structure. The driver model core is not designed to work with devices that get unregistered and then spring back to life. (Among other things, it’s very hard to guarantee that all references to the previous incarnation of dev have been dropped.) Allocate and register a fresh new struct device instead.

NOTE

_Never_ directly free dev after calling this function, even if it returned an error! Always use put_device() to give up your reference instead.

Rule of thumb is: if device_add() succeeds, you should call device_del() when you want to get rid of it. If device_add() has not succeeded, use only put_device() to drop the reference count.

int device_register(struct device * dev)

register a device with the system.

Parameters

struct device * dev
pointer to the device structure

Description

This happens in two clean steps - initialize the device and add it to the system. The two steps can be called separately, but this is the easiest and most common. I.e. you should only call the two helpers separately if have a clearly defined need to use and refcount the device before it is added to the hierarchy.

For more information, see the kerneldoc for device_initialize() and device_add().

NOTE

_Never_ directly free dev after calling this function, even if it returned an error! Always use put_device() to give up the reference initialized in this function instead.

struct device * get_device(struct device * dev)

increment reference count for device.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

This simply forwards the call to kobject_get(), though we do take care to provide for the case that we get a NULL pointer passed in.

void put_device(struct device * dev)

decrement reference count.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device in question.
void device_del(struct device * dev)

delete device from system.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

This is the first part of the device unregistration sequence. This removes the device from the lists we control from here, has it removed from the other driver model subsystems it was added to in device_add(), and removes it from the kobject hierarchy.

NOTE

this should be called manually _iff_ device_add() was also called manually.

void device_unregister(struct device * dev)

unregister device from system.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device going away.

Description

We do this in two parts, like we do device_register(). First, we remove it from all the subsystems with device_del(), then we decrement the reference count via put_device(). If that is the final reference count, the device will be cleaned up via device_release() above. Otherwise, the structure will stick around until the final reference to the device is dropped.

int device_for_each_child(struct device * parent, void * data, int (*fn) (struct device *dev, void *data)

device child iterator.

Parameters

struct device * parent
parent struct device.
void * data
data for the callback.
int (*)(struct device *dev, void *data) fn
function to be called for each device.

Description

Iterate over parent’s child devices, and call fn for each, passing it data.

We check the return of fn each time. If it returns anything other than 0, we break out and return that value.

int device_for_each_child_reverse(struct device * parent, void * data, int (*fn) (struct device *dev, void *data)

device child iterator in reversed order.

Parameters

struct device * parent
parent struct device.
void * data
data for the callback.
int (*)(struct device *dev, void *data) fn
function to be called for each device.

Description

Iterate over parent’s child devices, and call fn for each, passing it data.

We check the return of fn each time. If it returns anything other than 0, we break out and return that value.

struct device * device_find_child(struct device * parent, void * data, int (*match) (struct device *dev, void *data)

device iterator for locating a particular device.

Parameters

struct device * parent
parent struct device
void * data
Data to pass to match function
int (*)(struct device *dev, void *data) match
Callback function to check device

Description

This is similar to the device_for_each_child() function above, but it returns a reference to a device that is ‘found’ for later use, as determined by the match callback.

The callback should return 0 if the device doesn’t match and non-zero if it does. If the callback returns non-zero and a reference to the current device can be obtained, this function will return to the caller and not iterate over any more devices.

NOTE

you will need to drop the reference with put_device() after use.

struct device * device_find_child_by_name(struct device * parent, const char * name)

device iterator for locating a child device.

Parameters

struct device * parent
parent struct device
const char * name
name of the child device

Description

This is similar to the device_find_child() function above, but it returns a reference to a device that has the name name.

NOTE

you will need to drop the reference with put_device() after use.

struct device * __root_device_register(const char * name, struct module * owner)

allocate and register a root device

Parameters

const char * name
root device name
struct module * owner
owner module of the root device, usually THIS_MODULE

Description

This function allocates a root device and registers it using device_register(). In order to free the returned device, use root_device_unregister().

Root devices are dummy devices which allow other devices to be grouped under /sys/devices. Use this function to allocate a root device and then use it as the parent of any device which should appear under /sys/devices/{name}

The /sys/devices/{name} directory will also contain a ‘module’ symlink which points to the owner directory in sysfs.

Returns struct device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

Note

You probably want to use root_device_register().

void root_device_unregister(struct device * dev)

unregister and free a root device

Parameters

struct device * dev
device going away

Description

This function unregisters and cleans up a device that was created by root_device_register().

struct device * device_create_vargs(struct class * class, struct device * parent, dev_t devt, void * drvdata, const char * fmt, va_list args)

creates a device and registers it with sysfs

Parameters

struct class * class
pointer to the struct class that this device should be registered to
struct device * parent
pointer to the parent struct device of this new device, if any
dev_t devt
the dev_t for the char device to be added
void * drvdata
the data to be added to the device for callbacks
const char * fmt
string for the device’s name
va_list args
va_list for the device’s name

Description

This function can be used by char device classes. A struct device will be created in sysfs, registered to the specified class.

A “dev” file will be created, showing the dev_t for the device, if the dev_t is not 0,0. If a pointer to a parent struct device is passed in, the newly created struct device will be a child of that device in sysfs. The pointer to the struct device will be returned from the call. Any further sysfs files that might be required can be created using this pointer.

Returns struct device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

Note

the struct class passed to this function must have previously been created with a call to class_create().

struct device * device_create(struct class * class, struct device * parent, dev_t devt, void * drvdata, const char * fmt, ...)

creates a device and registers it with sysfs

Parameters

struct class * class
pointer to the struct class that this device should be registered to
struct device * parent
pointer to the parent struct device of this new device, if any
dev_t devt
the dev_t for the char device to be added
void * drvdata
the data to be added to the device for callbacks
const char * fmt
string for the device’s name
...
variable arguments

Description

This function can be used by char device classes. A struct device will be created in sysfs, registered to the specified class.

