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I am trying to write a simple character device/LKM that reads, writes, and seeks.
I have been having a lot of issues with this, but have been working on it/troubleshooting for weeks and have been unable to get it to work properly. Currently, my module makes properly and mounts and unmounts properly, but if I try to echo to the device driver file the terminal crashes, and when i try to read from it using cat it returns killed.
Steps for this module:
First, I make the module by running make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=$PWD modules
For my kernel, uname -r is 4.10.17newkernel
I mount the module using sudo insmod simple_char_driver.ko
If I run lsmod, the module is listed
If I run dmesg, the KERN_ALERT in my init function "This device is now open" triggers correctly.
Additionally, if I run sudo rmmod, that functions "This device is now closed" KERN_ALERT also triggers correctly.
The module also shows up correctly in cat /proc/devices
I created the device driver file in /dev using sudo mknod -m 777 /dev/simple_char_driver c 240 0
Before making this file, I made sure that the 240 major number was not already in use.
My device driver c file has the following code:
#include<linux/init.h>
#include<linux/module.h>
#include<linux/fs.h>
#include<linux/slab.h>
#include<asm/uaccess.h>
#define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
//minor nunmber 0;
static int place_in_buffer = 0;
static int end_of_buffer = 1024;
static int MAJOR_NUMBER = 240;
char* DEVICE_NAME = "simple_char_driver";
typedef struct{
char* buf;
}buffer;
char *device_buffer;
static int closeCounter=0;
static int openCounter=0;
ssize_t simple_char_driver_read (struct file *pfile, char __user *buffer, size_t length, loff_t *offset){
int bytesRead = 0;
if (*offset >=BUFFER_SIZE){
bytesRead = 0;
}
if (*offset + length > BUFFER_SIZE){
length = BUFFER_SIZE - *offset;
}
printk(KERN_INFO "Reading from device\n");
if (copy_to_user(buffer, device_buffer + *offset, length) != 0){
return -EFAULT;
}
copy_to_user(buffer, device_buffer + *offset, length);
*offset += length;
printk(KERN_ALERT "Read: %s", buffer);
printk(KERN_ALERT "%d bytes read\n", bytesRead);
return 0;
}
ssize_t simple_char_driver_write (struct file *pfile, const char __user *buffer, size_t length, loff_t *offset){
int nb_bytes_to_copy;
if (BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset <= length)
{
nb_bytes_to_copy= BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset;
printk("BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset <= length");
}
else if (BUFFER_SIZE - 1 - *offset > length)
{
nb_bytes_to_copy = length;
printk("BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset > length");
}
printk(KERN_INFO "Writing to device\n");
if (*offset + length > BUFFER_SIZE)
{
printk("sorry, can't do that. ");
return -1;
}
printk("about to copy from device");
copy_from_user(device_buffer + *offset, buffer, nb_bytes_to_copy);
device_buffer[*offset + nb_bytes_to_copy] = '\0';
*offset += nb_bytes_to_copy;
return nb_bytes_to_copy;
}
int simple_char_driver_open (struct inode *pinode, struct file *pfile)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT"This device is now open");
openCounter++;
printk(KERN_ALERT "This device has been opened this many times: %d\n", openCounter);
return 0;
}
int simple_char_driver_close (struct inode *pinode, struct file *pfile)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT"This device is now closed");
closeCounter++;
printk(KERN_ALERT "This device has been closed this many times: %d\n", closeCounter);
return 0;
}
loff_t simple_char_driver_seek (struct file *pfile, loff_t offset, int whence)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT"We are now seeking!");
switch(whence){
case 0:{
if(offset<= end_of_buffer && offset >0){
place_in_buffer = offset;
printk(KERN_ALERT" this is where we are in the buffer: %d\n", place_in_buffer);
}
else{
printk(KERN_ALERT"ERROR you are attempting to go ouside the Buffer");
}
break;//THIS IS SEEK_SET
}
case 1:{
if(((place_in_buffer+offset)<= end_of_buffer)&&((place_in_buffer+offset)>0)){
place_in_buffer = place_in_buffer+offset;
printk(KERN_ALERT" this is where we are in the buffer: %d\n", place_in_buffer);
}
