
			Low Level Serial API
			--------------------


   $Id: driver,v 1.10 2002/07/22 15:27:30 rmk Exp $


This document is meant as a brief overview of some aspects of the new serial
driver.  It is not complete, any questions you have should be directed to
<rmk@arm.linux.org.uk>

The reference implementation is contained within serial_amba.c.



Low Level Serial Hardware Driver
--------------------------------

The low level serial hardware driver is responsible for supplying port
information (defined by uart_port) and a set of control methods (defined
by uart_ops) to the core serial driver.  The low level driver is also
responsible for handling interrupts for the port, and providing any
console support.


Console Support
---------------

The serial core provides a few helper functions.  This includes identifing
the correct port structure (via uart_get_console) and decoding command line
arguments (uart_parse_options).


Locking
-------

It is the responsibility of the low level hardware driver to perform the
necessary locking using port->lock.  There are some exceptions (which
are described in the uart_ops listing below.)

There are three locks.  A per-port spinlock, a per-port tmpbuf semaphore,
and an overall semaphore.

From the core driver perspective, the port->lock locks the following
data:

	port->mctrl
	port->icount
	info->xmit.head (circ->head)
	info->xmit.tail (circ->tail)

The low level driver is free to use this lock to provide any additional
locking.

The core driver uses the info->tmpbuf_sem lock to prevent multi-threaded
access to the info->tmpbuf bouncebuffer used for port writes.

The port_sem semaphore is used to protect against ports being added/
removed or reconfigured at inappropriate times.


uart_ops
--------

The uart_ops structure is the main interface between serial_core and the
hardware specific driver.  It contains all the methods to control the
hardware.

  tx_empty(port)
	This function tests whether the transmitter fifo and shifter
	for the port described by 'port' is empty.  If it is empty,
	this function should return TIOCSER_TEMT, otherwise return 0.
	If the port does not support this operation, then it should
	return TIOCSER_TEMT.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.
	This call must not sleep

  set_mctrl(port, mctrl)
	This function sets the modem control lines for port described
	by 'port' to the state described by mctrl.  The relevant bits
	of mctrl are:
		- TIOCM_RTS	RTS signal.
		- TIOCM_DTR	DTR signal.
		- TIOCM_OUT1	OUT1 signal.
		- TIOCM_OUT2	OUT2 signal.
	If the appropriate bit is set, the signal should be driven
	active.  If the bit is clear, the signal should be driven
	inactive.

	Locking: port->lock taken.
	Interrupts: locally disabled.
	This call must not sleep

  get_mctrl(port)
	Returns the current state of modem control inputs.  The state
	of the outputs should not be returned, since the core keeps
	track of their state.  The state information should include:
		- TIOCM_DCD	state of DCD signal
		- TIOCM_CTS	state of CTS signal
		- TIOCM_DSR	state of DSR signal
		- TIOCM_RI	state of RI signal
	The bit is set if the signal is currently driven active.  If
	the port does not support CTS, DCD or DSR, the driver should
	indicate that the signal is permanently active.  If RI is
	not available, the signal should not be indicated as active.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.
	This call must not sleep

  stop_tx(port,tty_stop)
	Stop transmitting characters.  This might be due to the CTS
	line becoming inactive or the tty layer indicating we want
	to stop transmission.

	tty_stop: 1 if this call is due to the TTY layer issuing a
	          TTY stop to the driver (equiv to rs_stop).

	Locking: port->lock taken.
	Interrupts: locally disabled.
	This call must not sleep

  start_tx(port,tty_start)
	start transmitting characters.  (incidentally, nonempty will
	always be nonzero, and shouldn't be used - it will be dropped).

	tty_start: 1 if this call was due to the TTY layer issuing
	           a TTY start to the driver (equiv to rs_start)

	Locking: port->lock taken.
	Interrupts: locally disabled.
	This call must not sleep

  stop_rx(port)
	Stop receiving characters; the port is in the process of
	being closed.

	Locking: port->lock taken.
	Interrupts: locally disabled.
	This call must not sleep

  enable_ms(port)
	Enable the modem status interrupts.

