How to test your own Linux module? - linux

Today I am getting started with developing Linux modules. It was rather hard to write, compile and work with Helloworld, but I've done it.
My second module with open, write, read functions is ready, but I really dont know how to test it. Write method just makes printk(). My module is loaded, its name is iamnoob. How to test this write(...) function and to find smth in var/log/syslog?
cat > iamnoob just writes a file to the dir. Same with cp and other.
Sorry for noob question, i've googled, but no answer has been found. Sorry for poor English.

A basic kernel module would normally include registering a character device.
Simple imlementation requires:
Register chrdev region with specific major & minor.
Allocate file operations structure and implement the basic read / write APIs.
Initialize and register character device with the file operations structure to the major / minor region.
See the following code snippet as a template of a module (only read / write APIs are imlemented):
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/cdev.h>
#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <asm-generic/uaccess.h>
#define MY_BUFFER_SIZE (1024 * 10)
#define MY_CHRDEV_MAJOR 217
#define MY_CHRDEV_MINOR 0
static struct cdev my_cdev;
static unsigned char *my_buf;
static dev_t my_dev = MKDEV(MY_CHRDEV_MAJOR, MY_CHRDEV_MINOR);
ssize_t my_read(struct file *file, char __user * buf, size_t count, loff_t * ppos)
{
int size;
size = MY_BUFFER_SIZE - 100 - (int)*ppos;
if (size > count)
size = count;
if (copy_to_user(buf, my_buf + *ppos, count))
return -EFAULT;
*ppos += size;
return size;
}
ssize_t my_write(struct file *file, const char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
{
int size;
size = MY_BUFFER_SIZE - 100 - (int)*ppos;
if (size > count)
size = count;
if (copy_from_user(my_buf + *ppos, buf, count))
return -EFAULT;
*ppos += size;
return size;
}
long my_unlocked_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
{
printk ("%s!\n", __FUNCTION__);
return 0;
}
int my_mmap(struct file *f, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
{
printk ("%s!\n", __FUNCTION__);
return 0;
}
int my_open(struct inode *i, struct file *f)
{
printk ("%s!\n", __FUNCTION__);
return 0;
}
int my_release(struct inode *i, struct file *f)
{
printk ("%s!\n", __FUNCTION__);
return 0;
}
struct file_operations my_fops =
{
.owner = THIS_MODULE,
.read = &my_read,
.write = &my_write,
.unlocked_ioctl = &my_unlocked_ioctl,
.mmap = &my_mmap,
.open = &my_open,
.release = &my_release,
};
static int __init my_module_init(void)
{
int line = 0;
unsigned char *pos;
printk ("%s!\n", __FUNCTION__);
my_buf = (unsigned char *)kzalloc(MY_BUFFER_SIZE, 0);
if (my_buf == NULL) {
printk("%s - failed to kzallocate buf!\n", __FUNCTION__);
return -1;
}
pos = my_buf;
while (pos - my_buf < MY_BUFFER_SIZE - 100) {
sprintf(pos, "Line #%d\n", line++);
pos += strlen(pos);
}
cdev_init(&my_cdev, &my_fops);
if (register_chrdev_region(my_dev, 1, "my_dev")) {
pr_err("Failed to allocate device number\n");
}
cdev_add(&my_cdev, my_dev, 1);
printk ("%s - registered chrdev\n", __FUNCTION__);
return 0;
}
static void __exit my_module_exit(void)
{
printk ("my_module_exit.\n");
unregister_chrdev_region(my_dev, 1);
return;
}
module_init(my_module_init);
module_exit(my_module_exit);
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
This module uses a buffer for file operations, therefore can be tested on any machine, regardless of its HW. Make sure you avoid unnecessary printk's as loops may harm your kernel stability.
Once this is done, in user-space shell you should create a /dev node to represent your character device:
sudo mknod /dev/[dev_name] c [major] [minor]
for example:
sudo mknod /dev/my_dev c 217 0
Then you can test your read / write APIs with:
sudo insmod my_modult.ko
cat /dev/my_dev
less -f /dev/my_dev
sudo su
root> echo "This is a test" > /dev/my_dev
root> exit
cat /dev/my_dev
The shell commands listed above perform read, then login as root (to allow writing to device), write to the char dev, then exit and read again to see the changes.
Now you'd normally implement ioctl and mmap if needed.

