writing-clients.rst 14 KB

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  1. ===============================
  2. Implementing I2C device drivers
  3. ===============================
  4. This is a small guide for those who want to write kernel drivers for I2C
  5. or SMBus devices, using Linux as the protocol host/master (not slave).
  6. To set up a driver, you need to do several things. Some are optional, and
  7. some things can be done slightly or completely different. Use this as a
  8. guide, not as a rule book!
  9. General remarks
  10. ===============
  11. Try to keep the kernel namespace as clean as possible. The best way to
  12. do this is to use a unique prefix for all global symbols. This is
  13. especially important for exported symbols, but it is a good idea to do
  14. it for non-exported symbols too. We will use the prefix ``foo_`` in this
  15. tutorial.
  16. The driver structure
  17. ====================
  18. Usually, you will implement a single driver structure, and instantiate
  19. all clients from it. Remember, a driver structure contains general access
  20. routines, and should be zero-initialized except for fields with data you
  21. provide. A client structure holds device-specific information like the
  22. driver model device node, and its I2C address.
  23. ::
  24. static const struct i2c_device_id foo_idtable[] = {
  25. { "foo", my_id_for_foo },
  26. { "bar", my_id_for_bar },
  27. { }
  28. };
  29. MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(i2c, foo_idtable);
  30. static struct i2c_driver foo_driver = {
  31. .driver = {
  32. .name = "foo",
  33. .pm = &foo_pm_ops, /* optional */
  34. },
  35. .id_table = foo_idtable,
  36. .probe = foo_probe,
  37. .remove = foo_remove,
  38. .shutdown = foo_shutdown, /* optional */
  39. .command = foo_command, /* optional, deprecated */
  40. }
  41. The name field is the driver name, and must not contain spaces. It
  42. should match the module name (if the driver can be compiled as a module),
  43. although you can use MODULE_ALIAS (passing "foo" in this example) to add
  44. another name for the module. If the driver name doesn't match the module
  45. name, the module won't be automatically loaded (hotplug/coldplug).
  46. All other fields are for call-back functions which will be explained
  47. below.
  48. Extra client data
  49. =================
  50. Each client structure has a special ``data`` field that can point to any
  51. structure at all. You should use this to keep device-specific data.
  52. ::
  53. /* store the value */
  54. void i2c_set_clientdata(struct i2c_client *client, void *data);
  55. /* retrieve the value */
  56. void *i2c_get_clientdata(const struct i2c_client *client);
  57. Note that starting with kernel 2.6.34, you don't have to set the ``data`` field
  58. to NULL in remove() or if probe() failed anymore. The i2c-core does this
  59. automatically on these occasions. Those are also the only times the core will
  60. touch this field.
  61. Accessing the client
  62. ====================
  63. Let's say we have a valid client structure. At some time, we will need
  64. to gather information from the client, or write new information to the
  65. client.
  66. I have found it useful to define foo_read and foo_write functions for this.
  67. For some cases, it will be easier to call the I2C functions directly,
  68. but many chips have some kind of register-value idea that can easily
  69. be encapsulated.
  70. The below functions are simple examples, and should not be copied
  71. literally::
  72. int foo_read_value(struct i2c_client *client, u8 reg)
  73. {
  74. if (reg < 0x10) /* byte-sized register */
  75. return i2c_smbus_read_byte_data(client, reg);
  76. else /* word-sized register */
  77. return i2c_smbus_read_word_data(client, reg);
  78. }
  79. int foo_write_value(struct i2c_client *client, u8 reg, u16 value)
  80. {
  81. if (reg == 0x10) /* Impossible to write - driver error! */
  82. return -EINVAL;
  83. else if (reg < 0x10) /* byte-sized register */
  84. return i2c_smbus_write_byte_data(client, reg, value);
  85. else /* word-sized register */
  86. return i2c_smbus_write_word_data(client, reg, value);
  87. }
  88. Probing and attaching
  89. =====================
  90. The Linux I2C stack was originally written to support access to hardware
  91. monitoring chips on PC motherboards, and thus used to embed some assumptions
  92. that were more appropriate to SMBus (and PCs) than to I2C. One of these
  93. assumptions was that most adapters and devices drivers support the SMBUS_QUICK
  94. protocol to probe device presence. Another was that devices and their drivers
  95. can be sufficiently configured using only such probe primitives.
  96. As Linux and its I2C stack became more widely used in embedded systems
  97. and complex components such as DVB adapters, those assumptions became more
  98. problematic. Drivers for I2C devices that issue interrupts need more (and
  99. different) configuration information, as do drivers handling chip variants
  100. that can't be distinguished by protocol probing, or which need some board
  101. specific information to operate correctly.
