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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 am trying to learn device drivers and I started with char device driver. I implemented a small program which is able to read/write from/to kernel buffer. Further, I tried to implement memory mapping and this is not working properly. When I am trying to read through a simple process by mapping my kernel module, it is giving me garbage value. Can any one help with this?
#include<linux/init.h>
#include<linux/module.h>
#include<linux/kernel.h> //printk()
#include<linux/errno.h>
#include<linux/types.h>
#include<linux/proc_fs.h>
#include<asm/uaccess.h> //copy_from,to_user
#include<linux/mm.h> //remap_pfn_range
//#include<linux/mman.h> //private_mapping_ok
#define BUFF_SIZE 128
#define DEV_NAME "MyDevice"
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
//Method declarations
int mod_open(struct inode *,struct file *);
int mod_release(struct inode *,struct file *);
ssize_t mod_read(struct file *,char *,size_t ,loff_t *);
ssize_t mod_write(struct file *,char *,size_t ,loff_t *);
int mod_mmap(struct file *, struct vm_area_struct *);
void mod_exit(void);
int mod_init(void);
//Structure that declares the usual file access functions
struct file_operations mod_fops = {
read: mod_read,
write: mod_write,
open: mod_open,
release: mod_release,
mmap: mod_mmap
};
static const struct vm_operations_struct mod_mem_ops = {
};
module_init(mod_init);
module_exit(mod_exit);
char *read_buf;
char *write_buf;
static int Major;
//static int Device_Open = 0;
int buffsize = 0;
int mod_init(void)
{
Major = register_chrdev(0,DEV_NAME,&mod_fops);
if(Major < 0)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT "Can not register %s. No major number alloted",DEV_NAME);
return Major;
}
//allocate memory to buffers
read_buf = kmalloc(BUFF_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
write_buf = kmalloc(BUFF_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
if(!read_buf || !write_buf)
{
mod_exit();
return -ENOMEM;
}
//reset buffers
memset(read_buf,0, BUFF_SIZE);
memset(write_buf,0, BUFF_SIZE);
printk(KERN_INFO "I was assigned major number %d. To talk to\n", Major);
printk(KERN_INFO "the driver, create a dev file with\n");
printk(KERN_INFO "'mknod /dev/%s c %d 0'.\n",DEV_NAME, Major);
printk(KERN_INFO "Try various minor numbers. Try to cat and echo to\n");
printk(KERN_INFO "the device file.\n");
printk(KERN_INFO "Remove the device file and module when done.\n");
return 0;
}
void mod_exit(void)
{
unregister_chrdev(Major,"memory");
if(read_buf) kfree(read_buf);
if(write_buf) kfree(write_buf);
printk(KERN_INFO "removing module\n");
}
int mod_mmap(struct file *filp, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
{
size_t size = vma->vm_end - vma->vm_start;
vma->vm_ops = &mod_mem_ops;
/* Remap-pfn-range will mark the range VM_IO */
if (remap_pfn_range(vma, vma->vm_start, vma->vm_pgoff, size, vma->vm_page_prot)) {
return -EAGAIN;
}
printk(KERN_INFO "VMA Open. Virt_addr: %lx, phy_addr: %lx\n",vma->vm_start, vma->vm_pgoff<<PAGE_SHIFT);
return 0;
}
ssize_t mod_read(struct file *filp, char *buf, size_t len, loff_t *f_pos)
{
ssize_t bytes;
if(buffsize < len)
bytes = buffsize;
else
bytes = len;
printk(KERN_INFO "Buffer size availabe: %d\n", buffsize);
printk(KERN_INFO "VMA Open. read buffer initial: %lx\n",read_buf);
if(bytes == 0)
return 0;
int retval = copy_to_user(buf,read_buf,bytes);
if(retval)
{
printk(KERN_INFO "copy_to_user fail");
return -EFAULT;
}
else
{
printk(KERN_INFO "copy_to_user succeeded\n");
buffsize -= bytes;
return bytes;
}
}
ssize_t mod_write( struct file *filp,char *buf, size_t len, loff_t *f_pos)
{
memset(read_buf,0,BUFF_SIZE);
memset(write_buf,0,BUFF_SIZE);
if(len > BUFF_SIZE)
{
printk(KERN_ALERT "Buffer not available. Writing only %d bytes.\n",BUFF_SIZE);
len = BUFF_SIZE;
}
printk(KERN_INFO "User space msg size: %d\n",len);
int retval = copy_from_user(read_buf,buf,len);
printk(KERN_INFO "read %d bytes as: %s\n", retval,read_buf);
// memcpy(write_buf,read_buf,len);
// printk(KERN_INFO "written: %s\n", write_buf);
buffsize = len;
return len;
}