Related

How could I use `kallsyms_lookup_name` function to fix `unknown character` error when loading Linux kernel module?

I'm trying to complete a hooking sample attachment in a program for my uni assignment. The task requires to get a system call sys_rt_sigaction hooked when initiating a loadable module in Linux kernel (I use Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, kernel version is 5.0.0-23-generic). So, the case I'm struggling originates from an error could not insert module <module name>: Unknown symbol in module once I started sudo insmod <my module name>.ko.
After some googling, I see clear this problem arises due to missing sys_call_table export to run inserting as smoothly as well. Following this post, I want to cope that invoking kallsyms_lookup_name call before kicking off init procedure.
There is .c-file which provides with definitions of operations accessible by module (file name is buffer.c):
#define __KERNEL__
#define MODULE
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <asm/uaccess.h>
#include <linux/syscalls.h>
#include <linux/kallsyms.h>
#include <linux/unistd.h>
void * sys_call_table = (void *) kallsyms_lookup_name("sys_call_table");// some wrongness here, but what exactly?
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
int (*real_rt_sigaction)(const char * path); // true syscall prototype
static int __init buffer_init_module(void);
static void __exit buffer_exit_module(void);
static int device_open(struct inode *, struct file *); // driver file opening
static int device_release(struct inode *, struct file *); // return of system resource control
static ssize_t device_read(struct file *, char *, size_t, loff_t *); // reading from driver file
static ssize_t device_write(struct file *, const char *, size_t, loff_t *); // writing into driver file
#define DEVICE_NAME "buffer"
#define BUF_LEN 80
// to be called instead
int alter_rt_sigaction(int signum, const struct sigaction *act,
struct sigaction *oldact, size_t sigsetsize) {
printk(KERN_INFO "Syscall function hooked - you've lost control of your experience");
return 0;
}
static int Major;
static int Device_Open = 0;
static int total_open = 1;
static char Buf[BUF_LEN + 1] = "Buffer is empty, add some input\n";
static char *Msg_ptr;
static int Buf_Char = 50;
static int Bytes_Read = 0;
static struct file_operations fops = {
.read = device_read,
.write = device_write,
.open = device_open,
.release = device_release
};
static int __init buffer_init_module(void)
{
printk(KERN_INFO
"Device initializing in progress...");
Major = register_chrdev(0, DEVICE_NAME, &fops);
if(Major < 0) {
printk("Major number hasn't been assigned - Driver registration failed\n");
return Major;
}
printk(KERN_INFO "Registration success - device major number: %d\n", Major);
real_rt_sigaction=sys_call_table[__NR_rt_sigaction];
sys_call_table[__NR_rt_sigaction]=alter_rt_sigaction; // hooking implementation
return 0;
}
static void __exit buffer_exit_module(void)
{
unregister_chrdev(Major, DEVICE_NAME);
printk(KERN_INFO "Outside the module - exit successfully completed\n");
sys_call_table[__NR_rt_sigaction]=real_rt_sigaction; // original call reset
}
static int device_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
{
if(Device_Open)
return -EBUSY;
Device_Open++;
printk(KERN_INFO "Device file has been accessed %d time(s)\n", total_open++);
Msg_ptr = Buf;
try_module_get(THIS_MODULE);
Bytes_Read = 0;
return 0;
}
static int device_release(struct inode * node, struct file * filep)
{
Device_Open--;
module_put(THIS_MODULE);
printk(KERN_INFO "Device file gets close\n");
return 0;
}
static ssize_t device_read(struct file * filep, char * buffer, size_t len, loff_t * offset)
{
int got_read = Bytes_Read;
if(Bytes_Read >= Buf_Char)
return 0;
while(len && (Bytes_Read < Buf_Char)) {
put_user(Msg_ptr[Bytes_Read], buffer+Bytes_Read);
len--;
Bytes_Read++;
}
return Bytes_Read-got_read;
}
static ssize_t device_write(struct file * filep, const char * buffer, size_t len, loff_t * offset)
{
Buf_Char = 0;
if(Buf_Char >= BUF_LEN) {
return 0;
}
while(len && (Buf_Char < BUF_LEN))
{
get_user(Msg_ptr[Buf_Char], buffer+Buf_Char);
len--;
Buf_Char++;
}
return Buf_Char;
}
module_init(buffer_init_module);
module_exit(buffer_exit_module);
Additively, there is code in Makefile:
obj-m += buffer.o
all:
make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) modules
clean:
make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) clean
The painful moment here is an error message initializer element is not constant whenever I was trying to build module via sudo make in my project folder. As I follow the beginner's tutorials and need for some basic insight, it might be highly appreciable to see any help with solution or even some ideas how to handle the same problem more effectively, indeed.

