xref: /openbmc/u-boot/doc/driver-model/README.txt (revision 1d6edcbf)
1Driver Model
2============
3
4This README contains high-level information about driver model, a unified
5way of declaring and accessing drivers in U-Boot. The original work was done
6by:
7
8   Marek Vasut <marex@denx.de>
9   Pavel Herrmann <morpheus.ibis@gmail.com>
10   Viktor Křivák <viktor.krivak@gmail.com>
11   Tomas Hlavacek <tmshlvck@gmail.com>
12
13This has been both simplified and extended into the current implementation
14by:
15
16   Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
17
18
19Terminology
20-----------
21
22Uclass - a group of devices which operate in the same way. A uclass provides
23	a way of accessing individual devices within the group, but always
24	using the same interface. For example a GPIO uclass provides
25	operations for get/set value. An I2C uclass may have 10 I2C ports,
26	4 with one driver, and 6 with another.
27
28Driver - some code which talks to a peripheral and presents a higher-level
29	interface to it.
30
31Device - an instance of a driver, tied to a particular port or peripheral.
32
33
34How to try it
35-------------
36
37Build U-Boot sandbox and run it:
38
39   make sandbox_defconfig
40   make
41   ./u-boot -d u-boot.dtb
42
43   (type 'reset' to exit U-Boot)
44
45
46There is a uclass called 'demo'. This uclass handles
47saying hello, and reporting its status. There are two drivers in this
48uclass:
49
50   - simple: Just prints a message for hello, doesn't implement status
51   - shape: Prints shapes and reports number of characters printed as status
52
53The demo class is pretty simple, but not trivial. The intention is that it
54can be used for testing, so it will implement all driver model features and
55provide good code coverage of them. It does have multiple drivers, it
56handles parameter data and platdata (data which tells the driver how
57to operate on a particular platform) and it uses private driver data.
58
59To try it, see the example session below:
60
61=>demo hello 1
62Hello '@' from 07981110: red 4
63=>demo status 2
64Status: 0
65=>demo hello 2
66g
67r@
68e@@
69e@@@
70n@@@@
71g@@@@@
72=>demo status 2
73Status: 21
74=>demo hello 4 ^
75  y^^^
76 e^^^^^
77l^^^^^^^
78l^^^^^^^
79 o^^^^^
80  w^^^
81=>demo status 4
82Status: 36
83=>
84
85
86Running the tests
87-----------------
88
89The intent with driver model is that the core portion has 100% test coverage
90in sandbox, and every uclass has its own test. As a move towards this, tests
91are provided in test/dm. To run them, try:
92
93   ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox --build -k ut_dm -v
94
95You should see something like this:
96
97(venv)$ ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox --build -k ut_dm -v
98+make O=/root/u-boot/build-sandbox -s sandbox_defconfig
99+make O=/root/u-boot/build-sandbox -s -j8
100============================= test session starts ==============================
101platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.5, pytest-2.9.0, py-1.4.31, pluggy-0.3.1 -- /root/u-boot/venv/bin/python
102cachedir: .cache
103rootdir: /root/u-boot, inifile:
104collected 199 items
105
106test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut_dm_init PASSED
107test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_bind] PASSED
108test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_multi_channel_conversion] PASSED
109test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_multi_channel_shot] PASSED
110test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_single_channel_conversion] PASSED
111test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_single_channel_shot] PASSED
112test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_supply] PASSED
113test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_wrong_channel_selection] PASSED
114test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autobind] PASSED
115test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autobind_uclass_pdata_alloc] PASSED
116test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autobind_uclass_pdata_valid] PASSED
117test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autoprobe] PASSED
118test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_child_post_bind] PASSED
119test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_child_post_bind_uclass] PASSED
120test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_child_pre_probe_uclass] PASSED
121test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_children] PASSED
122test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_children_funcs] PASSED
123test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_children_iterators] PASSED
124test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_data] PASSED
125test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_data_uclass] PASSED
126test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_ops] PASSED
127test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_platdata] PASSED
128test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_platdata_uclass] PASSED
129test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_children] PASSED
130test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_clk_base] PASSED
131test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_clk_periph] PASSED
132test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_device_get_uclass_id] PASSED
133test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth] PASSED
134test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_act] PASSED
135test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_alias] PASSED
136test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_prime] PASSED
137test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_rotate] PASSED
138test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt] PASSED
139test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt_offset] PASSED
140test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt_pre_reloc] PASSED
141test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt_uclass_seq] PASSED
142test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio] PASSED
143test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_anon] PASSED
144test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_copy] PASSED
145test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_leak] PASSED
146test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_phandles] PASSED
147test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_requestf] PASSED
148test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_bytewise] PASSED
149test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_find] PASSED
150test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_offset] PASSED
