| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> | 
 | <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" | 
 | 	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" []> | 
 |  | 
 | <book id="LinuxKernelAPI"> | 
 |  <bookinfo> | 
 |   <title>The Linux Kernel API</title> | 
 |    | 
 |   <legalnotice> | 
 |    <para> | 
 |      This documentation is free software; you can redistribute | 
 |      it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public | 
 |      License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either | 
 |      version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later | 
 |      version. | 
 |    </para> | 
 |        | 
 |    <para> | 
 |      This program is distributed in the hope that it will be | 
 |      useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied | 
 |      warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. | 
 |      See the GNU General Public License for more details. | 
 |    </para> | 
 |        | 
 |    <para> | 
 |      You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public | 
 |      License along with this program; if not, write to the Free | 
 |      Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, | 
 |      MA 02111-1307 USA | 
 |    </para> | 
 |        | 
 |    <para> | 
 |      For more details see the file COPYING in the source | 
 |      distribution of Linux. | 
 |    </para> | 
 |   </legalnotice> | 
 |  </bookinfo> | 
 |  | 
 | <toc></toc> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="Basics"> | 
 |      <title>Driver Basics</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Driver Entry and Exit points</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/init.h | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Atomic and pointer manipulation</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/atomic.h | 
 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/unaligned.h | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Delaying, scheduling, and timer routines</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/sched.h | 
 | !Ekernel/sched.c | 
 | !Ekernel/timer.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>High-resolution timers</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/ktime.h | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/hrtimer.h | 
 | !Ekernel/hrtimer.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Workqueues and Kevents</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/workqueue.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Internal Functions</title> | 
 | !Ikernel/exit.c | 
 | !Ikernel/signal.c | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/kthread.h | 
 | !Ekernel/kthread.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Kernel objects manipulation</title> | 
 | <!-- | 
 | X!Iinclude/linux/kobject.h | 
 | --> | 
 | !Elib/kobject.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Kernel utility functions</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/kernel.h | 
 | !Ekernel/printk.c | 
 | !Ekernel/panic.c | 
 | !Ekernel/sys.c | 
 | !Ekernel/rcupdate.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Device Resource Management</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/base/devres.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="adt"> | 
 |      <title>Data Types</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Doubly Linked Lists</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/list.h | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="libc"> | 
 |      <title>Basic C Library Functions</title> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        When writing drivers, you cannot in general use routines which are | 
 |        from the C Library.  Some of the functions have been found generally | 
 |        useful and they are listed below.  The behaviour of these functions | 
 |        may vary slightly from those defined by ANSI, and these deviations | 
 |        are noted in the text. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>String Conversions</title> | 
 | !Ilib/vsprintf.c | 
 | !Elib/vsprintf.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>String Manipulation</title> | 
 | <!-- All functions are exported at now | 
 | X!Ilib/string.c | 
 |  --> | 
 | !Elib/string.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Bit Operations</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/bitops.h | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="kernel-lib"> | 
 |      <title>Basic Kernel Library Functions</title> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        The Linux kernel provides more basic utility functions. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Bitmap Operations</title> | 
 | !Elib/bitmap.c | 
 | !Ilib/bitmap.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Command-line Parsing</title> | 
 | !Elib/cmdline.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>CRC Functions</title> | 
 | !Elib/crc16.c | 
 | !Elib/crc32.c | 
 | !Elib/crc-ccitt.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="mm"> | 
 |      <title>Memory Management in Linux</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>The Slab Cache</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/slab.h | 
 | !Emm/slab.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>User Space Memory Access</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/uaccess.h | 
 | !Earch/i386/lib/usercopy.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>More Memory Management Functions</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/rmap.h | 
 | !Emm/readahead.c | 
 | !Emm/filemap.c | 
 | !Emm/memory.c | 
 | !Emm/vmalloc.c | 
 | !Imm/page_alloc.c | 
 | !Emm/mempool.c | 
 | !Emm/page-writeback.c | 
 | !Emm/truncate.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="ipc"> | 
 |      <title>Kernel IPC facilities</title> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>IPC utilities</title> | 
 | !Iipc/util.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="kfifo"> | 
 |      <title>FIFO Buffer</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>kfifo interface</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/kfifo.h | 