A “dev” file will be created, showing the dev_t for the device, if the dev_t is not 0,0. If a pointer to a parent struct device is passed in, the newly created struct device will be a child of that device in sysfs. The pointer to the struct device will be returned from the call. Any further sysfs files that might be required can be created using this pointer.

Returns struct device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

Note

the struct class passed to this function must have previously been created with a call to class_create().

struct device * device_create_with_groups(struct class * class, struct device * parent, dev_t devt, void * drvdata, const struct attribute_group ** groups, const char * fmt, ...)

creates a device and registers it with sysfs

Parameters

struct class * class
pointer to the struct class that this device should be registered to
struct device * parent
pointer to the parent struct device of this new device, if any
dev_t devt
the dev_t for the char device to be added
void * drvdata
the data to be added to the device for callbacks
const struct attribute_group ** groups
NULL-terminated list of attribute groups to be created
const char * fmt
string for the device’s name
...
variable arguments

Description

This function can be used by char device classes. A struct device will be created in sysfs, registered to the specified class. Additional attributes specified in the groups parameter will also be created automatically.

A “dev” file will be created, showing the dev_t for the device, if the dev_t is not 0,0. If a pointer to a parent struct device is passed in, the newly created struct device will be a child of that device in sysfs. The pointer to the struct device will be returned from the call. Any further sysfs files that might be required can be created using this pointer.

Returns struct device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

Note

the struct class passed to this function must have previously been created with a call to class_create().

void device_destroy(struct class * class, dev_t devt)

removes a device that was created with device_create()

Parameters

struct class * class
pointer to the struct class that this device was registered with
dev_t devt
the dev_t of the device that was previously registered

Description

This call unregisters and cleans up a device that was created with a call to device_create().

int device_rename(struct device * dev, const char * new_name)

renames a device

Parameters

struct device * dev
the pointer to the struct device to be renamed
const char * new_name
the new name of the device

Description

It is the responsibility of the caller to provide mutual exclusion between two different calls of device_rename on the same device to ensure that new_name is valid and won’t conflict with other devices.

Note

Don’t call this function. Currently, the networking layer calls this function, but that will change. The following text from Kay Sievers offers some insight:

Renaming devices is racy at many levels, symlinks and other stuff are not replaced atomically, and you get a “move” uevent, but it’s not easy to connect the event to the old and new device. Device nodes are not renamed at all, there isn’t even support for that in the kernel now.

In the meantime, during renaming, your target name might be taken by another driver, creating conflicts. Or the old name is taken directly after you renamed it – then you get events for the same DEVPATH, before you even see the “move” event. It’s just a mess, and nothing new should ever rely on kernel device renaming. Besides that, it’s not even implemented now for other things than (driver-core wise very simple) network devices.

We are currently about to change network renaming in udev to completely disallow renaming of devices in the same namespace as the kernel uses, because we can’t solve the problems properly, that arise with swapping names of multiple interfaces without races. Means, renaming of eth[0-9]* will only be allowed to some other name than eth[0-9]*, for the aforementioned reasons.

Make up a “real” name in the driver before you register anything, or add some other attributes for userspace to find the device, or use udev to add symlinks – but never rename kernel devices later, it’s a complete mess. We don’t even want to get into that and try to implement the missing pieces in the core. We really have other pieces to fix in the driver core mess. :)

int device_move(struct device * dev, struct device * new_parent, enum dpm_order dpm_order)

moves a device to a new parent

Parameters

struct device * dev
the pointer to the struct device to be moved
struct device * new_parent
the new parent of the device (can be NULL)
enum dpm_order dpm_order
how to reorder the dpm_list
void set_primary_fwnode(struct device * dev, struct fwnode_handle * fwnode)

Change the primary firmware node of a given device.

Parameters

struct device * dev
Device to handle.
struct fwnode_handle * fwnode
New primary firmware node of the device.

Description

Set the device’s firmware node pointer to fwnode, but if a secondary firmware node of the device is present, preserve it.

void device_set_of_node_from_dev(struct device * dev, const struct device * dev2)

reuse device-tree node of another device

Parameters

struct device * dev
device whose device-tree node is being set
const struct device * dev2
device whose device-tree node is being reused

Description

Takes another reference to the new device-tree node after first dropping any reference held to the old node.

void register_syscore_ops(struct syscore_ops * ops)

Register a set of system core operations.

Parameters

struct syscore_ops * ops
System core operations to register.
void unregister_syscore_ops(struct syscore_ops * ops)

Unregister a set of system core operations.

Parameters

struct syscore_ops * ops
System core operations to unregister.
int syscore_suspend(void)

Execute all the registered system core suspend callbacks.

Parameters

void
no arguments

Description

This function is executed with one CPU on-line and disabled interrupts.

void syscore_resume(void)

Execute all the registered system core resume callbacks.

Parameters

void
no arguments

Description

This function is executed with one CPU on-line and disabled interrupts.

struct class * __class_create(struct module * owner, const char * name, struct lock_class_key * key)

create a struct class structure

Parameters

struct module * owner
pointer to the module that is to “own” this struct class
const char * name
pointer to a string for the name of this class.
struct lock_class_key * key
the lock_class_key for this class; used by mutex lock debugging

Description

This is used to create a struct class pointer that can then be used in calls to device_create().

Returns struct class pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

Note, the pointer created here is to be destroyed when finished by making a call to class_destroy().

void class_destroy(struct class * cls)

destroys a struct class structure

Parameters

struct class * cls
pointer to the struct class that is to be destroyed

Description

Note, the pointer to be destroyed must have been created with a call to class_create().

void class_dev_iter_init(struct class_dev_iter * iter, struct class * class, struct device * start, const struct device_type * type)

initialize class device iterator

Parameters

struct class_dev_iter * iter
class iterator to initialize
struct class * class
the class we wanna iterate over
struct device * start
the device to start iterating from, if any
const struct device_type * type
device_type of the devices to iterate over, NULL for all

Description

Initialize class iterator iter such that it iterates over devices of class. If start is set, the list iteration will start there, otherwise if it is NULL, the iteration starts at the beginning of the list.

struct device * class_dev_iter_next(struct class_dev_iter * iter)

iterate to the next device

Parameters

struct class_dev_iter * iter
class iterator to proceed

Description

Proceed iter to the next device and return it. Returns NULL if iteration is complete.

