diff options
author | Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com> | 2008-11-13 16:33:24 -0500 |
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committer | Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com> | 2008-11-14 12:28:53 -0500 |
commit | 31c00fc15ebd35c1647775dbfc167a15d46657fd (patch) | |
tree | 6d8ff2a6607c94a791ccc56fd8eb625e4fdcc01a /Documentation/serial/tty.txt | |
parent | 3edac25f2e8ac8c2a84904c140e1aeb434e73e75 (diff) |
Create/use more directory structure in the Documentation/ tree.
Create Documentation/blockdev/ sub-directory and populate it.
Populate the Documentation/serial/ sub-directory.
Move MSI-HOWTO.txt to Documentation/PCI/.
Move ioctl-number.txt to Documentation/ioctl/.
Update all relevant 00-INDEX files.
Update all relevant Kconfig files and source files.
Signed-off-by: Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/serial/tty.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/serial/tty.txt | 292 |
1 files changed, 292 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/serial/tty.txt b/Documentation/serial/tty.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..8e65c4498c52 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/serial/tty.txt | |||
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1 | |||
2 | The Lockronomicon | ||
3 | |||
4 | Your guide to the ancient and twisted locking policies of the tty layer and | ||
5 | the warped logic behind them. Beware all ye who read on. | ||
6 | |||
7 | FIXME: still need to work out the full set of BKL assumptions and document | ||
8 | them so they can eventually be killed off. | ||
9 | |||
10 | |||
11 | Line Discipline | ||
12 | --------------- | ||
13 | |||
14 | Line disciplines are registered with tty_register_ldisc() passing the | ||
15 | discipline number and the ldisc structure. At the point of registration the | ||
16 | discipline must be ready to use and it is possible it will get used before | ||
17 | the call returns success. If the call returns an error then it won't get | ||
18 | called. Do not re-use ldisc numbers as they are part of the userspace ABI | ||
19 | and writing over an existing ldisc will cause demons to eat your computer. | ||
20 | After the return the ldisc data has been copied so you may free your own | ||
21 | copy of the structure. You must not re-register over the top of the line | ||
22 | discipline even with the same data or your computer again will be eaten by | ||
23 | demons. | ||
24 | |||
25 | In order to remove a line discipline call tty_unregister_ldisc(). | ||
26 | In ancient times this always worked. In modern times the function will | ||
27 | return -EBUSY if the ldisc is currently in use. Since the ldisc referencing | ||
28 | code manages the module counts this should not usually be a concern. | ||
29 | |||
30 | Heed this warning: the reference count field of the registered copies of the | ||
31 | tty_ldisc structure in the ldisc table counts the number of lines using this | ||
32 | discipline. The reference count of the tty_ldisc structure within a tty | ||
33 | counts the number of active users of the ldisc at this instant. In effect it | ||
34 | counts the number of threads of execution within an ldisc method (plus those | ||
35 | about to enter and exit although this detail matters not). | ||
36 | |||
37 | Line Discipline Methods | ||
38 | ----------------------- | ||
39 | |||
40 | TTY side interfaces: | ||
41 | |||
42 | open() - Called when the line discipline is attached to | ||
43 | the terminal. No other call into the line | ||
44 | discipline for this tty will occur until it | ||
45 | completes successfully. Can sleep. | ||
46 | |||
47 | close() - This is called on a terminal when the line | ||
48 | discipline is being unplugged. At the point of | ||
49 | execution no further users will enter the | ||
50 | ldisc code for this tty. Can sleep. | ||
51 | |||
52 | hangup() - Called when the tty line is hung up. | ||
53 | The line discipline should cease I/O to the tty. | ||
54 | No further calls into the ldisc code will occur. | ||
55 | Can sleep. | ||
56 | |||
57 | write() - A process is writing data through the line | ||
58 | discipline. Multiple write calls are serialized | ||
59 | by the tty layer for the ldisc. May sleep. | ||
60 | |||
61 | flush_buffer() - (optional) May be called at any point between | ||
62 | open and close, and instructs the line discipline | ||
63 | to empty its input buffer. | ||
64 | |||
65 | chars_in_buffer() - (optional) Report the number of bytes in the input | ||
66 | buffer. | ||
67 | |||
68 | set_termios() - (optional) Called on termios structure changes. | ||
69 | The caller passes the old termios data and the | ||
70 | current data is in the tty. Called under the | ||
71 | termios semaphore so allowed to sleep. Serialized | ||