 | !Ekernel/kfifo.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="relayfs"> | 
 |      <title>relay interface support</title> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 | 	Relay interface support | 
 | 	is designed to provide an efficient mechanism for tools and | 
 | 	facilities to relay large amounts of data from kernel space to | 
 | 	user space. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>relay interface</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/relay.c | 
 | !Ikernel/relay.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="netcore"> | 
 |      <title>Linux Networking</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Networking Base Types</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/net.h | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Socket Buffer Functions</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/skbuff.h | 
 | !Iinclude/net/sock.h | 
 | !Enet/socket.c | 
 | !Enet/core/skbuff.c | 
 | !Enet/core/sock.c | 
 | !Enet/core/datagram.c | 
 | !Enet/core/stream.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Socket Filter</title> | 
 | !Enet/core/filter.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Generic Network Statistics</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/gen_stats.h | 
 | !Enet/core/gen_stats.c | 
 | !Enet/core/gen_estimator.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>SUN RPC subsystem</title> | 
 | <!-- The !D functionality is not perfect, garbage has to be protected by comments | 
 | !Dnet/sunrpc/sunrpc_syms.c | 
 | --> | 
 | !Enet/sunrpc/xdr.c | 
 | !Enet/sunrpc/svcsock.c | 
 | !Enet/sunrpc/sched.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="netdev"> | 
 |      <title>Network device support</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Driver Support</title> | 
 | !Enet/core/dev.c | 
 | !Enet/ethernet/eth.c | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/etherdevice.h | 
 | !Edrivers/net/phy/phy.c | 
 | !Idrivers/net/phy/phy.c | 
 | !Edrivers/net/phy/phy_device.c | 
 | !Idrivers/net/phy/phy_device.c | 
 | !Edrivers/net/phy/mdio_bus.c | 
 | !Idrivers/net/phy/mdio_bus.c | 
 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source | 
 | X!Enet/core/wireless.c | 
 | --> | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Synchronous PPP</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/net/wan/syncppp.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="modload"> | 
 |      <title>Module Support</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Module Loading</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/kmod.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Inter Module support</title> | 
 |         <para> | 
 |            Refer to the file kernel/module.c for more information. | 
 |         </para> | 
 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source | 
 | X!Ekernel/module.c | 
 | --> | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="hardware"> | 
 |      <title>Hardware Interfaces</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Interrupt Handling</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/irq/manage.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>DMA Channels</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/dma.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Resources Management</title> | 
 | !Ikernel/resource.c | 
 | !Ekernel/resource.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>MTRR Handling</title> | 
 | !Earch/i386/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>PCI Support Library</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/pci.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/pci-driver.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/remove.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/pci-acpi.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/search.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/msi.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/bus.c | 
 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source | 
 | X!Edrivers/pci/hotplug.c | 
 | --> | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/probe.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/rom.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>PCI Hotplug Support Library</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/pci/hotplug/pci_hotplug_core.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>MCA Architecture</title> | 
 | 	<sect2><title>MCA Device Functions</title> | 
 |            <para> | 
 |               Refer to the file arch/i386/kernel/mca.c for more information. | 
 |            </para> | 
 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source | 
 | X!Earch/i386/kernel/mca.c | 
 | --> | 
 | 	</sect2> | 
 | 	<sect2><title>MCA Bus DMA</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/mca_dma.h | 
 | 	</sect2> | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="firmware"> | 
 |      <title>Firmware Interfaces</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>DMI Interfaces</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>EDD Interfaces</title> | 
 | !Idrivers/firmware/edd.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="security"> | 
 |      <title>Security Framework</title> | 
 | !Esecurity/security.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="audit"> | 
 |      <title>Audit Interfaces</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/audit.c | 
 | !Ikernel/auditsc.c | 
 | !Ikernel/auditfilter.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="accounting"> | 
 |      <title>Accounting Framework</title> | 
 | !Ikernel/acct.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="pmfuncs"> | 
 |      <title>Power Management</title> | 
 | !Ekernel/power/pm.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="devdrivers"> | 
 |      <title>Device drivers infrastructure</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Device Drivers Base</title> | 
 | <!-- | 
 | X!Iinclude/linux/device.h | 
 | --> | 