The returned device is referenced and won’t be released till iterator is proceed to the next device or exited. The caller is free to do whatever it wants to do with the device including calling back into class code.

void class_dev_iter_exit(struct class_dev_iter * iter)

finish iteration

Parameters

struct class_dev_iter * iter
class iterator to finish

Description

Finish an iteration. Always call this function after iteration is complete whether the iteration ran till the end or not.

int class_for_each_device(struct class * class, struct device * start, void * data, int (*fn) (struct device *, void *)

device iterator

Parameters

struct class * class
the class we’re iterating
struct device * start
the device to start with in the list, if any.
void * data
data for the callback
int (*)(struct device *, void *) fn
function to be called for each device

Description

Iterate over class’s list of devices, and call fn for each, passing it data. If start is set, the list iteration will start there, otherwise if it is NULL, the iteration starts at the beginning of the list.

We check the return of fn each time. If it returns anything other than 0, we break out and return that value.

fn is allowed to do anything including calling back into class code. There’s no locking restriction.

struct device * class_find_device(struct class * class, struct device * start, const void * data, int (*match) (struct device *, const void *)

device iterator for locating a particular device

Parameters

struct class * class
the class we’re iterating
struct device * start
Device to begin with
const void * data
data for the match function
int (*)(struct device *, const void *) match
function to check device

Description

This is similar to the class_for_each_dev() function above, but it returns a reference to a device that is ‘found’ for later use, as determined by the match callback.

The callback should return 0 if the device doesn’t match and non-zero if it does. If the callback returns non-zero, this function will return to the caller and not iterate over any more devices.

Note, you will need to drop the reference with put_device() after use.

match is allowed to do anything including calling back into class code. There’s no locking restriction.

struct class_compat * class_compat_register(const char * name)

register a compatibility class

Parameters

const char * name
the name of the class

Description

Compatibility class are meant as a temporary user-space compatibility workaround when converting a family of class devices to a bus devices.

void class_compat_unregister(struct class_compat * cls)

unregister a compatibility class

Parameters

struct class_compat * cls
the class to unregister

create a compatibility class device link to a bus device

Parameters

struct class_compat * cls
the compatibility class
struct device * dev
the target bus device
struct device * device_link
an optional device to which a “device” link should be created

remove a compatibility class device link to a bus device

Parameters

struct class_compat * cls
the compatibility class
struct device * dev
the target bus device
struct device * device_link
an optional device to which a “device” link was previously created
struct node_access_nodes

Access class device to hold user visible relationships to other nodes.

Definition

struct node_access_nodes {
  struct device           dev;
  struct list_head        list_node;
  unsigned access;
#ifdef CONFIG_HMEM_REPORTING;
  struct node_hmem_attrs  hmem_attrs;
#endif;
};

Members

dev
Device for this memory access class
list_node
List element in the node’s access list
access
The access class rank
hmem_attrs
Heterogeneous memory performance attributes
void node_set_perf_attrs(unsigned int nid, struct node_hmem_attrs * hmem_attrs, unsigned access)

Set the performance values for given access class

Parameters

unsigned int nid
Node identifier to be set
struct node_hmem_attrs * hmem_attrs
Heterogeneous memory performance attributes
unsigned access
The access class the for the given attributes
struct node_cache_info

Internal tracking for memory node caches

Definition

struct node_cache_info {
  struct device dev;
  struct list_head node;
  struct node_cache_attrs cache_attrs;
};

Members

dev
Device represeting the cache level
node
List element for tracking in the node
cache_attrs
Attributes for this cache level
void node_add_cache(unsigned int nid, struct node_cache_attrs * cache_attrs)

add cache attribute to a memory node

Parameters

unsigned int nid
Node identifier that has new cache attributes
struct node_cache_attrs * cache_attrs
Attributes for the cache being added
void unregister_node(struct node * node)

unregister a node device

Parameters

struct node * node
node going away

Description

Unregisters a node device node. All the devices on the node must be unregistered before calling this function.

int register_memory_node_under_compute_node(unsigned int mem_nid, unsigned int cpu_nid, unsigned access)

link memory node to its compute node for a given access class.

Parameters

unsigned int mem_nid
Memory node number
unsigned int cpu_nid
Cpu node number
unsigned access
Access class to register

Description

For use with platforms that may have separate memory and compute nodes. This function will export node relationships linking which memory initiator nodes can access memory targets at a given ranked access class.
int request_firmware(const struct firmware ** firmware_p, const char * name, struct device * device)

send firmware request and wait for it

Parameters

const struct firmware ** firmware_p
pointer to firmware image
const char * name
name of firmware file
struct device * device
device for which firmware is being loaded

Description

firmware_p will be used to return a firmware image by the name of name for device device.

Should be called from user context where sleeping is allowed.

name will be used as $FIRMWARE in the uevent environment and should be distinctive enough not to be confused with any other firmware image for this or any other device.

Caller must hold the reference count of device.