	Locking: port->lock taken.
	Interrupts: locally disabled.
	This call must not sleep

  break_ctl(port,ctl)
	Control the transmission of a break signal.  If ctl is
	nonzero, the break signal should be transmitted.  The signal
	should be terminated when another call is made with a zero
	ctl.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.
	This call must not sleep

  startup(port)
	Grab any interrupt resources and initialise any low level driver
	state.  Enable the port for reception.  It should not activate
	RTS nor DTR; this will be done via a separate call to set_mctrl.

	Locking: port_sem taken.
	Interrupts: globally disabled.

  shutdown(port)
	Disable the port, disable any break condition that may be in
	effect, and free any interrupt resources.  It should not disable
	RTS nor DTR; this will have already been done via a separate
	call to set_mctrl.

	Locking: port_sem taken.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  change_speed(port,cflag,iflag,quot)
	Change the port parameters, including word length, parity, stop
	bits.  Update read_status_mask and ignore_status_mask to indicate
	the types of events we are interested in receiving.  Relevant
	cflag bits are:
		CSIZE	- word size
		CSTOPB	- 2 stop bits
		PARENB	- parity enable
		PARODD	- odd parity (when PARENB is in force)
		CREAD	- enable reception of characters (if not set,
			  still receive characters from the port, but
			  throw them away.
		CRTSCTS	- if set, enable CTS status change reporting
		CLOCAL	- if not set, enable modem status change
			  reporting.
	Relevant iflag bits are:
		INPCK	- enable frame and parity error events to be
			  passed to the TTY layer.
		BRKINT
		PARMRK	- both of these enable break events to be
			  passed to the TTY layer.

		IGNPAR	- ignore parity and framing errors
		IGNBRK	- ignore break errors,  If IGNPAR is also
			  set, ignore overrun errors as well.
	The interaction of the iflag bits is as follows (parity error
	given as an example):
	Parity error	INPCK	IGNPAR
	None		n/a	n/a	character received
	Yes		n/a	0	character discarded
	Yes		0	1	character received, marked as
					TTY_NORMAL
	Yes		1	1	character received, marked as
					TTY_PARITY

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.
	This call must not sleep

  pm(port,state,oldstate)
	perform any power management related activities on the specified
	port.  state indicates the new state (defined by ACPI D0-D3),
	oldstate indicates the previous state.  Essentially, D0 means
	fully on, D3 means powered down.

	This function should not be used to grab any resources.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  type(port)
	Return a pointer to a string constant describing the specified
	port, or return NULL, in which case the string 'unknown' is
	substituted.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  release_port(port)
	Release any memory and IO region resources currently in use by
	the port.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  request_port(port)
	Request any memory and IO region resources required by the port.
	If any fail, no resources should be registered when this function
	returns, and it should return -EBUSY on failure.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  config_port(port,type)
	Perform any autoconfiguration steps required for the port.  `type`
	contains a bit mask of the required configuration.  UART_CONFIG_TYPE
	indicates that the port requires detection and identification.
	port->type should be set to the type found, or PORT_UNKNOWN if
	no port was detected.

	UART_CONFIG_IRQ indicates autoconfiguration of the interrupt signal,
	which should be probed using standard kernel autoprobing techniques.
	This is not necessary on platforms where ports have interrupts
	internally hard wired (eg, system on a chip implementations).

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  verify_port(port,serinfo)
	Verify the new serial port information contained within serinfo is
	suitable for this port type.

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.

  ioctl(port,cmd,arg)
	Perform any port specific IOCTLs.  IOCTL commands must be defined
	using the standard numbering system found in <asm/ioctl.h>

	Locking: none.
	Interrupts: caller dependent.


Other notes
-----------

It is intended some day to drop the 'unused' entries from uart_port, and
allow low level drivers to register their own individual uart_port's with
the core.  This will allow drivers to use uart_port as a pointer to a
structure containing both the uart_port entry with their own extensions,
thus:

	struct my_port {
		struct uart_port	port;
		int			my_stuff;
	};

Todo
----

Please see the BUGS file in CVS at

	http://cvs.arm.linux.org.uk/cgi/viewcvs.cgi/serial/BUGS