151test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_offset_len] PASSED
152test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_probe_empty] PASSED
153test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_read_write] PASSED
154test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_speed] PASSED
155test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_leak] PASSED
156test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_led_base] PASSED
157test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_led_gpio] PASSED
158test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_led_label] PASSED
159test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_lifecycle] PASSED
160test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_mmc_base] PASSED
161test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_net_retry] PASSED
162test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_operations] PASSED
163test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_ordering] PASSED
164test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pci_base] PASSED
165test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pci_busnum] PASSED
166test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pci_swapcase] PASSED
167test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_platdata] PASSED
168test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_pmic_get] PASSED
169test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_pmic_io] PASSED
170test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_autoset] PASSED
171test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_autoset_list] PASSED
172test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_get] PASSED
173test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_current] PASSED
174test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_enable] PASSED
175test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_mode] PASSED
176test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_voltage] PASSED
177test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pre_reloc] PASSED
178test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_ram_base] PASSED
179test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_regmap_base] PASSED
180test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_regmap_syscon] PASSED
181test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_remoteproc_base] PASSED
182test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_remove] PASSED
183test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_reset_base] PASSED
184test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_reset_walk] PASSED
185test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_base] PASSED
186test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_dual] PASSED
187test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_reset] PASSED
188test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_set_get] PASSED
189test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_spi_find] PASSED
190test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_spi_flash] PASSED
191test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_spi_xfer] PASSED
192test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_syscon_base] PASSED
193test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_syscon_by_driver_data] PASSED
194test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_timer_base] PASSED
195test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass] PASSED
196test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_before_ready] PASSED
197test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_find] PASSED
198test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_find_by_name] PASSED
199test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_get] PASSED
200test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_get_by_name] PASSED
201test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_base] PASSED
202test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_flash] PASSED
203test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_keyb] PASSED
204test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_multi] PASSED
205test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_remove] PASSED
206test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_tree] PASSED
207test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_tree_remove] PASSED
208test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_tree_reorder] PASSED
209test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_base] PASSED
210test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_bmp] PASSED
211test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_bmp_comp] PASSED
212test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_chars] PASSED
213test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_context] PASSED
214test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_rotation1] PASSED
215test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_rotation2] PASSED
216test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_rotation3] PASSED
217test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_text] PASSED
218test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_truetype] PASSED
219test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_truetype_bs] PASSED
220test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_truetype_scroll] PASSED
221
222======================= 84 tests deselected by '-kut_dm' =======================
223================== 115 passed, 84 deselected in 3.77 seconds ===================
224
225What is going on?
226-----------------
227
228Let's start at the top. The demo command is in common/cmd_demo.c. It does
229the usual command processing and then:
230
231	struct udevice *demo_dev;
232
233	ret = uclass_get_device(UCLASS_DEMO, devnum, &demo_dev);
234
235UCLASS_DEMO means the class of devices which implement 'demo'. Other
236classes might be MMC, or GPIO, hashing or serial. The idea is that the
237devices in the class all share a particular way of working. The class
238presents a unified view of all these devices to U-Boot.
239
240This function looks up a device for the demo uclass. Given a device
241number we can find the device because all devices have registered with
242the UCLASS_DEMO uclass.
243
244The device is automatically activated ready for use by uclass_get_device().
245
246Now that we have the device we can do things like:
247
248	return demo_hello(demo_dev, ch);
249
250This function is in the demo uclass. It takes care of calling the 'hello'
251method of the relevant driver. Bearing in mind that there are two drivers,
252this particular device may use one or other of them.