The function can be called safely inside device’s suspend and resume callback.

int firmware_request_nowarn(const struct firmware ** firmware, const char * name, struct device * device)

request for an optional fw module

Parameters

const struct firmware ** firmware
pointer to firmware image
const char * name
name of firmware file
struct device * device
device for which firmware is being loaded

Description

This function is similar in behaviour to request_firmware(), except it doesn’t produce warning messages when the file is not found. The sysfs fallback mechanism is enabled if direct filesystem lookup fails, however, however failures to find the firmware file with it are still suppressed. It is therefore up to the driver to check for the return value of this call and to decide when to inform the users of errors.

int request_firmware_direct(const struct firmware ** firmware_p, const char * name, struct device * device)

load firmware directly without usermode helper

Parameters

const struct firmware ** firmware_p
pointer to firmware image
const char * name
name of firmware file
struct device * device
device for which firmware is being loaded

Description

This function works pretty much like request_firmware(), but this doesn’t fall back to usermode helper even if the firmware couldn’t be loaded directly from fs. Hence it’s useful for loading optional firmwares, which aren’t always present, without extra long timeouts of udev.

int firmware_request_cache(struct device * device, const char * name)

cache firmware for suspend so resume can use it

Parameters

struct device * device
device for which firmware should be cached for
const char * name
name of firmware file

Description

There are some devices with an optimization that enables the device to not require loading firmware on system reboot. This optimization may still require the firmware present on resume from suspend. This routine can be used to ensure the firmware is present on resume from suspend in these situations. This helper is not compatible with drivers which use request_firmware_into_buf() or request_firmware_nowait() with no uevent set.

int request_firmware_into_buf(const struct firmware ** firmware_p, const char * name, struct device * device, void * buf, size_t size)

load firmware into a previously allocated buffer

Parameters

const struct firmware ** firmware_p
pointer to firmware image
const char * name
name of firmware file
struct device * device
device for which firmware is being loaded and DMA region allocated
void * buf
address of buffer to load firmware into
size_t size
size of buffer

Description

This function works pretty much like request_firmware(), but it doesn’t allocate a buffer to hold the firmware data. Instead, the firmware is loaded directly into the buffer pointed to by buf and the firmware_p data member is pointed at buf.

This function doesn’t cache firmware either.

void release_firmware(const struct firmware * fw)

release the resource associated with a firmware image

Parameters

const struct firmware * fw
firmware resource to release
int request_firmware_nowait(struct module * module, bool uevent, const char * name, struct device * device, gfp_t gfp, void * context, void (*cont) (const struct firmware *fw, void *context)

asynchronous version of request_firmware

Parameters

struct module * module
module requesting the firmware
bool uevent
sends uevent to copy the firmware image if this flag is non-zero else the firmware copy must be done manually.
const char * name
name of firmware file
struct device * device
device for which firmware is being loaded
gfp_t gfp
allocation flags
void * context
will be passed over to cont, and fw may be NULL if firmware request fails.
void (*)(const struct firmware *fw, void *context) cont
function will be called asynchronously when the firmware request is over.

Description

Caller must hold the reference count of device.

Asynchronous variant of request_firmware() for user contexts:
  • sleep for as small periods as possible since it may increase kernel boot time of built-in device drivers requesting firmware in their ->probe() methods, if gfp is GFP_KERNEL.
  • can’t sleep at all if gfp is GFP_ATOMIC.
int transport_class_register(struct transport_class * tclass)

register an initial transport class

Parameters

struct transport_class * tclass
a pointer to the transport class structure to be initialised

Description

The transport class contains an embedded class which is used to identify it. The caller should initialise this structure with zeros and then generic class must have been initialised with the actual transport class unique name. There’s a macro DECLARE_TRANSPORT_CLASS() to do this (declared classes still must be registered).

Returns 0 on success or error on failure.

void transport_class_unregister(struct transport_class * tclass)

unregister a previously registered class

Parameters

struct transport_class * tclass
The transport class to unregister

Description

Must be called prior to deallocating the memory for the transport class.

int anon_transport_class_register(struct anon_transport_class * atc)

register an anonymous class

Parameters

struct anon_transport_class * atc
The anon transport class to register

Description

The anonymous transport class contains both a transport class and a container. The idea of an anonymous class is that it never actually has any device attributes associated with it (and thus saves on container storage). So it can only be used for triggering events. Use prezero and then use DECLARE_ANON_TRANSPORT_CLASS() to initialise the anon transport class storage.

void anon_transport_class_unregister(struct anon_transport_class * atc)

unregister an anon class

Parameters

struct anon_transport_class * atc
Pointer to the anon transport class to unregister

Description

Must be called prior to deallocating the memory for the anon transport class.

void transport_setup_device(struct device * dev)

declare a new dev for transport class association but don’t make it visible yet.

Parameters

struct device * dev
the generic device representing the entity being added

Description

Usually, dev represents some component in the HBA system (either the HBA itself or a device remote across the HBA bus). This routine is simply a trigger point to see if any set of transport classes wishes to associate with the added device. This allocates storage for the class device and initialises it, but does not yet add it to the system or add attributes to it (you do this with transport_add_device). If you have no need for a separate setup and add operations, use transport_register_device (see transport_class.h).

void transport_add_device(struct device * dev)

declare a new dev for transport class association

Parameters

struct device * dev
the generic device representing the entity being added

Description

Usually, dev represents some component in the HBA system (either the HBA itself or a device remote across the HBA bus). This routine is simply a trigger point used to add the device to the system and register attributes for it.

void transport_configure_device(struct device * dev)

configure an already set up device

Parameters

struct device * dev
generic device representing device to be configured

Description

The idea of configure is simply to provide a point within the setup process to allow the transport class to extract information from a device after it has been setup. This is used in SCSI because we have to have a setup device to begin using the HBA, but after we send the initial inquiry, we use configure to extract the device parameters. The device need not have been added to be configured.

void transport_remove_device(struct device * dev)

remove the visibility of a device

Parameters

struct device * dev
generic device to remove

Description

This call removes the visibility of the device (to the user from sysfs), but does not destroy it. To eliminate a device entirely you must also call transport_destroy_device. If you don’t need to do remove and destroy as separate operations, use transport_unregister_device() (see transport_class.h) which will perform both calls for you.

void transport_destroy_device(struct device * dev)

destroy a removed device

Parameters

struct device * dev
device to eliminate from the transport class.

Description

This call triggers the elimination of storage associated with the transport classdev. Note: all it really does is relinquish a reference to the classdev. The memory will not be freed until the last reference goes to zero. Note also that the classdev retains a reference count on dev, so dev too will remain for as long as the transport class device remains around.

int device_bind_driver(struct device * dev)

bind a driver to one device.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

Allow manual attachment of a driver to a device. Caller must have already set dev->driver.

