summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>2026-08-14 15:43:51 -0700
committerPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>2026-08-14 15:43:51 -0700
commit9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf (patch)
tree3b5269b1bcf6714171754946367c51e0590f64da /Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst
downloadlinux-stable-9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf.tar.gz
linux-stable-9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf.zip
Merge branches 'expcb.2026.07.24a', 'misc.2026.07.30a', 'rcu-tasks.2026.07.30a', 'srcu.2026.08.11a' and 'torture.2026.08.14a' into HEADgrafted
Changes: Make expedited grace periods expedite normal RCU callbacks Miscellaneous fixes: * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Move from kmalloc() to kmalloc_obj(). * Documentation updates. * Improve handling of RCU deferred quiescent states. * Clean up unused function arguments and structure fields. * Reduce show_rcu_gp_kthreads() stack space. Tasks RCU updates: * Clean up after SRCU re-implementation of Tasks Trace RCU. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Add ->lazy_timer status to diagnostic output. * Remove an unnecessary memory barrier. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Documentation updates. * Convert cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs() from macro to static inline function. SRCU updates: * Add Rust helpers for SRCU. * Avoid losing queued work at cleanup_srcu_struct() time. Torture-test updates: * Preparation work for immediate RCU priority deboosting. * Test RCU readers from real interrupt handlers (as opposed to softirq). * Simplify code through use of cpumask_next_wrap(). * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Add rcutorture.nwriters parameter to allow lightweight stall testing, and rcutorture.stall_only to make doing so easier. * Test an RCU Tasks Trace grace period implying an RCU grace period. * Make RCU Tasks Trace torturing track reader batches. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Plug a shuffle_tmp_mask memory leak on kthread spawn failure.
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst150
1 files changed, 150 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst b/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ba401ef85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+========================
+Devicetree Overlay Notes
+========================
+
+This document describes the implementation of the in-kernel
+device tree overlay functionality residing in drivers/of/overlay.c and is a
+companion document to Documentation/devicetree/dynamic-resolution-notes.rst[1]
+
+How overlays work
+-----------------
+
+A Devicetree's overlay purpose is to modify the kernel's live tree, and
+have the modification affecting the state of the kernel in a way that
+is reflecting the changes.
+Since the kernel mainly deals with devices, any new device node that results
+in an active device should have it created while if the device node is either
+disabled or removed all together, the affected device should be deregistered.
+
+Let's take an example where we have a foo board with the following base tree::
+
+ ---- foo.dts ---------------------------------------------------------------
+ /* FOO platform */
+ /dts-v1/;
+ / {
+ compatible = "corp,foo";
+
+ /* shared resources */
+ res: res {
+ };
+
+ /* On chip peripherals */
+ ocp: ocp {
+ /* peripherals that are always instantiated */
+ peripheral1 { ... };
+ };
+ };
+ ---- foo.dts ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The overlay bar.dtso,
+::
+
+ ---- bar.dtso - overlay target location by label ---------------------------
+ /dts-v1/;
+ /plugin/;
+ &ocp {
+ /* bar peripheral */
+ bar {
+ compatible = "corp,bar";
+ ... /* various properties and child nodes */
+ };
+ };
+ ---- bar.dtso --------------------------------------------------------------
+
+when loaded (and resolved as described in [1]) should result in foo+bar.dts::
+
+ ---- foo+bar.dts -----------------------------------------------------------
+ /* FOO platform + bar peripheral */
+ / {
+ compatible = "corp,foo";
+
+ /* shared resources */
+ res: res {
+ };
+
+ /* On chip peripherals */
+ ocp: ocp {
+ /* peripherals that are always instantiated */
+ peripheral1 { ... };
+
+ /* bar peripheral */
+ bar {
+ compatible = "corp,bar";
+ ... /* various properties and child nodes */
+ };
+ };
+ };
+ ---- foo+bar.dts -----------------------------------------------------------
+
+As a result of the overlay, a new device node (bar) has been created
+so a bar platform device will be registered and if a matching device driver
+is loaded the device will be created as expected.
+
+If the base DT was not compiled with the -@ option then the "&ocp" label
+will not be available to resolve the overlay node(s) to the proper location
+in the base DT. In this case, the target path can be provided. The target
+location by label syntax is preferred because the overlay can be applied to
+any base DT containing the label, no matter where the label occurs in the DT.
+
+The above bar.dtso example modified to use target path syntax is::
+
+ ---- bar.dtso - overlay target location by explicit path -------------------
+ /dts-v1/;
+ /plugin/;
+ &{/ocp} {
+ /* bar peripheral */
+ bar {
+ compatible = "corp,bar";
+ ... /* various properties and child nodes */
+ }
+ };
+ ---- bar.dtso --------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+Overlay in-kernel API
+--------------------------------
+
+The API is quite easy to use.
+
+1) Call of_overlay_fdt_apply() to create and apply an overlay changeset. The
+ return value is an error or a cookie identifying this overlay.
+
+2) Call of_overlay_remove() to remove and clean up the overlay changeset
+ previously created via the call to of_overlay_fdt_apply(). Removal of an
+ overlay changeset that is stacked by another will not be permitted.
+
+Finally, if you need to remove all overlays in one-go, just call
+of_overlay_remove_all() which will remove every single one in the correct
+order.
+
+There is the option to register notifiers that get called on
+overlay operations. See of_overlay_notifier_register/unregister and
+enum of_overlay_notify_action for details.
+
+A notifier callback for OF_OVERLAY_PRE_APPLY, OF_OVERLAY_POST_APPLY, or
+OF_OVERLAY_PRE_REMOVE may store pointers to a device tree node in the overlay
+or its content but these pointers must not persist past the notifier callback
+for OF_OVERLAY_POST_REMOVE. The memory containing the overlay will be
+kfree()ed after OF_OVERLAY_POST_REMOVE notifiers are called. Note that the
+memory will be kfree()ed even if the notifier for OF_OVERLAY_POST_REMOVE
+returns an error.
+
+The changeset notifiers in drivers/of/dynamic.c are a second type of notifier
+that could be triggered by applying or removing an overlay. These notifiers
+are not allowed to store pointers to a device tree node in the overlay
+or its content. The overlay code does not protect against such pointers
+remaining active when the memory containing the overlay is freed as a result
+of removing the overlay.
+
+Any other code that retains a pointer to the overlay nodes or data is
+considered to be a bug because after removing the overlay the pointer
+will refer to freed memory.
+
+Users of overlays must be especially aware of the overall operations that
+occur on the system to ensure that other kernel code does not retain any
+pointers to the overlay nodes or data. Any example of an inadvertent use
+of such pointers is if a driver or subsystem module is loaded after an
+overlay has been applied, and the driver or subsystem scans the entire
+devicetree or a large portion of it, including the overlay nodes.