Failed to get kernel data using copy_to_user not working with debugfs

I am trying to implement simple debugfs interface module. Code attached for reference. To write data I'm using echo 'string' > /sys/kernel/debug/debugexercise/text and its working as expected data being copied into kernel buffer.
But when I try to retrieve data back using cat command i.e. cat /sys/kernel/debug/debugexercise/text , its not printing any data on terminal.
I have also tried using simple_read_from_buffer instead of copy_to_user but got the same result.
Anybody have idea what is the problem with this code. 4.13.0-45-generic is the kernel version on my system.
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/debugfs.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/uaccess.h>
#define LEN 512
static struct dentry *test_dir;
static struct dentry *test_file;
static char ker_buf[LEN] ;
/* read file operation */
static ssize_t test_read(struct file *fp, char __user *user_buffer, size_t count, loff_t *position){
printk(KERN_NOTICE "debugfs_read called, count %d\n", count);
return copy_to_user(user_buffer, ker_buf, LEN);
}
static ssize_t test_write(struct file *fp, const char __user *user_buffer, size_t count, loff_t *position){
printk(KERN_NOTICE "debugfs_write called, count %d\n",count);
if(count > LEN )
return -EINVAL;
copy_from_user(ker_buf, user_buffer, count);
printk(KERN_NOTICE "write buffer complete: %s\n",ker_buf);
return count;
}
static struct file_operations fops_debug = {
.read = test_read,
.write = test_write,
};
static int __init init_debug(void)
{
test_dir = debugfs_create_dir("debugexercise", NULL);
if(NULL == test_dir){
printk(KERN_ERR "debugfs_create_dir() Failed\n");
return -1;
}
else
printk(KERN_NOTICE "debugexercise created\n");
test_file = debugfs_create_file("text", 0644, test_dir, NULL, &fops_debug);
if(NULL == test_file){
printk(KERN_ERR "debugfs_create_file() Failed\n");
debugfs_remove(test_dir);
return -1;
}
else
printk(KERN_NOTICE "text under debugexercise created\n");
return 0;
}
static void __exit exit_debug(void)
{
printk(KERN_NOTICE "removing module\n");
debugfs_remove(test_file);
debugfs_remove(test_dir);
}
module_init(init_debug)
module_exit(exit_debug)
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
copy_to_user returns the number of bytes that could not be copied. On success, this will be zero. Hence, the cat displays 0 characters. I believe you should do:
if (copy_to_user(user_buffer, ker_buf, LEN)){
printk(KERN_INFO "copy to user failed.\n");
return -EINVAL; /* For instance ... */
}
return LEN;