253
254The code for demo_hello() is in drivers/demo/demo-uclass.c:
255
256int demo_hello(struct udevice *dev, int ch)
257{
258	const struct demo_ops *ops = device_get_ops(dev);
259
260	if (!ops->hello)
261		return -ENOSYS;
262
263	return ops->hello(dev, ch);
264}
265
266As you can see it just calls the relevant driver method. One of these is
267in drivers/demo/demo-simple.c:
268
269static int simple_hello(struct udevice *dev, int ch)
270{
271	const struct dm_demo_pdata *pdata = dev_get_platdata(dev);
272
273	printf("Hello from %08x: %s %d\n", map_to_sysmem(dev),
274	       pdata->colour, pdata->sides);
275
276	return 0;
277}
278
279
280So that is a trip from top (command execution) to bottom (driver action)
281but it leaves a lot of topics to address.
282
283
284Declaring Drivers
285-----------------
286
287A driver declaration looks something like this (see
288drivers/demo/demo-shape.c):
289
290static const struct demo_ops shape_ops = {
291	.hello = shape_hello,
292	.status = shape_status,
293};
294
295U_BOOT_DRIVER(demo_shape_drv) = {
296	.name	= "demo_shape_drv",
297	.id	= UCLASS_DEMO,
298	.ops	= &shape_ops,
299	.priv_data_size = sizeof(struct shape_data),
300};
301
302
303This driver has two methods (hello and status) and requires a bit of
304private data (accessible through dev_get_priv(dev) once the driver has
305been probed). It is a member of UCLASS_DEMO so will register itself
306there.
307
308In U_BOOT_DRIVER it is also possible to specify special methods for bind
309and unbind, and these are called at appropriate times. For many drivers
310it is hoped that only 'probe' and 'remove' will be needed.
311
312The U_BOOT_DRIVER macro creates a data structure accessible from C,
313so driver model can find the drivers that are available.
314
315The methods a device can provide are documented in the device.h header.
316Briefly, they are:
317
318    bind - make the driver model aware of a device (bind it to its driver)
319    unbind - make the driver model forget the device
320    ofdata_to_platdata - convert device tree data to platdata - see later
321    probe - make a device ready for use
322    remove - remove a device so it cannot be used until probed again
323
324The sequence to get a device to work is bind, ofdata_to_platdata (if using
325device tree) and probe.
326
327
328Platform Data
329-------------
330
331*** Note: platform data is the old way of doing things. It is
332*** basically a C structure which is passed to drivers to tell them about
333*** platform-specific settings like the address of its registers, bus
334*** speed, etc. Device tree is now the preferred way of handling this.
335*** Unless you have a good reason not to use device tree (the main one
336*** being you need serial support in SPL and don't have enough SRAM for
337*** the cut-down device tree and libfdt libraries) you should stay away
338*** from platform data.
339
340Platform data is like Linux platform data, if you are familiar with that.
341It provides the board-specific information to start up a device.
342
343Why is this information not just stored in the device driver itself? The
344idea is that the device driver is generic, and can in principle operate on
345any board that has that type of device. For example, with modern
346highly-complex SoCs it is common for the IP to come from an IP vendor, and
347therefore (for example) the MMC controller may be the same on chips from
348different vendors. It makes no sense to write independent drivers for the
349MMC controller on each vendor's SoC, when they are all almost the same.
350Similarly, we may have 6 UARTs in an SoC, all of which are mostly the same,
351but lie at different addresses in the address space.
352
353Using the UART example, we have a single driver and it is instantiated 6
354times by supplying 6 lots of platform data. Each lot of platform data
355gives the driver name and a pointer to a structure containing information
356about this instance - e.g. the address of the register space. It may be that
357one of the UARTS supports RS-485 operation - this can be added as a flag in
358the platform data, which is set for this one port and clear for the rest.
359
360Think of your driver as a generic piece of code which knows how to talk to
361a device, but needs to know where it is, any variant/option information and
362so on. Platform data provides this link between the generic piece of code
363and the specific way it is bound on a particular board.
364
365Examples of platform data include:
366
367   - The base address of the IP block's register space
368   - Configuration options, like:
369         - the SPI polarity and maximum speed for a SPI controller
370         - the I2C speed to use for an I2C device
371         - the number of GPIOs available in a GPIO device
372
373Where does the platform data come from? It is either held in a structure
374which is compiled into U-Boot, or it can be parsed from the Device Tree
375(see 'Device Tree' below).