else{
printk(KERN_ALERT"ERROR you are attempting to go ouside the Buffer");
}
break;
}
case 2:{//THIS IS SEEK END
if((end_of_buffer-offset)>=0&& offset>0){
place_in_buffer = end_of_buffer-offset;
printk(KERN_ALERT" this is where we are in the buffer: %d\n", place_in_buffer);
}
else{
printk(KERN_ALERT"ERROR you are attempting to go ouside the Buffer");
}
break;
}
default:{
}
}
printk(KERN_ALERT"I sought %d\n", whence);
return place_in_buffer;
}
struct file_operations simple_char_driver_file_operations = {
.owner = THIS_MODULE,
.read = simple_char_driver_read,
.write = simple_char_driver_write,
.open = simple_char_driver_open,
.llseek = &simple_char_driver_seek,
.release = simple_char_driver_close,
};
static int simple_char_driver_init(void)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT "inside %s function\n",__FUNCTION__);
register_chrdev(MAJOR_NUMBER,DEVICE_NAME, &simple_char_driver_file_operations);
device_buffer = kmalloc(BUFFER_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
return 0;
}
static void simple_char_driver_exit(void)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT "inside %s function\n",__FUNCTION__);
unregister_chrdev(MAJOR_NUMBER, DEVICE_NAME);
kfree(device_buffer);
}
module_init(simple_char_driver_init);
module_exit(simple_char_driver_exit);
As I said before, this file makes properly with no errors or warnings.
However, currently if I try to echo to the device file
using: echo "hello world" >> /dev/simple_char_driver
The terminal I am using crashes
If I then reopen a terminal, and use: cat /dev/simple_char_driver
then the terminal returns killed.
I am completely lost as to what is going wrong, and I have been searching for a solution for a very long time without success. If anyone has any insight into what is going wrong, please let me know.
Edit: As a user below suggested, I removed all code from my read and write methods except for the printk and the return, to make sure the functions were being triggered.
When I then used echo, dmesg showed that the write printk was triggered, and the device(which I had had open) closed. When I then tried to cat the device file, dmesg showed that the device reopened, the "ready from device" printk showed up succesfully, and then the device closed again. However, echo did not actually find anything to read from the device file, despite my having echoed "Hello world" into it immediately before.
edit
Final functioning read and write functions are as follows:
ssize_t simple_char_driver_read (struct file *pfile, char __user *buffer, size_t length, loff_t *offset)
{
if (*offset > BUFFER_SIZE)
{
printk("offset is greater than buffer size");
return 0;
}
if (*offset + length > BUFFER_SIZE)
{
length = BUFFER_SIZE - *offset;
}
if (copy_to_user(buffer, device_buffer + *offset, length) != 0)
{
return -EFAULT;
}
*offset += length;
return length;
}
ssize_t simple_char_driver_write (struct file *pfile, const char __user *buffer, size_t length, loff_t *offset){
/* *buffer is the userspace buffer where you are writing the data you want to be written in the device file*/
/* length is the length of the userspace buffer*/
/* current position of the opened file*/
/* copy_from_user function: destination is device_buffer and source is the userspace buffer *buffer */
int nb_bytes_to_copy;
if (BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset <= length)
{
nb_bytes_to_copy= BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset;
printk("BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset <= length");
}
else if (BUFFER_SIZE - 1 - *offset > length)
{
nb_bytes_to_copy = length;
printk("BUFFER_SIZE - 1 -*offset > length");
}
printk(KERN_INFO "Writing to device\n");
if (*offset + length > BUFFER_SIZE)
{
printk("sorry, can't do that. ");
return -1;
}
printk("about to copy from device");
copy_from_user(device_buffer + *offset, buffer, nb_bytes_to_copy);
device_buffer[*offset + nb_bytes_to_copy] = '\0';
*offset += nb_bytes_to_copy;
return nb_bytes_to_copy;
}
Your code in general leaves much to be desired, but what I can see at the moment is that your .write implementation might be dubious. There are two possible mistakes - the absence of buffer boundaries check and disregard of null-termination which may lead to undefined behaviour of strlen().
