struct device — The basic device structure

struct device {
  struct device * parent;
//The device's “parent” device, the device to which it is attached. In most cases, a parent device is some sort of bus or host controller. If parent is NULL, the device, is a top-level device, which is not usually what you want.
  struct device_private * p;
//Holds the private data of the driver core portions of the device. See the comment of the struct device_private for detail.
  struct kobject kobj;
//A top-level, abstract class from which other classes are derived.
  const char * init_name;
//Initial name of the device.
  const struct device_type * type;
//The type of device. This identifies the device type and carries type-specific
  struct mutex mutex;
//Mutex to synchronize calls to its driver.
  struct bus_type * bus;
//Type of bus device is on.
  struct device_driver * driver;
//Which driver has allocated this

  void * platform_data;
//Platform data specific to the device.
  struct dev_pm_info power;
//For device power management. See Documentation/power/devices.txt for details.
  struct dev_pm_domain * pm_domain;
//Provide callbacks that are executed during system suspend, hibernation, system resume and during runtime PM transitions along with subsystem-level and driver-level callbacks.
#ifdef CONFIG_PINCTRL
  struct dev_pin_info * pins;
//For device pin management. See Documentation/pinctrl.txt for details.
#endif
#ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
  int numa_node;
//NUMA node this device is close to.
#endif
  u64 * dma_mask;
//Dma mask (if dma'ble device).
  u64 coherent_dma_mask;
//Like dma_mask, but for alloc_coherent mapping as not all hardware supports 64-bit addresses for consistent allocations such descriptors.

  struct device_dma_parameters * dma_parms;
//A low level driver may set these to teach IOMMU code about segment limitations.
  struct list_head dma_pools;
//Dma pools (if dma'ble device).
  struct dma_coherent_mem * dma_mem;
//Internal for coherent mem override.
#ifdef CONFIG_CMA
  struct cma * cma_area;
//Contiguous memory area for dma allocations
#endif
  struct dev_archdata archdata;
//For arch-specific additions.
  struct device_node * of_node;
//Associated device tree node.
  struct acpi_dev_node acpi_node;
//Associated ACPI device node.
  dev_t devt;
//For creating the sysfs “dev”.
  u32 id;
//device instance

  spinlock_t devres_lock;
//Spinlock to protect the resource of the device.
  struct list_head devres_head;
//The resources list of the device.
  struct klist_node knode_class;
//The node used to add the device to the class list.
  struct class * class;
//The class of the device.
  const struct attribute_group ** groups;
//Optional attribute groups.
  void (* release) (struct device *dev);
//Callback to free the device after all references have gone away. This should be set by the allocator of the device (i.e. the bus driver that discovered the device).
  struct iommu_group * iommu_group;
//IOMMU group the device belongs to.
  bool offline_disabled:1;
//If set, the device is permanently online.
  bool offline:1;
//Set after successful invocation of bus type's .offline.
}; 

Name

struct device — The basic device structure

Synopsis

struct device {
  struct device * parent;
  struct device_private * p;
  struct kobject kobj;
  const char * init_name;
  const struct device_type * type;
  struct mutex mutex;
  struct bus_type * bus;
  struct device_driver * driver;
  void * platform_data;
  struct dev_pm_info power;
  struct dev_pm_domain * pm_domain;
#ifdef CONFIG_PINCTRL
  struct dev_pin_info * pins;
#endif
#ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
  int numa_node;
#endif
  u64 * dma_mask;
  u64 coherent_dma_mask;
  struct device_dma_parameters * dma_parms;
  struct list_head dma_pools;
  struct dma_coherent_mem * dma_mem;
#ifdef CONFIG_CMA
  struct cma * cma_area;
#endif
  struct dev_archdata archdata;
  struct device_node * of_node;
  struct acpi_dev_node acpi_node;
  dev_t devt;
  u32 id;
  spinlock_t devres_lock;
  struct list_head devres_head;
  struct klist_node knode_class;
  struct class * class;
  const struct attribute_group ** groups;
  void (* release) (struct device *dev);
  struct iommu_group * iommu_group;
  bool offline_disabled:1;
  bool offline:1;
};  

Members

parent

The device's “parent” device, the device to which it is attached. In most cases, a parent device is some sort of bus or host controller. If parent is NULL, the device, is a top-level device, which is not usually what you want.

p

Holds the private data of the driver core portions of the device. See the comment of the struct device_private for detail.

kobj

A top-level, abstract class from which other classes are derived.

init_name

Initial name of the device.

type

The type of device. This identifies the device type and carries type-specific information.

mutex

Mutex to synchronize calls to its driver.

bus

Type of bus device is on.

driver

Which driver has allocated this

platform_data

Platform data specific to the device.

power

For device power management. See Documentation/power/devices.txt for details.

pm_domain

Provide callbacks that are executed during system suspend, hibernation, system resume and during runtime PM transitions along with subsystem-level and driver-level callbacks.

pins

For device pin management. See Documentation/pinctrl.txt for details.

numa_node

NUMA node this device is close to.

dma_mask

Dma mask (if dma'ble device).

coherent_dma_mask

Like dma_mask, but for alloc_coherent mapping as not all hardware supports 64-bit addresses for consistent allocations such descriptors.

dma_parms

A low level driver may set these to teach IOMMU code about segment limitations.

dma_pools

Dma pools (if dma'ble device).

dma_mem

Internal for coherent mem override.

cma_area

Contiguous memory area for dma allocations

archdata

For arch-specific additions.

of_node

Associated device tree node.

acpi_node

Associated ACPI device node.

devt

For creating the sysfs “dev”.

id

device instance

devres_lock

Spinlock to protect the resource of the device.

devres_head

The resources list of the device.

knode_class

The node used to add the device to the class list.

class

The class of the device.

groups

Optional attribute groups.

release

Callback to free the device after all references have gone away. This should be set by the allocator of the device (i.e. the bus driver that discovered the device).

iommu_group

IOMMU group the device belongs to.

offline_disabled

If set, the device is permanently online.

offline

Set after successful invocation of bus type's .offline.

Example

   For devices on custom boards, as typical of embedded
   		and SOC based hardware, Linux often uses platform_data to point
   		to board-specific structures describing devices and how they
   		are wired.  That can include what ports are available, chip
   		variants, which GPIO pins act in what additional roles, and so
   		on.  This shrinks the “Board Support Packages” (BSPs) and
   		minimizes board-specific #ifdefs in drivers.

Description

At the lowest level, every device in a Linux system is represented by an instance of struct device. The device structure contains the information that the device model core needs to model the system. Most subsystems, however, track additional information about the devices they host. As a result, it is rare for devices to be represented by bare device structures; instead, that structure, like kobject structures, is usually embedded within a higher-level representation of the device.