376
377For an example of how it can be compiled in, see demo-pdata.c which
378sets up a table of driver names and their associated platform data.
379The data can be interpreted by the drivers however they like - it is
380basically a communication scheme between the board-specific code and
381the generic drivers, which are intended to work on any board.
382
383Drivers can access their data via dev->info->platdata. Here is
384the declaration for the platform data, which would normally appear
385in the board file.
386
387	static const struct dm_demo_cdata red_square = {
388		.colour = "red",
389		.sides = 4.
390	};
391	static const struct driver_info info[] = {
392		{
393			.name = "demo_shape_drv",
394			.platdata = &red_square,
395		},
396	};
397
398	demo1 = driver_bind(root, &info[0]);
399
400
401Device Tree
402-----------
403
404While platdata is useful, a more flexible way of providing device data is
405by using device tree. In U-Boot you should use this where possible. Avoid
406sending patches which make use of the U_BOOT_DEVICE() macro unless strictly
407necessary.
408
409With device tree we replace the above code with the following device tree
410fragment:
411
412	red-square {
413		compatible = "demo-shape";
414		colour = "red";
415		sides = <4>;
416	};
417
418This means that instead of having lots of U_BOOT_DEVICE() declarations in
419the board file, we put these in the device tree. This approach allows a lot
420more generality, since the same board file can support many types of boards
421(e,g. with the same SoC) just by using different device trees. An added
422benefit is that the Linux device tree can be used, thus further simplifying
423the task of board-bring up either for U-Boot or Linux devs (whoever gets to
424the board first!).
425
426The easiest way to make this work it to add a few members to the driver:
427
428	.platdata_auto_alloc_size = sizeof(struct dm_test_pdata),
429	.ofdata_to_platdata = testfdt_ofdata_to_platdata,
430
431The 'auto_alloc' feature allowed space for the platdata to be allocated
432and zeroed before the driver's ofdata_to_platdata() method is called. The
433ofdata_to_platdata() method, which the driver write supplies, should parse
434the device tree node for this device and place it in dev->platdata. Thus
435when the probe method is called later (to set up the device ready for use)
436the platform data will be present.
437
438Note that both methods are optional. If you provide an ofdata_to_platdata
439method then it will be called first (during activation). If you provide a
440probe method it will be called next. See Driver Lifecycle below for more
441details.
442
443If you don't want to have the platdata automatically allocated then you
444can leave out platdata_auto_alloc_size. In this case you can use malloc
445in your ofdata_to_platdata (or probe) method to allocate the required memory,
446and you should free it in the remove method.
447
448The driver model tree is intended to mirror that of the device tree. The
449root driver is at device tree offset 0 (the root node, '/'), and its
450children are the children of the root node.
451
452In order for a device tree to be valid, the content must be correct with
453respect to either device tree specification
454(https://www.devicetree.org/specifications/) or the device tree bindings that
455are found in the doc/device-tree-bindings directory.  When not U-Boot specific
456the bindings in this directory tend to come from the Linux Kernel.  As such
457certain design decisions may have been made already for us in terms of how
458specific devices are described and bound.  In most circumstances we wish to
459retain compatibility without additional changes being made to the device tree
460source files.
461
462Declaring Uclasses
463------------------
464
465The demo uclass is declared like this:
466
467U_BOOT_CLASS(demo) = {
468	.id		= UCLASS_DEMO,
469};
470
471It is also possible to specify special methods for probe, etc. The uclass
472numbering comes from include/dm/uclass.h. To add a new uclass, add to the
473end of the enum there, then declare your uclass as above.
474
475
476Device Sequence Numbers
477-----------------------
478
479U-Boot numbers devices from 0 in many situations, such as in the command
480line for I2C and SPI buses, and the device names for serial ports (serial0,
481serial1, ...). Driver model supports this numbering and permits devices
482to be locating by their 'sequence'. This numbering uniquely identifies a
483device in its uclass, so no two devices within a particular uclass can have
484the same sequence number.
485
486Sequence numbers start from 0 but gaps are permitted. For example, a board
487may have I2C buses 1, 4, 5 but no 0, 2 or 3. The choice of how devices are
488numbered is up to a particular board, and may be set by the SoC in some
489cases. While it might be tempting to automatically renumber the devices
490where there are gaps in the sequence, this can lead to confusion and is
491not the way that U-Boot works.
