Linux-2.6.12-rc2

Initial git repository build. I'm not bothering with the full history,
even though we have it. We can create a separate "historical" git
archive of that later if we want to, and in the meantime it's about
3.2GB when imported into git - space that would just make the early
git days unnecessarily complicated, when we don't have a lot of good
infrastructure for it.

Let it rip!

1 files changed, 102 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/driver-model/binding.txt b/Documentation/driver-model/binding.txt
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+
+Driver Binding
+
+Driver binding is the process of associating a device with a device
+driver that can control it. Bus drivers have typically handled this
+because there have been bus-specific structures to represent the
+devices and the drivers. With generic device and device driver
+structures, most of the binding can take place using common code.
+
+
+Bus
+~~~
+
+The bus type structure contains a list of all devices that are on that bus
+type in the system. When device_register is called for a device, it is
+inserted into the end of this list. The bus object also contains a
+list of all drivers of that bus type. When driver_register is called
+for a driver, it is inserted at the end of this list. These are the
+two events which trigger driver binding.
+
+
+device_register
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+When a new device is added, the bus's list of drivers is iterated over
+to find one that supports it. In order to determine that, the device
+ID of the device must match one of the device IDs that the driver
+supports. The format and semantics for comparing IDs is bus-specific. 
+Instead of trying to derive a complex state machine and matching
+algorithm, it is up to the bus driver to provide a callback to compare
+a device against the IDs of a driver. The bus returns 1 if a match was
+found; 0 otherwise.
+
+int match(struct device * dev, struct device_driver * drv);
+
+If a match is found, the device's driver field is set to the driver
+and the driver's probe callback is called. This gives the driver a
+chance to verify that it really does support the hardware, and that
+it's in a working state. 
+
+Device Class
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Upon the successful completion of probe, the device is registered with
+the class to which it belongs. Device drivers belong to one and only one
+class, and that is set in the driver's devclass field. 
+devclass_add_device is called to enumerate the device within the class
+and actually register it with the class, which happens with the
+class's register_dev callback.
+
+NOTE: The device class structures and core routines to manipulate them
+are not in the mainline kernel, so the discussion is still a bit
+speculative. 
+
+
+Driver
+~~~~~~
+
+When a driver is attached to a device, the device is inserted into the
+driver's list of devices. 
+
+
+sysfs
+~~~~~
+
+A symlink is created in the bus's 'devices' directory that points to
+the device's directory in the physical hierarchy.
+
+A symlink is created in the driver's 'devices' directory that points
+to the device's directory in the physical hierarchy.
+
+A directory for the device is created in the class's directory. A
+symlink is created in that directory that points to the device's
+physical location in the sysfs tree. 
+
+A symlink can be created (though this isn't done yet) in the device's
+physical directory to either its class directory, or the class's
+top-level directory. One can also be created to point to its driver's
+directory also. 
+
+
+driver_register
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The process is almost identical for when a new driver is added. 
+The bus's list of devices is iterated over to find a match. Devices
+that already have a driver are skipped. All the devices are iterated
+over, to bind as many devices as possible to the driver.
+
+
+Removal
+~~~~~~~
+
+When a device is removed, the reference count for it will eventually
+go to 0. When it does, the remove callback of the driver is called. It
+is removed from the driver's list of devices and the reference count
+of the driver is decremented. All symlinks between the two are removed.
+
+When a driver is removed, the list of devices that it supports is
+iterated over, and the driver's remove callback is called for each
+one. The device is removed from that list and the symlinks removed. 
+