1=============================== 2Implementing I2C device drivers 3=============================== 4 5This is a small guide for those who want to write kernel drivers for I2C 6or SMBus devices, using Linux as the protocol host/master (not slave). 7 8To set up a driver, you need to do several things. Some are optional, and 9some things can be done slightly or completely different. Use this as a 10guide, not as a rule book! 11 12 13General remarks 14=============== 15 16Try to keep the kernel namespace as clean as possible. The best way to 17do this is to use a unique prefix for all global symbols. This is 18especially important for exported symbols, but it is a good idea to do 19it for non-exported symbols too. We will use the prefix ``foo_`` in this 20tutorial. 21 22 23The driver structure 24==================== 25 26Usually, you will implement a single driver structure, and instantiate 27all clients from it. Remember, a driver structure contains general access 28routines, and should be zero-initialized except for fields with data you 29provide. A client structure holds device-specific information like the 30driver model device node, and its I2C address. 31 32:: 33 34 static struct i2c_device_id foo_idtable[] = { 35 { "foo", my_id_for_foo }, 36 { "bar", my_id_for_bar }, 37 { } 38 }; 39 40 MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(i2c, foo_idtable); 41 42 static struct i2c_driver foo_driver = { 43 .driver = { 44 .name = "foo", 45 .pm = &foo_pm_ops, /* optional */ 46 }, 47 48 .id_table = foo_idtable, 49 .probe = foo_probe, 50 .remove = foo_remove, 51 /* if device autodetection is needed: */ 52 .class = I2C_CLASS_SOMETHING, 53 .detect = foo_detect, 54 .address_list = normal_i2c, 55 56 .shutdown = foo_shutdown, /* optional */ 57 .command = foo_command, /* optional, deprecated */ 58 } 59 60The name field is the driver name, and must not contain spaces. It 61should match the module name (if the driver can be compiled as a module), 62although you can use MODULE_ALIAS (passing "foo" in this example) to add 63another name for the module. If the driver name doesn't match the module 64name, the module won't be automatically loaded (hotplug/coldplug). 65 66All other fields are for call-back functions which will be explained 67below. 68 69 70Extra client data 71================= 72 73Each client structure has a special ``data`` field that can point to any 74structure at all. You should use this to keep device-specific data. 75 76:: 77 78 /* store the value */ 79 void i2c_set_clientdata(struct i2c_client *client, void *data); 80 81 /* retrieve the value */ 82 void *i2c_get_clientdata(const struct i2c_client *client); 83 84Note that starting with kernel 2.6.34, you don't have to set the ``data`` field 85to NULL in remove() or if probe() failed anymore. The i2c-core does this 86automatically on these occasions. Those are also the only times the core will 87touch this field. 88 89 90Accessing the client 91==================== 92 93Let's say we have a valid client structure. At some time, we will need 94to gather information from the client, or write new information to the 95client. 96 97I have found it useful to define foo_read and foo_write functions for this. 98For some cases, it will be easier to call the I2C functions directly, 99but many chips have some kind of register-value idea that can easily 100be encapsulated. 101 102The below functions are simple examples, and should not be copied 103literally:: 104 105 int foo_read_value(struct i2c_client *client, u8 reg) 106 { 107 if (reg < 0x10) /* byte-sized register */ 108 return i2c_smbus_read_byte_data(client, reg); 109 else /* word-sized register */ 110 return i2c_smbus_read_word_data(client, reg); 111 } 112 113 int foo_write_value(struct i2c_client *client, u8 reg, u16 value) 114 { 115 if (reg == 0x10) /* Impossible to write - driver error! */ 116 return -EINVAL; 117 else if (reg < 0x10) /* byte-sized register */ 118 return i2c_smbus_write_byte_data(client, reg, value); 119 else /* word-sized register */ 120 return i2c_smbus_write_word_data(client, reg, value); 121 } 122 123 124Probing and attaching 125===================== 126 127The Linux I2C stack was originally written to support access to hardware 128monitoring chips on PC motherboards, and thus used to embed some assumptions 129that were more appropriate to SMBus (and PCs) than to I2C. One of these 130assumptions was that most adapters and devices drivers support the SMBUS_QUICK 131protocol to probe device presence. Another was that devices and their drivers 132can be sufficiently configured using only such probe primitives. 133 134As Linux and its I2C stack became more widely used in embedded systems 135and complex components such as DVB adapters, those assumptions became more 136problematic. Drivers for I2C devices that issue interrupts need more (and 137different) configuration information, as do drivers handling chip variants 138that can't be distinguished by protocol probing, or which need some board 139specific information to operate correctly. 140 141 142Device/Driver Binding 143--------------------- 144 145System infrastructure, typically board-specific initialization code or 146boot firmware, reports what I2C devices exist. For example, there may be 147a table, in the kernel or from the boot loader, identifying I2C devices 148and linking them to board-specific configuration information about IRQs 149and other wiring artifacts, chip type, and so on. That could be used to 150create i2c_client objects for each I2C device. 