First of all, you know the size of your buffer - BUFFER_SIZE. Therefore, you should carry out a check that *offset + length < BUFFER_SIZE. It should be < and not <= because anyhow the last byte shall be reserved for null-termination. So, such a check shall make the method return immediately if no space is available (else branch or >=). I can't say for sure whether you should return 0 to report that nothing has been written or use a negative value to return an error code, say, -ENOBUFS or -ENOSPC. Anyhow, the return value of the method is ssize_t meaning that negative value may be returned.
Secondly, if your first check succeeds, your method shall calculate actual space available for writing. I.e., you can make use of MIN(A, B) macro to do this. In other words, you'd better create a variable, say, nb_bytes_to_copy and initialise it like nb_bytes_to_copy = MIN(BUFFER_SIZE - 1 - *offset, length) so that you can use it later in copy_from_user() call. If the user, say, requests to write 5 bytes of data starting at the offset of 1021 bytes, then your driver will allow to write only 2 bytes of the data - say, he instead of hello. Also, the return value shall be set to nb_bytes_to_copy so that the caller will be able to detect the buffer space shortage.
Finally, don't forget about null termination. As soon as you've done with
copy_from_user(device_buffer + *offset, buffer, nb_bytes_to_copy);
you shall pay attention to do something like
device_buffer[*offset + nb_bytes_copy] = '\0';
Alternatively, if I recall correctly, you may use a special function like strncopy_from_user() to make sure that the data is copied with an implicit null termination.
Also, although a null-terminated write shall not cause problems with subsequent strlen(), I doubt that you ever need it. You can simply do *offset += nb_bytes_to_copy.
By the way, I'd recommend to name the arguments/variables in a more descriptive way. *offset is an eyesore. It would look better if named *offsetp. If your method becomes huge, an average reader will unlikely remember that offset is a pointer and not a value. offsetp where p stands for "pointer" will ease the job of anyone who will support your code in future.
To put it together, I doubt your .write implementation and suggest that you rework it. If some other mistakes persist, you will need to debug them further. Adding debug printouts may come in handy, but please revisit the basic points first, such as null-termination and buffer boundary protection. To make my answer a little bit more useful for you, I furnish it with the link to the section 3.7 of "Linux Device Drivers 3" book which will shed light on the topic under discussion.
I have a simple sysfs device attribute which shows up under my sysfs directory, and on a call to read returns the value of a kernelspace variable. I want to call poll on this attribute to allow my userspace thread to block until the value shown by the attribute changes.
My problem is that poll doesn't seem to block on my attribute -- it keeps returning POLLPRI even though the value shown by the attribute does not change. In fact, I have no calls at all to sysfs_notify in the kernel module, yet the userspace call poll still does not block.
Perhaps I should be checking for a return value of something other than POLLPRI -- but according to the documentation in the Linux kernel, sysfs_poll should return POLLERR|POLLPRI:
/* ... When the content changes (assuming the
* manager for the kobject supports notification), poll will
* return POLLERR|POLLPRI ...
*/
Is there something I'm forgetting to do with poll?
The device attribute is located at: /sys/class/vilhelm/foo/blah.
I load a kernel module called foo which registers a device, and creates a class and this device attribute.
The userspace application called bar spawns a thread that calls poll on the device attribute, checking for POLLPRI.
If poll returns a positive number, POLLPRI has been returned.
Use fopen and fscan to read the value from the device attribute file.
If the value is 42, print FROM THREAD!!!.
The problem is that the message is printed nonstop when I'm expecting the call to poll to block indefinitely. The problem must lie with poll (the other calls successfully acquire the correct value of 42 from the device attribute).
