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1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
2.. sectionauthor:: Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
3
4Design Details
5==============
6
7This README contains high-level information about driver model, a unified
8way of declaring and accessing drivers in U-Boot. The original work was done
9by:
10
11   * Marek Vasut <marex@denx.de>
12   * Pavel Herrmann <morpheus.ibis@gmail.com>
13   * Viktor Křivák <viktor.krivak@gmail.com>
14   * Tomas Hlavacek <tmshlvck@gmail.com>
15
16This has been both simplified and extended into the current implementation
17by:
18
19   * Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
20
21
22Terminology
23-----------
24
25Uclass
26  a group of devices which operate in the same way. A uclass provides
27  a way of accessing individual devices within the group, but always
28  using the same interface. For example a GPIO uclass provides
29  operations for get/set value. An I2C uclass may have 10 I2C ports,
30  4 with one driver, and 6 with another.
31
32Driver
33  some code which talks to a peripheral and presents a higher-level
34  interface to it.
35
36Device
37  an instance of a driver, tied to a particular port or peripheral.
38
39
40How to try it
41-------------
42
43Build U-Boot sandbox and run it::
44
45   make sandbox_defconfig
46   make
47   ./u-boot -d u-boot.dtb
48
49   (type 'reset' to exit U-Boot)
50
51
52There is a uclass called 'demo'. This uclass handles
53saying hello, and reporting its status. There are two drivers in this
54uclass:
55
56   - simple: Just prints a message for hello, doesn't implement status
57   - shape: Prints shapes and reports number of characters printed as status
58
59The demo class is pretty simple, but not trivial. The intention is that it
60can be used for testing, so it will implement all driver model features and
61provide good code coverage of them. It does have multiple drivers, it
62handles parameter data and platdata (data which tells the driver how
63to operate on a particular platform) and it uses private driver data.
64
65To try it, see the example session below::
66
67   =>demo hello 1
68   Hello '@' from 07981110: red 4
69   =>demo status 2
70   Status: 0
71   =>demo hello 2
72   g
73   r@
74   e@@
75   e@@@
76   n@@@@
77   g@@@@@
78   =>demo status 2
79   Status: 21
80   =>demo hello 4 ^
81     y^^^
82    e^^^^^
83   l^^^^^^^
84   l^^^^^^^
85    o^^^^^
86     w^^^
87   =>demo status 4
88   Status: 36
89   =>
90
91
92Running the tests
93-----------------
94
95The intent with driver model is that the core portion has 100% test coverage
96in sandbox, and every uclass has its own test. As a move towards this, tests
97are provided in test/dm. To run them, try::
98
99   ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox --build -k ut_dm -v
100
101You should see something like this::
102
103   (venv)$ ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox --build -k ut_dm -v
104   +make O=/root/u-boot/build-sandbox -s sandbox_defconfig
105   +make O=/root/u-boot/build-sandbox -s -j8
106   ============================= test session starts ==============================
107   platform linux2 -- Python 2.7.5, pytest-2.9.0, py-1.4.31, pluggy-0.3.1 -- /root/u-boot/venv/bin/python
108   cachedir: .cache
109   rootdir: /root/u-boot, inifile:
110   collected 199 items
111
112   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut_dm_init PASSED
113   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_bind] PASSED
114   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_multi_channel_conversion] PASSED
115   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_multi_channel_shot] PASSED
116   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_single_channel_conversion] PASSED
117   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_single_channel_shot] PASSED
118   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_supply] PASSED
119   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_adc_wrong_channel_selection] PASSED
120   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autobind] PASSED
121   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autobind_uclass_pdata_alloc] PASSED
122   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autobind_uclass_pdata_valid] PASSED
123   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_autoprobe] PASSED
124   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_child_post_bind] PASSED
125   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_child_post_bind_uclass] PASSED
126   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_child_pre_probe_uclass] PASSED
127   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_children] PASSED
128   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_children_funcs] PASSED
129   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_children_iterators] PASSED
130   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_data] PASSED
131   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_data_uclass] PASSED
132   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_ops] PASSED
133   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_platdata] PASSED
134   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_bus_parent_platdata_uclass] PASSED
135   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_children] PASSED
136   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_clk_base] PASSED
137   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_clk_periph] PASSED
138   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_device_get_uclass_id] PASSED
139   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth] PASSED
140   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_act] PASSED
141   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_alias] PASSED
142   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_prime] PASSED
143   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_eth_rotate] PASSED
144   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt] PASSED
145   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt_offset] PASSED
146   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt_pre_reloc] PASSED
147   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_fdt_uclass_seq] PASSED
148   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio] PASSED
149   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_anon] PASSED
150   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_copy] PASSED
151   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_leak] PASSED
152   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_phandles] PASSED
153   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_gpio_requestf] PASSED
154   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_bytewise] PASSED
155   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_find] PASSED
