Re: [PATCH v2] tty/serial: Add a serial port simulator

[Corey Minyard]

On Tue, Mar 05, 2019 at 03:29:51PM -0800, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> Hi Corey,
> 
> Just some doc comments.

Thanks a bunch.  A few comments inline on things I didn't do quite
like you suggested..

> 
> On 3/5/19 9:12 AM, minyard@xxxxxxx wrote:
> > diff --git a/Documentation/serial/serialsim.rst b/Documentation/serial/serialsim.rst
> > new file mode 100644
> > index 000000000000..655e10b4908e
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/Documentation/serial/serialsim.rst
> > @@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
> > +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> > +=====================================
> > +serialsim - A kernel serial simualtor
>                                xxxxxxxxx
>                         serial device simulator
> 
> > +=====================================
> > +
> > +:Author: Corey Minyard <minyard@xxxxxxxxxx> / <minyard@xxxxxxx>
> > +
> > +The serialsim device is a serial simulator with echo and pipe devices.
> > +It is quite useful for testing programs that use serial ports.
> > +
> > +This attempts to emulate a basic serial device.  It uses the baud rate
> > +and sends the bytes through the loopback or pipe at approximately the
> > +speed it would on a normal serial device.
> > +
> > +There is a python interface to the special ioctls for controlling the
> > +remote end of the termios in addition to the standard ioctl interface
> > +documented below.  See https://github.com/cminyard/serialsim
> > +
> > +=====
> > +Using
> > +=====
> > +
> > +The serialsim.ko module creates two types of devices.  Echo devices
> > +simply echo back the data to the same device.  These devices will
> > +appear as /dev/ttyEcho<n>.
> > +
> > +Pipe devices will transfer the data between two devices.  The
> > +devices will appear as /dev/ttyPipeA<n> and /dev/ttyPipeB<n>.  And
> 
>                                                                   Any
> 
> > +data written to PipeA reads from PipeB, and vice-versa.
> > +
> > +You may create an arbitrary number of devices by setting the
> > +nr_echo ports and nr_pipe_ports module parameters.  The default is
> 
>    nr_echo_ports
> 
> > +four for both.
> 
> or for each.
> 
> > +
> > +This driver supports modifying the modem control lines and
> > +injecting various serial errors.  It also supports a simulated null
> > +modem between the two pipes, or in a loopback on the echo device.
> > +
> > +By default a pipe or echo comes up in null modem configuration,
> > +meaning that the DTR line is hooked to the DSR and CD lines on the
> > +other side and the RTS line on one side is hooked to the CTS line
> > +on the other side.
> > +
> > +The RTS and CTS lines don't currently do anything for flow control.
> > +
> > +You can modify null modem and control the lines individually
> > +through an interface in /sys/class/tty/ttyECHO<n>/ctrl,
> > +/sys/class/tty/ttyPipeA<n>/ctrl, and
> > +/sys/class/tty/ttyPipeB<n>/ctrl.  The following may be written to
> > +those files:
> > +
> > +[+-]nullmodem
> > +    enable/disable null modem
> > +
> > +[+-]cd
> > +    enable/disable Carrier Detect (no effect if +nullmodem)
> > +
> > +[+-]dsr
> > +    enable/disable Data Set Ready (no effect if +nullmodem)
> > +
> > +[+-]cts
> > +    enable/disable Clear To Send (no effect if +nullmodem)
> > +
> > +[+-]ring
> > +    enable/disable Ring
> > +
> > +frame
> > +    inject a frame error on the next byte
> > +
> > +parity
> > +    inject a parity error on the next byte
> > +
> > +overrun
> > +    inject an overrun error on the next byte
> > +
> > +The contents of the above files has the following format:
> 
>                                    have

This intrigued me a bit.  I assumed, even though "contents" can
be plural, it is used in a singular fashion here because it is one
"thing".  So I did some research.  I couldn't really find
anything definitive, and there seems to be a lot of debate on
this.  But if you look at:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/content-or-contents
you will see, when they use "contents", they use a singular verb
with it:
   The contents of a book is the list of chapters or articles...
So if it's good enough for Cambridge, it's good enough for me :).
Though I'm certainly no grammar expert.