492
493Each device can request a sequence number. If none is required then the
494device will be automatically allocated the next available sequence number.
495
496To specify the sequence number in the device tree an alias is typically
497used. Make sure that the uclass has the DM_UC_FLAG_SEQ_ALIAS flag set.
498
499aliases {
500	serial2 = "/serial@22230000";
501};
502
503This indicates that in the uclass called "serial", the named node
504("/serial@22230000") will be given sequence number 2. Any command or driver
505which requests serial device 2 will obtain this device.
506
507More commonly you can use node references, which expand to the full path:
508
509aliases {
510	serial2 = &serial_2;
511};
512...
513serial_2: serial@22230000 {
514...
515};
516
517The alias resolves to the same string in this case, but this version is
518easier to read.
519
520Device sequence numbers are resolved when a device is probed. Before then
521the sequence number is only a request which may or may not be honoured,
522depending on what other devices have been probed. However the numbering is
523entirely under the control of the board author so a conflict is generally
524an error.
525
526
527Bus Drivers
528-----------
529
530A common use of driver model is to implement a bus, a device which provides
531access to other devices. Example of buses include SPI and I2C. Typically
532the bus provides some sort of transport or translation that makes it
533possible to talk to the devices on the bus.
534
535Driver model provides some useful features to help with implementing buses.
536Firstly, a bus can request that its children store some 'parent data' which
537can be used to keep track of child state. Secondly, the bus can define
538methods which are called when a child is probed or removed. This is similar
539to the methods the uclass driver provides. Thirdly, per-child platform data
540can be provided to specify things like the child's address on the bus. This
541persists across child probe()/remove() cycles.
542
543For consistency and ease of implementation, the bus uclass can specify the
544per-child platform data, so that it can be the same for all children of buses
545in that uclass. There are also uclass methods which can be called when
546children are bound and probed.
547
548Here an explanation of how a bus fits with a uclass may be useful. Consider
549a USB bus with several devices attached to it, each from a different (made
550up) uclass:
551
552   xhci_usb (UCLASS_USB)
553      eth (UCLASS_ETHERNET)
554      camera (UCLASS_CAMERA)
555      flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)
556
557Each of the devices is connected to a different address on the USB bus.
558The bus device wants to store this address and some other information such
559as the bus speed for each device.
560
561To achieve this, the bus device can use dev->parent_platdata in each of its
562three children. This can be auto-allocated if the bus driver (or bus uclass)
563has a non-zero value for per_child_platdata_auto_alloc_size. If not, then
564the bus device or uclass can allocate the space itself before the child
565device is probed.
566
567Also the bus driver can define the child_pre_probe() and child_post_remove()
568methods to allow it to do some processing before the child is activated or
569after it is deactivated.
570
571Similarly the bus uclass can define the child_post_bind() method to obtain
572the per-child platform data from the device tree and set it up for the child.
573The bus uclass can also provide a child_pre_probe() method. Very often it is
574the bus uclass that controls these features, since it avoids each driver
575having to do the same processing. Of course the driver can still tweak and
576override these activities.
577
578Note that the information that controls this behaviour is in the bus's
579driver, not the child's. In fact it is possible that child has no knowledge
580that it is connected to a bus. The same child device may even be used on two
581different bus types. As an example. the 'flash' device shown above may also
582be connected on a SATA bus or standalone with no bus:
583
584   xhci_usb (UCLASS_USB)
585      flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)  - parent data/methods defined by USB bus
586
587   sata (UCLASS_SATA)
588      flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)  - parent data/methods defined by SATA bus
589
590   flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)  - no parent data/methods (not on a bus)
591
592Above you can see that the driver for xhci_usb/sata controls the child's
593bus methods. In the third example the device is not on a bus, and therefore
594will not have these methods at all. Consider the case where the flash
595device defines child methods. These would be used for *its* children, and
596would be quite separate from the methods defined by the driver for the bus
597that the flash device is connetced to. The act of attaching a device to a
598parent device which is a bus, causes the device to start behaving like a
599bus device, regardless of its own views on the matter.
600
601The uclass for the device can also contain data private to that uclass.
602But note that each device on the bus may be a memeber of a different
603uclass, and this data has nothing to do with the child data for each child
604on the bus. It is the bus' uclass that controls the child with respect to
605the bus.