Note that this does not modify the bus reference count nor take the bus’s rwsem. Please verify those are accounted for before calling this. (It is ok to call with no other effort from a driver’s probe() method.)

This function must be called with the device lock held.

void wait_for_device_probe(void)

Parameters

void
no arguments

Description

Wait for device probing to be completed.

int device_attach(struct device * dev)

try to attach device to a driver.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

Walk the list of drivers that the bus has and call driver_probe_device() for each pair. If a compatible pair is found, break out and return.

Returns 1 if the device was bound to a driver; 0 if no matching driver was found; -ENODEV if the device is not registered.

When called for a USB interface, dev->parent lock must be held.

int driver_attach(struct device_driver * drv)

try to bind driver to devices.

Parameters

struct device_driver * drv
driver.

Description

Walk the list of devices that the bus has on it and try to match the driver with each one. If driver_probe_device() returns 0 and the dev->driver is set, we’ve found a compatible pair.

void device_release_driver(struct device * dev)

manually detach device from driver.

Parameters

struct device * dev
device.

Description

Manually detach device from driver. When called for a USB interface, dev->parent lock must be held.

If this function is to be called with dev->parent lock held, ensure that the device’s consumers are unbound in advance or that their locks can be acquired under the dev->parent lock.

struct platform_device * platform_device_register_resndata(struct device * parent, const char * name, int id, const struct resource * res, unsigned int num, const void * data, size_t size)

add a platform-level device with resources and platform-specific data

Parameters

struct device * parent
parent device for the device we’re adding
const char * name
base name of the device we’re adding
int id
instance id
const struct resource * res
set of resources that needs to be allocated for the device
unsigned int num
number of resources
const void * data
platform specific data for this platform device
size_t size
size of platform specific data

Description

Returns struct platform_device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

struct platform_device * platform_device_register_simple(const char * name, int id, const struct resource * res, unsigned int num)

add a platform-level device and its resources

Parameters

const char * name
base name of the device we’re adding
int id
instance id
const struct resource * res
set of resources that needs to be allocated for the device
unsigned int num
number of resources

Description

This function creates a simple platform device that requires minimal resource and memory management. Canned release function freeing memory allocated for the device allows drivers using such devices to be unloaded without waiting for the last reference to the device to be dropped.

This interface is primarily intended for use with legacy drivers which probe hardware directly. Because such drivers create sysfs device nodes themselves, rather than letting system infrastructure handle such device enumeration tasks, they don’t fully conform to the Linux driver model. In particular, when such drivers are built as modules, they can’t be “hotplugged”.

Returns struct platform_device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

struct platform_device * platform_device_register_data(struct device * parent, const char * name, int id, const void * data, size_t size)

add a platform-level device with platform-specific data

Parameters

struct device * parent
parent device for the device we’re adding
const char * name
base name of the device we’re adding
int id
instance id
const void * data
platform specific data for this platform device
size_t size
size of platform specific data

Description

This function creates a simple platform device that requires minimal resource and memory management. Canned release function freeing memory allocated for the device allows drivers using such devices to be unloaded without waiting for the last reference to the device to be dropped.

Returns struct platform_device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

struct resource * platform_get_resource(struct platform_device * dev, unsigned int type, unsigned int num)

get a resource for a device

Parameters

struct platform_device * dev
platform device
unsigned int type
resource type
unsigned int num
resource index
void __iomem * devm_platform_ioremap_resource(struct platform_device * pdev, unsigned int index)

call devm_ioremap_resource() for a platform device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device to use both for memory resource lookup as well as resource management
unsigned int index
resource index
int platform_get_irq(struct platform_device * dev, unsigned int num)

get an IRQ for a device

Parameters

struct platform_device * dev
platform device
unsigned int num
IRQ number index
int platform_irq_count(struct platform_device * dev)

Count the number of IRQs a platform device uses

Parameters

struct platform_device * dev
platform device

Return

Number of IRQs a platform device uses or EPROBE_DEFER

struct resource * platform_get_resource_byname(struct platform_device * dev, unsigned int type, const char * name)

get a resource for a device by name

Parameters

struct platform_device * dev
platform device
unsigned int type
resource type
const char * name
resource name
int platform_get_irq_byname(struct platform_device * dev, const char * name)

get an IRQ for a device by name

Parameters

struct platform_device * dev
platform device
const char * name
IRQ name
int platform_add_devices(struct platform_device ** devs, int num)

add a numbers of platform devices

Parameters

struct platform_device ** devs
array of platform devices to add
int num
number of platform devices in array
void platform_device_put(struct platform_device * pdev)

destroy a platform device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device to free

Description

Free all memory associated with a platform device. This function must _only_ be externally called in error cases. All other usage is a bug.

struct platform_device * platform_device_alloc(const char * name, int id)

create a platform device

Parameters

const char * name
base name of the device we’re adding
int id
instance id

Description

Create a platform device object which can have other objects attached to it, and which will have attached objects freed when it is released.

int platform_device_add_resources(struct platform_device * pdev, const struct resource * res, unsigned int num)

add resources to a platform device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device allocated by platform_device_alloc to add resources to
const struct resource * res
set of resources that needs to be allocated for the device
unsigned int num
number of resources

Description

Add a copy of the resources to the platform device. The memory associated with the resources will be freed when the platform device is released.

int platform_device_add_data(struct platform_device * pdev, const void * data, size_t size)

add platform-specific data to a platform device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device allocated by platform_device_alloc to add resources to
const void * data
platform specific data for this platform device
size_t size
size of platform specific data

Description

Add a copy of platform specific data to the platform device’s platform_data pointer. The memory associated with the platform data will be freed when the platform device is released.

int platform_device_add_properties(struct platform_device * pdev, const struct property_entry * properties)

add built-in properties to a platform device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device to add properties to
const struct property_entry * properties
null terminated array of properties to add