156   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_offset] PASSED
157   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_offset_len] PASSED
158   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_probe_empty] PASSED
159   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_read_write] PASSED
160   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_i2c_speed] PASSED
161   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_leak] PASSED
162   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_led_base] PASSED
163   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_led_gpio] PASSED
164   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_led_label] PASSED
165   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_lifecycle] PASSED
166   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_mmc_base] PASSED
167   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_net_retry] PASSED
168   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_operations] PASSED
169   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_ordering] PASSED
170   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pci_base] PASSED
171   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pci_busnum] PASSED
172   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pci_swapcase] PASSED
173   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_platdata] PASSED
174   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_pmic_get] PASSED
175   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_pmic_io] PASSED
176   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_autoset] PASSED
177   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_autoset_list] PASSED
178   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_get] PASSED
179   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_current] PASSED
180   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_enable] PASSED
181   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_mode] PASSED
182   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_power_regulator_set_get_voltage] PASSED
183   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_pre_reloc] PASSED
184   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_ram_base] PASSED
185   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_regmap_base] PASSED
186   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_regmap_syscon] PASSED
187   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_remoteproc_base] PASSED
188   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_remove] PASSED
189   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_reset_base] PASSED
190   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_reset_walk] PASSED
191   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_base] PASSED
192   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_dual] PASSED
193   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_reset] PASSED
194   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_rtc_set_get] PASSED
195   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_spi_find] PASSED
196   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_spi_flash] PASSED
197   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_spi_xfer] PASSED
198   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_syscon_base] PASSED
199   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_syscon_by_driver_data] PASSED
200   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_timer_base] PASSED
201   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass] PASSED
202   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_before_ready] PASSED
203   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_find] PASSED
204   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_find_by_name] PASSED
205   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_get] PASSED
206   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_uclass_devices_get_by_name] PASSED
207   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_base] PASSED
208   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_flash] PASSED
209   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_keyb] PASSED
210   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_multi] PASSED
211   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_remove] PASSED
212   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_tree] PASSED
213   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_tree_remove] PASSED
214   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_usb_tree_reorder] PASSED
215   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_base] PASSED
216   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_bmp] PASSED
217   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_bmp_comp] PASSED
218   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_chars] PASSED
219   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_context] PASSED
220   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_rotation1] PASSED
221   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_rotation2] PASSED
222   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_rotation3] PASSED
223   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_text] PASSED
224   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_truetype] PASSED
225   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_truetype_bs] PASSED
226   test/py/tests/test_ut.py::test_ut[ut_dm_video_truetype_scroll] PASSED
227
228   ======================= 84 tests deselected by '-kut_dm' =======================
229   ================== 115 passed, 84 deselected in 3.77 seconds ===================
230
231What is going on?
232-----------------
233
234Let's start at the top. The demo command is in common/cmd_demo.c. It does
235the usual command processing and then:
236
237.. code-block:: c
238
239	struct udevice *demo_dev;
240
241	ret = uclass_get_device(UCLASS_DEMO, devnum, &demo_dev);
242
243UCLASS_DEMO means the class of devices which implement 'demo'. Other
244classes might be MMC, or GPIO, hashing or serial. The idea is that the
245devices in the class all share a particular way of working. The class
246presents a unified view of all these devices to U-Boot.
247
248This function looks up a device for the demo uclass. Given a device
249number we can find the device because all devices have registered with
250the UCLASS_DEMO uclass.
251
252The device is automatically activated ready for use by uclass_get_device().
253
254Now that we have the device we can do things like:
255
256.. code-block:: c
257
258	return demo_hello(demo_dev, ch);
259
260This function is in the demo uclass. It takes care of calling the 'hello'
261method of the relevant driver. Bearing in mind that there are two drivers,
262this particular device may use one or other of them.
