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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt | 59 |
1 files changed, 59 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt b/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt index 83009fdc..2e2c2ea 100644 --- a/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt +++ b/Documentation/driver-model/platform.txt @@ -169,3 +169,62 @@ three different ways to find such a match: be probed later if another device registers. (Which is OK, since this interface is only for use with non-hotpluggable devices.) + +Early Platform Devices and Drivers +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The early platform interfaces provide platform data to platform device +drivers early on during the system boot. The code is built on top of the +early_param() command line parsing and can be executed very early on. + +Example: "earlyprintk" class early serial console in 6 steps + +1. Registering early platform device data +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The architecture code registers platform device data using the function +early_platform_add_devices(). In the case of early serial console this +should be hardware configuration for the serial port. Devices registered +at this point will later on be matched against early platform drivers. + +2. Parsing kernel command line +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The architecture code calls parse_early_param() to parse the kernel +command line. This will execute all matching early_param() callbacks. +User specified early platform devices will be registered at this point. +For the early serial console case the user can specify port on the +kernel command line as "earlyprintk=serial.0" where "earlyprintk" is +the class string, "serial" is the name of the platfrom driver and +0 is the platform device id. If the id is -1 then the dot and the +id can be omitted. + +3. Installing early platform drivers belonging to a certain class +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The architecture code may optionally force registration of all early +platform drivers belonging to a certain class using the function +early_platform_driver_register_all(). User specified devices from +step 2 have priority over these. This step is omitted by the serial +driver example since the early serial driver code should be disabled +unless the user has specified port on the kernel command line. + +4. Early platform driver registration +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Compiled-in platform drivers making use of early_platform_init() are +automatically registered during step 2 or 3. The serial driver example +should use early_platform_init("earlyprintk", &platform_driver). + +5. Probing of early platform drivers belonging to a certain class +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The architecture code calls early_platform_driver_probe() to match +registered early platform devices associated with a certain class with +registered early platform drivers. Matched devices will get probed(). +This step can be executed at any point during the early boot. As soon +as possible may be good for the serial port case. + +6. Inside the early platform driver probe() +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The driver code needs to take special care during early boot, especially +when it comes to memory allocation and interrupt registration. The code +in the probe() function can use is_early_platform_device() to check if +it is called at early platform device or at the regular platform device +time. The early serial driver performs register_console() at this point. + +For further information, see <linux/platform_device.h>. |