How to write a Linux driver

Under uClinux platform, we use static compilation method as follows, because of its limitation of functionality.

 

1. Wrote driver function file(s).

    -added some statements (such as includes, micro definitions, static global variables) necessary:

       #define __NO_VERSION__   //if no version information of my driver needs to be declared.

       #include <linux/config.h>

       #include <linux/types.h>

#include <linux/module.h>

       #include <linux/version.h>

       #include <linux/errno.h>

       #include <asm/uaccess.h>

       #include <asm/arch/s3c4510B.h>  //the specific chip registers’ micro definition file

       char kernel_version[] = UTS_RELEASE;

       Other information such as author, date, etc followed by GNU standard

    -defined major device number, eg: int Major_No = 254;

    -wrote driver function (eg: dt_open, dt_ioctl, etc)

    -wrote structure variable to setup the association between my driver functions and system driver calls,

eg: struct file_operations test_fops ={

open: dt_open,

ioctl: dt_ioctl,

};

    -wrote initial function (eg: int test_init(void)), which calls system function register_chrdev(Major_No, “test”, &test_fops) to register my driver device(character-type device) into system.  These parameters stand for major device number, driver name, the association of driver functions.  Note that if Major_No is 0, the return value of function register_chrdev is the major number assigned by system.

    -wrote cleanup function with void cleanup_module(void) prototype, which calls system function unregister_chrdev(Major_No, “test”) .

2. Stored in the proper folder, eg: character driver stored in folder drivers/char/

3. Modified Makefile in this folder (eg: drivers/char/).

-added configuration at somewhere: type like that "obj-$(CONFIG_TESTDRIVER) += testdriver.o"

4. Modified config.in in the same folder.

-added configuration at somewhere: type like that "bool ‘Mytestdriver’ CONFIG_TESTDRIVER"

5. Modified mem.c in the same folder

-added initial function of my driver (eg: test_init()) into mem.c with same rule within it.

5. Added device node in Makefile in folder vendors/Samsung/4510B

-added parameters(same as command mknod’ s parameters) in DEVICES section, eg: test, c, 254, 0, which stands for the register driver name, device type(char), major device number, minor device number

6. Used command make menuconfig at linux root folder(eg: uClinux-dist) to let my driver choice available

7. re-compiled linux with some commands

That's all!

Ps:

1.    File operations API of Linux is defined as follows:

struct file_operations {

int (*seek) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， off_t ，int);

int (*read) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， char ，int);

int (*write) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， off_t ，int);

int (*readdir) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， struct dirent * ，int);

int (*select) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， int ，select_table *);

int (*ioctl) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， unsined int ，unsigned long);

int (*mmap) (struct inode * ，struct file * ， struct vm_area_struct *);

int (*open) (struct inode * ，struct file *);

int (*release) (struct inode * ，struct file *);

int (*fsync) (struct inode * ，struct file *);

int (*fasync) (struct inode * ，struct file * ，int);

int (*check_media_change) (struct inode * ，struct file *);

int (*revalidate) (dev_t dev);

}

2.    There are two methods for driver implementation: static compilation method and dynamic compilation method.  uClinux usually uses static compilation method, because of limitation of functionality.  Linux usually uses dynamic compilation method which added/removed driver device as a module into system by command insmod/rmmod.

3.    Note that we use uClinux 2.4 version for implementation here.