263
264The code for demo_hello() is in drivers/demo/demo-uclass.c:
265
266.. code-block:: c
267
268	int demo_hello(struct udevice *dev, int ch)
269	{
270		const struct demo_ops *ops = device_get_ops(dev);
271
272		if (!ops->hello)
273			return -ENOSYS;
274
275		return ops->hello(dev, ch);
276	}
277
278As you can see it just calls the relevant driver method. One of these is
279in drivers/demo/demo-simple.c:
280
281.. code-block:: c
282
283	static int simple_hello(struct udevice *dev, int ch)
284	{
285		const struct dm_demo_pdata *pdata = dev_get_platdata(dev);
286
287		printf("Hello from %08x: %s %d\n", map_to_sysmem(dev),
288		       pdata->colour, pdata->sides);
289
290		return 0;
291	}
292
293
294So that is a trip from top (command execution) to bottom (driver action)
295but it leaves a lot of topics to address.
296
297
298Declaring Drivers
299-----------------
300
301A driver declaration looks something like this (see
302drivers/demo/demo-shape.c):
303
304.. code-block:: c
305
306	static const struct demo_ops shape_ops = {
307		.hello = shape_hello,
308		.status = shape_status,
309	};
310
311	U_BOOT_DRIVER(demo_shape_drv) = {
312		.name	= "demo_shape_drv",
313		.id	= UCLASS_DEMO,
314		.ops	= &shape_ops,
315		.priv_data_size = sizeof(struct shape_data),
316	};
317
318
319This driver has two methods (hello and status) and requires a bit of
320private data (accessible through dev_get_priv(dev) once the driver has
321been probed). It is a member of UCLASS_DEMO so will register itself
322there.
323
324In U_BOOT_DRIVER it is also possible to specify special methods for bind
325and unbind, and these are called at appropriate times. For many drivers
326it is hoped that only 'probe' and 'remove' will be needed.
327
328The U_BOOT_DRIVER macro creates a data structure accessible from C,
329so driver model can find the drivers that are available.
330
331The methods a device can provide are documented in the device.h header.
332Briefly, they are:
333
334   * bind - make the driver model aware of a device (bind it to its driver)
335   * unbind - make the driver model forget the device
336   * ofdata_to_platdata - convert device tree data to platdata - see later
337   * probe - make a device ready for use
338   * remove - remove a device so it cannot be used until probed again
339
340The sequence to get a device to work is bind, ofdata_to_platdata (if using
341device tree) and probe.
342
343
344Platform Data
345-------------
346
347Note: platform data is the old way of doing things. It is
348basically a C structure which is passed to drivers to tell them about
349platform-specific settings like the address of its registers, bus
350speed, etc. Device tree is now the preferred way of handling this.
351Unless you have a good reason not to use device tree (the main one
352being you need serial support in SPL and don't have enough SRAM for
353the cut-down device tree and libfdt libraries) you should stay away
354from platform data.
355
356Platform data is like Linux platform data, if you are familiar with that.
357It provides the board-specific information to start up a device.
358
359Why is this information not just stored in the device driver itself? The
360idea is that the device driver is generic, and can in principle operate on
361any board that has that type of device. For example, with modern
362highly-complex SoCs it is common for the IP to come from an IP vendor, and
363therefore (for example) the MMC controller may be the same on chips from
364different vendors. It makes no sense to write independent drivers for the
365MMC controller on each vendor's SoC, when they are all almost the same.
366Similarly, we may have 6 UARTs in an SoC, all of which are mostly the same,
367but lie at different addresses in the address space.
368
369Using the UART example, we have a single driver and it is instantiated 6
370times by supplying 6 lots of platform data. Each lot of platform data
371gives the driver name and a pointer to a structure containing information
372about this instance - e.g. the address of the register space. It may be that
373one of the UARTS supports RS-485 operation - this can be added as a flag in
374the platform data, which is set for this one port and clear for the rest.
375
376Think of your driver as a generic piece of code which knows how to talk to
377a device, but needs to know where it is, any variant/option information and
378so on. Platform data provides this link between the generic piece of code
379and the specific way it is bound on a particular board.
380
381Examples of platform data include:
382
383   - The base address of the IP block's register space
384   - Configuration options, like:
385      - the SPI polarity and maximum speed for a SPI controller
386      - the I2C speed to use for an I2C device
387      - the number of GPIOs available in a GPIO device
388
389Where does the platform data come from? It is either held in a structure
390which is compiled into U-Boot, or it can be parsed from the Device Tree
391(see 'Device Tree' below).
