xref: /openbmc/linux/Documentation/leds/leds-class-flash.rst (revision 8dab9197)

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Flash LED handling under Linux
==============================

Some LED devices provide two modes - torch and flash. In the LED subsystem
those modes are supported by LED class (see Documentation/leds/leds-class.rst)
and LED Flash class respectively. The torch mode related features are enabled
by default and the flash ones only if a driver declares it by setting
LED_DEV_CAP_FLASH flag.

In order to enable the support for flash LEDs CONFIG_LEDS_CLASS_FLASH symbol
must be defined in the kernel config. A LED Flash class driver must be
registered in the LED subsystem with led_classdev_flash_register function.

Following sysfs attributes are exposed for controlling flash LED devices:
(see Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-led-flash)

	- flash_brightness
	- max_flash_brightness
	- flash_timeout
	- max_flash_timeout
	- flash_strobe
	- flash_fault


V4L2 flash wrapper for flash LEDs
=================================

A LED subsystem driver can be controlled also from the level of VideoForLinux2
subsystem. In order to enable this CONFIG_V4L2_FLASH_LED_CLASS symbol has to
be defined in the kernel config.

The driver must call the v4l2_flash_init function to get registered in the
V4L2 subsystem. The function takes six arguments:

- dev:
	flash device, e.g. an I2C device
- of_node:
	of_node of the LED, may be NULL if the same as device's
- fled_cdev:
	LED flash class device to wrap
- iled_cdev:
	LED flash class device representing indicator LED associated with
	fled_cdev, may be NULL
- ops:
	V4L2 specific ops

	* external_strobe_set
		defines the source of the flash LED strobe -
		V4L2_CID_FLASH_STROBE control or external source, typically
		a sensor, which makes it possible to synchronise the flash
		strobe start with exposure start,
	* intensity_to_led_brightness and led_brightness_to_intensity
		perform
		enum led_brightness <-> V4L2 intensity conversion in a device
		specific manner - they can be used for devices with non-linear
		LED current scale.
- config:
	configuration for V4L2 Flash sub-device

	* dev_name
		the name of the media entity, unique in the system,
	* flash_faults
		bitmask of flash faults that the LED flash class
		device can report; corresponding LED_FAULT* bit definitions are
		available in <linux/led-class-flash.h>,
	* torch_intensity
		constraints for the LED in TORCH mode
		in microamperes,
	* indicator_intensity
		constraints for the indicator LED
		in microamperes,
	* has_external_strobe
		determines whether the flash strobe source
		can be switched to external,

On remove the v4l2_flash_release function has to be called, which takes one
argument - struct v4l2_flash pointer returned previously by v4l2_flash_init.
This function can be safely called with NULL or error pointer argument.

Please refer to drivers/leds/leds-max77693.c for an exemplary usage of the
v4l2 flash wrapper.

Once the V4L2 sub-device is registered by the driver which created the Media
controller device, the sub-device node acts just as a node of a native V4L2
flash API device would. The calls are simply routed to the LED flash API.

Opening the V4L2 flash sub-device makes the LED subsystem sysfs interface
unavailable. The interface is re-enabled after the V4L2 flash sub-device
is closed.