userspace app - bar.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <poll.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <unistd.h>
static void handle_val(unsigned val, FILE *fp);
void * start_val_service(void *arg);
int main(void){
pthread_t val_serv;
pthread_create(&val_serv, NULL, &start_val_service, NULL);
pthread_exit(NULL);
return 0;
}
static void handle_val(unsigned val, FILE *fp){
switch(val){
case 42:
{
printf("FROM THREAD!!!\n");
break;
}
default:
break;
}
}
void * start_val_service(void *arg){
struct pollfd fds;
fds.fd = open("/sys/class/vilhelm/foo/blah", O_RDONLY);
fds.events = POLLPRI;
do{
int ret = poll(&fds, 1, -1);
if(ret > 0){
FILE *fp = fopen("/sys/class/vilhelm/foo/blah", "r");
unsigned val;
fscanf(fp, "%u", &val);
handle_val(val, fp);
fclose(fp);
}
}while(1);
close(fds.fd);
pthread_exit(NULL);
}
kernel module - foo.c:
#include <linux/device.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>
static dev_t foo_dev;
static struct class *vilhelm;
static unsigned myvar = 42;
static ssize_t unsigned_dev_attr_show(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr, char *buf);
struct unsigned_device_attribute{
struct device_attribute dev_attr;
unsigned *ptr;
};
static struct unsigned_device_attribute unsigned_dev_attr_blah = {
.dev_attr = __ATTR(blah, S_IRUGO, unsigned_dev_attr_show, NULL)
};
static int __init foo_init(void){
int retval = 0;
printk(KERN_INFO "HELLO FROM MODULE 1");
if(alloc_chrdev_region(&foo_dev, 0, 1, "vilhelm") < 0){
printk(KERN_ERR "foo: unable to register device");
retval = -1;
goto out_alloc_chrdev_region;
}
vilhelm = class_create(THIS_MODULE, "vilhelm");
if(IS_ERR(vilhelm)){
printk(KERN_ERR "foo: unable to create device class");
retval = PTR_ERR(vilhelm);
goto out_class_create;
}
struct device *foo_device = device_create(vilhelm, NULL, foo_dev, NULL, "foo");
if(IS_ERR(foo_device)){
printk(KERN_ERR "foo: unable to create device file");
retval = PTR_ERR(foo_device);
goto out_device_create;
}
unsigned_dev_attr_blah.ptr = &myvar;
retval = device_create_file(foo_device, &unsigned_dev_attr_blah.dev_attr);
if(retval){
printk(KERN_ERR "foo: unable to create device attribute files");
goto out_create_foo_dev_attr_files;
}
return 0;
out_create_foo_dev_attr_files:
device_destroy(vilhelm, foo_dev);
out_device_create:
class_destroy(vilhelm);
out_class_create:
unregister_chrdev_region(foo_dev, 1);
out_alloc_chrdev_region:
return retval;
}
static void __exit foo_exit(void){
printk(KERN_INFO "BYE FROM MODULE 1");
device_destroy(vilhelm, foo_dev);
class_destroy(vilhelm);
unregister_chrdev_region(foo_dev, 1);
}
static ssize_t unsigned_dev_attr_show(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr, char *buf){
struct unsigned_device_attribute *tmp = container_of(attr, struct unsigned_device_attribute, dev_attr);
unsigned value = *(tmp->ptr);
return scnprintf(buf, PAGE_SIZE, "%u\n", value);
}
module_init(foo_init);
module_exit(foo_exit);
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
See also
Using the Linux sysfs_notify call
To quote some more from the comment you quoted:
Once poll/select indicates that the value has changed, you
need to close and re-open the file, or seek to 0 and read again.
But you do nothing with fds.fd.
Also, do a dummy read() before calling poll();
any newly opened file is considered changed.
I am trying to create my own driver for my Gamepad right now, I found out the original reason why I wanted to create it does not exist but I still want to do it for the experience. So please don't tell me there is a better way to do this than writing my own driver.
The part in kernelspace with the ioctl function that should be called is:
static int xpad_ioctl (struct usb_interface *intf, unsigned int code,void *buf) {
//struct usb_xpad *xpad = usb_get_intfdata(intf);
printk(KERN_INFO"(Ongy)IOCTL called\n");
//if (_IOC_TYPE(code) != XPAD_IOMAGIC) return -ENOTTY;
//if (_IOC_NR(code) > XPAD_IOMAX) return -ENOTTY;
switch(code){
case XPAD_IORMAP:
printk(KERN_INFO"(Ongy)IORMAP called\n");
break;
default:
return -EINVAL;
}
return 0;
}
static struct usb_driver xpad_driver =
{
.name = "Cyborg-V5-driver",
.probe = xpad_probe,
.disconnect = xpad_disconnect,
.unlocked_ioctl = xpad_ioctl,
.id_table = xpad_table,
};
The part in userspace to call it is (this is part of a Qt-application):
int openfile() {
char *device = "/dev/bus/usb/005/009";
printf("Opening device %s\n", device);
return open(device, /*O_RDONLY*/O_WRONLY | O_NONBLOCK );
}
[...] the closefile(int file_desc) is missing here, this and the openfile functions exist because of me not knowing one can call "::open()" when Qt overrides function calls.