392
393For an example of how it can be compiled in, see demo-pdata.c which
394sets up a table of driver names and their associated platform data.
395The data can be interpreted by the drivers however they like - it is
396basically a communication scheme between the board-specific code and
397the generic drivers, which are intended to work on any board.
398
399Drivers can access their data via dev->info->platdata. Here is
400the declaration for the platform data, which would normally appear
401in the board file.
402
403.. code-block:: c
404
405	static const struct dm_demo_cdata red_square = {
406		.colour = "red",
407		.sides = 4.
408	};
409
410	static const struct driver_info info[] = {
411		{
412			.name = "demo_shape_drv",
413			.platdata = &red_square,
414		},
415	};
416
417	demo1 = driver_bind(root, &info[0]);
418
419
420Device Tree
421-----------
422
423While platdata is useful, a more flexible way of providing device data is
424by using device tree. In U-Boot you should use this where possible. Avoid
425sending patches which make use of the U_BOOT_DEVICE() macro unless strictly
426necessary.
427
428With device tree we replace the above code with the following device tree
429fragment:
430
431.. code-block:: c
432
433	red-square {
434		compatible = "demo-shape";
435		colour = "red";
436		sides = <4>;
437	};
438
439This means that instead of having lots of U_BOOT_DEVICE() declarations in
440the board file, we put these in the device tree. This approach allows a lot
441more generality, since the same board file can support many types of boards
442(e,g. with the same SoC) just by using different device trees. An added
443benefit is that the Linux device tree can be used, thus further simplifying
444the task of board-bring up either for U-Boot or Linux devs (whoever gets to
445the board first!).
446
447The easiest way to make this work it to add a few members to the driver:
448
449.. code-block:: c
450
451	.platdata_auto_alloc_size = sizeof(struct dm_test_pdata),
452	.ofdata_to_platdata = testfdt_ofdata_to_platdata,
453
454The 'auto_alloc' feature allowed space for the platdata to be allocated
455and zeroed before the driver's ofdata_to_platdata() method is called. The
456ofdata_to_platdata() method, which the driver write supplies, should parse
457the device tree node for this device and place it in dev->platdata. Thus
458when the probe method is called later (to set up the device ready for use)
459the platform data will be present.
460
461Note that both methods are optional. If you provide an ofdata_to_platdata
462method then it will be called first (during activation). If you provide a
463probe method it will be called next. See Driver Lifecycle below for more
464details.
465
466If you don't want to have the platdata automatically allocated then you
467can leave out platdata_auto_alloc_size. In this case you can use malloc
468in your ofdata_to_platdata (or probe) method to allocate the required memory,
469and you should free it in the remove method.
470
471The driver model tree is intended to mirror that of the device tree. The
472root driver is at device tree offset 0 (the root node, '/'), and its
473children are the children of the root node.
474
475In order for a device tree to be valid, the content must be correct with
476respect to either device tree specification
477(https://www.devicetree.org/specifications/) or the device tree bindings that
478are found in the doc/device-tree-bindings directory.  When not U-Boot specific
479the bindings in this directory tend to come from the Linux Kernel.  As such
480certain design decisions may have been made already for us in terms of how
481specific devices are described and bound.  In most circumstances we wish to
482retain compatibility without additional changes being made to the device tree
483source files.
484
485Declaring Uclasses
486------------------
487
488The demo uclass is declared like this:
489
490.. code-block:: c
491
492	U_BOOT_CLASS(demo) = {
493		.id		= UCLASS_DEMO,
494	};
495
496It is also possible to specify special methods for probe, etc. The uclass
497numbering comes from include/dm/uclass.h. To add a new uclass, add to the
498end of the enum there, then declare your uclass as above.
499
500
501Device Sequence Numbers
502-----------------------
503
504U-Boot numbers devices from 0 in many situations, such as in the command
505line for I2C and SPI buses, and the device names for serial ports (serial0,
506serial1, ...). Driver model supports this numbering and permits devices
507to be locating by their 'sequence'. This numbering uniquely identifies a
508device in its uclass, so no two devices within a particular uclass can have
509the same sequence number.
510
511Sequence numbers start from 0 but gaps are permitted. For example, a board
512may have I2C buses 1, 4, 5 but no 0, 2 or 3. The choice of how devices are
513numbered is up to a particular board, and may be set by the SoC in some
514cases. While it might be tempting to automatically renumber the devices
515where there are gaps in the sequence, this can lead to confusion and is
516not the way that U-Boot works.
