[PATCH 1/2] backlight: led_bl: Add devm_led_backlight_register() helper

From: A. Sverdlin

Date: Mon Aug 17 2026 - 13:47:52 EST


From: Alexander Sverdlin <alexander.sverdlin@xxxxxxxxxxx>

The led-backlight driver could so far only be instantiated from a
device-tree node with the "led-backlight" compatible. This makes it
impossible for a self-contained LED provider (e.g. a hot-pluggable I2C
LED controller) to expose a backlight interface tied to its own
lifetime.

Factor the actual backlight registration out of the probe path into a
shared led_bl_register() helper and export devm_led_backlight_register(),
which registers a backlight class device driven by a single LED, without
device tree and bound to the caller's device lifetime. The backlight
device and the LED sysfs handover are now devres-managed, so the probe
path shrinks and the explicit .remove callback is no longer needed.

The exported helper is a no-op when the led-backlight support is not
reachable (IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BACKLIGHT_LED)), so callers do not need
any Kconfig plumbing and are not force-selected to build it.

Signed-off-by: Alexander Sverdlin <alexander.sverdlin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
MAINTAINERS | 1 +
drivers/video/backlight/led_bl.c | 130 ++++++++++++++++++++-----------
include/linux/led_bl.h | 20 +++++
3 files changed, 107 insertions(+), 44 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 include/linux/led_bl.h

diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 8014b9f8253ed..d525a7c4043aa 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -4508,6 +4508,7 @@ F: Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-backlight
F: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/leds/backlight
F: drivers/video/backlight/
F: include/linux/backlight.h
+F: include/linux/led_bl.h
F: include/linux/pwm_backlight.h

BARCO P50 GPIO DRIVER
diff --git a/drivers/video/backlight/led_bl.c b/drivers/video/backlight/led_bl.c
index f7ab9b3607313..f87a48f74186a 100644
--- a/drivers/video/backlight/led_bl.c
+++ b/drivers/video/backlight/led_bl.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
*/

#include <linux/backlight.h>
+#include <linux/led_bl.h>
#include <linux/leds.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/of.h>
@@ -173,29 +174,25 @@ static int led_bl_parse_levels(struct device *dev,
return 0;
}

-static int led_bl_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
+static void led_bl_disable(void *data)
{
- struct backlight_properties props;
- struct led_bl_data *priv;
- int ret, i;
-
- priv = devm_kzalloc(&pdev->dev, sizeof(*priv), GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!priv)
- return -ENOMEM;
-
- platform_set_drvdata(pdev, priv);
+ struct led_bl_data *priv = data;
+ int i;

- priv->dev = &pdev->dev;
+ led_bl_power_off(priv);
+ for (i = 0; i < priv->nb_leds; i++) {
+ mutex_lock(&priv->leds[i]->led_access);
+ led_sysfs_enable(priv->leds[i]);
+ mutex_unlock(&priv->leds[i]->led_access);
+ }
+}

- ret = led_bl_get_leds(&pdev->dev, priv);
- if (ret)
- return ret;
+static int led_bl_register(struct device *dev, struct led_bl_data *priv)
+{
+ struct backlight_properties props;
+ int ret, i;

- ret = led_bl_parse_levels(&pdev->dev, priv);
- if (ret < 0) {
- dev_err(&pdev->dev, "Failed to parse DT data\n");
- return ret;
- }
+ priv->dev = dev;

memset(&props, 0, sizeof(struct backlight_properties));
props.type = BACKLIGHT_RAW;
@@ -203,24 +200,28 @@ static int led_bl_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
props.brightness = priv->default_brightness;
props.power = (priv->default_brightness > 0) ? BACKLIGHT_POWER_OFF :
BACKLIGHT_POWER_ON;
- priv->bl_dev = backlight_device_register(dev_name(&pdev->dev),
- &pdev->dev, priv, &led_bl_ops, &props);
- if (IS_ERR(priv->bl_dev)) {
- dev_err(&pdev->dev, "Failed to register backlight\n");
- return PTR_ERR(priv->bl_dev);
- }
+ priv->bl_dev = devm_backlight_device_register(dev, dev_name(dev), dev,
+ priv, &led_bl_ops, &props);
+ if (IS_ERR(priv->bl_dev))
+ return dev_err_probe(dev, PTR_ERR(priv->bl_dev),
+ "Failed to register backlight\n");

for (i = 0; i < priv->nb_leds; i++) {
+ struct device *supplier = priv->leds[i]->dev->parent;
struct device_link *link;