Linux - proc_fs implementation in a basic kernel module

So I am trying to implement and see how does a module creates a virtual file in /proc and this is a very simple code I wrote:
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/proc_fs.h>
#include <asm/uaccess.h>
#define BUF_SIZE 48
struct proc_dir_entry *proc_entry,*root_dir=NULL;
char result_buffer[BUF_SIZE];
char before[BUF_SIZE];
int count,temp=1;
ssize_t write(struct file *f, const char __user *buf, size_t len, loff_t *off)
{
printk(KERN_ERR "my4: Somebody toyed here\n");
if (copy_from_user(result_buffer,buf,len))
return -EFAULT;
return len;
}
// this read implementation is just a fudge, i am just trying to get the grasp of basic concepts here
ssize_t read(struct file *f, char __user *buf, size_t c, loff_t *off)
{
int len = 0;
if (temp == 0) {
temp = 1;
return 0;
}
sprintf(before,"[%s]",result_buffer);
if (count <= 1)
sprintf(result_buffer,"my4 read %d\n",count++);
else
sprintf(result_buffer,"my4 read again!! count=%d\n", count++);
len = strlen(result_buffer);
if (copy_to_user(buf, result_buffer, len)) return -EFAULT;
printk(KERN_ERR "my4: page before=[%s]\n\t page after=[%s]\n", before, result_buffer);
temp = 0;
return len;
}
static const struct file_operations file_ops = {
.owner = THIS_MODULE,
.read = read,
.write = write
};
int init_my4(void) {
count = 1;
proc_entry = proc_create("my4", 438, NULL, &file_ops);
strcpy(result_buffer, "initialized\n");
if (proc_entry == NULL) {
printk(KERN_ERR "my4: could not create proc entry\n");
return -ENOMEM;
}
printk(KERN_INFO "my4: Module loaded successfully\n");
return 0;
}
void unload_my4(void) {
remove_proc_entry("my4",root_dir);
printk(KERN_INFO "my4: Module unloaded successfully\n");
}
module_init(init_my4);
module_exit(unload_my4);
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
What the problem is that BUF_SIZE being just 48 if I write more than that to the file like :
echo "Lets write more than 48 bytes to the file and see if it breaks or overflows or if the kernel kills my process" > /proc/my4
Now when I cat /proc/my4 I get:
my4: Somebody toyed here
[23482.029609] my4: page before=[[Lets write more than 48 bytes to the file and see if it breaks my4 read again!! count=3
]
page after=[my4 read again!! count=3
I fail to understand what is happening here that is how does the kernel simply ignores the input greater than 48 bytes and where does it go?
As I thought that either it will overflow with a segfault or the kernel will kill the process!

How to get the reference count on Linux driver level?

