class_create(),class_device_create()或device_create()自动创建设备文件结点

从linux内核2.6的某个版本之后，devfs不复存在，udev成为devfs的替代。相比devfs，udev有很多优势，在此就不罗嗦了，提醒一点，udev是应用层的东东，不要试图在内核的配置选项里找到它;加入对udev的支持很简单，以作者所写的一个字符设备驱动为例，在驱动初始化的代码里调用class_create为该设备创建一个class，再为每个设备调用 class_device_create创建对应的设备。(不太明白什么是devfs,udev,对linux中的文件系统没有什么概念呢。)
大致用法如下：
struct class *myclass = class_create(THIS_MODULE, “my_device_driver”);
class_device_create(myclass, NULL, MKDEV(major_num, 0), NULL, “my_device”);
这样的module被加载时，udev daemon就会自动在/dev下创建my_device设备文件。

class_create()
-------------------------------------------------
linux-2.6.22/include/linux/device.h
struct class *class_create(struct module *owner, const char *name)
    class_create - create a struct class structure
    @owner: pointer to the module that is to "own" this struct class
    @name: pointer to a string for the name of this class.
在/sys/class/下创建类目录

class_device_create()
-------------------------------------------------
linux-2.6.22/include/linux/device.h
struct class_device *class_device_create(struct class        *cls,
                                         struct class_device *parent,
                                         dev_t               devt,
                                         struct device       *device,
                                         const char          *fmt, ...)

    class_device_create - creates a class device and registers it with sysfs
    @cls: pointer to the struct class that this device should be registered to.
    @parent: pointer to the parent struct class_device of this new device, if any.
    @devt: the dev_t for the char device to be added.
    @device: a pointer to a struct device that is assiociated with this class device.
    @fmt: string for the class device's name
在驱动模块初始化函数中实现设备节点的自动创建

我们在刚开始写Linux设备驱动程序的时候，很多时候都是利用mknod命令手动创建设备节点，实际上Linux内核为我们提供了一组函数，可以用来在模块加载的时候自动在/dev目录下创建相应设备节点，并在卸载模块时删除该节点，当然前提条件是用户空间移植了udev。
内核中定义了struct class结构体，顾名思义，一个struct class结构体类型变量对应一个类，内核同时提供了class_create(…)函数，可以用它来创建一个类，这个类存放于sysfs下面，一旦创建好了这个类，再调用device_create(…)函数来在/dev目录下创建相应的设备节点。这样，加载模块的时候，用户空间中的udev会自动响应device_create(…)函数，去/sysfs下寻找对应的类从而创建设备节点。
注意，在2.6较早的内核版本中，device_create(…)函数名称不同，是class_device_create(…)，所以在新的内核中编译以前的模块程序有时会报错，就是因为函数名称不同，而且里面的参数设置也有一些变化。
struct class和device_create(…) 以及device_create(…)都定义在/include/linux/device.h中，使用的时候一定要包含这个头文件，否则编译器会报错。
在2.6.26.6内核版本中，struct class定义在头文件include/linux/device.h中
/*
* device classes
*/
    struct class {
      const char        *name;
      struct module     *owner;
nbsp;struct kset         subsys;
      struct list_head         devices;
      struct list_head         interfaces;
      struct kset              class_dirs;
      struct semaphore sem;    /* locks children, devices, interfaces */
      struct class_attribute   *class_attrs;
      struct device_attribute      *dev_attrs;
int (*dev_uevent)(struct device *dev, struct kobj_uevent_env *env);
void (*class_release)(struct class *class);
      void (*dev_release)(struct device *dev);
int (*suspend)(struct device *dev, pm_message_t state);
      int (*resume)(struct device *dev);
};
class_create(…)在/drivers/base/class.c中实现：
     /**
    * class_create - create a struct class structure
    * @owner: pointer to the module that is to "own" this struct class
    * @name: pointer to a string for the name of this class.
    *
    * This is used to create a struct class pointer that can then be used
    * in calls to device_create().
    *
    * Note, the pointer created here is to be destroyed when finished by
    * making a call to class_destroy().
    */
   struct class *class_create(struct module *owner, const char *name)
   {
      struct class *cls;
      int retval;
      cls = kzalloc(sizeof(*cls), GFP_KERNEL);
      if (!cls) {
           retval = -ENOMEM;
           goto error;
      }
cls->name = name;
      cls->owner = owner;
      cls->class_release = class_create_release;
retval = class_register(cls);
      if (retval)
           goto error;
return cls;
error:
      kfree(cls);
      return ERR_PTR(retval);
    }
    第一个参数指定类的所有者是哪个模块，第二个参数指定类名。
    在class.c中，还定义了class_destroy(…)函数，用于在模块卸载时删除类。
device_create(…)函数在/drivers/base/core.c中实现：
    /**
     * device_create - creates a device and registers it with sysfs
     * @class: pointer to the struct class that this device should be registered to
     * @parent: pointer to the parent struct device of this new device, if any
     * @devt: the dev_t for the char device to be added
     * @fmt: string for the device's name
     *
     * This function can be used by char device classes. A struct device
     * will be created in sysfs, registered to the specified class.
     *
     * A "dev" file will be created, showing the dev_t for the device, if
     * the dev_t is not 0,0.
     * If a pointer to a parent struct device is passed in, the newly created
     * struct device will be a child of that device in sysfs.
     * The pointer to the struct device will be returned from the call.
     * Any further sysfs files that might be required can be created using this
     * pointer.
     *
     * Note: the struct class passed to this function must have previously
     * been created with a call to class_create().
     */
    struct device *device_create(struct class *class, struct device *parent,
                        dev_t devt, const char *fmt, ...)
    {
         va_list vargs;
         struct device *dev;
     va_start(vargs, fmt);
         dev = device_create_vargs(class, parent, devt, NULL, fmt, vargs);
         va_end(vargs);
         return dev;
    }
第一个参数指定所要创建的设备所从属的类，第二个参数是这个设备的父设备，如果没有就指定为NULL，第三个参数是设备号，第四个参数是设备名称，第五个参数是从设备号。
下面以一个简单字符设备驱动来展示如何使用这几个函数
    #include <linux/module.h>
    #include <linux/kernel.h>
    #include <linux/init.h>
    #include <linux/fs.h>
    #include <linux/cdev.h>
    #include <linux/device.h>
    MODULE_LICENSE ("GPL");
    int hello_major = 555;
    int hello_minor = 0;
    int number_of_devices = 1;
    struct cdev cdev;
    dev_t dev = 0;
     struct file_operations hello_fops = {
      .owner = THIS_MODULE
       };
    static void char_reg_setup_cdev (void)
    {
       int error, devno = MKDEV (hello_major, hello_minor);
       cdev_init (&cdev, &hello_fops);
       cdev.owner = THIS_MODULE;
       cdev.ops = &hello_fops;
       error = cdev_add (&cdev, devno , 1);
       if (error)
           printk (KERN_NOTICE "Error %d adding char_reg_setup_cdev", error);
     }
    struct class *my_class;
    static int __init hello_2_init (void)
    {
          int result;
         dev = MKDEV (hello_major, hello_minor);
         result = register_chrdev_region (dev, number_of_devices, "hello");
         if (result<0) {
             printk (KERN_WARNING "hello: can't get major number %d/n", hello_major);
             return result;
          }
          char_reg_setup_cdev ();
          /* create your own class under /sysfs */
         my_class = class_create(THIS_MODULE, "my_class");
         if(IS_ERR(my_class))
        {
             printk("Err: failed in creating class./n");
             return -1;
         }
         /* register your own device in sysfs, and this will cause udev to create corresponding device node */
        device_create( my_class, NULL, MKDEV(hello_major, 0), "hello" "%d", 0 );
        printk (KERN_INFO "Registered character driver/n");
        return 0;
    }
    static void __exit hello_2_exit (void)
    {
        dev_t devno = MKDEV (hello_major, hello_minor);
        cdev_del (&cdev);
        device_destroy(my_class, MKDEV(adc_major, 0));         //delete device node under /dev
        class_destroy(my_class);                               //delete class created by us
        unregister_chrdev_region (devno, number_of_devices);
       printk (KERN_INFO "char driver cleaned up/n");
    }
   module_init (hello_2_init);
   module_exit (hello_2_exit);
   这样，模块加载后，就能在/dev目录下找到hello0这个设备节点了。