  102. Device/Driver Binding
  103. ---------------------
  104. System infrastructure, typically board-specific initialization code or
  105. boot firmware, reports what I2C devices exist. For example, there may be
  106. a table, in the kernel or from the boot loader, identifying I2C devices
  107. and linking them to board-specific configuration information about IRQs
  108. and other wiring artifacts, chip type, and so on. That could be used to
  109. create i2c_client objects for each I2C device.
  110. I2C device drivers using this binding model work just like any other
  111. kind of driver in Linux: they provide a probe() method to bind to
  112. those devices, and a remove() method to unbind.
  113. ::
  114. static int foo_probe(struct i2c_client *client);
  115. static void foo_remove(struct i2c_client *client);
  116. Remember that the i2c_driver does not create those client handles. The
  117. handle may be used during foo_probe(). If foo_probe() reports success
  118. (zero not a negative status code) it may save the handle and use it until
  119. foo_remove() returns. That binding model is used by most Linux drivers.
  120. The probe function is called when an entry in the id_table name field
  121. matches the device's name. If the probe function needs that entry, it
  122. can retrieve it using
  123. ::
  124. const struct i2c_device_id *id = i2c_match_id(foo_idtable, client);
  125. Device Creation
  126. ---------------
  127. If you know for a fact that an I2C device is connected to a given I2C bus,
  128. you can instantiate that device by simply filling an i2c_board_info
  129. structure with the device address and driver name, and calling
  130. i2c_new_client_device(). This will create the device, then the driver core
  131. will take care of finding the right driver and will call its probe() method.
  132. If a driver supports different device types, you can specify the type you
  133. want using the type field. You can also specify an IRQ and platform data
  134. if needed.
  135. Sometimes you know that a device is connected to a given I2C bus, but you
  136. don't know the exact address it uses. This happens on TV adapters for
  137. example, where the same driver supports dozens of slightly different
  138. models, and I2C device addresses change from one model to the next. In
  139. that case, you can use the i2c_new_scanned_device() variant, which is
  140. similar to i2c_new_client_device(), except that it takes an additional list
  141. of possible I2C addresses to probe. A device is created for the first
  142. responsive address in the list. If you expect more than one device to be
  143. present in the address range, simply call i2c_new_scanned_device() that
  144. many times.
  145. The call to i2c_new_client_device() or i2c_new_scanned_device() typically
  146. happens in the I2C bus driver. You may want to save the returned i2c_client
  147. reference for later use.
  148. Device Detection
  149. ----------------
  150. The device detection mechanism comes with a number of disadvantages.
  151. You need some reliable way to identify the supported devices
  152. (typically using device-specific, dedicated identification registers),
  153. otherwise misdetections are likely to occur and things can get wrong
  154. quickly. Keep in mind that the I2C protocol doesn't include any
  155. standard way to detect the presence of a chip at a given address, let
  156. alone a standard way to identify devices. Even worse is the lack of
  157. semantics associated to bus transfers, which means that the same
  158. transfer can be seen as a read operation by a chip and as a write
  159. operation by another chip. For these reasons, device detection is
  160. considered a legacy mechanism and shouldn't be used in new code.
  161. Device Deletion
  162. ---------------
  163. Each I2C device which has been created using i2c_new_client_device()
  164. or i2c_new_scanned_device() can be unregistered by calling
  165. i2c_unregister_device(). If you don't call it explicitly, it will be
  166. called automatically before the underlying I2C bus itself is removed,
  167. as a device can't survive its parent in the device driver model.
  168. Initializing the driver
  169. =======================
  170. When the kernel is booted, or when your foo driver module is inserted,
  171. you have to do some initializing. Fortunately, just registering the
  172. driver module is usually enough.
  173. ::
  174. static int __init foo_init(void)
  175. {
  176. return i2c_add_driver(&foo_driver);
  177. }
  178. module_init(foo_init);
  179. static void __exit foo_cleanup(void)
  180. {
  181. i2c_del_driver(&foo_driver);
  182. }
  183. module_exit(foo_cleanup);
  184. The module_i2c_driver() macro can be used to reduce above code.
  185. module_i2c_driver(foo_driver);
  186. Note that some functions are marked by ``__init``. These functions can
  187. be removed after kernel booting (or module loading) is completed.
  188. Likewise, functions marked by ``__exit`` are dropped by the compiler when
  189. the code is built into the kernel, as they would never be called.
  190. Driver Information
  191. ==================
  192. ::
  193. /* Substitute your own name and email address */
  194. MODULE_AUTHOR("Frodo Looijaard <frodol@dds.nl>"
  195. MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Driver for Barf Inc. Foo I2C devices");
  196. /* a few non-GPL license types are also allowed */
  197. MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
  198. Power Management
  199. ================
  200. If your I2C device needs special handling when entering a system low
  201. power state -- like putting a transceiver into a low power mode, or
  202. activating a system wakeup mechanism -- do that by implementing the
  203. appropriate callbacks for the dev_pm_ops of the driver (like suspend
  204. and resume).
