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0001 ===============================
0002 Creating an input device driver
0003 ===============================
0004 
0005 The simplest example
0006 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0007 
0008 Here comes a very simple example of an input device driver. The device has
0009 just one button and the button is accessible at i/o port BUTTON_PORT. When
0010 pressed or released a BUTTON_IRQ happens. The driver could look like::
0011 
0012     #include <linux/input.h>
0013     #include <linux/module.h>
0014     #include <linux/init.h>
0015 
0016     #include <asm/irq.h>
0017     #include <asm/io.h>
0018 
0019     static struct input_dev *button_dev;
0020 
0021     static irqreturn_t button_interrupt(int irq, void *dummy)
0022     {
0023             input_report_key(button_dev, BTN_0, inb(BUTTON_PORT) & 1);
0024             input_sync(button_dev);
0025             return IRQ_HANDLED;
0026     }
0027 
0028     static int __init button_init(void)
0029     {
0030             int error;
0031 
0032             if (request_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt, 0, "button", NULL)) {
0033                     printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Can't allocate irq %d\n", button_irq);
0034                     return -EBUSY;
0035             }
0036 
0037             button_dev = input_allocate_device();
0038             if (!button_dev) {
0039                     printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Not enough memory\n");
0040                     error = -ENOMEM;
0041                     goto err_free_irq;
0042             }
0043 
0044             button_dev->evbit[0] = BIT_MASK(EV_KEY);
0045             button_dev->keybit[BIT_WORD(BTN_0)] = BIT_MASK(BTN_0);
0046 
0047             error = input_register_device(button_dev);
0048             if (error) {
0049                     printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Failed to register device\n");
0050                     goto err_free_dev;
0051             }
0052 
0053             return 0;
0054 
0055     err_free_dev:
0056             input_free_device(button_dev);
0057     err_free_irq:
0058             free_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt);
0059             return error;
0060     }
0061 
0062     static void __exit button_exit(void)
0063     {
0064             input_unregister_device(button_dev);
0065             free_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt);
0066     }
0067 
0068     module_init(button_init);
0069     module_exit(button_exit);
0070 
0071 What the example does
0072 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0073 
0074 First it has to include the <linux/input.h> file, which interfaces to the
0075 input subsystem. This provides all the definitions needed.
0076 
0077 In the _init function, which is called either upon module load or when
0078 booting the kernel, it grabs the required resources (it should also check
0079 for the presence of the device).
0080 
0081 Then it allocates a new input device structure with input_allocate_device()
0082 and sets up input bitfields. This way the device driver tells the other
0083 parts of the input systems what it is - what events can be generated or
0084 accepted by this input device. Our example device can only generate EV_KEY
0085 type events, and from those only BTN_0 event code. Thus we only set these
0086 two bits. We could have used::
0087 
0088         set_bit(EV_KEY, button_dev->evbit);
0089         set_bit(BTN_0, button_dev->keybit);
0090 
0091 as well, but with more than single bits the first approach tends to be
0092 shorter.
0093 
0094 Then the example driver registers the input device structure by calling::
0095 
0096         input_register_device(button_dev);
0097 
0098 This adds the button_dev structure to linked lists of the input driver and
0099 calls device handler modules _connect functions to tell them a new input
0100 device has appeared. input_register_device() may sleep and therefore must
0101 not be called from an interrupt or with a spinlock held.
0102 
0103 While in use, the only used function of the driver is::
0104 
0105         button_interrupt()
0106 
0107 which upon every interrupt from the button checks its state and reports it
0108 via the::
0109 
0110         input_report_key()
0111 
0112 call to the input system. There is no need to check whether the interrupt
0113 routine isn't reporting two same value events (press, press for example) to
0114 the input system, because the input_report_* functions check that
0115 themselves.
0116 
0117 Then there is the::
0118 
0119         input_sync()
0120 
0121 call to tell those who receive the events that we've sent a complete report.
0122 This doesn't seem important in the one button case, but is quite important
0123 for example for mouse movement, where you don't want the X and Y values
0124 to be interpreted separately, because that'd result in a different movement.