517
518Each device can request a sequence number. If none is required then the
519device will be automatically allocated the next available sequence number.
520
521To specify the sequence number in the device tree an alias is typically
522used. Make sure that the uclass has the DM_UC_FLAG_SEQ_ALIAS flag set.
523
524.. code-block:: none
525
526	aliases {
527		serial2 = "/serial@22230000";
528	};
529
530This indicates that in the uclass called "serial", the named node
531("/serial@22230000") will be given sequence number 2. Any command or driver
532which requests serial device 2 will obtain this device.
533
534More commonly you can use node references, which expand to the full path:
535
536.. code-block:: none
537
538	aliases {
539		serial2 = &serial_2;
540	};
541	...
542	serial_2: serial@22230000 {
543	...
544	};
545
546The alias resolves to the same string in this case, but this version is
547easier to read.
548
549Device sequence numbers are resolved when a device is probed. Before then
550the sequence number is only a request which may or may not be honoured,
551depending on what other devices have been probed. However the numbering is
552entirely under the control of the board author so a conflict is generally
553an error.
554
555
556Bus Drivers
557-----------
558
559A common use of driver model is to implement a bus, a device which provides
560access to other devices. Example of buses include SPI and I2C. Typically
561the bus provides some sort of transport or translation that makes it
562possible to talk to the devices on the bus.
563
564Driver model provides some useful features to help with implementing buses.
565Firstly, a bus can request that its children store some 'parent data' which
566can be used to keep track of child state. Secondly, the bus can define
567methods which are called when a child is probed or removed. This is similar
568to the methods the uclass driver provides. Thirdly, per-child platform data
569can be provided to specify things like the child's address on the bus. This
570persists across child probe()/remove() cycles.
571
572For consistency and ease of implementation, the bus uclass can specify the
573per-child platform data, so that it can be the same for all children of buses
574in that uclass. There are also uclass methods which can be called when
575children are bound and probed.
576
577Here an explanation of how a bus fits with a uclass may be useful. Consider
578a USB bus with several devices attached to it, each from a different (made
579up) uclass::
580
581   xhci_usb (UCLASS_USB)
582      eth (UCLASS_ETHERNET)
583      camera (UCLASS_CAMERA)
584      flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)
585
586Each of the devices is connected to a different address on the USB bus.
587The bus device wants to store this address and some other information such
588as the bus speed for each device.
589
590To achieve this, the bus device can use dev->parent_platdata in each of its
591three children. This can be auto-allocated if the bus driver (or bus uclass)
592has a non-zero value for per_child_platdata_auto_alloc_size. If not, then
593the bus device or uclass can allocate the space itself before the child
594device is probed.
595
596Also the bus driver can define the child_pre_probe() and child_post_remove()
597methods to allow it to do some processing before the child is activated or
598after it is deactivated.
599
600Similarly the bus uclass can define the child_post_bind() method to obtain
601the per-child platform data from the device tree and set it up for the child.
602The bus uclass can also provide a child_pre_probe() method. Very often it is
603the bus uclass that controls these features, since it avoids each driver
604having to do the same processing. Of course the driver can still tweak and
605override these activities.
606
607Note that the information that controls this behaviour is in the bus's
608driver, not the child's. In fact it is possible that child has no knowledge
609that it is connected to a bus. The same child device may even be used on two
610different bus types. As an example. the 'flash' device shown above may also
611be connected on a SATA bus or standalone with no bus::
612
613   xhci_usb (UCLASS_USB)
614      flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)  - parent data/methods defined by USB bus
615
616   sata (UCLASS_SATA)
617      flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)  - parent data/methods defined by SATA bus
618
619   flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)  - no parent data/methods (not on a bus)
620
621Above you can see that the driver for xhci_usb/sata controls the child's
622bus methods. In the third example the device is not on a bus, and therefore
623will not have these methods at all. Consider the case where the flash
624device defines child methods. These would be used for *its* children, and
625would be quite separate from the methods defined by the driver for the bus
626that the flash device is connetced to. The act of attaching a device to a
627parent device which is a bus, causes the device to start behaving like a
628bus device, regardless of its own views on the matter.
629
630The uclass for the device can also contain data private to that uclass.