Description

The function will take deep copy of properties and attach the copy to the platform device. The memory associated with properties will be freed when the platform device is released.

int platform_device_add(struct platform_device * pdev)

add a platform device to device hierarchy

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device we’re adding

Description

This is part 2 of platform_device_register(), though may be called separately _iff_ pdev was allocated by platform_device_alloc().

void platform_device_del(struct platform_device * pdev)

remove a platform-level device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device we’re removing

Description

Note that this function will also release all memory- and port-based resources owned by the device (dev->resource). This function must _only_ be externally called in error cases. All other usage is a bug.

int platform_device_register(struct platform_device * pdev)

add a platform-level device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device we’re adding
void platform_device_unregister(struct platform_device * pdev)

unregister a platform-level device

Parameters

struct platform_device * pdev
platform device we’re unregistering

Description

Unregistration is done in 2 steps. First we release all resources and remove it from the subsystem, then we drop reference count by calling platform_device_put().

struct platform_device * platform_device_register_full(const struct platform_device_info * pdevinfo)

add a platform-level device with resources and platform-specific data

Parameters

const struct platform_device_info * pdevinfo
data used to create device

Description

Returns struct platform_device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

int __platform_driver_register(struct platform_driver * drv, struct module * owner)

register a driver for platform-level devices

Parameters

struct platform_driver * drv
platform driver structure
struct module * owner
owning module/driver
void platform_driver_unregister(struct platform_driver * drv)

unregister a driver for platform-level devices

Parameters

struct platform_driver * drv
platform driver structure
int __platform_driver_probe(struct platform_driver * drv, int (*probe) (struct platform_device *, struct module * module)

register driver for non-hotpluggable device

Parameters

struct platform_driver * drv
platform driver structure
int (*)(struct platform_device *) probe
the driver probe routine, probably from an __init section
struct module * module
module which will be the owner of the driver

Description

Use this instead of platform_driver_register() when you know the device is not hotpluggable and has already been registered, and you want to remove its run-once probe() infrastructure from memory after the driver has bound to the device.

One typical use for this would be with drivers for controllers integrated into system-on-chip processors, where the controller devices have been configured as part of board setup.

Note that this is incompatible with deferred probing.

Returns zero if the driver registered and bound to a device, else returns a negative error code and with the driver not registered.

struct platform_device * __platform_create_bundle(struct platform_driver * driver, int (*probe) (struct platform_device *, struct resource * res, unsigned int n_res, const void * data, size_t size, struct module * module)

register driver and create corresponding device

Parameters

struct platform_driver * driver
platform driver structure
int (*)(struct platform_device *) probe
the driver probe routine, probably from an __init section
struct resource * res
set of resources that needs to be allocated for the device
unsigned int n_res
number of resources
const void * data
platform specific data for this platform device
size_t size
size of platform specific data
struct module * module
module which will be the owner of the driver

Description

Use this in legacy-style modules that probe hardware directly and register a single platform device and corresponding platform driver.

Returns struct platform_device pointer on success, or ERR_PTR() on error.

int __platform_register_drivers(struct platform_driver *const * drivers, unsigned int count, struct module * owner)

register an array of platform drivers

Parameters

struct platform_driver *const * drivers
an array of drivers to register
unsigned int count
the number of drivers to register
struct module * owner
module owning the drivers

Description

Registers platform drivers specified by an array. On failure to register a driver, all previously registered drivers will be unregistered. Callers of this API should use platform_unregister_drivers() to unregister drivers in the reverse order.

Return

0 on success or a negative error code on failure.

void platform_unregister_drivers(struct platform_driver *const * drivers, unsigned int count)

unregister an array of platform drivers

Parameters

struct platform_driver *const * drivers
an array of drivers to unregister
unsigned int count
the number of drivers to unregister

Description

Unegisters platform drivers specified by an array. This is typically used to complement an earlier call to platform_register_drivers(). Drivers are unregistered in the reverse order in which they were registered.

int bus_for_each_dev(struct bus_type * bus, struct device * start, void * data, int (*fn) (struct device *, void *)

device iterator.

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
bus type.
struct device * start
device to start iterating from.
void * data
data for the callback.
int (*)(struct device *, void *) fn
function to be called for each device.

Description

Iterate over bus’s list of devices, and call fn for each, passing it data. If start is not NULL, we use that device to begin iterating from.

We check the return of fn each time. If it returns anything other than 0, we break out and return that value.

NOTE

The device that returns a non-zero value is not retained in any way, nor is its refcount incremented. If the caller needs to retain this data, it should do so, and increment the reference count in the supplied callback.

struct device * bus_find_device(struct bus_type * bus, struct device * start, const void * data, int (*match) (struct device *dev, const void *data)

device iterator for locating a particular device.

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
bus type
struct device * start
Device to begin with
const void * data
Data to pass to match function
int (*)(struct device *dev, const void *data) match
Callback function to check device

Description

This is similar to the bus_for_each_dev() function above, but it returns a reference to a device that is ‘found’ for later use, as determined by the match callback.

The callback should return 0 if the device doesn’t match and non-zero if it does. If the callback returns non-zero, this function will return to the caller and not iterate over any more devices.

struct device * bus_find_device_by_name(struct bus_type * bus, struct device * start, const char * name)

device iterator for locating a particular device of a specific name

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
bus type
struct device * start
Device to begin with
const char * name
name of the device to match

Description

This is similar to the bus_find_device() function above, but it handles searching by a name automatically, no need to write another strcmp matching function.

struct device * subsys_find_device_by_id(struct bus_type * subsys, unsigned int id, struct device * hint)

find a device with a specific enumeration number

Parameters

struct bus_type * subsys
subsystem
unsigned int id
index ‘id’ in struct device
struct device * hint
device to check first

Description

Check the hint’s next object and if it is a match return it directly, otherwise, fall back to a full list search. Either way a reference for the returned object is taken.

int bus_for_each_drv(struct bus_type * bus, struct device_driver * start, void * data, int (*fn) (struct device_driver *, void *)

driver iterator

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
bus we’re dealing with.
struct device_driver * start
driver to start iterating on.
void * data
data to pass to the callback.
int (*)(struct device_driver *, void *) fn
function to call for each driver.