72 | against itself only. | ||
73 | |||
74 | read() - Move data from the line discipline to the user. | ||
75 | Multiple read calls may occur in parallel and the | ||
76 | ldisc must deal with serialization issues. May | ||
77 | sleep. | ||
78 | |||
79 | poll() - Check the status for the poll/select calls. Multiple | ||
80 | poll calls may occur in parallel. May sleep. | ||
81 | |||
82 | ioctl() - Called when an ioctl is handed to the tty layer | ||
83 | that might be for the ldisc. Multiple ioctl calls | ||
84 | may occur in parallel. May sleep. | ||
85 | |||
86 | Driver Side Interfaces: | ||
87 | |||
88 | receive_buf() - Hand buffers of bytes from the driver to the ldisc | ||
89 | for processing. Semantics currently rather | ||
90 | mysterious 8( | ||
91 | |||
92 | write_wakeup() - May be called at any point between open and close. | ||
93 | The TTY_DO_WRITE_WAKEUP flag indicates if a call | ||
94 | is needed but always races versus calls. Thus the | ||
95 | ldisc must be careful about setting order and to | ||
96 | handle unexpected calls. Must not sleep. | ||
97 | |||
98 | The driver is forbidden from calling this directly | ||
99 | from the ->write call from the ldisc as the ldisc | ||
100 | is permitted to call the driver write method from | ||
101 | this function. In such a situation defer it. | ||
102 | |||
103 | |||
104 | Driver Access | ||
105 | |||
106 | Line discipline methods can call the following methods of the underlying | ||
107 | hardware driver through the function pointers within the tty->driver | ||
108 | structure: | ||
109 | |||
110 | write() Write a block of characters to the tty device. | ||
111 | Returns the number of characters accepted. The | ||
112 | character buffer passed to this method is already | ||
113 | in kernel space. | ||
114 | |||
115 | put_char() Queues a character for writing to the tty device. | ||
116 | If there is no room in the queue, the character is | ||
117 | ignored. | ||
118 | |||
119 | flush_chars() (Optional) If defined, must be called after | ||
120 | queueing characters with put_char() in order to | ||
121 | start transmission. | ||
122 | |||
123 | write_room() Returns the numbers of characters the tty driver | ||
124 | will accept for queueing to be written. | ||
125 | |||
126 | ioctl() Invoke device specific ioctl. | ||
127 | Expects data pointers to refer to userspace. | ||
128 | Returns ENOIOCTLCMD for unrecognized ioctl numbers. | ||
129 | |||
130 | set_termios() Notify the tty driver that the device's termios | ||
131 | settings have changed. New settings are in | ||
132 | tty->termios. Previous settings should be passed in | ||
133 | the "old" argument. | ||
134 | |||
135 | The API is defined such that the driver should return | ||
136 | the actual modes selected. This means that the | ||
137 | driver function is responsible for modifying any | ||
138 | bits in the request it cannot fulfill to indicate | ||
139 | the actual modes being used. A device with no | ||
140 | hardware capability for change (eg a USB dongle or | ||
141 | virtual port) can provide NULL for this method. | ||
142 | |||
143 | throttle() Notify the tty driver that input buffers for the | ||
144 | line discipline are close to full, and it should | ||
145 | somehow signal that no more characters should be | ||
146 | sent to the tty. | ||
147 | |||
148 | unthrottle() Notify the tty driver that characters can now be | ||
149 | sent to the tty without fear of overrunning the | ||
150 | input buffers of the line disciplines. | ||
151 | |||
152 | stop() Ask the tty driver to stop outputting characters | ||
153 | to the tty device. | ||
154 | |||
155 | start() Ask the tty driver to resume sending characters | ||
156 | to the tty device. | ||
157 | |||
158 | hangup() Ask the tty driver to hang up the tty device. | ||
159 | |||
160 | break_ctl() (Optional) Ask the tty driver to turn on or off | ||
161 | BREAK status on the RS-232 port. If state is -1, | ||
162 | then the BREAK status should be turned on; if | ||
163 | state is 0, then BREAK should be turned off. | ||
164 | If this routine is not implemented, use ioctls | ||
165 | TIOCSBRK / TIOCCBRK instead. | ||
166 | |||
167 | wait_until_sent() Waits until the device has written out all of the | ||
168 | characters in its transmitter FIFO. | ||
169 | |||
170 | send_xchar() Send a high-priority XON/XOFF character to the device. | ||
171 | |||
172 | |||
173 | Flags | ||
174 | |||
175 | Line discipline methods have access to tty->flags field containing the | ||
176 | following interesting flags: | ||
177 | |||
178 | TTY_THROTTLED Driver input is throttled. The ldisc should call | ||
179 | tty->driver->unthrottle() in order to resume | ||
180 | reception when it is ready to process more data. | ||
181 | |||
182 | TTY_DO_WRITE_WAKEUP If set, causes the driver to call the ldisc's | ||