In the Linux kernel the opened file is indicated by struct file, and the file descriptor table contains a pointers which is point to struct file. f_count is an important member in the struct file. f_count, which means Reference Count. The system call dup() and fork() make other file descriptor point to same struct file.
As shown in the picture (sorry, my reputation is too low, the picture can not be uploaded), fd1 and fd2 point to the struct file, so the Reference Count is equal to 2, thus f_count = 2.
My question is how can i get the value of the f_count by programming.
UPDATE:ok,In order to make myself more clear i will show my code, both the char device driver,Makefile and my application.:D
deviceDriver.c
#include "linux/kernel.h"
#include "linux/module.h"
#include "linux/fs.h"
#include "linux/init.h"
#include "linux/types.h"
#include "linux/errno.h"
#include "linux/uaccess.h"
#include "linux/kdev_t.h"
#define MAX_SIZE 1024
static int my_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file);
static int my_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file);
static ssize_t my_read(struct file *file, char __user *user, size_t t, loff_t *f);
static ssize_t my_write(struct file *file, const char __user *user, size_t t, loff_t *f);
static char message[MAX_SIZE] = "-------congratulations--------!";
static int device_num = 0;//device number
static int counter = 0;
static int mutex = 0;
static char* devName = "myDevice";//device name
struct file_operations pStruct =
{ open:my_open, release:my_release, read:my_read, write:my_write, };
/* regist the module */
int init_module()
{
int ret;
/ **/
ret = register_chrdev(0, devName, &pStruct);
if (ret < 0)
{
printk("regist failure!\n");
return -1;
}
else
{
printk("the device has been registered!\n");
device_num = ret;
printk("<1>the virtual device's major number %d.\n", device_num);
printk("<1>Or you can see it by using\n");
printk("<1>------more /proc/devices-------\n");
printk("<1>To talk to the driver,create a dev file with\n");
printk("<1>------'mknod /dev/myDevice c %d 0'-------\n", device_num);
printk("<1>Use \"rmmode\" to remove the module\n");
return 0;
}
}
void cleanup_module()
{
unregister_chrdev(device_num, devName);
printk("unregister it success!\n");
}
static int my_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
{
if(mutex)
return -EBUSY;
mutex = 1;//lock
printk("<1>main device : %d\n", MAJOR(inode->i_rdev));
printk("<1>slave device : %d\n", MINOR(inode->i_rdev));
printk("<1>%d times to call the device\n", ++counter);
try_module_get(THIS_MODULE);
return 0;
}
/* release */
static int my_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
{
printk("Device released!\n");
module_put(THIS_MODULE);
mutex = 0;//unlock
return 0;
}
static ssize_t my_read(struct file *file, char __user *user, size_t t, loff_t *f)
{
if(copy_to_user(user,message,sizeof(message)))
{
return -EFAULT;
}
return sizeof(message);
}
static ssize_t my_write(struct file *file, const char __user *user, size_t t, loff_t *f)
{
if(copy_from_user(message,user,sizeof(message)))
{
return -EFAULT;
}
return sizeof(message);
}
Makefile:
# If KERNELRELEASE is defined, we've been invoked from the
# kernel build system and can use its language.
ifeq ($(KERNELRELEASE),)
# Assume the source tree is where the running kernel was built
# You should set KERNELDIR in the environment if it's elsewhere
KERNELDIR ?= /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build
# The current directory is passed to sub-makes as argument
PWD := $(shell pwd)
modules:
$(MAKE) -C $(KERNELDIR) M=$(PWD) modules
modules_install:
$(MAKE) -C $(KERNELDIR) M=$(PWD) modules_install
clean:
rm -rf *.o *~ core .depend .*.cmd *.ko *.mod.c .tmp_versions
.PHONY: modules modules_install clean
else
# called from kernel build system: just declare what our modules are
obj-m := devDrv.o
endif
application.c:
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#define MAX_SIZE 1024
int main(void)
{
int fd;
char buf[MAX_SIZE];
char get[MAX_SIZE];
char devName[20], dir[50] = "/dev/";
system("ls /dev/");
printf("Please input the device's name you wanna to use :");
gets(devName);
strcat(dir, devName);
fd = open(dir, O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK);
if (fd != -1)
{
read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
printf("The device was inited with a string : %s\n", buf);
/* test fot writing */
printf("Please input a string :\n");
gets(get);
write(fd, get, sizeof(get));
/* test for reading */
read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
system("dmesg");
printf("\nThe string in the device now is : %s\n", buf);
close(fd);
return 0;
}
else
{
printf("Device open failed\n");
return -1;
}
}
Any idea to get the struct file's(char device file) f_count? Is it poassible get it by the way of printk?
You should divide reference counter to module from other module and from user-space application. lsmod show how many modules use your module.
sctp 247143 4
libcrc32c 12644 1 sctp
It is impossible load sctp without libcrc32c because sctp use exported function from libcrc32 to calculate control sum for packets.
The reference counter itself is embedded in the module data structure and can be obtained with the function uint module_refcount(struct module* module);
You can use:
printk("Module reference counter: %d\n", (int)module_refcount(THIS_MODULE));
THIS_MODULE it is a reference to current loadable module (for build-in module it is NULL) inside .owner field (inside struct file_operations).
If there is a need manually modify module's counter use:
int try_module_get(struct module* module);
void module_put(struct module* module);
If module unloaded it will return false. You also can move thru all modules. Modules linked via list.
File opening inside kernel it is bad idea. Inside kernel you can get access to inode. Try read man pages for dup and fork. In you system you can investigate lsof tools.