void MainContainer::callioctl() {
int file_desc, ret_val;
errno = 0;
file_desc = openfile();
if (file_desc==-1){
printf("Ioctl notcalled because of: error %s\n", strerror(errno));
}
else
{
errno = 0;
//struct usbdevfs_getdriver* driver = (usbdevfs_getdriver*)malloc(sizeof(struct usbdevfs_getdriver));
struct mappingpair* pair = (mappingpair*)malloc(sizeof(struct mappingpair));
ret_val = ioctl(file_desc, XPAD_IORMAP, pair);
//printf("Drivername %s\n", driver->driver);
closefile(file_desc);
if (ret_val==-1) printf("Ioctl failed with error %s\n", strerror(errno));
else printf("Ioctl call successfull\n");
}
}
ok, the string to the file I open I get with a call to lsusb and change it by hand in the code, this is only for debugging and until I get the ioctl calls working
When I call the callioctl() it prints:
Ioctl failed with error Unpassender IOCTL (I/O-Control) für das Gerät
The German part means "wrong ioctl (I/O-Control) for the device" and nothing appears in dmesg, that is why I think my ioctl function in the driver is not called.
If you look at http://www.hep.by/gnu/kernel/usb/usbfs.html it says that to send an ioctl to the usb_driver device you need to do:
struct usbdevfs_ioctl {
int ifno;
int ioctl_code;
void *data;
};
/* user mode call looks like this.
* 'request' becomes the driver->ioctl() 'code' parameter.
* the size of 'param' is encoded in 'request', and that data
* is copied to or from the driver->ioctl() 'buf' parameter.
*/
static int
usbdev_ioctl (int fd, int ifno, unsigned request, void *param)
{
struct usbdevfs_ioctl wrapper;
wrapper.ifno = ifno;
wrapper.ioctl_code = request;
wrapper.data = param;
return ioctl (fd, USBDEVFS_IOCTL, &wrapper);
}
The documentation is listing usb device under /proc/bus so admittedly this may have changed.
I have written a device driver and need to pass an int value to it. Am using copy_from_user() for this. Here is what I have done so far,
#define MY_MAGIC 'G'
#define TEST_IOCTL _IO(MY_MAGIC, 0)
#define PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE _IOW(MY_MAGIC, 1, int )
#define TEST_IOCTL_ONE _IO(MY_MAGIC, 2)
int major;
int device_ioctl(struct inode *inode, struct file *filep, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg){
int ret, SIZE;
switch(cmd){
case TEST_IOCTL:
printk("NO argument IOCTL called\n");
break;
case PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE:
printk("Inside PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE\n");
ret = copy_from_user(SIZE, arg, sizeof(int));
if(ret < 0){
printk("Error in PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE\n");
return -1;
}
printk("Struct Array Size : %d\n",SIZE);
break;
case TEST_IOCTL_ONE:
printk("NO argument IOCTL_ONE called\n");
break;
default :
return -ENOTTY;
}
return 0;
}
When I call the TEST_IOCTL & TEST_IOCTL_ONE the module works properly. However when I call PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE the system freezes.
Userspace code is this,
if(ioctl(fd, PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE, 10) < 0){
perror("PASS_STRUCT_ARRAY_SIZE : ");
return -1;
}
What can I be doing wrong?
Sorry, my previous answer was wrong. Since the argument is an integer you should just use it without copy_from_user:
SIZE = arg;
You only need copy_from_user when the argument is a pointer.
How to write char device drivers in Linux?
A very good example is the Linux "softdog", or software watchdog timer. When loaded, it will watch a special device for writes and take action depending on the frequency of those writes.
It also shows you how to implement a rudamentary ioctl interface, which is very useful.