  205. These are standard driver model calls, and they work just like they
  206. would for any other driver stack. The calls can sleep, and can use
  207. I2C messaging to the device being suspended or resumed (since their
  208. parent I2C adapter is active when these calls are issued, and IRQs
  209. are still enabled).
  210. System Shutdown
  211. ===============
  212. If your I2C device needs special handling when the system shuts down
  213. or reboots (including kexec) -- like turning something off -- use a
  214. shutdown() method.
  215. Again, this is a standard driver model call, working just like it
  216. would for any other driver stack: the calls can sleep, and can use
  217. I2C messaging.
  218. Command function
  219. ================
  220. A generic ioctl-like function call back is supported. You will seldom
  221. need this, and its use is deprecated anyway, so newer design should not
  222. use it.
  223. Sending and receiving
  224. =====================
  225. If you want to communicate with your device, there are several functions
  226. to do this. You can find all of them in <linux/i2c.h>.
  227. If you can choose between plain I2C communication and SMBus level
  228. communication, please use the latter. All adapters understand SMBus level
  229. commands, but only some of them understand plain I2C!
  230. Plain I2C communication
  231. -----------------------
  232. ::
  233. int i2c_master_send(struct i2c_client *client, const char *buf,
  234. int count);
  235. int i2c_master_recv(struct i2c_client *client, char *buf, int count);
  236. These routines read and write some bytes from/to a client. The client
  237. contains the I2C address, so you do not have to include it. The second
  238. parameter contains the bytes to read/write, the third the number of bytes
  239. to read/write (must be less than the length of the buffer, also should be
  240. less than 64k since msg.len is u16.) Returned is the actual number of bytes
  241. read/written.
  242. ::
  243. int i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msg,
  244. int num);
  245. This sends a series of messages. Each message can be a read or write,
  246. and they can be mixed in any way. The transactions are combined: no
  247. stop condition is issued between transaction. The i2c_msg structure
  248. contains for each message the client address, the number of bytes of the
  249. message and the message data itself.
  250. You can read the file i2c-protocol.rst for more information about the
  251. actual I2C protocol.
  252. SMBus communication
  253. -------------------
  254. ::
  255. s32 i2c_smbus_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adapter, u16 addr,
  256. unsigned short flags, char read_write, u8 command,
  257. int size, union i2c_smbus_data *data);
  258. This is the generic SMBus function. All functions below are implemented
  259. in terms of it. Never use this function directly!
  260. ::
  261. s32 i2c_smbus_read_byte(struct i2c_client *client);
  262. s32 i2c_smbus_write_byte(struct i2c_client *client, u8 value);
  263. s32 i2c_smbus_read_byte_data(struct i2c_client *client, u8 command);
  264. s32 i2c_smbus_write_byte_data(struct i2c_client *client,
  265. u8 command, u8 value);
  266. s32 i2c_smbus_read_word_data(struct i2c_client *client, u8 command);
  267. s32 i2c_smbus_write_word_data(struct i2c_client *client,
  268. u8 command, u16 value);
  269. s32 i2c_smbus_read_block_data(struct i2c_client *client,
  270. u8 command, u8 *values);
  271. s32 i2c_smbus_write_block_data(struct i2c_client *client,
  272. u8 command, u8 length, const u8 *values);
  273. s32 i2c_smbus_read_i2c_block_data(struct i2c_client *client,
  274. u8 command, u8 length, u8 *values);
  275. s32 i2c_smbus_write_i2c_block_data(struct i2c_client *client,
  276. u8 command, u8 length,
  277. const u8 *values);
  278. These ones were removed from i2c-core because they had no users, but could
  279. be added back later if needed::
  280. s32 i2c_smbus_write_quick(struct i2c_client *client, u8 value);
  281. s32 i2c_smbus_process_call(struct i2c_client *client,
  282. u8 command, u16 value);
  283. s32 i2c_smbus_block_process_call(struct i2c_client *client,
  284. u8 command, u8 length, u8 *values);
  285. All these transactions return a negative errno value on failure. The 'write'
  286. transactions return 0 on success; the 'read' transactions return the read
  287. value, except for block transactions, which return the number of values
  288. read. The block buffers need not be longer than 32 bytes.
  289. You can read the file smbus-protocol.rst for more information about the
  290. actual SMBus protocol.
  291. General purpose routines
  292. ========================
  293. Below all general purpose routines are listed, that were not mentioned
  294. before::
  295. /* Return the adapter number for a specific adapter */
  296. int i2c_adapter_id(struct i2c_adapter *adap);