0125 
0126 dev->open() and dev->close()
0127 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0128 
0129 In case the driver has to repeatedly poll the device, because it doesn't
0130 have an interrupt coming from it and the polling is too expensive to be done
0131 all the time, or if the device uses a valuable resource (e.g. interrupt), it
0132 can use the open and close callback to know when it can stop polling or
0133 release the interrupt and when it must resume polling or grab the interrupt
0134 again. To do that, we would add this to our example driver::
0135 
0136     static int button_open(struct input_dev *dev)
0137     {
0138             if (request_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt, 0, "button", NULL)) {
0139                     printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Can't allocate irq %d\n", button_irq);
0140                     return -EBUSY;
0141             }
0142 
0143             return 0;
0144     }
0145 
0146     static void button_close(struct input_dev *dev)
0147     {
0148             free_irq(IRQ_AMIGA_VERTB, button_interrupt);
0149     }
0150 
0151     static int __init button_init(void)
0152     {
0153             ...
0154             button_dev->open = button_open;
0155             button_dev->close = button_close;
0156             ...
0157     }
0158 
0159 Note that input core keeps track of number of users for the device and
0160 makes sure that dev->open() is called only when the first user connects
0161 to the device and that dev->close() is called when the very last user
0162 disconnects. Calls to both callbacks are serialized.
0163 
0164 The open() callback should return a 0 in case of success or any non-zero value
0165 in case of failure. The close() callback (which is void) must always succeed.
0166 
0167 Inhibiting input devices
0168 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0169 
0170 Inhibiting a device means ignoring input events from it. As such it is about
0171 maintaining relationships with input handlers - either already existing
0172 relationships, or relationships to be established while the device is in
0173 inhibited state.
0174 
0175 If a device is inhibited, no input handler will receive events from it.
0176 
0177 The fact that nobody wants events from the device is exploited further, by
0178 calling device's close() (if there are users) and open() (if there are users) on
0179 inhibit and uninhibit operations, respectively. Indeed, the meaning of close()
0180 is to stop providing events to the input core and that of open() is to start
0181 providing events to the input core.
0182 
0183 Calling the device's close() method on inhibit (if there are users) allows the
0184 driver to save power. Either by directly powering down the device or by
0185 releasing the runtime-PM reference it got in open() when the driver is using
0186 runtime-PM.
0187 
0188 Inhibiting and uninhibiting are orthogonal to opening and closing the device by
0189 input handlers. Userspace might want to inhibit a device in anticipation before
0190 any handler is positively matched against it.
0191 
0192 Inhibiting and uninhibiting are orthogonal to device's being a wakeup source,
0193 too. Being a wakeup source plays a role when the system is sleeping, not when
0194 the system is operating.  How drivers should program their interaction between
0195 inhibiting, sleeping and being a wakeup source is driver-specific.
0196 
0197 Taking the analogy with the network devices - bringing a network interface down
0198 doesn't mean that it should be impossible be wake the system up on LAN through
0199 this interface. So, there may be input drivers which should be considered wakeup
0200 sources even when inhibited. Actually, in many I2C input devices their interrupt
0201 is declared a wakeup interrupt and its handling happens in driver's core, which
0202 is not aware of input-specific inhibit (nor should it be).  Composite devices
0203 containing several interfaces can be inhibited on a per-interface basis and e.g.
0204 inhibiting one interface shouldn't affect the device's capability of being a
0205 wakeup source.
0206 
0207 If a device is to be considered a wakeup source while inhibited, special care
0208 must be taken when programming its suspend(), as it might need to call device's
0209 open(). Depending on what close() means for the device in question, not
0210 opening() it before going to sleep might make it impossible to provide any
0211 wakeup events. The device is going to sleep anyway.
0212 
0213 Basic event types
0214 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0215 
0216 The most simple event type is EV_KEY, which is used for keys and buttons.
0217 It's reported to the input system via::
0218 
0219         input_report_key(struct input_dev *dev, int code, int value)
0220 
0221 See uapi/linux/input-event-codes.h for the allowable values of code (from 0 to
0222 KEY_MAX). Value is interpreted as a truth value, i.e. any non-zero value means
0223 key pressed, zero value means key released. The input code generates events only
0224 in case the value is different from before.
0225 
0226 In addition to EV_KEY, there are two more basic event types: EV_REL and
0227 EV_ABS. They are used for relative and absolute values supplied by the
0228 device. A relative value may be for example a mouse movement in the X axis.
0229 The mouse reports it as a relative difference from the last position,
0230 because it doesn't have any absolute coordinate system to work in. Absolute
0231 events are namely for joysticks and digitizers - devices that do work in an
0232 absolute coordinate systems.
0233 
0234 Having the device report EV_REL buttons is as simple as with EV_KEY; simply
0235 set the corresponding bits and call the::
0236 
0237         input_report_rel(struct input_dev *dev, int code, int value)
0238 
0239 function. Events are generated only for non-zero values.
