[RFC PATCH v2 4/4] Core devices: documentation

[Marc Zyngier]

Add the documentation file for core devices.

Signed-off-by: Marc Zyngier <marc.zyngier@xxxxxxx>
---
 Documentation/core_devices.txt |  247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 files changed, 247 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/core_devices.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/core_devices.txt b/Documentation/core_devices.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d1581f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/core_devices.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+Core Device Subsystem:
+=====================
+
+There is a small number of devices that the core kernel needs very
+early in the boot process, namely an interrupt controller and a timer,
+long before the driver model is up and running.
+
+Most architectures implement this requirement by hardcoding the
+initialisation of a "well known" piece of hardware which is standard
+enough to work on any platform.
+
+This is very different on the ARM architecture, where platforms have a
+variety of interrupt controllers and timers. While the same hardcoding
+is possible (and is actually used), it makes it almost impossible to
+support several platforms in the same kernel.
+
+Though the device tree is helping greatly to solve this problem, some
+platform won't ever be converted to DT, hence the need to have a
+mechanism supporting a variety of information source. Early platform
+devices having been deemed unsuitable (complexity, abuse of various
+subsystems), this subsystem has been designed to provide the very
+minimal level of functionality.
+
+The "core device subsystem" offers a class based device/driver
+matching model, doesn't rely on any other subsystem, is very (too?)
+simple, and support getting information both from DT as well as from
+static data provided by the platform. It also gives the opportunity to
+define the probing order by offering a sorting hook at run-time.
+
+As for the Linux driver model, the core device subsystem deals mainly
+with device and driver objects. It also has the notion of "class" to
+designate a group of devices implementing the same functionality, and
+a group of drivers to be matched against the above devices
+(CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER for example).
+
+One of the features is that the whole subsystem is discarded once the
+kernel has booted. No structures can or should be retained after the
+device has been probed. Of course, no support for module or other
+evolved features. Another design feature is that it is *NOT* thread
+safe. If you need any kind of mutual exclusion, you're probably using
+core devices for something they are not designed for.
+
+* Core Device:
+  ===========
+
+The struct core_device is fairly similar to a platform_device.
+From "include/linux/core_device.h":
+
+struct core_device {
+	const char		*name;
+	u32			num_resources;
+	struct resource		*resource;
+	struct device_node	*of_node;
+	struct list_head	entry;
+};
+
+- name: friendly name for the device, will be used to match the driver
+- num_resources: number of resources associated with the device
+- resource: address of the resource array
+- of_node: pointer to the DT node if the device has been populated by
+  parsing the device tree. This is managed internally by the subsystem.
+- entry: internal management list (not to be initialised).
+
+The device is registered with the core device subsystem with:
+void core_device_register(enum core_device_class class,
+			  struct core_device *dev);
+
+where:
+- class is one of CORE_DEV_CLASS_IRQ or CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER
+- dev is the core device to be registered.
+
+A typical use is the following:
+static struct resources twd_resources[] __initdata = {
+	{
+		.start	= 0x1f000600,
+		.end	= 0x1f0006ff,
+		.flags	= IORESOURCE_MEM,
+	},
+	{
+		.start	= IRQ_LOCALTIMER,
+		.end	= IRQ_LOCALTIMER,
+		.flags	= IORESOURCE_IRQ,
+	},
+};
+
+static struct core_device twd_device _initdata = {
+	.name		= "arm_smp_twd",
+	.resource	= twd_resources,
+	.num_resources	= ARRAY_SIZE(twd_resources),
+};
+
+static void __init timer_init(void)
+{
+	core_device_register(CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER, &twd_device);
+}
+
+Note that all structures are marked as __inidata, as none of them is
+expected to be used after the kernel has booted.
+
+The devices can also be automatically allocated and registered by
+parsing the device tree (if available) with the following function:
+
+void of_core_device_populate(enum core_device_class class,
