This chapter was written by &a.murray; with selections from a variety of sources including the intro(4) manual page by &a.joerg;. This chapter provides a brief introduction to writing device drivers for FreeBSD. A device in this context is a term used mostly for hardware-related stuff that belongs to the system, like disks, printers, or a graphics display with its keyboard. A device driver is the software component of the operating system that controls a specific device. There are also so-called pseudo-devices where a device driver emulates the behavior of a device in software without any particular underlying hardware. Device drivers can be compiled into the system statically or loaded on demand through the dynamic kernel linker facility `kld'. Most devices in a Unix-like operating system are accessed through device-nodes, sometimes also called special files. These files are usually located under the directory /dev in the filesystem hierarchy. In releases of FreeBSD older than 5.0-RELEASE, where &man.devfs.5; support is not integrated into FreeBSD, each device node must be created statically and independent of the existence of the associated device driver. Most device nodes on the system are created by running MAKEDEV. Device drivers can roughly be broken down into two categories; character and network device drivers. The kld interface allows system administrators to dynamically add and remove functionality from a running system. This allows device driver writers to load their new changes into a running kernel without constantly rebooting to test changes. The kld interface is used through the following privileged commands: kldload - loads a new kernel module kldunload - unloads a kernel module kldstat - lists the currently loaded modules Skeleton Layout of a kernel module /* * KLD Skeleton * Inspired by Andrew Reiter's Daemonnews article */ #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/module.h> #include <sys/systm.h> /* uprintf */ #include <sys/errno.h> #include <sys/param.h> /* defines used in kernel.h */ #include <sys/kernel.h> /* types used in module initialization */ /* * Load handler that deals with the loading and unloading of a KLD. */ static int skel_loader(struct module *m, int what, void *arg) { int err = 0; switch (what) { case MOD_LOAD: /* kldload */ uprintf("Skeleton KLD loaded.\n"); break; case MOD_UNLOAD: uprintf("Skeleton KLD unloaded.\n"); break; default: err = EINVAL; break; } return(err); } /* Declare this module to the rest of the kernel */ static moduledata_t skel_mod = { "skel", skel_loader, NULL }; DECLARE_MODULE(skeleton, skel_mod, SI_SUB_KLD, SI_ORDER_ANY); FreeBSD provides a makefile include that you can use to quickly compile your kernel addition. SRCS=skeleton.c KMOD=skeleton .include <bsd.kmod.mk> Simply running make with this makefile will create a file skeleton.ko that can be loaded into your system by typing: &prompt.root; kldload -v ./skeleton.ko Unix provides a common set of system calls for user applications to use. The upper layers of the kernel dispatch these calls to the corresponding device driver when a user accesses a device node. The /dev/MAKEDEV script makes most of the device nodes for your system but if you are doing your own driver development it may be necessary to create your own device nodes with mknod. The mknod command requires four arguments to create a device node. You must specify the name of the device node, the type of device, the major number of the device, and the minor number of the device. The device filesystem, or devfs, provides access to the kernel's device namespace in the global filesystem namespace. This eliminates the problems of potentially having a device driver without a static device node, or a device node without an installed device driver. Devfs is still a work in progress, but it is already working quite nicely. A character device driver is one that transfers data directly to and from a user process. This is the most common type of device driver and there are plenty of simple examples in the source tree. This simple example pseudo-device remembers whatever values you write to it and can then supply them back to you when you read from it. Two versions are shown, one for &os;  4.X and one for &os;  5.X. /* * Simple `echo' pseudo-device KLD * * Murray Stokely */ #define MIN(a,b) (((a) < (b)) ? (a) : (b)) #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/module.h> #include <sys/systm.h> /* uprintf */ #include <sys/errno.h> #include <sys/param.h> /* defines used in kernel.h */ #include <sys/kernel.h> /* types used in module initialization */ #include <sys/conf.h> /* cdevsw struct */ #include <sys/uio.h> /* uio struct */ #include <sys/malloc.h> #define BUFFERSIZE 256 /* Function prototypes */ d_open_t echo_open; d_close_t echo_close; d_read_t echo_read; d_write_t echo_write; /* Character device entry points */ static struct cdevsw echo_cdevsw = { echo_open, echo_close, echo_read, echo_write, noioctl, nopoll, nommap, nostrategy, "echo", 33, /* reserved for lkms - /usr/src/sys/conf/majors */ nodump, nopsize, D_TTY, -1 }; struct s_echo { char msg[BUFFERSIZE]; int len; } t_echo; /* vars */ static dev_t sdev; static int len; static int count; static t_echo *echomsg; MALLOC_DECLARE(M_ECHOBUF); MALLOC_DEFINE(M_ECHOBUF, "echobuffer", "buffer for echo module"); /* * This function is called by the kld[un]load(2) system calls to * determine what actions to take when a module is loaded or unloaded. */ static int echo_loader(struct module *m, int what, void *arg) { int err = 0; switch (what) { case MOD_LOAD: /* kldload */ sdev = make_dev(&echo_cdevsw, 0, UID_ROOT, GID_WHEEL, 0600, "echo"); /* kmalloc memory for use by this driver */ MALLOC(echomsg, t_echo *, sizeof(t_echo), M_ECHOBUF, M_WAITOK); printf("Echo device loaded.