0240 
0241 However EV_ABS requires a little special care. Before calling
0242 input_register_device, you have to fill additional fields in the input_dev
0243 struct for each absolute axis your device has. If our button device had also
0244 the ABS_X axis::
0245 
0246         button_dev.absmin[ABS_X] = 0;
0247         button_dev.absmax[ABS_X] = 255;
0248         button_dev.absfuzz[ABS_X] = 4;
0249         button_dev.absflat[ABS_X] = 8;
0250 
0251 Or, you can just say::
0252 
0253         input_set_abs_params(button_dev, ABS_X, 0, 255, 4, 8);
0254 
0255 This setting would be appropriate for a joystick X axis, with the minimum of
0256 0, maximum of 255 (which the joystick *must* be able to reach, no problem if
0257 it sometimes reports more, but it must be able to always reach the min and
0258 max values), with noise in the data up to +- 4, and with a center flat
0259 position of size 8.
0260 
0261 If you don't need absfuzz and absflat, you can set them to zero, which mean
0262 that the thing is precise and always returns to exactly the center position
0263 (if it has any).
0264 
0265 BITS_TO_LONGS(), BIT_WORD(), BIT_MASK()
0266 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0267 
0268 These three macros from bitops.h help some bitfield computations::
0269 
0270         BITS_TO_LONGS(x) - returns the length of a bitfield array in longs for
0271                            x bits
0272         BIT_WORD(x)      - returns the index in the array in longs for bit x
0273         BIT_MASK(x)      - returns the index in a long for bit x
0274 
0275 The id* and name fields
0276 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0277 
0278 The dev->name should be set before registering the input device by the input
0279 device driver. It's a string like 'Generic button device' containing a
0280 user friendly name of the device.
0281 
0282 The id* fields contain the bus ID (PCI, USB, ...), vendor ID and device ID
0283 of the device. The bus IDs are defined in input.h. The vendor and device IDs
0284 are defined in pci_ids.h, usb_ids.h and similar include files. These fields
0285 should be set by the input device driver before registering it.
0286 
0287 The idtype field can be used for specific information for the input device
0288 driver.
0289 
0290 The id and name fields can be passed to userland via the evdev interface.
0291 
0292 The keycode, keycodemax, keycodesize fields
0293 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0294 
0295 These three fields should be used by input devices that have dense keymaps.
0296 The keycode is an array used to map from scancodes to input system keycodes.
0297 The keycode max should contain the size of the array and keycodesize the
0298 size of each entry in it (in bytes).
0299 
0300 Userspace can query and alter current scancode to keycode mappings using
0301 EVIOCGKEYCODE and EVIOCSKEYCODE ioctls on corresponding evdev interface.
0302 When a device has all 3 aforementioned fields filled in, the driver may
0303 rely on kernel's default implementation of setting and querying keycode
0304 mappings.
0305 
0306 dev->getkeycode() and dev->setkeycode()
0307 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0308 
0309 getkeycode() and setkeycode() callbacks allow drivers to override default
0310 keycode/keycodesize/keycodemax mapping mechanism provided by input core
0311 and implement sparse keycode maps.
0312 
0313 Key autorepeat
0314 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0315 
0316 ... is simple. It is handled by the input.c module. Hardware autorepeat is
0317 not used, because it's not present in many devices and even where it is
0318 present, it is broken sometimes (at keyboards: Toshiba notebooks). To enable
0319 autorepeat for your device, just set EV_REP in dev->evbit. All will be
0320 handled by the input system.
0321 
0322 Other event types, handling output events
0323 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0324 
0325 The other event types up to now are:
0326 
0327 - EV_LED - used for the keyboard LEDs.
0328 - EV_SND - used for keyboard beeps.
0329 
0330 They are very similar to for example key events, but they go in the other
0331 direction - from the system to the input device driver. If your input device
0332 driver can handle these events, it has to set the respective bits in evbit,
0333 *and* also the callback routine::
0334 
0335     button_dev->event = button_event;
0336 
0337     int button_event(struct input_dev *dev, unsigned int type,
0338                      unsigned int code, int value)
0339     {
0340             if (type == EV_SND && code == SND_BELL) {
0341                     outb(value, BUTTON_BELL);
0342                     return 0;
0343             }
0344             return -1;
0345     }
0346 
0347 This callback routine can be called from an interrupt or a BH (although that
0348 isn't a rule), and thus must not sleep, and must not take too long to finish.