151 152I2C device drivers using this binding model work just like any other 153kind of driver in Linux: they provide a probe() method to bind to 154those devices, and a remove() method to unbind. 155 156:: 157 158 static int foo_probe(struct i2c_client *client, 159 const struct i2c_device_id *id); 160 static int foo_remove(struct i2c_client *client); 161 162Remember that the i2c_driver does not create those client handles. The 163handle may be used during foo_probe(). If foo_probe() reports success 164(zero not a negative status code) it may save the handle and use it until 165foo_remove() returns. That binding model is used by most Linux drivers. 166 167The probe function is called when an entry in the id_table name field 168matches the device's name. It is passed the entry that was matched so 169the driver knows which one in the table matched. 170 171 172Device Creation 173--------------- 174 175If you know for a fact that an I2C device is connected to a given I2C bus, 176you can instantiate that device by simply filling an i2c_board_info 177structure with the device address and driver name, and calling 178i2c_new_client_device(). This will create the device, then the driver core 179will take care of finding the right driver and will call its probe() method. 180If a driver supports different device types, you can specify the type you 181want using the type field. You can also specify an IRQ and platform data 182if needed. 183 184Sometimes you know that a device is connected to a given I2C bus, but you 185don't know the exact address it uses. This happens on TV adapters for 186example, where the same driver supports dozens of slightly different 187models, and I2C device addresses change from one model to the next. In 188that case, you can use the i2c_new_scanned_device() variant, which is 189similar to i2c_new_client_device(), except that it takes an additional list 190of possible I2C addresses to probe. A device is created for the first 191responsive address in the list. If you expect more than one device to be 192present in the address range, simply call i2c_new_scanned_device() that 193many times. 194 195The call to i2c_new_client_device() or i2c_new_scanned_device() typically 196happens in the I2C bus driver. You may want to save the returned i2c_client 197reference for later use. 198 199 200Device Detection 201---------------- 202 203Sometimes you do not know in advance which I2C devices are connected to 204a given I2C bus. This is for example the case of hardware monitoring 205devices on a PC's SMBus. In that case, you may want to let your driver 206detect supported devices automatically. This is how the legacy model 207was working, and is now available as an extension to the standard 208driver model. 209 210You simply have to define a detect callback which will attempt to 211identify supported devices (returning 0 for supported ones and -ENODEV 212for unsupported ones), a list of addresses to probe, and a device type 213(or class) so that only I2C buses which may have that type of device 214connected (and not otherwise enumerated) will be probed. For example, 215a driver for a hardware monitoring chip for which auto-detection is 216needed would set its class to I2C_CLASS_HWMON, and only I2C adapters 217with a class including I2C_CLASS_HWMON would be probed by this driver. 218Note that the absence of matching classes does not prevent the use of 219a device of that type on the given I2C adapter. All it prevents is 220auto-detection; explicit instantiation of devices is still possible. 221 222Note that this mechanism is purely optional and not suitable for all 223devices. You need some reliable way to identify the supported devices 224(typically using device-specific, dedicated identification registers), 225otherwise misdetections are likely to occur and things can get wrong 226quickly. Keep in mind that the I2C protocol doesn't include any 227standard way to detect the presence of a chip at a given address, let 228alone a standard way to identify devices. Even worse is the lack of 229semantics associated to bus transfers, which means that the same 230transfer can be seen as a read operation by a chip and as a write 231operation by another chip. For these reasons, explicit device 232instantiation should always be preferred to auto-detection where 233possible. 234 235 236Device Deletion 237--------------- 238 239Each I2C device which has been created using i2c_new_client_device() 240or i2c_new_scanned_device() can be unregistered by calling 241i2c_unregister_device(). If you don't call it explicitly, it will be 242called automatically before the underlying I2C bus itself is removed, 243as a device can't survive its parent in the device driver model. 244 245 246Initializing the driver 247======================= 248 249When the kernel is booted, or when your foo driver module is inserted, 250you have to do some initializing. Fortunately, just registering the 251driver module is usually enough. 252 253:: 254 255 static int __init foo_init(void) 256 { 257 return i2c_add_driver(&foo_driver); 258 } 259 module_init(foo_init); 260 261 static void __exit foo_cleanup(void) 262 { 263 i2c_del_driver(&foo_driver); 264 } 265 module_exit(foo_cleanup); 266 267 The module_i2c_driver() macro can be used to reduce above code. 268 269 module_i2c_driver(foo_driver); 270 271Note that some functions are marked by ``__init``. These functions can 272be removed after kernel booting (or module loading) is completed. 