kernel driver reading ok from user space, but writing back is always 0

So I'm working my way through kernel driver programming, and currently I'm trying to build a simple data transfer between application and kernel driver.
I am using simple character device as a link between these two, and I have succeeded to transfer data to driver, but I can't get meaningful data back to user space.
Kernel driver looks like this:
#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h> /* printk() */
#include <linux/errno.h> /* error codes */
#include <linux/types.h> /* size_t */
#include <linux/proc_fs.h>
#include <asm/uaccess.h> /* copy_from/to_user */
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
//Declarations
int memory_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp);
int memory_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp);
ssize_t memory_read(struct file *filp, char *buf, size_t count, loff_t *f_pos);
ssize_t memory_write(struct file *filp, char *buf, size_t count, loff_t *f_pos);
void memory_exit(void);
int memory_init(void);
/* Structure that declares the usual file access functions */
struct file_operations memory_fops = {
read: memory_read,
write: memory_write,
open: memory_open,
release: memory_release
};
//Default functions
module_init(memory_init);
module_exit(memory_exit);
/* Global variables of the driver */
/* Major number */
int memory_major = 60;
/* Buffer to store data */
char* tx_buffer;
char* rx_buffer;
int BUFFER_SIZE=64;
int actual_rx_size=0;
int memory_init(void) {
int result;
/* Registering device */
result = register_chrdev(memory_major, "move_data", &memory_fops);
if (result < 0) {
printk(
"<1>move_data: cannot obtain major number %d\n", memory_major);
return result;
}
/* Allocating memory for the buffers */
//Allocate buffers
tx_buffer = kmalloc(BUFFER_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
rx_buffer = kmalloc(BUFFER_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
//Check allocation was ok
if (!tx_buffer || !rx_buffer) {
result = -ENOMEM;
goto fail;
}
//Reset the buffers
memset(tx_buffer,0, BUFFER_SIZE);
memset(rx_buffer,0, BUFFER_SIZE);
printk("<1>Inserting memory module\n");
return 0;
fail:
memory_exit();
return result;
}
void memory_exit(void) {
/* Freeing the major number */
unregister_chrdev(memory_major, "memory");
/* Freeing buffers */
if (tx_buffer) {
kfree(tx_buffer); //Note kfree
}
if (rx_buffer) {
kfree(rx_buffer); //Note kfree
}
printk("<1>Removing memory module\n");
}
//Read function
ssize_t memory_read(struct file *filp, char *buf, size_t count, loff_t *f_pos) {
printk("user requesting data, our buffer has (%d) \n", actual_rx_size);
/* Transfering data to user space */
int retval = copy_to_user(buf,rx_buffer,actual_rx_size);
printk("copy_to_user returned (%d)", retval);
return retval;
}
ssize_t memory_write( struct file *filp, char *buf,
size_t count, loff_t *f_pos) {
//zero the input buffer
memset(tx_buffer,0,BUFFER_SIZE);
memset(rx_buffer,0,BUFFER_SIZE);
printk("New message from userspace - count:%d\n",count);
int retval = copy_from_user(tx_buffer,buf,count);
printk("copy_from_user returned (%d) we read [%s]\n",retval , tx_buffer);
printk("initialize rx buffer..\n");
memcpy(rx_buffer,tx_buffer, count);
printk("content of rx buffer [%s]\n", rx_buffer);
actual_rx_size = count;
return count; //inform that we read all (fixme?)
}
//Always successfull
int memory_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp) { return 0; }
int memory_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp) { return 0; }
And the userspace application is simple as well:
#include <unistd.h> //open, close | always first, defines compliance
#include <fcntl.h> //O_RDONLY
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h> //printf
#include <string.h>
int main(int args, char *argv[])
{
int BUFFER_SIZE = 20;
char internal_buf[BUFFER_SIZE];
int to_read = 0;
memset(internal_buf,0,BUFFER_SIZE);