183 | write_wakeup() method in order to resume | ||
184 | transmission when it can accept more data | ||
185 | to transmit. | ||
186 | |||
187 | TTY_IO_ERROR If set, causes all subsequent userspace read/write | ||
188 | calls on the tty to fail, returning -EIO. | ||
189 | |||
190 | TTY_OTHER_CLOSED Device is a pty and the other side has closed. | ||
191 | |||
192 | TTY_NO_WRITE_SPLIT Prevent driver from splitting up writes into | ||
193 | smaller chunks. | ||
194 | |||
195 | |||
196 | Locking | ||
197 | |||
198 | Callers to the line discipline functions from the tty layer are required to | ||
199 | take line discipline locks. The same is true of calls from the driver side | ||
200 | but not yet enforced. | ||
201 | |||
202 | Three calls are now provided | ||
203 | |||
204 | ldisc = tty_ldisc_ref(tty); | ||
205 | |||
206 | takes a handle to the line discipline in the tty and returns it. If no ldisc | ||
207 | is currently attached or the ldisc is being closed and re-opened at this | ||
208 | point then NULL is returned. While this handle is held the ldisc will not | ||
209 | change or go away. | ||
210 | |||
211 | tty_ldisc_deref(ldisc) | ||
212 | |||
213 | Returns the ldisc reference and allows the ldisc to be closed. Returning the | ||
214 | reference takes away your right to call the ldisc functions until you take | ||
215 | a new reference. | ||
216 | |||
217 | ldisc = tty_ldisc_ref_wait(tty); | ||
218 | |||
219 | Performs the same function as tty_ldisc_ref except that it will wait for an | ||
220 | ldisc change to complete and then return a reference to the new ldisc. | ||
221 | |||
222 | While these functions are slightly slower than the old code they should have | ||
223 | minimal impact as most receive logic uses the flip buffers and they only | ||
224 | need to take a reference when they push bits up through the driver. | ||
225 | |||
226 | A caution: The ldisc->open(), ldisc->close() and driver->set_ldisc | ||
227 | functions are called with the ldisc unavailable. Thus tty_ldisc_ref will | ||
228 | fail in this situation if used within these functions. Ldisc and driver | ||
229 | code calling its own functions must be careful in this case. | ||
230 | |||
231 | |||
232 | Driver Interface | ||
233 | ---------------- | ||
234 | |||
235 | open() - Called when a device is opened. May sleep | ||
236 | |||
237 | close() - Called when a device is closed. At the point of | ||
238 | return from this call the driver must make no | ||
239 | further ldisc calls of any kind. May sleep | ||
240 | |||
241 | write() - Called to write bytes to the device. May not | ||
242 | sleep. May occur in parallel in special cases. | ||
243 | Because this includes panic paths drivers generally | ||
244 | shouldn't try and do clever locking here. | ||
245 | |||
246 | put_char() - Stuff a single character onto the queue. The | ||
247 | driver is guaranteed following up calls to | ||
248 | flush_chars. | ||
249 | |||
250 | flush_chars() - Ask the kernel to write put_char queue | ||
251 | |||
252 | write_room() - Return the number of characters tht can be stuffed | ||
253 | into the port buffers without overflow (or less). | ||
254 | The ldisc is responsible for being intelligent | ||
255 | about multi-threading of write_room/write calls | ||
256 | |||
257 | ioctl() - Called when an ioctl may be for the driver | ||
258 | |||
259 | set_termios() - Called on termios change, serialized against | ||
260 | itself by a semaphore. May sleep. | ||
261 | |||
262 | set_ldisc() - Notifier for discipline change. At the point this | ||
263 | is done the discipline is not yet usable. Can now | ||
264 | sleep (I think) | ||
265 | |||
266 | throttle() - Called by the ldisc to ask the driver to do flow | ||
267 | control. Serialization including with unthrottle | ||
268 | is the job of the ldisc layer. | ||
269 | |||
270 | unthrottle() - Called by the ldisc to ask the driver to stop flow | ||
271 | control. | ||
272 | |||
273 | stop() - Ldisc notifier to the driver to stop output. As with | ||
274 | throttle the serializations with start() are down | ||
275 | to the ldisc layer. | ||
276 | |||
277 | start() - Ldisc notifier to the driver to start output. | ||
278 | |||
279 | hangup() - Ask the tty driver to cause a hangup initiated | ||
280 | from the host side. [Can sleep ??] | ||
281 | |||
282 | break_ctl() - Send RS232 break. Can sleep. Can get called in | ||
283 | parallel, driver must serialize (for now), and | ||
284 | with write calls. | ||
285 | |||
286 | wait_until_sent() - Wait for characters to exit the hardware queue | ||
287 | of the driver. Can sleep | ||
288 | |||
289 | send_xchar() - Send XON/XOFF and if possible jump the queue with | ||
290 | it in order to get fast flow control responses. | ||
291 | Cannot sleep ?? | ||
292 | |||