> 
> > +
> > +tty[Echo|PipeA|PipeB]<n>
> > +    <mctrl values>
> > +
> > +where <mctrl values> is the modem control values above (not frame,
> > +parity, or overrun) with the following added:
> > +
> > +[+-]dtr
> > +    value of the Data Terminal Ready
> > +
> > +[+-]rts
> > +    value of the Request To Send
> > +
> > +The above values are not settable through this interface, they are
> > +set through the serial port interface itself.
> > +
> > +So, for instance, ttyEcho0 comes up in the following state::
> > +
> > +   # cat /sys/class/tty/ttyEcho0/ctrl
> > +   ttyEcho0: +nullmodem -cd -dsr -cts -ring -dtr -rts
> > +
> > +If something connects, it will become::
> > +
> > +   ttyEcho0: +nullmodem +cd +dsr +cts -ring +dtr +rts
> > +
> > +To enable ring::
> > +
> > +   # echo "+ring" >/sys/class/tty/ttyEcho0/ctrl
> > +   # cat /sys/class/tty/ttyEcho0/ctrl
> > +   ttyEcho0: +nullmodem +cd +dsr +cts +ring +dtr +rts
> > +
> > +Now disable NULL modem and the CD line::
> > +
> > +   # echo "-nullmodem -cd" >/sys/class/tty/ttyEcho0/ctrl
> > +   # cat /sys/class/tty/ttyEcho0/ctrl
> > +   ttyEcho0: -nullmodem -cd -dsr -cts +ring -dtr -rts
> > +
> > +Note that these settings are for the side you are modifying.  So if
> > +you set nullmodem on ttyPipeA0, that controls whether the DTR/RTS
> > +lines from ttyPipeB0 affect ttyPipeA0.  It doesn't affect ttyPipeB's
> > +modem control lines.
> > +
> > +The PIPEA and PIPEB devices also have the ability to set these
> > +values for the other end via an ioctl.  The following ioctls are
> > +available:
> > +
> > +TIOCSERSNULLMODEM
> > +    Set the null modem value, the arg is a boolean.
> > +
> > +TIOCSERSREMMCTRL
> > +    Set the modem control lines, bits 16-31 of the arg is
> 
>                                                           are

Same comment as above.  IMHO, it's one set of bits.

> 
> > +    a 16-bit mask telling which values to set, bits 0-15 are the
> > +    actual values.  Settable values are TIOCM_CAR, TIOCM_CTS,
> > +    TIOCM_DSR, and TIOC_RNG.  If NULLMODEM is set to true, then only
> > +    TIOC_RNG is settable.  The DTR and RTS lines are not here, you can
> > +    set them through the normal interface.
> > +
> > +TIOCSERSREMERR
> > +    Send an error or errors on the next sent byte.  arg is
> > +    a bitwise OR of (1 << TTY_xxx).  Allowed errors are TTY_BREAK,
> 
> is this better: (or I don't understand?)
>        a bitwise OR of (1 << TTY_xxx) and one (or more of) the
>        allowed error flags TTY_BREAK, TTY_FRAME, TTY_PARITY, and TTY_OVERRUN.

Well, not really.  But what I wrote isn't great, so, how about:

    Send an error or errors on the next sent byte.  arg is a bitwise
    OR of (1 << TTY_BREAK), (1 << TTY_FRAME), (1 << TTY_PARITY), and
    (1 << TTY_OVERRUN).  If none of those are set, then no error
    is sent.

Thanks,

-corey

> 
> > +    TTY_FRAME, TTY_PARITY, and TTY_OVERRUN.
> > +
> > +TIOCSERGREMTERMIOS
> > +    Return the termios structure for the other side of the pipe.
> > +    arg is a pointer to a standard termios struct.
> > +
> > +TIOCSERGREMRS485
> > +    Return the remote RS485 settings, arg is a pointer to a struct
> > +    serial_rs485.
> > +
> > +Note that unlike the sysfs interface, these ioctls affect the other
> > +end.  So setting nullmodem on the ttyPipeB0 interface sets whether
> > +the DTR/RTS lines on ttyPipeB0 affect ttyPipeA0.
> 
> 
> cheers.
> -- 
> ~Randy