- link = device_link_add(&pdev->dev, priv->leds[i]->dev->parent,
- DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_CONSUMER);
- if (!link) {
- dev_err(&pdev->dev, "Failed to add devlink (consumer %s, supplier %s)\n",
- dev_name(&pdev->dev), dev_name(priv->leds[i]->dev->parent));
- backlight_device_unregister(priv->bl_dev);
- return -EINVAL;
- }
+ /*
+ * BL and the LED are the same device if instantiated via
+ * devm_led_backlight_register()
+ */
+ if (supplier == dev)
+ continue;
+
+ link = device_link_add(dev, supplier, DL_FLAG_AUTOREMOVE_CONSUMER);
+ if (!link)
+ return dev_err_probe(dev, -EINVAL,
+ "Failed to add devlink (consumer %s, supplier %s)\n",
+ dev_name(dev), dev_name(supplier));
}

for (i = 0; i < priv->nb_leds; i++) {
@@ -229,26 +230,68 @@ static int led_bl_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
mutex_unlock(&priv->leds[i]->led_access);
}

+ ret = devm_add_action_or_reset(dev, led_bl_disable, priv);
+ if (ret)
+ return ret;
+
backlight_update_status(priv->bl_dev);

return 0;
}

-static void led_bl_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
+static int led_bl_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
{
- struct led_bl_data *priv = platform_get_drvdata(pdev);
- struct backlight_device *bl = priv->bl_dev;
- int i;
+ struct led_bl_data *priv;
+ int ret;

- backlight_device_unregister(bl);
+ priv = devm_kzalloc(&pdev->dev, sizeof(*priv), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!priv)
+ return -ENOMEM;

- led_bl_power_off(priv);
- for (i = 0; i < priv->nb_leds; i++) {
- mutex_lock(&priv->leds[i]->led_access);
- led_sysfs_enable(priv->leds[i]);
- mutex_unlock(&priv->leds[i]->led_access);
+ ret = led_bl_get_leds(&pdev->dev, priv);
+ if (ret)
+ return ret;
+
+ ret = led_bl_parse_levels(&pdev->dev, priv);
+ if (ret < 0) {
+ dev_err(&pdev->dev, "Failed to parse DT data\n");
+ return ret;
}
+
+ return led_bl_register(&pdev->dev, priv);
+}
+
+/**
+ * devm_led_backlight_register - expose a LED as a backlight device
+ * @dev: LED provider device, also the parent and lifecycle owner
+ * @led: LED class device to drive the backlight
+ *
+ * Registers a backlight class device driven by @led, without device tree and
+ * tied to the lifetime of @dev. This lets self-contained (e.g. hot-pluggable
+ * I2C) LED drivers offer a backlight interface without static platform
+ * plumbing. It is a no-op when the led-backlight support is not built in.
+ *
+ * Return: 0 on success, negative errno otherwise.
+ */
+int devm_led_backlight_register(struct device *dev, struct led_classdev *led)
+{
+ struct led_bl_data *priv;
+
+ priv = devm_kzalloc(dev, sizeof(*priv), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!priv)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+
+ priv->leds = devm_kmalloc(dev, sizeof(*priv->leds), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!priv->leds)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+ priv->leds[0] = led;
+ priv->nb_leds = 1;
+ priv->max_brightness = led->max_brightness;
+ priv->default_brightness = led->brightness;
+
+ return led_bl_register(dev, priv);
}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(devm_led_backlight_register);

static const struct of_device_id led_bl_of_match[] = {
{ .compatible = "led-backlight" },
@@ -263,7 +306,6 @@ static struct platform_driver led_bl_driver = {
.of_match_table = led_bl_of_match,
},
.probe = led_bl_probe,
- .remove = led_bl_remove,
};

module_platform_driver(led_bl_driver);
diff --git a/include/linux/led_bl.h b/include/linux/led_bl.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e38e4d62bf653
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/linux/led_bl.h
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */
+#ifndef _LINUX_LED_BL_H
+#define _LINUX_LED_BL_H
+
+#include <linux/kconfig.h>
+
+struct device;
+struct led_classdev;
+
+#if IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BACKLIGHT_LED)
+int devm_led_backlight_register(struct device *dev, struct led_classdev *led);
+#else
+static inline int devm_led_backlight_register(struct device *dev,
+ struct led_classdev *led)
+{
+ return 0;
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif /* _LINUX_LED_BL_H */
--
2.55.0