 | !Edrivers/base/driver.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/core.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/class.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/firmware_class.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/transport_class.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/dmapool.c | 
 | <!-- Cannot be included, because | 
 |      attribute_container_add_class_device_adapter | 
 |  and attribute_container_classdev_to_container | 
 |      exceed allowed 44 characters maximum | 
 | X!Edrivers/base/attribute_container.c | 
 | --> | 
 | !Edrivers/base/sys.c | 
 | <!-- | 
 | X!Edrivers/base/interface.c | 
 | --> | 
 | !Edrivers/base/platform.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/bus.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Device Drivers Power Management</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/base/power/main.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/power/resume.c | 
 | !Edrivers/base/power/suspend.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Device Drivers ACPI Support</title> | 
 | <!-- Internal functions only | 
 | X!Edrivers/acpi/sleep/main.c | 
 | X!Edrivers/acpi/sleep/wakeup.c | 
 | X!Edrivers/acpi/motherboard.c | 
 | X!Edrivers/acpi/bus.c | 
 | --> | 
 | !Edrivers/acpi/scan.c | 
 | !Idrivers/acpi/scan.c | 
 | <!-- No correct structured comments | 
 | X!Edrivers/acpi/pci_bind.c | 
 | --> | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Device drivers PnP support</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/pnp/core.c | 
 | <!-- No correct structured comments | 
 | X!Edrivers/pnp/system.c | 
 |  --> | 
 | !Edrivers/pnp/card.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pnp/driver.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pnp/manager.c | 
 | !Edrivers/pnp/support.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="blkdev"> | 
 |      <title>Block Devices</title> | 
 | !Eblock/ll_rw_blk.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="chrdev"> | 
 | 	<title>Char devices</title> | 
 | !Efs/char_dev.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="miscdev"> | 
 |      <title>Miscellaneous Devices</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/char/misc.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="parportdev"> | 
 |      <title>Parallel Port Devices</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/parport.h | 
 | !Edrivers/parport/ieee1284.c | 
 | !Edrivers/parport/share.c | 
 | !Idrivers/parport/daisy.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="message_devices"> | 
 | 	<title>Message-based devices</title> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Fusion message devices</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/message/fusion/mptbase.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/fusion/mptbase.c | 
 | !Edrivers/message/fusion/mptscsih.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/fusion/mptscsih.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/fusion/mptctl.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/fusion/mptspi.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/fusion/mptfc.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/fusion/mptlan.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>I2O message devices</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/i2o.h | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/core.h | 
 | !Edrivers/message/i2o/iop.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/iop.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/config-osm.c | 
 | !Edrivers/message/i2o/exec-osm.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/exec-osm.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/bus-osm.c | 
 | !Edrivers/message/i2o/device.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/device.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/driver.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/pci.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/i2o_block.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/i2o_scsi.c | 
 | !Idrivers/message/i2o/i2o_proc.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="snddev"> | 
 |      <title>Sound Devices</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/sound/core.h | 
 | !Esound/sound_core.c | 
 | !Iinclude/sound/pcm.h | 
 | !Esound/core/pcm.c | 
 | !Esound/core/device.c | 
 | !Esound/core/info.c | 
 | !Esound/core/rawmidi.c | 
 | !Esound/core/sound.c | 
 | !Esound/core/memory.c | 
 | !Esound/core/pcm_memory.c | 
 | !Esound/core/init.c | 
 | !Esound/core/isadma.c | 
 | !Esound/core/control.c | 
 | !Esound/core/pcm_lib.c | 
 | !Esound/core/hwdep.c | 
 | !Esound/core/pcm_native.c | 
 | !Esound/core/memalloc.c | 
 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source | 
 | X!Isound/sound_firmware.c | 
 | --> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="uart16x50"> | 
 |      <title>16x50 UART Driver</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/serial_core.h | 
 | !Edrivers/serial/serial_core.c | 
 | !Edrivers/serial/8250.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="z85230"> | 
 |      <title>Z85230 Support Library</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/net/wan/z85230.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="fbdev"> | 
 |      <title>Frame Buffer Library</title> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        The frame buffer drivers depend heavily on four data structures.   | 
 |        These structures are declared in include/linux/fb.h.  They are  | 
 |        fb_info, fb_var_screeninfo, fb_fix_screeninfo and fb_monospecs.  | 
 |        The last three can be made available to and from userland.  | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        fb_info defines the current state of a particular video card.  | 
 |        Inside fb_info, there exists a fb_ops structure which is a  | 
 |        collection of needed functions to make fbdev and fbcon work. | 
 |        fb_info is only visible to the kernel. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        fb_var_screeninfo is used to describe the features of a video card  | 