273Likewise, functions marked by ``__exit`` are dropped by the compiler when 274the code is built into the kernel, as they would never be called. 275 276 277Driver Information 278================== 279 280:: 281 282 /* Substitute your own name and email address */ 283 MODULE_AUTHOR("Frodo Looijaard <frodol@dds.nl>" 284 MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Driver for Barf Inc. Foo I2C devices"); 285 286 /* a few non-GPL license types are also allowed */ 287 MODULE_LICENSE("GPL"); 288 289 290Power Management 291================ 292 293If your I2C device needs special handling when entering a system low 294power state -- like putting a transceiver into a low power mode, or 295activating a system wakeup mechanism -- do that by implementing the 296appropriate callbacks for the dev_pm_ops of the driver (like suspend 297and resume). 298 299These are standard driver model calls, and they work just like they 300would for any other driver stack. The calls can sleep, and can use 301I2C messaging to the device being suspended or resumed (since their 302parent I2C adapter is active when these calls are issued, and IRQs 303are still enabled). 304 305 306System Shutdown 307=============== 308 309If your I2C device needs special handling when the system shuts down 310or reboots (including kexec) -- like turning something off -- use a 311shutdown() method. 312 313Again, this is a standard driver model call, working just like it 314would for any other driver stack: the calls can sleep, and can use 315I2C messaging. 316 317 318Command function 319================ 320 321A generic ioctl-like function call back is supported. You will seldom 322need this, and its use is deprecated anyway, so newer design should not 323use it. 324 325 326Sending and receiving 327===================== 328 329If you want to communicate with your device, there are several functions 330to do this. You can find all of them in <linux/i2c.h>. 331 332If you can choose between plain I2C communication and SMBus level 333communication, please use the latter. All adapters understand SMBus level 334commands, but only some of them understand plain I2C! 335 336 337Plain I2C communication 338----------------------- 339 340:: 341 342 int i2c_master_send(struct i2c_client *client, const char *buf, 343 int count); 344 int i2c_master_recv(struct i2c_client *client, char *buf, int count); 345 346These routines read and write some bytes from/to a client. The client 347contains the I2C address, so you do not have to include it. The second 348parameter contains the bytes to read/write, the third the number of bytes 349to read/write (must be less than the length of the buffer, also should be 350less than 64k since msg.len is u16.) Returned is the actual number of bytes 351read/written. 352 353:: 354 355 int i2c_transfer(struct i2c_adapter *adap, struct i2c_msg *msg, 356 int num); 357 358This sends a series of messages. Each message can be a read or write, 359and they can be mixed in any way. The transactions are combined: no 360stop condition is issued between transaction. The i2c_msg structure 361contains for each message the client address, the number of bytes of the 362message and the message data itself. 363 364You can read the file ``i2c-protocol`` for more information about the 365actual I2C protocol. 366 367 368SMBus communication 369------------------- 370 371:: 372 373 s32 i2c_smbus_xfer(struct i2c_adapter *adapter, u16 addr, 374 unsigned short flags, char read_write, u8 command, 375 int size, union i2c_smbus_data *data); 376 377This is the generic SMBus function. All functions below are implemented 378in terms of it. Never use this function directly! 379 380:: 381 382 s32 i2c_smbus_read_byte(struct i2c_client *client); 383 s32 i2c_smbus_write_byte(struct i2c_client *client, u8 value); 384 s32 i2c_smbus_read_byte_data(struct i2c_client *client, u8 command); 385 s32 i2c_smbus_write_byte_data(struct i2c_client *client, 386 u8 command, u8 value); 387 s32 i2c_smbus_read_word_data(struct i2c_client *client, u8 command); 388 s32 i2c_smbus_write_word_data(struct i2c_client *client, 389 u8 command, u16 value); 390 s32 i2c_smbus_read_block_data(struct i2c_client *client, 391 u8 command, u8 *values); 392 s32 i2c_smbus_write_block_data(struct i2c_client *client, 393 u8 command, u8 length, const u8 *values); 394 s32 i2c_smbus_read_i2c_block_data(struct i2c_client *client, 395 u8 command, u8 length, u8 *values); 396 s32 i2c_smbus_write_i2c_block_data(struct i2c_client *client, 397 u8 command, u8 length, 398 const u8 *values); 399 400These ones were removed from i2c-core because they had no users, but could 401be added back later if needed:: 402 403 s32 i2c_smbus_write_quick(struct i2c_client *client, u8 value); 404 s32 i2c_smbus_process_call(struct i2c_client *client, 405 u8 command, u16 value); 406 s32 i2c_smbus_block_process_call(struct i2c_client *client, 407 u8 command, u8 length, u8 *values); 408 409All these transactions return a negative errno value on failure. The 'write' 410transactions return 0 on success; the 'read' transactions return the read 411value, except for block transactions, which return the number of values 412read. The block buffers need not be longer than 32 bytes. 413 414You can read the file ``smbus-protocol`` for more information about the 415actual SMBus protocol. 416 417 418General purpose routines 419======================== 420 421Below all general purpose routines are listed, that were not mentioned 422before:: 423 424 /* Return the adapter number for a specific adapter */ 425 int i2c_adapter_id(struct i2c_adapter *adap); 426