if (args < 3) {
printf("2 Input arguments needed\nTo read 10 bytes: \"%s read 10\" \
\nTo write string \"hello\": \"%s write hello\"\nExiting..\n", argv[0], argv[0]);
return 1;
}
//Check the operation
if (strcmp(argv[1],"write") == 0) {
printf("input lenght:%d", strlen(argv[2]));
//Make sure our write fits to the internal buffer
if(strlen(argv[2]) >= BUFFER_SIZE) {
printf("too long input string, max buffer[%d]\nExiting..", BUFFER_SIZE);
return 2;
}
printf("write op\n");
memcpy(internal_buf,argv[2], strlen(argv[2]));
printf("Writing [%s]\n", internal_buf);
FILE * filepointer;
filepointer = fopen("/dev/move_data", "w");
fwrite(internal_buf, sizeof(char) , strlen(argv[2]), filepointer);
fclose(filepointer);
} else if (strcmp(argv[1],"read") == 0) {
printf("read op\n");
to_read = atoi(argv[2]);
FILE * filepointer;
filepointer = fopen("/dev/move_data", "r");
int retval = fread(internal_buf, sizeof(char) , to_read, filepointer);
fclose(filepointer);
printf("Read %d bytes from driver string[%s]\n", retval, internal_buf);
} else {
printf("first argument has to be 'read' or 'write'\nExiting..\n");
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
When I execute my application, this is what happens:
./rw write "testing testing"
kernel side:
[ 2696.607586] New message from userspace - count:15
[ 2696.607591] copy_from_user returned (0) we read [testing testing]
[ 2696.607593] initialize rx buffer..
[ 2696.607594] content of rx buffer [testing testing]
So all look correct. But when I try to read:
./rw read 15
read op
Read 0 bytes from driver string[]
Kernel
[ 617.096521] user requesting data, our buffer has (15)
[ 575.797668] copy_to_user returned (0)
[ 617.096528] copy_to_user returned (0)
I guess it's quite simple what I'm doing wrong, since if I don't return 0, I can get some data back, but for example if I read with cat, it will continue looping endlessly.
I would like to understand what mistakes I have made in my thinking.
Is there a way that kernel driver would just spit out it's buffer, and then return 0, so that I wouldn't have to build some protocol there in between to take care of how much data has been read etc.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Edit: corrected the printk statement in memory_write function, and added memory_read function trace
Your read function always returns 0 because you are returning retval, and not the count of bytes read. As long as the copy_to_user() call always succeeds, retval will always be 0. Instead, as long as copy_to_user() succeeds, you should return the number of bytes actually written to user space. This documentation states that copy_to_user() returns the total number of bytes that it was unable to copy.
As an aside, you are ignoring the value of count. It is very possible that the user is requesting less data than you have available in your buffer. You should never ignore count.
Now you have the problem where your function never returns a 0. Returning a 0 is important because is tells the user application that there is no more data available for reading and the user application should close the device file.
You need to keep track in your driver how many bytes have been read vs. how many bytes have been written. This may be implemented using your actual_rx_size.
Try this:
//Read function
ssize_t memory_read(struct file *filp, char *buf, size_t count, loff_t *f_pos) {
ssize_t bytes;
if (actual_rx_size < count)
bytes = actual_rx_size;
else
bytes = count;
printk("user requesting data, our buffer has (%d) \n", actual_rx_size);
/* Check to see if there is data to transfer */
if (bytes == 0)
return 0;
/* Transfering data to user space */
int retval = copy_to_user(buf,rx_buffer,bytes);
if (retval) {
printk("copy_to_user() could not copy %d bytes.\n", retval);
return -EFAULT;
} else {
printk("copy_to_user() succeeded!\n");
actual_rx_size -= bytes;
return bytes;
}
}

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