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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-23 13:28:57 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-23 13:28:57 -0700 |
| commit | 4352b8aee98005853aa63f57d6377282de17a33f (patch) | |
| tree | 27614d7a9ef05c32d089004e104364ce42324837 /Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/overview.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-4352b8aee98005853aa63f57d6377282de17a33f.tar.gz linux-stable-4352b8aee98005853aa63f57d6377282de17a33f.zip | |
Merge tag 'i3c/for-7.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/i3c/linuxgrafted
Pull I3C updates from Alexandre Belloni:
"A new driver this cycle, for the AMD AXI I3C controller.
There are also new features such as IBI wakeup support, SETAASA device
discovery and ACPI support for the the DAA methods, meaning we can now
communicate with the SPD devices on DDR5 modules.
New driver:
- AMD AXI I3C master controller
Subsystem:
- I3C Common Command Code (CCC) handling improvements, especially
around GET CCCs
- SETAASA device discovery support
- ACPI support for all existing DAA methods like SETDASA, SETNEWDA as
well as I2C devices on I3C bus
- IBI-based wakeup support
Drivers:
- dw: SETAASA support
- mipi-i3c-hci: advertise IBI wakeup capability, AMD_PT I3C
controller support, PIO queue management support for HCI v1.2
- renesas: improve suspend to RAM support, add runtime PM support"
* tag 'i3c/for-7.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/i3c/linux: (70 commits)
i3c: dw: reduce do_daa time if there's no client
i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Add support for AMD_PT I3C controller
i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Add PIO queue management support for HCI v1.2
i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Fix missing STAT_IBI_STATUS_THLD in PIO mode
i3c: dw: rename "pclk" to "apb" to match dt-binding
i3c: dw: make struct dw_i3c_cmd smaller
i3c: dw: use COMMAND_PORT_TRANSFER_ARG instead of hardcoding
i3c: renesas: Don't register devices when ENTDAA times out
i3c: master: dw-i3c-master: fix OD timing for first broadcast
i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Advertise IBI wakeup capability
i3c: mipi-i3c-hci: Factor out i3c_hci_sysdev()
i3c: mipi-i3c-hci-pci: Propagate I3C wakeup requirements to PCI
i3c: master: Reject IBI requests from non-IBI-capable devices
i3c: master: Add helper to query bus wakeup requirements
i3c: master: Report wakeup events for IBIs
i3c: master: Support IBI-based wakeup capability
i3c: master: Fix potential UAF in i3c_device_match()
i3c: master: Fix potential UAF in i3c_device_uevent()
i3c: Make dev->desc locking assumptions explicit
i3c: master: Fix use-after-free of master->this
...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/overview.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/overview.rst | 124 |
1 files changed, 124 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/overview.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/overview.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b3f447bf9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/overview.rst @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +============================= +The Linux Kernel Device Model +============================= + +Patrick Mochel <mochel@digitalimplant.org> + +Drafted 26 August 2002 +Updated 31 January 2006 + + +Overview +~~~~~~~~ + +The Linux Kernel Driver Model is a unification of all the disparate driver +models that were previously used in the kernel. It is intended to augment the +bus-specific drivers for bridges and devices by consolidating a set of data +and operations into globally accessible data structures. + +Traditional driver models implemented some sort of tree-like structure +(sometimes just a list) for the devices they control. There wasn't any +uniformity across the different bus types. + +The current driver model provides a common, uniform data model for describing +a bus and the devices that can appear under the bus. The unified bus +model includes a set of common attributes which all buses carry, and a set +of common callbacks, such as device discovery during bus probing, bus +shutdown, bus power management, etc. + +The common device and bridge interface reflects the goals of the modern +computer: namely the ability to do seamless device "plug and play", power +management, and hot plug. In particular, the model dictated by Intel and +Microsoft (namely ACPI) ensures that almost every device on almost any bus +on an x86-compatible system can work within this paradigm. Of course, +not every bus is able to support all such operations, although most +buses support most of those operations. + + +Downstream Access +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Common data fields have been moved out of individual bus layers into a common +data structure. These fields must still be accessed by the bus layers, +and sometimes by the device-specific drivers. + +Other bus layers are encouraged to do what has been done for the PCI layer. +struct pci_dev now looks like this:: + + struct pci_dev { + ... + + struct device dev; /* Generic device interface */ + ... + }; + +Note first that the struct device dev within the struct pci_dev is +statically allocated. This means only one allocation on device discovery. + +Note also that that struct device dev is not necessarily defined at the +front of the pci_dev structure. This is to make people think about what +they're doing when switching between the bus driver and the global driver, +and to discourage meaningless and incorrect casts between the two. + +The PCI bus layer freely accesses the fields of struct device. It knows about +the structure of struct pci_dev, and it should know the structure of struct +device. Individual PCI device drivers that have been converted to the current +driver model generally do not and should not touch the fields of struct device, +unless there is a compelling reason to do so. + +The above abstraction prevents unnecessary pain during transitional phases. +If it were not done this way, then when a field was renamed or removed, every +downstream driver would break. On the other hand, if only the bus layer +(and not the device layer) accesses the struct device, it is only the bus +layer that needs to change. + + +User Interface +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +By virtue of having a complete hierarchical view of all the devices in the +system, exporting a complete hierarchical view to userspace becomes relatively +easy. This has been accomplished by implementing a special purpose virtual +file system named sysfs. + +Almost all mainstream Linux distros mount this filesystem automatically; you +can see some variation of the following in the output of the "mount" command:: + + $ mount + ... + none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) + ... + $ + +The auto-mounting of sysfs is typically accomplished by an entry similar to +the following in the /etc/fstab file:: + + none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 + +or something similar in the /lib/init/fstab file on Debian-based systems:: + + none /sys sysfs nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0 + +If sysfs is not automatically mounted, you can always do it manually with:: + + # mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys + +Whenever a device is inserted into the tree, a directory is created for it. +This directory may be populated at each layer of discovery - the global layer, +the bus layer, or the device layer. + +The global layer currently creates two files - 'name' and 'power'. The +former only reports the name of the device. The latter reports the +current power state of the device. It will also be used to set the current +power state. + +The bus layer may also create files for the devices it finds while probing the +bus. For example, the PCI layer currently creates 'irq' and 'resource' files +for each PCI device. + +A device-specific driver may also export files in its directory to expose +device-specific data or tunable interfaces. + +More information about the sysfs directory layout can be found in +the other documents in this directory and in the file +Documentation/filesystems/sysfs.rst. |