Description

This is nearly identical to the device iterator above. We iterate over each driver that belongs to bus, and call fn for each. If fn returns anything but 0, we break out and return it. If start is not NULL, we use it as the head of the list.

NOTE

we don’t return the driver that returns a non-zero value, nor do we leave the reference count incremented for that driver. If the caller needs to know that info, it must set it in the callback. It must also be sure to increment the refcount so it doesn’t disappear before returning to the caller.

int bus_rescan_devices(struct bus_type * bus)

rescan devices on the bus for possible drivers

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
the bus to scan.

Description

This function will look for devices on the bus with no driver attached and rescan it against existing drivers to see if it matches any by calling device_attach() for the unbound devices.

int device_reprobe(struct device * dev)

remove driver for a device and probe for a new driver

Parameters

struct device * dev
the device to reprobe

Description

This function detaches the attached driver (if any) for the given device and restarts the driver probing process. It is intended to use if probing criteria changed during a devices lifetime and driver attachment should change accordingly.

int bus_register(struct bus_type * bus)

register a driver-core subsystem

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
bus to register

Description

Once we have that, we register the bus with the kobject infrastructure, then register the children subsystems it has: the devices and drivers that belong to the subsystem.

void bus_unregister(struct bus_type * bus)

remove a bus from the system

Parameters

struct bus_type * bus
bus.

Description

Unregister the child subsystems and the bus itself. Finally, we call bus_put() to release the refcount

void subsys_dev_iter_init(struct subsys_dev_iter * iter, struct bus_type * subsys, struct device * start, const struct device_type * type)

initialize subsys device iterator

Parameters

struct subsys_dev_iter * iter
subsys iterator to initialize
struct bus_type * subsys
the subsys we wanna iterate over
struct device * start
the device to start iterating from, if any
const struct device_type * type
device_type of the devices to iterate over, NULL for all

Description

Initialize subsys iterator iter such that it iterates over devices of subsys. If start is set, the list iteration will start there, otherwise if it is NULL, the iteration starts at the beginning of the list.

struct device * subsys_dev_iter_next(struct subsys_dev_iter * iter)

iterate to the next device

Parameters

struct subsys_dev_iter * iter
subsys iterator to proceed

Description

Proceed iter to the next device and return it. Returns NULL if iteration is complete.

The returned device is referenced and won’t be released till iterator is proceed to the next device or exited. The caller is free to do whatever it wants to do with the device including calling back into subsys code.

void subsys_dev_iter_exit(struct subsys_dev_iter * iter)

finish iteration

Parameters

struct subsys_dev_iter * iter
subsys iterator to finish

Description

Finish an iteration. Always call this function after iteration is complete whether the iteration ran till the end or not.

int subsys_system_register(struct bus_type * subsys, const struct attribute_group ** groups)

register a subsystem at /sys/devices/system/

Parameters

struct bus_type * subsys
system subsystem
const struct attribute_group ** groups
default attributes for the root device

Description

All ‘system’ subsystems have a /sys/devices/system/<name> root device with the name of the subsystem. The root device can carry subsystem- wide attributes. All registered devices are below this single root device and are named after the subsystem with a simple enumeration number appended. The registered devices are not explicitly named; only ‘id’ in the device needs to be set.

Do not use this interface for anything new, it exists for compatibility with bad ideas only. New subsystems should use plain subsystems; and add the subsystem-wide attributes should be added to the subsystem directory itself and not some create fake root-device placed in /sys/devices/system/<name>.

int subsys_virtual_register(struct bus_type * subsys, const struct attribute_group ** groups)

register a subsystem at /sys/devices/virtual/

Parameters

struct bus_type * subsys
virtual subsystem
const struct attribute_group ** groups
default attributes for the root device

Description

All ‘virtual’ subsystems have a /sys/devices/system/<name> root device with the name of the subystem. The root device can carry subsystem-wide attributes. All registered devices are below this single root device. There’s no restriction on device naming. This is for kernel software constructs which need sysfs interface.

Device Drivers DMA Management

int dma_mmap_from_dev_coherent(struct device * dev, struct vm_area_struct * vma, void * vaddr, size_t size, int * ret)

mmap memory from the device coherent pool

Parameters

struct device * dev
device from which the memory was allocated
struct vm_area_struct * vma
vm_area for the userspace memory
void * vaddr
cpu address returned by dma_alloc_from_dev_coherent
size_t size
size of the memory buffer allocated
int * ret
result from remap_pfn_range()

Description

This checks whether the memory was allocated from the per-device coherent memory pool and if so, maps that memory to the provided vma.

Returns 1 if vaddr belongs to the device coherent pool and the caller should return ret, or 0 if they should proceed with mapping memory from generic areas.

void dmam_free_coherent(struct device * dev, size_t size, void * vaddr, dma_addr_t dma_handle)

Managed dma_free_coherent()

Parameters

struct device * dev
Device to free coherent memory for
size_t size
Size of allocation
void * vaddr
Virtual address of the memory to free
dma_addr_t dma_handle
DMA handle of the memory to free

Description

Managed dma_free_coherent().

void * dmam_alloc_attrs(struct device * dev, size_t size, dma_addr_t * dma_handle, gfp_t gfp, unsigned long attrs)

Managed dma_alloc_attrs()

Parameters

struct device * dev
Device to allocate non_coherent memory for
size_t size
Size of allocation
dma_addr_t * dma_handle
Out argument for allocated DMA handle
gfp_t gfp
Allocation flags
unsigned long attrs
Flags in the DMA_ATTR_* namespace.

Description

Managed dma_alloc_attrs(). Memory allocated using this function will be automatically released on driver detach.

