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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-24 08:46:03 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-24 08:46:03 -0700 |
| commit | cf9610f9116d55c5a66ef9f1faecacabd93a9322 (patch) | |
| tree | 757a3d280760c654767631cab5ad8af2d86d1848 /Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-cf9610f9116d55c5a66ef9f1faecacabd93a9322.tar.gz linux-stable-cf9610f9116d55c5a66ef9f1faecacabd93a9322.zip | |
Merge tag 'pinctrl-v7.3-1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linusw/linux-pinctrlgrafted
Pull pin control updates from Linus Walleij:
"Core changes:
- Use the non-blocking mux_state_try_select() in the generic MUX pin
control back-end
- Free pin maps on pinctrl_generic_to_map() failure in the core
helpers
New hardware pin control:
- Qualcomm Maili TLMM SoC, PMG1110 PMIC, and Eliza LPASS LPI TLMM SoC
(this is for the low power audio, LPASS = Low Power Audio SubSystem
portions)
- Upboard support on top of the Intel pin controller
- Apple T6030 and T6031 support (just compatible strings)
- Samsung Exynos 8855 SoC
- Mediatek MT6858 SoC
- Rockchip RK3308B and RV1106 SoCs
- Airoha EN7523 and AN7563 SoCs
Improvements:
- Qualcomm TLMM GPIOs are unconditionally marked as wakeup capable
- Qualcomm improvements on top of the Qualcomm PDC (power domain
controller) irqchip improvements from tglx:s tree
- Qualcomm IPQ806x and IPQ9650 non-urgent pin grop fixups
- The NPCM8xx driver has been put into shape fixing many pin and
group definitions
- Some non-urgent Tegra 264 pin assignments are fixed up
- Some non-urgent fixups to Airoha AN7581 and AN7583 registers and
pin assignments, missing features etc"
* tag 'pinctrl-v7.3-1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linusw/linux-pinctrl: (130 commits)
dt-bindings: pinctrl: Convert TI DA850 pupd to DT schema
pinctrl: meson: sync some modify from A4
pinctrl: meson: a4: Add input enable pin configuration
pinctrl: realtek: rtd1625: remove unused group name spdif_sel
pinctrl: realtek: rtd1625: fix base_bit for VE4 GPIO 13
dt-bindings: pinctrl: microchip,pic32mzda-pinctrl: Convert to DT schema
Revert "Merge branch 'ib-rsk7204' into devel"
pinctrl: rockchip: Add RV1106 pinctrl support
dt-bindings: pinctrl: rockchip: Add RV1106 compatible
pinctrl: rockchip: Decode drive strength in the get function
pinctrl: fix PINCTRL_GENERIC_MUX not always being selectable
pinctrl: airoha: add support of an7563 SoC
dt-bindings: pinctrl: airoha: add support of an7563 pin controller
pinctrl: airoha: try to find chip scu node by phandle first
pinctrl: airoha: add support of en7523 SoC
dt-bindings: pinctrl: airoha: add support of en7523 pin controller
pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add support for olt pinmux
pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add support for pon_alt pinmux
pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add support for npu_uart pinmux
dt-bindings: pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add missed features
...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.rst | 150 |
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. |