int mod_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp){return 0;}
int mod_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp) {return 0;}
The program which is trying to access this device driver:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<sys/fcntl.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<errno.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<sys/types.h>
#include<sys/mman.h>
int main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
int fd,n,len;
char *buff;
if(argc != 3)
{
printf("Too few arguments.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
buff = (char *)malloc(128);
if(strcmp(argv[1],"read")==0)
{
if(-1 == (fd = open("/dev/MyDevice",O_RDONLY)))
{
printf("Device open fail. Error: %s",strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
memset(buff,0,128);
if(-1 == (buff = mmap(0,128,PROT_READ,MAP_SHARED | MAP_NORESERVE,fd,0)))
{
printf("Mapping failed. Error: %s\n", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* if(-1 == (n = read(fd,buff,128)))
{
printf("Device read fail. Error: %s",strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
*/
printf("Read from device:\n%s\n",buff);
close(fd);
}
else if(strcmp(argv[1],"write")==0)
{
len = strlen(argv[2]);
if(-1 == (fd = open("/dev/MyDevice",O_WRONLY)))
{
printf("Device open fail. Error: %s",strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
if(-1 == (n = write(fd,argv[2],len)))
{
printf("Device write fail. Error: %s",strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("Written %d bytes successfully.\n",n);
close(fd);
}
else
{
printf("Invalid argument..\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
return 0;
}
I got the error in my code. I was not mapping my buffer to vma->vm_pgoff. Just add following code before calling rmap_pfn_range, then this code will work fine
vma->vm_pgoff = virt_to_phys(read_buff)>>PAGE_SHIFT;
There are still several potential issues in your code although you found the root cause.
"vma->vm_pgoff = virt_to_phys(read_buff)>>PAGE_SHIFT"
It is not very good practice to program in this example, as basically you are overwriting a user file offset (in PAGE size unit). If your driver need to support mmap a memory offset, then obvious there is a issue. In this case, you can just pass virt_to_phys(read_buff)>>PAGE_SHIFT in place.
It is not recommended to use kmalloc to allocate the memory for remap purpose, as it is required to be page aligned, you can just use the kernel page APIs, like get_free_page to allocate the memory, further more, it is better to remap the memory in units of PAGE size, rather than 128 bytes here.
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;
}
}
I have an exam question and I can't quite see how to solve it.
A driver that needs the ioctl method to be implemented and tested.
I have to write the ioctl() method, the associated test program as well as the common IOCTL definitions.
The ioctl() method should only handle one command. In this command, I need to transmit a data structure from user space to kernel space.
Below is the structure shown:
struct data
{
char label [10];
int value;
}
The driver must print the IOCTL command data, using printk();
Device name is "/dev/mydevice"
The test program must validate driver mode using an initialized data structure.
Hope there are some that can help
thanks in advance
My suggestion:
static int f_on_ioctl(struct inode *inode, struct file *file, unsigned int cmd,
unsigned long arg)
{
int ret;
switch (cmd)
{
case PASS_STRUCT:
struct data pass_data;
ret = copy_from_user(&pass_data, arg, sizeof(*pass_data));
if(ret < 0)
{
printk("PASS_STRUCT\n");
return -1;
}
printk(KERN ALERT "Message PASS_STRUCT : %d and %c\n",pass_data.value, pass_data.label);
break;
default:
return ENOTTY;
}
return 0;
}
Definitions:
Common.h
#define SYSLED_IOC_MAGIC 'k'
#define PASS_STRUCT _IOW(SYSLED_IOC_MAGIC, 1, struct data)
The test program:
int main()
{
int fd = open("/dev/mydevice", O_RDWR);
data data_pass;
data_pass.value = 2;
data_pass.label = "hej";
ioctl(fd, PASS_STRUCT, &data_pass);
close(fd);
return 0;
}
Is this completely wrong??
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.