Re: [PATCH v2] gpio: Add driver for TI TPIC2810

[Linus Walleij]

On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 5:14 PM, Andrew F. Davis <afd@xxxxxx> wrote:

> Add driver for TI TPIC2810 8-Bit LED Driver with I2C Interface.
>
> The TPIC2810 has 8 open-drain outputs that can but used to drive
> LEDs and other low-side switched resistive loads.
>
> Signed-off-by: Andrew F. Davis <afd@xxxxxx>
> ---
> Changes from v1:
>  - Added OF match table at Javier Martinez Canillas request

So the TI datasheet says:
"8 bit LED driver with I2C interface"

So it is *not* "general purpose input/output" (GPIO).

It is special purpose LED drive output-only circuit.

So why can it not have a driver directly in drivers/leds/*?

I understand that it can also be used as a GPIO (and that it
is then nice to put leds-gpio on top of it) but then
I want a reference to the hardware that actually went ahead
and used this as a GPIO chip rather than using a proper
GPIO expander.

Yours,
Linus Walleij