The file to look at is drivers/watchdog/softdog.c
If you learn by example, that is a very good one to start with. The basic character devices (null, random, etc) as others suggest are also good, but do not adequately demonstrate how you need to implement an ioctl() interface.
A side note, I believe the driver was written by Alan Cox. If your going to learn from example, its never a bad idea to study the work of a top level maintainer. You can be pretty sure that the driver also illustrates adhering to proper Linux standards.
As far as drivers go (in Linux), character drivers are the easiest to write and also the most rewarding, as you can see your code working very quickly. Good luck and happy hacking.
Read this book: Linux Device Drivers published by O'Reilly.
Helped me a lot.
My favorite book for learning how the kernel works, BY FAR (and I've read most of them) is:
Linux Kernel Development (2nd Edition)
This book is fairly short, read it first, then read the O'Reilly book on drivers.
Read linux device driver 3rd edition. And the good thing is start coding. I am just pasting a simple char driver so that you can start coding.
#include<linux/module.h>
#include<linux/kernel.h>
#include<linux/fs.h> /*this is the file structure, file open read close */
#include<linux/cdev.h> /* this is for character device, makes cdev avilable*/
#include<linux/semaphore.h> /* this is for the semaphore*/
#include<linux/uaccess.h> /*this is for copy_user vice vers*/
int chardev_init(void);
void chardev_exit(void);
static int device_open(struct inode *, struct file *);
static int device_close(struct inode *, struct file *);
static ssize_t device_read(struct file *, char *, size_t, loff_t *);
static ssize_t device_write(struct file *, const char *, size_t, loff_t *);
static loff_t device_lseek(struct file *file, loff_t offset, int orig);
/*new code*/
#define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
static char device_buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];
struct semaphore sem;
struct cdev *mcdev; /*this is the name of my char driver that i will be registering*/
int major_number; /* will store the major number extracted by dev_t*/
int ret; /*used to return values*/
dev_t dev_num; /*will hold the major number that the kernel gives*/
#define DEVICENAME "megharajchard"
/*inode reffers to the actual file on disk*/
static int device_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp) {
if(down_interruptible(&sem) != 0) {
printk(KERN_ALERT "megharajchard : the device has been opened by some other device, unable to open lock\n");
return -1;
}
//buff_rptr = buff_wptr = device_buffer;
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device opened succesfully\n");
return 0;
}
static ssize_t device_read(struct file *fp, char *buff, size_t length, loff_t *ppos) {
int maxbytes; /*maximum bytes that can be read from ppos to BUFFER_SIZE*/
int bytes_to_read; /* gives the number of bytes to read*/
int bytes_read;/*number of bytes actually read*/
maxbytes = BUFFER_SIZE - *ppos;
if(maxbytes > length)
bytes_to_read = length;
else
bytes_to_read = maxbytes;
if(bytes_to_read == 0)
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : Reached the end of the device\n");
bytes_read = bytes_to_read - copy_to_user(buff, device_buffer + *ppos, bytes_to_read);
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device has been read %d\n",bytes_read);
*ppos += bytes_read;
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device has been read\n");
return bytes_read;
}
static ssize_t device_write(struct file *fp, const char *buff, size_t length, loff_t *ppos) {
int maxbytes; /*maximum bytes that can be read from ppos to BUFFER_SIZE*/
int bytes_to_write; /* gives the number of bytes to write*/
int bytes_writen;/*number of bytes actually writen*/
maxbytes = BUFFER_SIZE - *ppos;
if(maxbytes > length)
bytes_to_write = length;
else
bytes_to_write = maxbytes;
bytes_writen = bytes_to_write - copy_from_user(device_buffer + *ppos, buff, bytes_to_write);
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device has been written %d\n",bytes_writen);
*ppos += bytes_writen;
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device has been written\n");
