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hpet: /dev/hpet - fixes and cleanup

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Minor /dev/hpet updates and bugfixes:

  * Remove dead code, mostly remnants of an incomplete/unusable
    kernel interface ... noted when addressing "sparse" warnings:
      + hpet_unregister() and a routine it calls
      + hpet_task and all references, including hpet_task_lock
      + hpet_data.hd_flags (and HPET_DATA_PLATFORM)

  * Correct and improve boot message:
      + displays *counter* (shared between comparators) bit width,
        not *timer* bit widths (which are often mixed)
      + relabel "timers" as "comparators"; this is less confusing,
        they are not independent like normal timers are (sigh)
      + display MHz not Hz; it's never less than 10 MHz.

  * Tighten and correct the userspace interface code
      + don't accidentally program comparators in 64-bit mode using
        32-bit values ... always force comparators into 32-bit mode
      + provide the correct bit definition flagging comparators with
        periodic capability ... the ABI is unchanged

  * Update Documentation/hpet.txt
      + be more correct and current
      + expand description a bit
      + don't mention that now-gone kernel interface

Plus, add a FIXME comment for something that could cause big trouble
on systems with more capable HPETs than at least Intel seems to ship.

It seems that few folk use this userspace interface; it's not very
usable given the general lack of HPET IRQ routing.  I'm told that
the only real point of it any more is to mmap for fast timestamps;
IMO that's handled better through the gettimeofday() vsyscall.

Signed-off-by: David Brownell <dbrownell@users.sourceforge.net>
Acked-by: Clemens Ladisch <clemens@ladisch.de>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
This commit is contained in:
David Brownell 2008-07-29 12:47:38 -07:00 • committed by Ingo Molnar
parent 85e9ca333d
commit 64a76f667d
4 changed files with 51 additions and 99 deletions
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43
Documentation/timers/hpet.txt
View file

@ -1,21 +1,32 @@
High Precision Event Timer Driver for Linux
The High Precision Event Timer (HPET) hardware is the future replacement
for the 8254 and Real Time Clock (RTC) periodic timer functionality.
Each HPET can have up to 32 timers. It is possible to configure the
first two timers as legacy replacements for 8254 and RTC periodic timers.
A specification done by Intel and Microsoft can be found at
<http://www.intel.com/technology/architecture/hpetspec.htm>.
The High Precision Event Timer (HPET) hardware follows a specification
by Intel and Microsoft which can be found at
http://www.intel.com/technology/architecture/hpetspec.htm
Each HPET has one fixed-rate counter (at 10+ MHz, hence "High Precision")
and up to 32 comparators. Normally three or more comparators are provided,
each of which can generate oneshot interupts and at least one of which has
additional hardware to support periodic interrupts. The comparators are
also called "timers", which can be misleading since usually timers are
independent of each other ... these share a counter, complicating resets.
HPET devices can support two interrupt routing modes. In one mode, the
comparators are additional interrupt sources with no particular system
role. Many x86 BIOS writers don't route HPET interrupts at all, which
prevents use of that mode. They support the other "legacy replacement"
mode where the first two comparators block interrupts from 8254 timers
and from the RTC.
The driver supports detection of HPET driver allocation and initialization
of the HPET before the driver module_init routine is called. This enables
platform code which uses timer 0 or 1 as the main timer to intercept HPET
initialization. An example of this initialization can be found in
arch/i386/kernel/time_hpet.c.
arch/x86/kernel/hpet.c.
The driver provides two APIs which are very similar to the API found in
the rtc.c driver. There is a user space API and a kernel space API.
An example user space program is provided below.
The driver provides a userspace API which resembles the API found in the
RTC driver framework. An example user space program is provided below.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
@ -286,15 +297,3 @@ out:
return;
}
The kernel API has three interfaces exported from the driver:
hpet_register(struct hpet_task *tp, int periodic)
hpet_unregister(struct hpet_task *tp)
hpet_control(struct hpet_task *tp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
The kernel module using this interface fills in the ht_func and ht_data
members of the hpet_task structure before calling hpet_register.
hpet_control simply vectors to the hpet_ioctl routine and has the same
commands and respective arguments as the user API. hpet_unregister
is used to terminate usage of the HPET timer reserved by hpet_register.