xref: /linux/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/platform.rst (revision c532de5a67a70f8533d495f8f2aaa9a0491c3ad0)
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 busses 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	void platform_unregister_drivers(struct platform_driver * const *drivers,
75					 unsigned int count);
76
77If one of the drivers fails to register, all drivers registered up to that
78point will be unregistered in reverse order. Note that there is a convenience
79macro that passes THIS_MODULE as owner parameter::
80
81	#define platform_register_drivers(drivers, count)
82
83
84Device Enumeration
85~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
86As a rule, platform specific (and often board-specific) setup code will
87register platform devices::
88
89	int platform_device_register(struct platform_device *pdev);
90
91	int platform_add_devices(struct platform_device **pdevs, int ndev);
92
93The general rule is to register only those devices that actually exist,
94but in some cases extra devices might be registered.  For example, a kernel
95might be configured to work with an external network adapter that might not
96be populated on all boards, or likewise to work with an integrated controller
97that some boards might not hook up to any peripherals.
98
99In some cases, boot firmware will export tables describing the devices
100that are populated on a given board.   Without such tables, often the
101only way for system setup code to set up the correct devices is to build
102a kernel for a specific target board.  Such board-specific kernels are
103common with embedded and custom systems development.
104
105In many cases, the memory and IRQ resources associated with the platform
106device are not enough to let the device's driver work.  Board setup code
107will often provide additional information using the device's platform_data
108field to hold additional information.
109
110Embedded systems frequently need one or more clocks for platform devices,
111which are normally kept off until they're actively needed (to save power).
112System setup also associates those clocks with the device, so that
113calls to clk_get(&pdev->dev, clock_name) return them as needed.
114
115
116Legacy Drivers:  Device Probing
117~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
118Some drivers are not fully converted to the driver model, because they take
119on a non-driver role:  the driver registers its platform device, rather than
120leaving that for system infrastructure.  Such drivers can't be hotplugged
121or coldplugged, since those mechanisms require device creation to be in a
122different system component than the driver.
123
124The only "good" reason for this is to handle older system designs which, like
125original IBM PCs, rely on error-prone "probe-the-hardware" models for hardware
126configuration.  Newer systems have largely abandoned that model, in favor of
127bus-level support for dynamic configuration (PCI, USB), or device tables
128provided by the boot firmware (e.g. PNPACPI on x86).  There are too many
129conflicting options about what might be where, and even educated guesses by
130an operating system will be wrong often enough to make trouble.
131
132This style of driver is discouraged.  If you're updating such a driver,
133please try to move the device enumeration to a more appropriate location,
134outside the driver.  This will usually be cleanup, since such drivers
135tend to already have "normal" modes, such as ones using device nodes that
136were created by PNP or by platform device setup.
137
138None the less, there are some APIs to support such legacy drivers.  Avoid
139using these calls except with such hotplug-deficient drivers::
140
141	struct platform_device *platform_device_alloc(
142			const char *name, int id);
143
144You can use platform_device_alloc() to dynamically allocate a device, which
145you will then initialize with resources and platform_device_register().
146A better solution is usually::
147
148	struct platform_device *platform_device_register_simple(
149			const char *name, int id,
150			struct resource *res, unsigned int nres);
151
152You can use platform_device_register_simple() as a one-step call to allocate
153and register a device.
154
155
156Device Naming and Driver Binding
157~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
158The platform_device.dev.bus_id is the canonical name for the devices.
159It's built from two components:
160
161    * platform_device.name ... which is also used to for driver matching.
162
163    * platform_device.id ... the device instance number, or else "-1"
164      to indicate there's only one.
165
166These are concatenated, so name/id "serial"/0 indicates bus_id "serial.0", and
167"serial/3" indicates bus_id "serial.3"; both would use the platform_driver
168named "serial".  While "my_rtc"/-1 would be bus_id "my_rtc" (no instance id)
169and use the platform_driver called "my_rtc".
170
171Driver binding is performed automatically by the driver core, invoking
172driver probe() after finding a match between device and driver.  If the
173probe() succeeds, the driver and device are bound as usual.  There are
174three different ways to find such a match:
175
176    - Whenever a device is registered, the drivers for that bus are
177      checked for matches.  Platform devices should be registered very
178      early during system boot.
179
180    - When a driver is registered using platform_driver_register(), all
181      unbound devices on that bus are checked for matches.  Drivers
182      usually register later during booting, or by module loading.
183
184    - Registering a driver using platform_driver_probe() works just like
185      using platform_driver_register(), except that the driver won't
186      be probed later if another device registers.  (Which is OK, since
187      this interface is only for use with non-hotpluggable devices.)
188
189
190Early Platform Devices and Drivers
191~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
192The early platform interfaces provide platform data to platform device
193drivers early on during the system boot. The code is built on top of the
194early_param() command line parsing and can be executed very early on.
195
196Example: "earlyprintk" class early serial console in 6 steps
197
1981. Registering early platform device data
199~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
200The architecture code registers platform device data using the function
201early_platform_add_devices(). In the case of early serial console this
202should be hardware configuration for the serial port. Devices registered
203at this point will later on be matched against early platform drivers.
204
2052. Parsing kernel command line
206~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
207The architecture code calls parse_early_param() to parse the kernel
208command line. This will execute all matching early_param() callbacks.
209User specified early platform devices will be registered at this point.
210For the early serial console case the user can specify port on the
211kernel command line as "earlyprintk=serial.0" where "earlyprintk" is
212the class string, "serial" is the name of the platform driver and
2130 is the platform device id. If the id is -1 then the dot and the
214id can be omitted.
215
2163. Installing early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
217~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
218The architecture code may optionally force registration of all early
219platform drivers belonging to a certain class using the function
220early_platform_driver_register_all(). User specified devices from
221step 2 have priority over these. This step is omitted by the serial
222driver example since the early serial driver code should be disabled
223unless the user has specified port on the kernel command line.
224
2254. Early platform driver registration
226~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
227Compiled-in platform drivers making use of early_platform_init() are
228automatically registered during step 2 or 3. The serial driver example
229should use early_platform_init("earlyprintk", &platform_driver).
230
2315. Probing of early platform drivers belonging to a certain class
232~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
233The architecture code calls early_platform_driver_probe() to match
234registered early platform devices associated with a certain class with
235registered early platform drivers. Matched devices will get probed().
236This step can be executed at any point during the early boot. As soon
237as possible may be good for the serial port case.
238
2396. Inside the early platform driver probe()
240~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
241The driver code needs to take special care during early boot, especially
242when it comes to memory allocation and interrupt registration. The code
243in the probe() function can use is_early_platform_device() to check if
244it is called at early platform device or at the regular platform device
245time. The early serial driver performs register_console() at this point.
246
247For further information, see <linux/platform_device.h>.
248