例子2

drivers/i2c/i2c-dev.c

/*
* module load/unload record keeping
*/
static int __init i2c_dev_init(void)
{
     int res;
     printk(KERN_INFO "i2c /dev entries driver/n");
     res = register_chrdev(I2C_MAJOR, "i2c", &i2cdev_fops);
     if (res)
          goto out;
     i2c_dev_class = class_create(THIS_MODULE, "i2c-dev"); //创建一个名称为i2c-dev的class
     if (IS_ERR(i2c_dev_class)) {
          res = PTR_ERR(i2c_dev_class);
         goto out_unreg_chrdev;
     }
     res = i2c_add_driver(&i2cdev_driver);
     if (res)
         goto out_unreg_class;
     return 0;
out_unreg_class:
    class_destroy(i2c_dev_class);
out_unreg_chrdev:
    unregister_chrdev(I2C_MAJOR, "i2c");
out:
    printk(KERN_ERR "%s: Driver Initialisation failed/n", __FILE__);
    return res;
}
在 i2c_dev_init创建类i2c_dev_class
i2c_dev_class = class_create(THIS_MODULE, "i2c-dev");

static int i2cdev_attach_adapter(struct i2c_adapter *adap)
{
    struct i2c_dev *i2c_dev;
    int res;
    i2c_dev = get_free_i2c_dev(adap);
    if (IS_ERR(i2c_dev))
        return PTR_ERR(i2c_dev);
    /* register this i2c device with the driver core */
    i2c_dev->dev = device_create(i2c_dev_class, &adap->dev,
         MKDEV(I2C_MAJOR, adap->nr), NULL,
         "i2c-%d", adap->nr);
    if (IS_ERR(i2c_dev->dev)) {
         res = PTR_ERR(i2c_dev->dev);
         goto error;
     }
     res = device_create_file(i2c_dev->dev, &dev_attr_name);
     if (res)
         goto error_destroy;
     pr_debug("i2c-dev: adapter [%s] registered as minor %d/n",
     adap->name, adap->nr);
     return 0;
error_destroy:
    device_destroy(i2c_dev_class, MKDEV(I2C_MAJOR, adap->nr));
error:
    return_i2c_dev(i2c_dev);
    return res;
}