+			     struct of_device_id *matches);
+
+The allocated core_device structures will have their of_node member
+pointing to the corresponding DT node. Resources will be allocated and
+populated according to attributes found in the device tree.
+
+
+
+* Core driver:
+  ===========
+
+The struct core_driver is the pendant to the core_device.
+
+struct core_driver {
+	int			(*init)(struct core_device *);
+	struct core_device_id	*ids;
+};
+
+- init: initialisation function. Returns 0 on success, error code on
+  failure.
+- ids: a null-terminated array of struct core_device_id against which
+  the device is matched.
+
+struct core_device_id {
+	const char		*name;
+};
+
+- name: string against which the device is matched
+
+core_driver_register(class, driver);
+
+Note that core_driver_register() is *not* a function, but expands to a
+static data structure stored in a discardable section.
+
+A typical use is the following:
+
+static int __init twd_core_init(struct core_device *dev)
+{
+	[...]
+	return 0;
+}
+static struct core_device_id twd_core_ids[] __initdata = {
+	{ .name = "arm,smp-twd", },
+	{ .name	= "arm_smp_twd", },
+	{},
+};
+
+static struct core_driver twd_core_driver __initdata = {
+	.init		= twd_core_init,
+	.ids		= twd_core_ids,
+};
+
+core_driver_register(CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER, twd_core_driver);
+
+As for the core_device, all structures should be marked __initdata,
+and the init function should be marked __init. The driver code must
+*not* hold any reference to the core_device, as it can be freed just
+after the init function has returned.
+
+
+
+* Device/Driver matching:
+  ======================
+
+The core kernel code directly controls when devices and drivers are
+matched (no matching-at-register-time) by calling:
+
+void core_driver_init_class(enum core_device_class class,
+			    void (*sort)(struct list_head *));
+
+Where:
+- class is one of CORE_DEV_CLASS_IRQ or CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER,
+- sort is a pointer to a function sorting the device list before they
+  are matched (NULL if unused).
+
+When this function is called:
+
+- All devices registered in "class" are probed with the matching
+  registered drivers
+- Once the devices in the class have been tried against the compiled
+  in drivers, they are removed from the list (whether they have
+  actually been probed or not).
+- If core devices have been dynamically allocated (by
+  of_core_device_populate()), they are freed.
+
+For example:
+
+/* List of supported timers */
+static struct of_device_id timer_ids[] __initdata = {
+	{ .compatible = "arm,smp-twd", },
+	{},
+};
+
+static void __init __arm_late_time_init(void)
+{
+	if (arm_late_time_init)
+		arm_late_time_init();
+
+	/* Fetch the supported timers from the device tree */
+	of_core_device_populate(CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER, timer_ids);
+	/* Init the devices (both DT based and static), no preliminary sort */
+	core_driver_init_class(CORE_DEV_CLASS_TIMER, NULL);
+}
+
+
+
+* Sorting functions
+  =================
+
+This may well fall into the hack category, and is probably only useful
+when used with the device tree.
+
+Imagine you have a bunch of interrupt controllers to initialise. There
+is probably one controller directly attached to the CPUs, and all the
+others cascading (in)directly into the first one. There is a strong
+requirement that these controllers are initialised in the right order
+(closest to the CPU first).
+
+This is easy enough to achieve when static core devices are registered
+(the registration order is preserved when probing), but is very
+unlikely to occur when devices are imported from the device tree.
+
+The "sort" function that can be passed to core_driver_init_class() is
+used to solve such a problem. It is called just before the devices are
+matched against the drivers, and is allowed to reorganise the list
+completely. It must not drop elements from the list though.
+
+One such sorting function is core_device_irq_sort(), which is designed
+to solve the above problem, and is used like this:
+
+static struct of_device_id of_irq_controller_ids[] __initdata = {
+	{ .compatible   = "arm,gic-spi", },
+	{},
+};
+
+void __init init_IRQ(void)
+{
+	machine_desc->init_irq();
+	of_core_device_populate(CORE_DEV_CLASS_IRQ, of_irq_controller_ids);
+	core_driver_init_class(CORE_DEV_CLASS_IRQ, core_device_irq_sort);
+}
+
+In this snippet, all the "arm,gic-spi" devices are registered, and
+then sorted at initialisation time by core_device_irq_sort().
-- 
1.7.0.4


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