xref: /linux/Documentation/input/userio.rst (revision 26ae421f7f49f8a6a32d15b1d21a782b46a1bad5)
1.. include:: <isonum.txt>
2
3===================
4The userio Protocol
5===================
6
7
8:Copyright: |copy| 2015 Lyude Paul <thatslyude@gmail.com>
9
10Sponsored by Red Hat
11
12
13Introduction
14=============
15
16This module is intended to try to make the lives of input driver developers
17easier by allowing them to test various serio devices (mainly the various
18touchpads found on laptops) without having to have the physical device in front
19of them. userio accomplishes this by allowing any privileged userspace program
20to directly interact with the kernel's serio driver and control a virtual serio
21port from there.
22
23Usage overview
24==============
25
26In order to interact with the userio kernel module, one simply opens the
27/dev/userio character device in their applications. Commands are sent to the
28kernel module by writing to the device, and any data received from the serio
29driver is read as-is from the /dev/userio device. All of the structures and
30macros you need to interact with the device are defined in <linux/userio.h> and
31<linux/serio.h>.
32
33Command Structure
34=================
35
36The struct used for sending commands to /dev/userio is as follows::
37
38	struct userio_cmd {
39		__u8 type;
40		__u8 data;
41	};
42
43``type`` describes the type of command that is being sent. This can be any one
44of the USERIO_CMD macros defined in <linux/userio.h>. ``data`` is the argument
45that goes along with the command. In the event that the command doesn't have an
46argument, this field can be left untouched and will be ignored by the kernel.
47Each command should be sent by writing the struct directly to the character
48device. In the event that the command you send is invalid, an error will be
49returned by the character device and a more descriptive error will be printed
50to the kernel log. Only one command can be sent at a time, any additional data
51written to the character device after the initial command will be ignored.
52
53To close the virtual serio port, just close /dev/userio.
54
55Commands
56========
57
58USERIO_CMD_REGISTER
59~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
60
61Registers the port with the serio driver and begins transmitting data back and
62forth. Registration can only be performed once a port type is set with
63USERIO_CMD_SET_PORT_TYPE. Has no argument.
64
65USERIO_CMD_SET_PORT_TYPE
66~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
67
68Sets the type of port we're emulating, where ``data`` is the port type being
69set. Can be any of the serio type macros from <linux/serio.h>. For example:
70SERIO_8042 would set the port type to be a normal PS/2 port.
71
72USERIO_CMD_SET_PORT_PROTO
73~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
74
75Sets the protocol of port we're emulating, where ``data`` is the protocol being
76set. Can be any of the serio proto macros from <linux/serio.h>. For example:
77SERIO_IFORCE would set the port type to be an I-Force serial joystick.
78
79USERIO_CMD_SET_PORT_ID
80~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
81
82Sets the ``id`` value on the identification of port we're emulating, where
83``data`` is the value being set.
84
85USERIO_CMD_SET_PORT_EXTRA
86~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
87
88Sets the ``extra`` value on the identification of port we're emulating, where
89``data`` is the value being set.
90
91USERIO_CMD_SEND_INTERRUPT
92~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
93
94Sends an interrupt through the virtual serio port to the serio driver, where
95``data`` is the interrupt data being sent.
96
97Userspace tools
98===============
99
100The userio userspace tools are able to record PS/2 devices using some of the
101debugging information from i8042, and play back the devices on /dev/userio. The
102latest version of these tools can be found at:
103
104	https://github.com/Lyude/ps2emu
105