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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/connector/connector.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/connector/connector.txt | 133 |
1 files changed, 133 insertions, 0 deletions
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1 | /*****************************************/ | ||
2 | Kernel Connector. | ||
3 | /*****************************************/ | ||
4 | |||
5 | Kernel connector - new netlink based userspace <-> kernel space easy | ||
6 | to use communication module. | ||
7 | |||
8 | Connector driver adds possibility to connect various agents using | ||
9 | netlink based network. One must register callback and | ||
10 | identifier. When driver receives special netlink message with | ||
11 | appropriate identifier, appropriate callback will be called. | ||
12 | |||
13 | From the userspace point of view it's quite straightforward: | ||
14 | |||
15 | socket(); | ||
16 | bind(); | ||
17 | send(); | ||
18 | recv(); | ||
19 | |||
20 | But if kernelspace want to use full power of such connections, driver | ||
21 | writer must create special sockets, must know about struct sk_buff | ||
22 | handling... Connector allows any kernelspace agents to use netlink | ||
23 | based networking for inter-process communication in a significantly | ||
24 | easier way: | ||
25 | |||
26 | int cn_add_callback(struct cb_id *id, char *name, void (*callback) (void *)); | ||
27 | void cn_netlink_send(struct cn_msg *msg, u32 __group, int gfp_mask); | ||
28 | |||
29 | struct cb_id | ||
30 | { | ||
31 | __u32 idx; | ||
32 | __u32 val; | ||
33 | }; | ||
34 | |||
35 | idx and val are unique identifiers which must be registered in | ||
36 | connector.h for in-kernel usage. void (*callback) (void *) - is a | ||
37 | callback function which will be called when message with above idx.val | ||
38 | will be received by connector core. Argument for that function must | ||
39 | be dereferenced to struct cn_msg *. | ||
40 | |||
41 | struct cn_msg | ||
42 | { | ||
43 | struct cb_id id; | ||
44 | |||
45 | __u32 seq; | ||
46 | __u32 ack; | ||
47 | |||
48 | __u32 len; /* Length of the following data */ | ||
49 | __u8 data[0]; | ||
50 | }; | ||
51 | |||
52 | /*****************************************/ | ||
53 | Connector interfaces. | ||
54 | /*****************************************/ | ||
55 | |||
56 | int cn_add_callback(struct cb_id *id, char *name, void (*callback) (void *)); | ||
57 | |||
58 | Registers new callback with connector core. | ||
59 | |||
60 | struct cb_id *id - unique connector's user identifier. | ||
61 | It must be registered in connector.h for legal in-kernel users. | ||
62 | char *name - connector's callback symbolic name. | ||
63 | void (*callback) (void *) - connector's callback. | ||
64 | Argument must be dereferenced to struct cn_msg *. | ||
65 | |||
66 | void cn_del_callback(struct cb_id *id); | ||
67 | |||
68 | Unregisters new callback with connector core. | ||
69 | |||
70 | struct cb_id *id - unique connector's user identifier. | ||
71 | |||
72 | void cn_netlink_send(struct cn_msg *msg, u32 __groups, int gfp_mask); | ||
73 | |||
74 | Sends message to the specified groups. It can be safely called from | ||
75 | any context, but may silently fail under strong memory pressure. | ||
76 | |||
77 | struct cn_msg * - message header(with attached data). | ||
78 | u32 __group - destination group. | ||
79 | If __group is zero, then appropriate group will | ||
80 | be searched through all registered connector users, | ||
81 | and message will be delivered to the group which was | ||
82 | created for user with the same ID as in msg. | ||
83 | If __group is not zero, then message will be delivered | ||
84 | to the specified group. | ||
85 | int gfp_mask - GFP mask. | ||
86 | |||
87 | Note: When registering new callback user, connector core assigns | ||
88 | netlink group to the user which is equal to it's id.idx. | ||
89 | |||
90 | /*****************************************/ | ||
91 | Protocol description. | ||
92 | /*****************************************/ | ||
93 | |||
94 | Current offers transport layer with fixed header. Recommended | ||
95 | protocol which uses such header is following: | ||
96 | |||
97 | msg->seq and msg->ack are used to determine message genealogy. When | ||
98 | someone sends message it puts there locally unique sequence and random | ||
99 | acknowledge numbers. Sequence number may be copied into | ||
100 | nlmsghdr->nlmsg_seq too. | ||
101 | |||
102 | Sequence number is incremented with each message to be sent. | ||
103 | |||
104 | If we expect reply to our message, then sequence number in received | ||
105 | message MUST be the same as in original message, and acknowledge | ||
106 | number MUST be the same + 1. | ||
107 | |||
108 | If we receive message and it's sequence number is not equal to one we | ||
109 | are expecting, then it is new message. If we receive message and it's | ||
110 | sequence number is the same as one we are expecting, but it's | ||
111 | acknowledge is not equal acknowledge number in original message + 1, | ||
112 | then it is new message. | ||
113 | |||
114 | Obviously, protocol header contains above id. | ||
115 | |||
116 | connector allows event notification in the following form: kernel | ||
117 | driver or userspace process can ask connector to notify it when | ||
118 | selected id's will be turned on or off(registered or unregistered it's | ||
119 | callback). It is done by sending special command to connector | ||
120 | driver(it also registers itself with id={-1, -1}). | ||
121 | |||
122 | As example of usage Documentation/connector now contains cn_test.c - | ||
123 | testing module which uses connector to request notification and to | ||
124 | send messages. | ||
125 | |||
126 | /*****************************************/ | ||
127 | Reliability. | ||
128 | /*****************************************/ | ||
129 | |||
130 | Netlink itself is not reliable protocol, that means that messages can | ||
131 | be lost due to memory pressure or process' receiving queue overflowed, | ||
132 | so caller is warned must be prepared. That is why struct cn_msg [main | ||
133 | connector's message header] contains u32 seq and u32 ack fields. | ||