631But note that each device on the bus may be a memeber of a different
632uclass, and this data has nothing to do with the child data for each child
633on the bus. It is the bus' uclass that controls the child with respect to
634the bus.
635
636
637Driver Lifecycle
638----------------
639
640Here are the stages that a device goes through in driver model. Note that all
641methods mentioned here are optional - e.g. if there is no probe() method for
642a device then it will not be called. A simple device may have very few
643methods actually defined.
644
645Bind stage
646^^^^^^^^^^
647
648U-Boot discovers devices using one of these two methods:
649
650- Scan the U_BOOT_DEVICE() definitions. U-Boot looks up the name specified
651  by each, to find the appropriate U_BOOT_DRIVER() definition. In this case,
652  there is no path by which driver_data may be provided, but the U_BOOT_DEVICE()
653  may provide platdata.
654
655- Scan through the device tree definitions. U-Boot looks at top-level
656  nodes in the the device tree. It looks at the compatible string in each node
657  and uses the of_match table of the U_BOOT_DRIVER() structure to find the
658  right driver for each node. In this case, the of_match table may provide a
659  driver_data value, but platdata cannot be provided until later.
660
661For each device that is discovered, U-Boot then calls device_bind() to create a
662new device, initializes various core fields of the device object such as name,
663uclass & driver, initializes any optional fields of the device object that are
664applicable such as of_offset, driver_data & platdata, and finally calls the
665driver's bind() method if one is defined.
666
667At this point all the devices are known, and bound to their drivers. There
668is a 'struct udevice' allocated for all devices. However, nothing has been
669activated (except for the root device). Each bound device that was created
670from a U_BOOT_DEVICE() declaration will hold the platdata pointer specified
671in that declaration. For a bound device created from the device tree,
672platdata will be NULL, but of_offset will be the offset of the device tree
673node that caused the device to be created. The uclass is set correctly for
674the device.
675
676The device's bind() method is permitted to perform simple actions, but
677should not scan the device tree node, not initialise hardware, nor set up
678structures or allocate memory. All of these tasks should be left for
679the probe() method.
680
681Note that compared to Linux, U-Boot's driver model has a separate step of
682probe/remove which is independent of bind/unbind. This is partly because in
683U-Boot it may be expensive to probe devices and we don't want to do it until
684they are needed, or perhaps until after relocation.
685
686Activation/probe
687^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
688
689When a device needs to be used, U-Boot activates it, by following these
690steps (see device_probe()):
691
692   1. If priv_auto_alloc_size is non-zero, then the device-private space
693   is allocated for the device and zeroed. It will be accessible as
694   dev->priv. The driver can put anything it likes in there, but should use
695   it for run-time information, not platform data (which should be static
696   and known before the device is probed).
697
698   2. If platdata_auto_alloc_size is non-zero, then the platform data space
699   is allocated. This is only useful for device tree operation, since
700   otherwise you would have to specific the platform data in the
701   U_BOOT_DEVICE() declaration. The space is allocated for the device and
702   zeroed. It will be accessible as dev->platdata.
703
704   3. If the device's uclass specifies a non-zero per_device_auto_alloc_size,
705   then this space is allocated and zeroed also. It is allocated for and
706   stored in the device, but it is uclass data. owned by the uclass driver.
707   It is possible for the device to access it.
708
709   4. If the device's immediate parent specifies a per_child_auto_alloc_size
710   then this space is allocated. This is intended for use by the parent
711   device to keep track of things related to the child. For example a USB
712   flash stick attached to a USB host controller would likely use this
713   space. The controller can hold information about the USB state of each
714   of its children.
715
716   5. All parent devices are probed. It is not possible to activate a device
717   unless its predecessors (all the way up to the root device) are activated.
718   This means (for example) that an I2C driver will require that its bus
719   be activated.
720
721   6. The device's sequence number is assigned, either the requested one
722   (assuming no conflicts) or the next available one if there is a conflict
723   or nothing particular is requested.
724
725   7. If the driver provides an ofdata_to_platdata() method, then this is
726   called to convert the device tree data into platform data. This should
727   do various calls like fdtdec_get_int(gd->fdt_blob, dev_of_offset(dev), ...)
728   to access the node and store the resulting information into dev->platdata.