606
607
608Driver Lifecycle
609----------------
610
611Here are the stages that a device goes through in driver model. Note that all
612methods mentioned here are optional - e.g. if there is no probe() method for
613a device then it will not be called. A simple device may have very few
614methods actually defined.
615
6161. Bind stage
617
618U-Boot discovers devices using one of these two methods:
619
620   - Scan the U_BOOT_DEVICE() definitions. U-Boot looks up the name specified
621by each, to find the appropriate U_BOOT_DRIVER() definition. In this case,
622there is no path by which driver_data may be provided, but the U_BOOT_DEVICE()
623may provide platdata.
624
625   - Scan through the device tree definitions. U-Boot looks at top-level
626nodes in the the device tree. It looks at the compatible string in each node
627and uses the of_match table of the U_BOOT_DRIVER() structure to find the
628right driver for each node. In this case, the of_match table may provide a
629driver_data value, but platdata cannot be provided until later.
630
631For each device that is discovered, U-Boot then calls device_bind() to create a
632new device, initializes various core fields of the device object such as name,
633uclass & driver, initializes any optional fields of the device object that are
634applicable such as of_offset, driver_data & platdata, and finally calls the
635driver's bind() method if one is defined.
636
637At this point all the devices are known, and bound to their drivers. There
638is a 'struct udevice' allocated for all devices. However, nothing has been
639activated (except for the root device). Each bound device that was created
640from a U_BOOT_DEVICE() declaration will hold the platdata pointer specified
641in that declaration. For a bound device created from the device tree,
642platdata will be NULL, but of_offset will be the offset of the device tree
643node that caused the device to be created. The uclass is set correctly for
644the device.
645
646The device's bind() method is permitted to perform simple actions, but
647should not scan the device tree node, not initialise hardware, nor set up
648structures or allocate memory. All of these tasks should be left for
649the probe() method.
650
651Note that compared to Linux, U-Boot's driver model has a separate step of
652probe/remove which is independent of bind/unbind. This is partly because in
653U-Boot it may be expensive to probe devices and we don't want to do it until
654they are needed, or perhaps until after relocation.
655
6562. Activation/probe
657
658When a device needs to be used, U-Boot activates it, by following these
659steps (see device_probe()):
660
661   a. If priv_auto_alloc_size is non-zero, then the device-private space
662   is allocated for the device and zeroed. It will be accessible as
663   dev->priv. The driver can put anything it likes in there, but should use
664   it for run-time information, not platform data (which should be static
665   and known before the device is probed).
666
667   b. If platdata_auto_alloc_size is non-zero, then the platform data space
668   is allocated. This is only useful for device tree operation, since
669   otherwise you would have to specific the platform data in the
670   U_BOOT_DEVICE() declaration. The space is allocated for the device and
671   zeroed. It will be accessible as dev->platdata.
672
673   c. If the device's uclass specifies a non-zero per_device_auto_alloc_size,
674   then this space is allocated and zeroed also. It is allocated for and
675   stored in the device, but it is uclass data. owned by the uclass driver.
676   It is possible for the device to access it.
677
678   d. If the device's immediate parent specifies a per_child_auto_alloc_size
679   then this space is allocated. This is intended for use by the parent
680   device to keep track of things related to the child. For example a USB
681   flash stick attached to a USB host controller would likely use this
682   space. The controller can hold information about the USB state of each
683   of its children.
684
685   e. All parent devices are probed. It is not possible to activate a device
686   unless its predecessors (all the way up to the root device) are activated.
687   This means (for example) that an I2C driver will require that its bus
688   be activated.
689
690   f. The device's sequence number is assigned, either the requested one
691   (assuming no conflicts) or the next available one if there is a conflict
692   or nothing particular is requested.
693
694   g. If the driver provides an ofdata_to_platdata() method, then this is
695   called to convert the device tree data into platform data. This should
696   do various calls like fdtdec_get_int(gd->fdt_blob, dev_of_offset(dev), ...)
697   to access the node and store the resulting information into dev->platdata.