 |        that are user defined.  With fb_var_screeninfo, things such as | 
 |        depth and the resolution may be defined. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        The next structure is fb_fix_screeninfo. This defines the  | 
 |        properties of a card that are created when a mode is set and can't  | 
 |        be changed otherwise.  A good example of this is the start of the  | 
 |        frame buffer memory.  This "locks" the address of the frame buffer | 
 |        memory, so that it cannot be changed or moved. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <para> | 
 |        The last structure is fb_monospecs. In the old API, there was  | 
 |        little importance for fb_monospecs. This allowed for forbidden things  | 
 |        such as setting a mode of 800x600 on a fix frequency monitor. With  | 
 |        the new API, fb_monospecs prevents such things, and if used  | 
 |        correctly, can prevent a monitor from being cooked.  fb_monospecs | 
 |        will not be useful until kernels 2.5.x. | 
 |      </para> | 
 |  | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Memory</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/video/fbmem.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 | <!-- | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Console</title> | 
 | X!Edrivers/video/console/fbcon.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 | --> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Colormap</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/video/fbcmap.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 | <!-- FIXME: | 
 |   drivers/video/fbgen.c has no docs, which stuffs up the sgml.  Comment | 
 |   out until somebody adds docs.  KAO | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Generic Functions</title> | 
 | X!Idrivers/video/fbgen.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 | KAO --> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Video Mode Database</title> | 
 | !Idrivers/video/modedb.c | 
 | !Edrivers/video/modedb.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Macintosh Video Mode Database</title> | 
 | !Edrivers/video/macmodes.c | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |      <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Fonts</title> | 
 |         <para> | 
 |            Refer to the file drivers/video/console/fonts.c for more information. | 
 |         </para> | 
 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source | 
 | X!Idrivers/video/console/fonts.c | 
 | --> | 
 |      </sect1> | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="input_subsystem"> | 
 |      <title>Input Subsystem</title> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/input.h | 
 | !Edrivers/input/input.c | 
 | !Edrivers/input/ff-core.c | 
 | !Edrivers/input/ff-memless.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 |   <chapter id="spi"> | 
 |       <title>Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)</title> | 
 |   <para> | 
 | 	SPI is the "Serial Peripheral Interface", widely used with | 
 | 	embedded systems because it is a simple and efficient | 
 | 	interface:  basically a multiplexed shift register. | 
 | 	Its three signal wires hold a clock (SCK, often in the range | 
 | 	of 1-20 MHz), a "Master Out, Slave In" (MOSI) data line, and | 
 | 	a "Master In, Slave Out" (MISO) data line. | 
 | 	SPI is a full duplex protocol; for each bit shifted out the | 
 | 	MOSI line (one per clock) another is shifted in on the MISO line. | 
 | 	Those bits are assembled into words of various sizes on the | 
 | 	way to and from system memory. | 
 | 	An additional chipselect line is usually active-low (nCS); | 
 | 	four signals are normally used for each peripheral, plus | 
 | 	sometimes an interrupt. | 
 |   </para> | 
 |   <para> | 
 | 	The SPI bus facilities listed here provide a generalized | 
 | 	interface to declare SPI busses and devices, manage them | 
 | 	according to the standard Linux driver model, and perform | 
 | 	input/output operations. | 
 | 	At this time, only "master" side interfaces are supported, | 
 | 	where Linux talks to SPI peripherals and does not implement | 
 | 	such a peripheral itself. | 
 | 	(Interfaces to support implementing SPI slaves would | 
 | 	necessarily look different.) | 
 |   </para> | 
 |   <para> | 
 | 	The programming interface is structured around two kinds of driver, | 
 | 	and two kinds of device. | 
 | 	A "Controller Driver" abstracts the controller hardware, which may | 
 | 	be as simple as a set of GPIO pins or as complex as a pair of FIFOs | 
 | 	connected to dual DMA engines on the other side of the SPI shift | 
 | 	register (maximizing throughput).  Such drivers bridge between | 
 | 	whatever bus they sit on (often the platform bus) and SPI, and | 
 | 	expose the SPI side of their device as a | 
 | 	<structname>struct spi_master</structname>. | 
 | 	SPI devices are children of that master, represented as a | 
 | 	<structname>struct spi_device</structname> and manufactured from | 
 | 	<structname>struct spi_board_info</structname> descriptors which | 
 | 	are usually provided by board-specific initialization code. | 
 | 	A <structname>struct spi_driver</structname> is called a | 
 | 	"Protocol Driver", and is bound to a spi_device using normal | 
 | 	driver model calls. | 
 |   </para> | 
 |   <para> | 
 | 	The I/O model is a set of queued messages.  Protocol drivers | 
 | 	submit one or more <structname>struct spi_message</structname> | 
 | 	objects, which are processed and completed asynchronously. | 
 | 	(There are synchronous wrappers, however.)  Messages are | 
 | 	built from one or more <structname>struct spi_transfer</structname> | 
 | 	objects, each of which wraps a full duplex SPI transfer. | 
 | 	A variety of protocol tweaking options are needed, because | 
 | 	different chips adopt very different policies for how they | 
 | 	use the bits transferred with SPI. | 
 |   </para> | 
 | !Iinclude/linux/spi/spi.h | 
 | !Fdrivers/spi/spi.c spi_register_board_info | 
 | !Edrivers/spi/spi.c | 
 |   </chapter> | 
 |  | 
 | </book> |