Return

Pointer to allocated memory on success, NULL on failure.

int dma_mmap_attrs(struct device * dev, struct vm_area_struct * vma, void * cpu_addr, dma_addr_t dma_addr, size_t size, unsigned long attrs)

map a coherent DMA allocation into user space

Parameters

struct device * dev
valid struct device pointer, or NULL for ISA and EISA-like devices
struct vm_area_struct * vma
vm_area_struct describing requested user mapping
void * cpu_addr
kernel CPU-view address returned from dma_alloc_attrs
dma_addr_t dma_addr
device-view address returned from dma_alloc_attrs
size_t size
size of memory originally requested in dma_alloc_attrs
unsigned long attrs
attributes of mapping properties requested in dma_alloc_attrs

Description

Map a coherent DMA buffer previously allocated by dma_alloc_attrs into user space. The coherent DMA buffer must not be freed by the driver until the user space mapping has been released.

Device drivers PnP support

int pnp_register_protocol(struct pnp_protocol * protocol)

adds a pnp protocol to the pnp layer

Parameters

struct pnp_protocol * protocol
pointer to the corresponding pnp_protocol structure

Description

Ex protocols: ISAPNP, PNPBIOS, etc
void pnp_unregister_protocol(struct pnp_protocol * protocol)

removes a pnp protocol from the pnp layer

Parameters

struct pnp_protocol * protocol
pointer to the corresponding pnp_protocol structure
struct pnp_dev * pnp_request_card_device(struct pnp_card_link * clink, const char * id, struct pnp_dev * from)

Searches for a PnP device under the specified card

Parameters

struct pnp_card_link * clink
pointer to the card link, cannot be NULL
const char * id
pointer to a PnP ID structure that explains the rules for finding the device
struct pnp_dev * from
Starting place to search from. If NULL it will start from the beginning.
void pnp_release_card_device(struct pnp_dev * dev)

call this when the driver no longer needs the device

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the PnP device structure
int pnp_register_card_driver(struct pnp_card_driver * drv)

registers a PnP card driver with the PnP Layer

Parameters

struct pnp_card_driver * drv
pointer to the driver to register
void pnp_unregister_card_driver(struct pnp_card_driver * drv)

unregisters a PnP card driver from the PnP Layer

Parameters

struct pnp_card_driver * drv
pointer to the driver to unregister
struct pnp_id * pnp_add_id(struct pnp_dev * dev, const char * id)

adds an EISA id to the specified device

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the desired device
const char * id
pointer to an EISA id string
int pnp_start_dev(struct pnp_dev * dev)

low-level start of the PnP device

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the desired device

Description

assumes that resources have already been allocated

int pnp_stop_dev(struct pnp_dev * dev)

low-level disable of the PnP device

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the desired device

Description

does not free resources

int pnp_activate_dev(struct pnp_dev * dev)

activates a PnP device for use

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the desired device

Description

does not validate or set resources so be careful.

int pnp_disable_dev(struct pnp_dev * dev)

disables device

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the desired device

Description

inform the correct pnp protocol so that resources can be used by other devices

int pnp_is_active(struct pnp_dev * dev)

Determines if a device is active based on its current resources

Parameters

struct pnp_dev * dev
pointer to the desired PnP device

Userspace IO devices

void uio_event_notify(struct uio_info * info)

trigger an interrupt event

Parameters

struct uio_info * info
UIO device capabilities
int __uio_register_device(struct module * owner, struct device * parent, struct uio_info * info)

register a new userspace IO device

Parameters

struct module * owner
module that creates the new device
struct device * parent
parent device
struct uio_info * info
UIO device capabilities

Description

returns zero on success or a negative error code.

void uio_unregister_device(struct uio_info * info)

unregister a industrial IO device

Parameters

struct uio_info * info
UIO device capabilities
struct uio_mem

description of a UIO memory region

Definition

struct uio_mem {
  const char              *name;
  phys_addr_t addr;
  unsigned long           offs;
  resource_size_t size;
  int memtype;
  void __iomem            *internal_addr;
  struct uio_map          *map;
};

Members

name
name of the memory region for identification
addr
address of the device’s memory rounded to page size (phys_addr is used since addr can be logical, virtual, or physical & phys_addr_t should always be large enough to handle any of the address types)
offs
offset of device memory within the page
size
size of IO (multiple of page size)
memtype
type of memory addr points to
internal_addr
ioremap-ped version of addr, for driver internal use
map
for use by the UIO core only.
struct uio_port

description of a UIO port region

Definition

struct uio_port {
  const char              *name;
  unsigned long           start;
  unsigned long           size;
  int porttype;
  struct uio_portio       *portio;
};

Members

name
name of the port region for identification
start
start of port region
size
size of port region
porttype
type of port (see UIO_PORT_* below)
portio
for use by the UIO core only.
struct uio_info

UIO device capabilities

Definition

struct uio_info {
  struct uio_device       *uio_dev;
  const char              *name;
  const char              *version;
  struct uio_mem          mem[MAX_UIO_MAPS];
  struct uio_port         port[MAX_UIO_PORT_REGIONS];
  long irq;
  unsigned long           irq_flags;
  void *priv;
  irqreturn_t (*handler)(int irq, struct uio_info *dev_info);
  int (*mmap)(struct uio_info *info, struct vm_area_struct *vma);
  int (*open)(struct uio_info *info, struct inode *inode);
  int (*release)(struct uio_info *info, struct inode *inode);
  int (*irqcontrol)(struct uio_info *info, s32 irq_on);
};

Members

uio_dev
the UIO device this info belongs to
name
device name
version
device driver version
mem
list of mappable memory regions, size==0 for end of list
port
list of port regions, size==0 for end of list
irq
interrupt number or UIO_IRQ_CUSTOM
irq_flags
flags for request_irq()
priv
optional private data
handler
the device’s irq handler
mmap
mmap operation for this uio device
open
open operation for this uio device
release
release operation for this uio device
irqcontrol
disable/enable irqs when 0/1 is written to /dev/uioX