698   After this point, the device works the same way whether it was bound
699   using a device tree node or U_BOOT_DEVICE() structure. In either case,
700   the platform data is now stored in the platdata structure. Typically you
701   will use the platdata_auto_alloc_size feature to specify the size of the
702   platform data structure, and U-Boot will automatically allocate and zero
703   it for you before entry to ofdata_to_platdata(). But if not, you can
704   allocate it yourself in ofdata_to_platdata(). Note that it is preferable
705   to do all the device tree decoding in ofdata_to_platdata() rather than
706   in probe(). (Apart from the ugliness of mixing configuration and run-time
707   data, one day it is possible that U-Boot will cache platform data for
708   devices which are regularly de/activated).
709
710   h. The device's probe() method is called. This should do anything that
711   is required by the device to get it going. This could include checking
712   that the hardware is actually present, setting up clocks for the
713   hardware and setting up hardware registers to initial values. The code
714   in probe() can access:
715
716      - platform data in dev->platdata (for configuration)
717      - private data in dev->priv (for run-time state)
718      - uclass data in dev->uclass_priv (for things the uclass stores
719        about this device)
720
721   Note: If you don't use priv_auto_alloc_size then you will need to
722   allocate the priv space here yourself. The same applies also to
723   platdata_auto_alloc_size. Remember to free them in the remove() method.
724
725   i. The device is marked 'activated'
726
727   j. The uclass's post_probe() method is called, if one exists. This may
728   cause the uclass to do some housekeeping to record the device as
729   activated and 'known' by the uclass.
730
7313. Running stage
732
733The device is now activated and can be used. From now until it is removed
734all of the above structures are accessible. The device appears in the
735uclass's list of devices (so if the device is in UCLASS_GPIO it will appear
736as a device in the GPIO uclass). This is the 'running' state of the device.
737
7384. Removal stage
739
740When the device is no-longer required, you can call device_remove() to
741remove it. This performs the probe steps in reverse:
742
743   a. The uclass's pre_remove() method is called, if one exists. This may
744   cause the uclass to do some housekeeping to record the device as
745   deactivated and no-longer 'known' by the uclass.
746
747   b. All the device's children are removed. It is not permitted to have
748   an active child device with a non-active parent. This means that
749   device_remove() is called for all the children recursively at this point.
750
751   c. The device's remove() method is called. At this stage nothing has been
752   deallocated so platform data, private data and the uclass data will all
753   still be present. This is where the hardware can be shut down. It is
754   intended that the device be completely inactive at this point, For U-Boot
755   to be sure that no hardware is running, it should be enough to remove
756   all devices.
757
758   d. The device memory is freed (platform data, private data, uclass data,
759   parent data).
760
761   Note: Because the platform data for a U_BOOT_DEVICE() is defined with a
762   static pointer, it is not de-allocated during the remove() method. For
763   a device instantiated using the device tree data, the platform data will
764   be dynamically allocated, and thus needs to be deallocated during the
765   remove() method, either:
766
767      1. if the platdata_auto_alloc_size is non-zero, the deallocation
768      happens automatically within the driver model core; or
769
770      2. when platdata_auto_alloc_size is 0, both the allocation (in probe()
771      or preferably ofdata_to_platdata()) and the deallocation in remove()
772      are the responsibility of the driver author.
773
774   e. The device sequence number is set to -1, meaning that it no longer
775   has an allocated sequence. If the device is later reactivated and that
776   sequence number is still free, it may well receive the name sequence
777   number again. But from this point, the sequence number previously used
778   by this device will no longer exist (think of SPI bus 2 being removed
779   and bus 2 is no longer available for use).
780
781   f. The device is marked inactive. Note that it is still bound, so the
782   device structure itself is not freed at this point. Should the device be
783   activated again, then the cycle starts again at step 2 above.
784
7855. Unbind stage
786
787The device is unbound. This is the step that actually destroys the device.
788If a parent has children these will be destroyed first. After this point
789the device does not exist and its memory has be deallocated.
790
791
792Data Structures
793---------------
794
795Driver model uses a doubly-linked list as the basic data structure. Some
796nodes have several lists running through them. Creating a more efficient
797data structure might be worthwhile in some rare cases, once we understand
798what the bottlenecks are.
799
800
801Changes since v1
802----------------
803
804For the record, this implementation uses a very similar approach to the
805original patches, but makes at least the following changes:
806
807- Tried to aggressively remove boilerplate, so that for most drivers there
808is little or no 'driver model' code to write.
