xref: /linux/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/platform.rst (revision bba2c3615bd6cfee7456d1130f2e6b01b3f4e9ba)
1============================
2Platform Devices and Drivers
3============================
4
5See <linux/platform_device.h> for the driver model interface to the
6platform bus:  platform_device, and platform_driver.  This pseudo-bus
7is used to connect devices on buses with minimal infrastructure,
8like those used to integrate peripherals on many system-on-chip
9processors, or some "legacy" PC interconnects; as opposed to large
10formally specified ones like PCI or USB.
11
12
13Platform devices
14~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15Platform devices are devices that typically appear as autonomous
16entities in the system. This includes legacy port-based devices and
17host bridges to peripheral buses, and most controllers integrated
18into system-on-chip platforms.  What they usually have in common
19is direct addressing from a CPU bus.  Rarely, a platform_device will
20be connected through a segment of some other kind of bus; but its
21registers will still be directly addressable.
22
23Platform devices are given a name, used in driver binding, and a
24list of resources such as addresses and IRQs::
25
26  struct platform_device {
27	const char	*name;
28	u32		id;
29	struct device	dev;
30	u32		num_resources;
31	struct resource	*resource;
32  };
33
34
35Platform drivers
36~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
37Platform drivers follow the standard driver model convention, where
38discovery/enumeration is handled outside the drivers, and drivers
39provide probe() and remove() methods.  They support power management
40and shutdown notifications using the standard conventions::
41
42  struct platform_driver {
43	int (*probe)(struct platform_device *);
44	void (*remove)(struct platform_device *);
45	void (*shutdown)(struct platform_device *);
46	int (*suspend)(struct platform_device *, pm_message_t state);
47	int (*resume)(struct platform_device *);
48	struct device_driver driver;
49	const struct platform_device_id *id_table;
50	bool prevent_deferred_probe;
51	bool driver_managed_dma;
52  };
53
54Note that probe() should in general verify that the specified device hardware
55actually exists; sometimes platform setup code can't be sure.  The probing
56can use device resources, including clocks, and device platform_data.
57
58Platform drivers register themselves the normal way::
59
60	int platform_driver_register(struct platform_driver *drv);
61
62Or, in common situations where the device is known not to be hot-pluggable,
63the probe() routine can live in an init section to reduce the driver's
64runtime memory footprint::
65
66	int platform_driver_probe(struct platform_driver *drv,
67			  int (*probe)(struct platform_device *))
68
69Kernel modules can be composed of several platform drivers. The platform core
70provides helpers to register and unregister an array of drivers::
71
72	int __platform_register_drivers(struct platform_driver * const *drivers,
73				      unsigned int count, struct module *owner,
74				      const char *mod_name);
75	void platform_unregister_drivers(struct platform_driver * const *drivers,
76					 unsigned int count);
77
78If one of the drivers fails to register, all drivers registered up to that
79point will be unregistered in reverse order. Note that there is a convenience
80macro that passes THIS_MODULE as owner parameter::
81
82	#define platform_register_drivers(drivers, count)
83
84
85Device Enumeration
86~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
87As a rule, platform specific (and often board-specific) setup code will
88register platform devices::
89
90	int platform_device_register(struct platform_device *pdev);
91
92	int platform_add_devices(struct platform_device **pdevs, int ndev);
93
94The general rule is to register only those devices that actually exist,
95but in some cases extra devices might be registered.  For example, a kernel
96might be configured to work with an external network adapter that might not
97be populated on all boards, or likewise to work with an integrated controller
98that some boards might not hook up to any peripherals.
99
100In some cases, boot firmware will export tables describing the devices
101that are populated on a given board.   Without such tables, often the
102only way for system setup code to set up the correct devices is to build
103a kernel for a specific target board.  Such board-specific kernels are
104common with embedded and custom systems development.
105
106In many cases, the memory and IRQ resources associated with the platform
107device are not enough to let the device's driver work.  Board setup code
108will often provide additional information using the device's platform_data
109field to hold additional information.
110
111Embedded systems frequently need one or more clocks for platform devices,
112which are normally kept off until they're actively needed (to save power).
113System setup also associates those clocks with the device, so that
114calls to clk_get(&pdev->dev, clock_name) return them as needed.
115
116
117Legacy Drivers:  Device Probing
118~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
119Some drivers are not fully converted to the driver model, because they take
120on a non-driver role:  the driver registers its platform device, rather than
121leaving that for system infrastructure.  Such drivers can't be hotplugged
122or coldplugged, since those mechanisms require device creation to be in a
123different system component than the driver.