return bytes_writen;
}
static loff_t device_lseek(struct file *file, loff_t offset, int orig) {
loff_t new_pos = 0;
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : lseek function in work\n");
switch(orig) {
case 0 : /*seek set*/
new_pos = offset;
break;
case 1 : /*seek cur*/
new_pos = file->f_pos + offset;
break;
case 2 : /*seek end*/
new_pos = BUFFER_SIZE - offset;
break;
}
if(new_pos > BUFFER_SIZE)
new_pos = BUFFER_SIZE;
if(new_pos < 0)
new_pos = 0;
file->f_pos = new_pos;
return new_pos;
}
static int device_close(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp) {
up(&sem);
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device has been closed\n");
return ret;
}
struct file_operations fops = { /* these are the file operations provided by our driver */
.owner = THIS_MODULE, /*prevents unloading when operations are in use*/
.open = device_open, /*to open the device*/
.write = device_write, /*to write to the device*/
.read = device_read, /*to read the device*/
.release = device_close, /*to close the device*/
.llseek = device_lseek
};
int chardev_init(void)
{
/* we will get the major number dynamically this is recommended please read ldd3*/
ret = alloc_chrdev_region(&dev_num,0,1,DEVICENAME);
if(ret < 0) {
printk(KERN_ALERT " megharajchard : failed to allocate major number\n");
return ret;
}
else
printk(KERN_INFO " megharajchard : mjor number allocated succesful\n");
major_number = MAJOR(dev_num);
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : major number of our device is %d\n",major_number);
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : to use mknod /dev/%s c %d 0\n",DEVICENAME,major_number);
mcdev = cdev_alloc(); /*create, allocate and initialize our cdev structure*/
mcdev->ops = &fops; /*fops stand for our file operations*/
mcdev->owner = THIS_MODULE;
/*we have created and initialized our cdev structure now we need to add it to the kernel*/
ret = cdev_add(mcdev,dev_num,1);
if(ret < 0) {
printk(KERN_ALERT "megharajchard : device adding to the kerknel failed\n");
return ret;
}
else
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : device additin to the kernel succesful\n");
sema_init(&sem,1); /* initial value to one*/
return 0;
}
void chardev_exit(void)
{
cdev_del(mcdev); /*removing the structure that we added previously*/
printk(KERN_INFO " megharajchard : removed the mcdev from kernel\n");
unregister_chrdev_region(dev_num,1);
printk(KERN_INFO "megharajchard : unregistered the device numbers\n");
printk(KERN_ALERT " megharajchard : character driver is exiting\n");
}
MODULE_AUTHOR("A G MEGHARAJ(agmegharaj#gmail.com)");
MODULE_DESCRIPTION("A BASIC CHAR DRIVER");
//MODULE_LICENCE("GPL");
module_init(chardev_init);
module_exit(chardev_exit);
and this is the make file.
obj-m := megharajchard.o
KERNELDIR ?= /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build
PWD := $(shell pwd)
all:
$(MAKE) -C $(KERNELDIR) M=$(PWD)
clean:
rm -rf *.o *~ core .depend .*.cmd *.ko *.mod.c .tmp_versions
load script. make sure the major number is 251 or else change it accordingly.
#!/bin/sh
sudo insmod megharajchard.ko
sudo mknod /dev/megharajchard c 251 0
sudo chmod 777 /dev/megharajchard
unload script,
#!/bin/sh
sudo rmmod megharajchard
sudo rm /dev/megharajchard
also a c program to test the operation of your device
#include<stdio.h>
#include<fcntl.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<malloc.h>
#define DEVICE "/dev/megharajchard"
//#define DEVICE "megharaj.txt"
int debug = 1, fd = 0;
int write_device() {
int write_length = 0;
ssize_t ret;
char *data = (char *)malloc(1024 * sizeof(char));
printf("please enter the data to write into device\n");
scanf(" %[^\n]",data); /* a space added after"so that it reads white space, %[^\n] is addeed so that it takes input until new line*/
write_length = strlen(data);
if(debug)printf("the length of dat written = %d\n",write_length);
ret = write(fd, data, write_length);
if(ret == -1)
printf("writting failed\n");
else
printf("writting success\n");
if(debug)fflush(stdout);/*not to miss any log*/
free(data);
return 0;
}
int read_device() {
int read_length = 0;
ssize_t ret;
char *data = (char *)malloc(1024 * sizeof(char));
