diff options
| author | Antonino A. Daplas <adaplas@gmail.com> | 2006-06-26 03:27:14 -0400 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@g5.osdl.org> | 2006-06-26 12:58:33 -0400 |
| commit | 6690075d0b97837aca533b92715e6357ad6de279 (patch) | |
| tree | abd914a173dfc68569fedda51d3b494200b3cbc1 /Documentation/console | |
| parent | 5bd42536b395944a1134baa3624b2e0cff6ac7bf (diff) | |
[PATCH] VT binding: Update documentation
Update Documentation/fb/fbcon.txt and Documentatin/console/console.txt to
reflect the following changes:
1. sysfs attributes are relocated to /sys/class/vtconsole
2. feature is selectable in Kconfig
3. add sample scripts to fbcon.txt
Signed-off-by: Antonino Daplas <adaplas@pol.net>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/console')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/console/console.txt | 67 |
1 files changed, 42 insertions, 25 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/console/console.txt b/Documentation/console/console.txt index 4f3f2850776..d3e17447321 100644 --- a/Documentation/console/console.txt +++ b/Documentation/console/console.txt | |||
| @@ -27,45 +27,62 @@ In newer kernels, the following are also available: | |||
| 27 | register_con_driver() | 27 | register_con_driver() |
| 28 | unregister_con_driver() | 28 | unregister_con_driver() |
| 29 | 29 | ||
| 30 | If sysfs is enabled, the contents of /sys/class/tty/console/backend can be | 30 | If sysfs is enabled, the contents of /sys/class/vtconsole can be |
| 31 | examined. This shows the console drivers currently registered by the system. On | 31 | examined. This shows the console backends currently registered by the |
| 32 | an x86 system with the framebuffer console enabled, the contents of this | 32 | system which are named vtcon<n> where <n> is an integer fro 0 to 15. Thus: |
| 33 | attribute may be like this: | ||
| 34 | 33 | ||
| 35 | cat /sys/class/tty/console/backend | 34 | ls /sys/class/vtconsole |
| 36 | 0 S: VGA+ | 35 | . .. vtcon0 vtcon1 |
| 37 | 1 B: frame buffer device | ||
| 38 | 36 | ||
| 39 | The first line shows the VGA console driver, while the second line shows | 37 | Each directory in /sys/class/vtconsole has 3 files: |
| 40 | the framebuffer console driver. | ||
| 41 | 38 | ||
| 42 | The leftmost numeric character is the driver ID. The middle character with | 39 | ls /sys/class/vtconsole/vtcon0 |
| 43 | the colon describes the status of the driver. | 40 | . .. bind name uevent |
| 44 | 41 | ||
| 45 | S: - system driver (binding unspecified) | 42 | What do these files signify? |
| 46 | B: - bound modular driver | ||
| 47 | U: - unbound modular driver | ||
| 48 | 43 | ||
| 49 | The last column is the description of the driver. | 44 | 1. bind - this is a read/write file. It shows the status of the driver if |
| 45 | read, or acts to bind or unbind the driver to the virtual consoles | ||
| 46 | when written to. The possible values are: | ||
| 50 | 47 | ||
| 51 | Under /sys/class/tty/console are two other attributes, 'bind' and | 48 | 0 - means the driver is not bound and if echo'ed, commands the driver |
| 52 | 'unbind'. What does these 2 attributes do? As their name implies, echo'ing the | 49 | to unbind |
| 53 | driver ID to 'bind' will bind an unbound modular driver, and to 'unbind' will | ||
| 54 | unbind a bound modular driver. Echo'ing the ID of a system driver to either | ||
| 55 | attribute will do nothing. | ||
| 56 | 50 | ||
| 57 | Thus: | 51 | 1 - means the driver is bound and if echo'ed, commands the driver to |
| 52 | bind | ||
| 58 | 53 | ||
| 59 | echo 1 > /sys/class/tty/console/unbind | 54 | 2. name - read-only file. Shows the name of the driver in this format: |
| 60 | cat /sys/class/tty/console/backend | 55 | |
| 61 | 0 S: VGA+ | 56 | cat /sys/class/vtconsole/vtcon0/name |
| 62 | 1 U: frame buffer device | 57 | (S) VGA+ |
| 58 | |||
| 59 | '(S)' stands for a (S)ystem driver, ie, it cannot be directly | ||
| 60 | commanded to bind or unbind | ||
| 61 | |||
| 62 | 'VGA+' is the name of the driver | ||
| 63 | |||
| 64 | cat /sys/class/vtconsole/vtcon1/name | ||
| 65 | (M) frame buffer device | ||
| 66 | |||
| 67 | In this case, '(M)' stands for a (M)odular driver, one that can be | ||
| 68 | directly commanded to bind or unbind. | ||
| 69 | |||
| 70 | 3. uevent - ignore this file | ||
| 63 | 71 | ||
| 64 | When unbinding, the modular driver is detached first, and then the system | 72 | When unbinding, the modular driver is detached first, and then the system |
| 65 | driver takes over the consoles vacated by the driver. Binding, on the other | 73 | driver takes over the consoles vacated by the driver. Binding, on the other |
| 66 | hand, will bind the driver to the consoles that are currently occupied by a | 74 | hand, will bind the driver to the consoles that are currently occupied by a |
| 67 | system driver. | 75 | system driver. |
| 68 | 76 | ||
| 77 | NOTE1: Binding and binding must be selected in Kconfig. It's under: | ||
| 78 | |||
| 79 | Device Drivers -> Character devices -> Support for binding and unbinding | ||
| 80 | console drivers | ||
| 81 | |||
| 82 | NOTE2: If any of the virtual consoles are in KD_GRAPHICS mode, then binding or | ||
| 83 | unbinding will not succeed. An example of an application that sets the console | ||
| 84 | to KD_GRAPHICS is X. | ||
| 85 | |||
| 69 | How useful is this feature? This is very useful for console driver | 86 | How useful is this feature? This is very useful for console driver |
| 70 | developers. By unbinding the driver from the console layer, one can unload the | 87 | developers. By unbinding the driver from the console layer, one can unload the |
| 71 | driver, make changes, recompile, reload and rebind the driver without any need | 88 | driver, make changes, recompile, reload and rebind the driver without any need |