124
125The only "good" reason for this is to handle older system designs which, like
126original IBM PCs, rely on error-prone "probe-the-hardware" models for hardware
127configuration.  Newer systems have largely abandoned that model, in favor of
128bus-level support for dynamic configuration (PCI, USB), or device tables
129provided by the boot firmware (e.g. PNPACPI on x86).  There are too many
130conflicting options about what might be where, and even educated guesses by
131an operating system will be wrong often enough to make trouble.
132
133This style of driver is discouraged.  If you're updating such a driver,
134please try to move the device enumeration to a more appropriate location,
135outside the driver.  This will usually be cleanup, since such drivers
136tend to already have "normal" modes, such as ones using device nodes that
137were created by PNP or by platform device setup.
138
139None the less, there are some APIs to support such legacy drivers.  Avoid
140using these calls except with such hotplug-deficient drivers::
141
142	struct platform_device *platform_device_alloc(
143			const char *name, int id);
144
145You can use platform_device_alloc() to dynamically allocate a device, which
146you will then initialize with resources and platform_device_register().
147A better solution is usually::
148
149	struct platform_device *platform_device_register_simple(
150			const char *name, int id,
151			struct resource *res, unsigned int nres);
152
153You can use platform_device_register_simple() as a one-step call to allocate
154and register a device.
155
156
157Device Naming and Driver Binding
158~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
159The platform_device.dev.bus_id is the canonical name for the devices.
160It's built from two components:
161
162    * platform_device.name ... which is also used to for driver matching.
163
164    * platform_device.id ... the device instance number, or else "-1"
165      to indicate there's only one.
166
167These are concatenated, so name/id "serial"/0 indicates bus_id "serial.0", and
168"serial/3" indicates bus_id "serial.3"; both would use the platform_driver
169named "serial".  While "my_rtc"/-1 would be bus_id "my_rtc" (no instance id)
170and use the platform_driver called "my_rtc".
171
172Driver binding is performed automatically by the driver core, invoking
173driver probe() after finding a match between device and driver.  If the
174probe() succeeds, the driver and device are bound as usual.  There are
175three different ways to find such a match:
176
177    - Whenever a device is registered, the drivers for that bus are
178      checked for matches.  Platform devices should be registered very
179      early during system boot.
180
181    - When a driver is registered using platform_driver_register(), all
182      unbound devices on that bus are checked for matches.  Drivers
183      usually register later during booting, or by module loading.
184
185    - Registering a driver using platform_driver_probe() works just like
186      using platform_driver_register(), except that the driver won't
187      be probed later if another device registers.  (Which is OK, since
188      this interface is only for use with non-hotpluggable devices.)
189
190
191Early Platform Devices and Drivers
192~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
193The early platform interfaces provide platform data to platform device
194drivers early on during the system boot. The code is built on top of the
195early_param() command line parsing and can be executed very early on.
196
197Example: "earlyprintk" class early serial console in 6 steps
198
1991. Registering early platform device data
200~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
201The architecture code registers platform device data using the function
202early_platform_add_devices(). In the case of early serial console this
203should be hardware configuration for the serial port. Devices registered
204at this point will later on be matched against early platform drivers.
205
2062. Parsing kernel command line
207~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
208The architecture code calls parse_early_param() to parse the kernel
209command line. This will execute all matching early_param() callbacks.
210User specified early platform devices will be registered at this point.
211For the early serial console case the user can specify port on the
212kernel command line as "earlyprintk=serial.0" where "earlyprintk" is
213the class string, "serial" is the name of the platform driver and
2140 is the platform device id. If the id is -1 then the dot and the
215id can be omitted.
216
2173. Installing early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
218~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
219The architecture code may optionally force registration of all early
220platform drivers belonging to a certain class using the function
221early_platform_driver_register_all(). User specified devices from
222step 2 have priority over these. This step is omitted by the serial
223driver example since the early serial driver code should be disabled
224unless the user has specified port on the kernel command line.
225
2264. Early platform driver registration
227~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
228Compiled-in platform drivers making use of early_platform_init() are
229automatically registered during step 2 or 3. The serial driver example
230should use early_platform_init("earlyprintk", &platform_driver).
231
2325. Probing of early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
233~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
234The architecture code calls early_platform_driver_probe() to match
235registered early platform devices associated with a certain class with
236registered early platform drivers. Matched devices will get probed().
237This step can be executed at any point during the early boot. As soon
238as possible may be good for the serial port case.
239
2406. Inside the early platform driver probe()
241~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
242The driver code needs to take special care during early boot, especially
243when it comes to memory allocation and interrupt registration. The code
244in the probe() function can use is_early_platform_device() to check if
245it is called at early platform device or at the regular platform device
246time. The early serial driver performs register_console() at this point.
247
248For further information, see <linux/platform_device.h>.
249