printf("enter the length of the buffer to read\n");
scanf("%d",&read_length);
if(debug)printf("the read length selected is %d\n",read_length);
memset(data,0,sizeof(data));
data[0] = '0\';
ret = read(fd,data,read_length);
printf("DEVICE_READ : %s\n",data);
if(ret == -1)
printf("reading failed\n");
else
printf("reading success\n");
if(debug)fflush(stdout);/*not to miss any log*/
free(data);
return 0;
}
int lseek_device() {
int lseek_offset = 0,seek_value = 0;
int counter = 0; /* to check if function called multiple times or loop*/
counter++;
printf("counter value = %d\n",counter);
printf("enter the seek offset\n");
scanf("%d",&lseek_offset);
if(debug) printf("seek_offset selected is %d\n",lseek_offset);
printf("1 for SEEK_SET, 2 for SEEK_CUR and 3 for SEEK_END\n");
scanf("%d", &seek_value);
printf("seek value = %d\n", seek_value);
switch(seek_value) {
case 1: lseek(fd,lseek_offset,SEEK_SET);
return 0;
break;
case 2: lseek(fd,lseek_offset,SEEK_CUR);
return 0;
break;
case 3: lseek(fd,lseek_offset,SEEK_END);
return 0;
break;
default : printf("unknown option selected, please enter right one\n");
break;
}
/*if(seek_value == 1) {
printf("seek value = %d\n", seek_value);
lseek(fd,lseek_offset,SEEK_SET);
return 0;
}
if(seek_value == 2) {
lseek(fd,lseek_offset,SEEK_CUR);
return 0;
}
if(seek_value == 3) {
lseek(fd,lseek_offset,SEEK_END);
return 0;
}*/
if(debug)fflush(stdout);/*not to miss any log*/
return 0;
}
int lseek_write() {
lseek_device();
write_device();
return 0;
}
int lseek_read() {
lseek_device();
read_device();
return 0;
}
int main()
{
int value = 0;
if(access(DEVICE, F_OK) == -1) {
printf("module %s not loaded\n",DEVICE);
return 0;
}
else
printf("module %s loaded, will be used\n",DEVICE);
while(1) {
printf("\t\tplease enter 1 to write\n \
2 to read\n \
3 to lseek and write\
4 to lseek and read\n");
scanf("%d",&value);
switch(value) {
case 1 :printf("write option selected\n");
fd = open(DEVICE, O_RDWR);
write_device();
close(fd); /*closing the device*/
break;
case 2 :printf("read option selected\n");
/* dont know why but i am suppoesed to open it for writing and close it, i cant keep open and read.
its not working, need to sort out why is that so */
fd = open(DEVICE, O_RDWR);
read_device();
close(fd); /*closing the device*/
break;
case 3 :printf("lseek option selected\n");
fd = open(DEVICE, O_RDWR);
lseek_write();
close(fd); /*closing the device*/
break;
case 4 :printf("lseek option selected\n");
fd = open(DEVICE, O_RDWR);
lseek_read();
close(fd); /*closing the device*/
break;
default : printf("unknown option selected, please enter right one\n");
break;
}
}
return 0;
}
Have a look at some of the really simple standard ones - "null", "zero", "mem", "random", etc, in the standard kernel. They show the simple implementation.
Obviously if you're driving real hardware it's more complicated- you need to understand how to interface with the hardware as well as the subsystem APIs (PCI, USB etc) for your device. You might need to understand how to use interrupts, kernel timers etc as well.
Just check the character driver skeleton from here http://www.linuxforu.com/2011/02/linux-character-drivers/....Go ahead and read all the topics here, understand thoroughly.(this is kinda a tutorial-so play along as said).
See how "copy_to_user" and "copy_from_user" functions work, which you can use in read/write part of the driver function callbacks.
Once you are done with this, start reading a basic "tty" driver.
Focus, more on the driver registration architecture first, which means:-
See what structures are to be filled- ex:- struct file_operations f_ops = ....
Which are the function responsible to register a particular structure with core . ex:- _register_driver.
Once you are done with the above, see what functionality you want with the driver(policy), then think of way to implement that policy(called mechanism)- the policy and mechanism allows you to distinguish between various aspects of the driver.
write compilation makefiles(its hard if you have multiple files- but not tht hard).
Try to resolve the errors and warnings,
and you will be through.
When writing mechanism, never forget what it offers to the applications in user space.