809- Moved some data from code into data structure - e.g. store a pointer to
810the driver operations structure in the driver, rather than passing it
811to the driver bind function.
812- Rename some structures to make them more similar to Linux (struct udevice
813instead of struct instance, struct platdata, etc.)
814- Change the name 'core' to 'uclass', meaning U-Boot class. It seems that
815this concept relates to a class of drivers (or a subsystem). We shouldn't
816use 'class' since it is a C++ reserved word, so U-Boot class (uclass) seems
817better than 'core'.
818- Remove 'struct driver_instance' and just use a single 'struct udevice'.
819This removes a level of indirection that doesn't seem necessary.
820- Built in device tree support, to avoid the need for platdata
821- Removed the concept of driver relocation, and just make it possible for
822the new driver (created after relocation) to access the old driver data.
823I feel that relocation is a very special case and will only apply to a few
824drivers, many of which can/will just re-init anyway. So the overhead of
825dealing with this might not be worth it.
826- Implemented a GPIO system, trying to keep it simple
827
828
829Pre-Relocation Support
830----------------------
831
832For pre-relocation we simply call the driver model init function. Only
833drivers marked with DM_FLAG_PRE_RELOC or the device tree 'u-boot,dm-pre-reloc'
834property are initialised prior to relocation. This helps to reduce the driver
835model overhead. This flag applies to SPL and TPL as well, if device tree is
836enabled (CONFIG_OF_CONTROL) there.
837
838Note when device tree is enabled, the device tree 'u-boot,dm-pre-reloc'
839property can provide better control granularity on which device is bound
840before relocation. While with DM_FLAG_PRE_RELOC flag of the driver all
841devices with the same driver are bound, which requires allocation a large
842amount of memory. When device tree is not used, DM_FLAG_PRE_RELOC is the
843only way for statically declared devices via U_BOOT_DEVICE() to be bound
844prior to relocation.
845
846It is possible to limit this to specific relocation steps, by using
847the more specialized 'u-boot,dm-spl' and 'u-boot,dm-tpl' flags
848in the device tree node. For U-Boot proper you can use 'u-boot,dm-pre-proper'
849which means that it will be processed (and a driver bound) in U-Boot proper
850prior to relocation, but will not be available in SPL or TPL.
851
852Then post relocation we throw that away and re-init driver model again.
853For drivers which require some sort of continuity between pre- and
854post-relocation devices, we can provide access to the pre-relocation
855device pointers, but this is not currently implemented (the root device
856pointer is saved but not made available through the driver model API).
857
858
859SPL Support
860-----------
861
862Driver model can operate in SPL. Its efficient implementation and small code
863size provide for a small overhead which is acceptable for all but the most
864constrained systems.
865
866To enable driver model in SPL, define CONFIG_SPL_DM. You might want to
867consider the following option also. See the main README for more details.
868
869   - CONFIG_SYS_MALLOC_SIMPLE
870   - CONFIG_DM_WARN
871   - CONFIG_DM_DEVICE_REMOVE
872   - CONFIG_DM_STDIO
873
874
875Enabling Driver Model
876---------------------
877
878Driver model is being brought into U-Boot gradually. As each subsystems gets
879support, a uclass is created and a CONFIG to enable use of driver model for
880that subsystem.
881
882For example CONFIG_DM_SERIAL enables driver model for serial. With that
883defined, the old serial support is not enabled, and your serial driver must
884conform to driver model. With that undefined, the old serial support is
885enabled and driver model is not available for serial. This means that when
886you convert a driver, you must either convert all its boards, or provide for
887the driver to be compiled both with and without driver model (generally this
888is not very hard).
889
890See the main README for full details of the available driver model CONFIG
891options.
892
893
894Things to punt for later
895------------------------
896
897Uclasses are statically numbered at compile time. It would be possible to
898change this to dynamic numbering, but then we would require some sort of
899lookup service, perhaps searching by name. This is slightly less efficient
900so has been left out for now. One small advantage of dynamic numbering might
901be fewer merge conflicts in uclass-id.h.
902
903
904Simon Glass
905sjg@chromium.org
906April 2013
907Updated 7-May-13
908Updated 14-Jun-13
909Updated 18-Oct-13
910Updated 5-Nov-13
911