729   After this point, the device works the same way whether it was bound
730   using a device tree node or U_BOOT_DEVICE() structure. In either case,
731   the platform data is now stored in the platdata structure. Typically you
732   will use the platdata_auto_alloc_size feature to specify the size of the
733   platform data structure, and U-Boot will automatically allocate and zero
734   it for you before entry to ofdata_to_platdata(). But if not, you can
735   allocate it yourself in ofdata_to_platdata(). Note that it is preferable
736   to do all the device tree decoding in ofdata_to_platdata() rather than
737   in probe(). (Apart from the ugliness of mixing configuration and run-time
738   data, one day it is possible that U-Boot will cache platform data for
739   devices which are regularly de/activated).
740
741   8. The device's probe() method is called. This should do anything that
742   is required by the device to get it going. This could include checking
743   that the hardware is actually present, setting up clocks for the
744   hardware and setting up hardware registers to initial values. The code
745   in probe() can access:
746
747      - platform data in dev->platdata (for configuration)
748      - private data in dev->priv (for run-time state)
749      - uclass data in dev->uclass_priv (for things the uclass stores
750        about this device)
751
752   Note: If you don't use priv_auto_alloc_size then you will need to
753   allocate the priv space here yourself. The same applies also to
754   platdata_auto_alloc_size. Remember to free them in the remove() method.
755
756   9. The device is marked 'activated'
757
758   10. The uclass's post_probe() method is called, if one exists. This may
759   cause the uclass to do some housekeeping to record the device as
760   activated and 'known' by the uclass.
761
762Running stage
763^^^^^^^^^^^^^
764
765The device is now activated and can be used. From now until it is removed
766all of the above structures are accessible. The device appears in the
767uclass's list of devices (so if the device is in UCLASS_GPIO it will appear
768as a device in the GPIO uclass). This is the 'running' state of the device.
769
770Removal stage
771^^^^^^^^^^^^^
772
773When the device is no-longer required, you can call device_remove() to
774remove it. This performs the probe steps in reverse:
775
776   1. The uclass's pre_remove() method is called, if one exists. This may
777   cause the uclass to do some housekeeping to record the device as
778   deactivated and no-longer 'known' by the uclass.
779
780   2. All the device's children are removed. It is not permitted to have
781   an active child device with a non-active parent. This means that
782   device_remove() is called for all the children recursively at this point.
783
784   3. The device's remove() method is called. At this stage nothing has been
785   deallocated so platform data, private data and the uclass data will all
786   still be present. This is where the hardware can be shut down. It is
787   intended that the device be completely inactive at this point, For U-Boot
788   to be sure that no hardware is running, it should be enough to remove
789   all devices.
790
791   4. The device memory is freed (platform data, private data, uclass data,
792   parent data).
793
794   Note: Because the platform data for a U_BOOT_DEVICE() is defined with a
795   static pointer, it is not de-allocated during the remove() method. For
796   a device instantiated using the device tree data, the platform data will
797   be dynamically allocated, and thus needs to be deallocated during the
798   remove() method, either:
799
800      - if the platdata_auto_alloc_size is non-zero, the deallocation
801        happens automatically within the driver model core; or
802
803      - when platdata_auto_alloc_size is 0, both the allocation (in probe()
804        or preferably ofdata_to_platdata()) and the deallocation in remove()
805        are the responsibility of the driver author.
806
807   5. The device sequence number is set to -1, meaning that it no longer
808   has an allocated sequence. If the device is later reactivated and that
809   sequence number is still free, it may well receive the name sequence
810   number again. But from this point, the sequence number previously used
811   by this device will no longer exist (think of SPI bus 2 being removed
812   and bus 2 is no longer available for use).
813
814   6. The device is marked inactive. Note that it is still bound, so the
815   device structure itself is not freed at this point. Should the device be
816   activated again, then the cycle starts again at step 2 above.
817
818Unbind stage
819^^^^^^^^^^^^
820
821The device is unbound. This is the step that actually destroys the device.
822If a parent has children these will be destroyed first. After this point
823the device does not exist and its memory has be deallocated.
824
825
826Data Structures
827---------------
828
829Driver model uses a doubly-linked list as the basic data structure. Some
830nodes have several lists running through them. Creating a more efficient
831data structure might be worthwhile in some rare cases, once we understand
832what the bottlenecks are.
833
834
835Changes since v1
836----------------
837
838For the record, this implementation uses a very similar approach to the
839original patches, but makes at least the following changes:
840
841- Tried to aggressively remove boilerplate, so that for most drivers there
842  is little or no 'driver model' code to write.
843- Moved some data from code into data structure - e.g. store a pointer to
844  the driver operations structure in the driver, rather than passing it
845  to the driver bind function.
846- Rename some structures to make them more similar to Linux (struct udevice
847  instead of struct instance, struct platdata, etc.)
848- Change the name 'core' to 'uclass', meaning U-Boot class. It seems that
849  this concept relates to a class of drivers (or a subsystem). We shouldn't
850  use 'class' since it is a C++ reserved word, so U-Boot class (uclass) seems
851  better than 'core'.
852- Remove 'struct driver_instance' and just use a single 'struct udevice'.
853  This removes a level of indirection that doesn't seem necessary.
854- Built in device tree support, to avoid the need for platdata
855- Removed the concept of driver relocation, and just make it possible for
856  the new driver (created after relocation) to access the old driver data.
857  I feel that relocation is a very special case and will only apply to a few
858  drivers, many of which can/will just re-init anyway. So the overhead of
859  dealing with this might not be worth it.
860- Implemented a GPIO system, trying to keep it simple
861
862
863Pre-Relocation Support
864----------------------
865
866For pre-relocation we simply call the driver model init function. Only
867drivers marked with DM_FLAG_PRE_RELOC or the device tree 'u-boot,dm-pre-reloc'
868property are initialised prior to relocation. This helps to reduce the driver
869model overhead. This flag applies to SPL and TPL as well, if device tree is
870enabled (CONFIG_OF_CONTROL) there.
871
872Note when device tree is enabled, the device tree 'u-boot,dm-pre-reloc'
873property can provide better control granularity on which device is bound
874before relocation. While with DM_FLAG_PRE_RELOC flag of the driver all
875devices with the same driver are bound, which requires allocation a large
876amount of memory. When device tree is not used, DM_FLAG_PRE_RELOC is the
877only way for statically declared devices via U_BOOT_DEVICE() to be bound
878prior to relocation.
879
880It is possible to limit this to specific relocation steps, by using
881the more specialized 'u-boot,dm-spl' and 'u-boot,dm-tpl' flags
882in the device tree node. For U-Boot proper you can use 'u-boot,dm-pre-proper'
883which means that it will be processed (and a driver bound) in U-Boot proper
884prior to relocation, but will not be available in SPL or TPL.
885
886To reduce the size of SPL and TPL, only the nodes with pre-relocation properties
887('u-boot,dm-pre-reloc', 'u-boot,dm-spl' or 'u-boot,dm-tpl') are keept in their
888device trees (see README.SPL for details); the remaining nodes are always bound.
889
890Then post relocation we throw that away and re-init driver model again.
891For drivers which require some sort of continuity between pre- and
892post-relocation devices, we can provide access to the pre-relocation
893device pointers, but this is not currently implemented (the root device
894pointer is saved but not made available through the driver model API).
895
896
897SPL Support
898-----------
899
900Driver model can operate in SPL. Its efficient implementation and small code
901size provide for a small overhead which is acceptable for all but the most
902constrained systems.
903
904To enable driver model in SPL, define CONFIG_SPL_DM. You might want to
905consider the following option also. See the main README for more details.
906
907   - CONFIG_SYS_MALLOC_SIMPLE
908   - CONFIG_DM_WARN
909   - CONFIG_DM_DEVICE_REMOVE
910   - CONFIG_DM_STDIO
911
912
913Enabling Driver Model
914---------------------
915
916Driver model is being brought into U-Boot gradually. As each subsystems gets
917support, a uclass is created and a CONFIG to enable use of driver model for
918that subsystem.
919
920For example CONFIG_DM_SERIAL enables driver model for serial. With that
921defined, the old serial support is not enabled, and your serial driver must
922conform to driver model. With that undefined, the old serial support is
923enabled and driver model is not available for serial. This means that when
924you convert a driver, you must either convert all its boards, or provide for
925the driver to be compiled both with and without driver model (generally this
926is not very hard).
927
928See the main README for full details of the available driver model CONFIG
929options.
930
931
932Things to punt for later
933------------------------
934
935Uclasses are statically numbered at compile time. It would be possible to
936change this to dynamic numbering, but then we would require some sort of
937lookup service, perhaps searching by name. This is slightly less efficient
938so has been left out for now. One small advantage of dynamic numbering might
939be fewer merge conflicts in uclass-id.h.
940