\n"); break; case MOD_UNLOAD: destroy_dev(sdev); FREE(echomsg,M_ECHOBUF); printf("Echo device unloaded.\n"); break; default: err = EINVAL; break; } return(err); } int echo_open(dev_t dev, int oflags, int devtype, struct proc *p) { int err = 0; uprintf("Opened device \"echo\" successfully.\n"); return(err); } int echo_close(dev_t dev, int fflag, int devtype, struct proc *p) { uprintf("Closing device \"echo.\"\n"); return(0); } /* * The read function just takes the buf that was saved via * echo_write() and returns it to userland for accessing. * uio(9) */ int echo_read(dev_t dev, struct uio *uio, int ioflag) { int err = 0; int amt; /* * How big is this read operation? Either as big as the user wants, * or as big as the remaining data */ amt = MIN(uio->uio_resid, (echomsg->len - uio->uio_offset > 0) ? echomsg->len - uio->uio_offset : 0); if ((err = uiomove(echomsg->msg + uio->uio_offset,amt,uio)) != 0) { uprintf("uiomove failed!\n"); } return(err); } /* * echo_write takes in a character string and saves it * to buf for later accessing. */ int echo_write(dev_t dev, struct uio *uio, int ioflag) { int err = 0; /* Copy the string in from user memory to kernel memory */ err = copyin(uio->uio_iov->iov_base, echomsg->msg, MIN(uio->uio_iov->iov_len,BUFFERSIZE - 1)); /* Now we need to null terminate, then record the length */ *(echomsg->msg + MIN(uio->uio_iov->iov_len,BUFFERSIZE - 1)) = 0; echomsg->len = MIN(uio->uio_iov->iov_len,BUFFERSIZE); if (err != 0) { uprintf("Write failed: bad address!\n"); } count++; return(err); } DEV_MODULE(echo,echo_loader,NULL); /* * Simple `echo' pseudo-device KLD * * Murray Stokely * * Converted to 5.X by Søren (Xride) Straarup */ #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/module.h> #include <sys/systm.h> /* uprintf */ #include <sys/errno.h> #include <sys/param.h> /* defines used in kernel.h */ #include <sys/kernel.h> /* types used in module initialization */ #include <sys/conf.h> /* cdevsw struct */ #include <sys/uio.h> /* uio struct */ #include <sys/malloc.h> #define BUFFERSIZE 256 #define CDEV_MAJOR 33 /* Function prototypes */ static d_open_t echo_open; static d_close_t echo_close; static d_read_t echo_read; static d_write_t echo_write; /* Character device entry points */ static struct cdevsw echo_cdevsw = { .d_open = echo_open, .d_close = echo_close, .d_maj = CDEV_MAJOR, .d_name = "echo", .d_read = echo_read, .d_write = echo_write }; typedef struct s_echo { char msg[BUFFERSIZE]; int len; } t_echo; /* vars */ static dev_t echo_dev; static int count; static t_echo *echomsg; MALLOC_DECLARE(M_ECHOBUF); MALLOC_DEFINE(M_ECHOBUF, "echobuffer", "buffer for echo module"); /* * This function is called by the kld[un]load(2) system calls to * determine what actions to take when a module is loaded or unloaded. */ static int echo_loader(struct module *m, int what, void *arg) { int err = 0; switch (what) { case MOD_LOAD: /* kldload */ echo_dev = make_dev(&echo_cdevsw, 0, UID_ROOT, GID_WHEEL, 0600, "echo"); /* kmalloc memory for use by this driver */ MALLOC(echomsg, t_echo *, sizeof(t_echo), M_ECHOBUF, M_WAITOK); printf("Echo device loaded.\n"); break; case MOD_UNLOAD: destroy_dev(echo_dev); FREE(echomsg,M_ECHOBUF); printf("Echo device unloaded.\n"); break; default: err = EINVAL; break; } return(err); } static int echo_open(dev_t dev, int oflags, int devtype, struct thread *p) { int err = 0; uprintf("Opened device \"echo\" successfully.\n"); return(err); } static int echo_close(dev_t dev, int fflag, int devtype, struct thread *p) { uprintf("Closing device \"echo.\"\n"); return(0); } /* * The read function just takes the buf that was saved via * echo_write() and returns it to userland for accessing. * uio(9) */ static int echo_read(dev_t dev, struct uio *uio, int ioflag) { int err = 0; int amt; /* * How big is this read operation? Either as big as the user wants, * or as big as the remaining data */ amt = MIN(uio->uio_resid, (echomsg->len - uio->uio_offset > 0) ? echomsg->len - uio->uio_offset : 0); if ((err = uiomove(echomsg->msg + uio->uio_offset,amt,uio)) != 0) { uprintf("uiomove failed!\n"); } return(err); } /* * echo_write takes in a character string and saves it * to buf for later accessing. */ static int echo_write(dev_t dev, struct uio *uio, int ioflag) { int err = 0; /* Copy the string in from user memory to kernel memory */ err = copyin(uio->uio_iov->iov_base, echomsg->msg, MIN(uio->uio_iov->iov_len,BUFFERSIZE)); /* Now we need to null terminate, then record the length */ *(echomsg->msg + MIN(uio->uio_iov->iov_len,BUFFERSIZE)) = 0; echomsg->len = MIN(uio->uio_iov->iov_len,BUFFERSIZE); if (err != 0) { uprintf("Write failed: bad address!\n"); } count++; return(err); } DEV_MODULE(echo,echo_loader,NULL); To install this driver on &os; 4.X you will first need to make a node on your filesystem with a command such as: &prompt.root; mknod /dev/echo c 33 0 With this driver loaded you should now be able to type something like: &prompt.root; echo -n "Test Data" > /dev/echo &prompt.root; cat /dev/echo Test Data Real hardware devices are described in the next chapter. Additional Resources Dynamic Kernel Linker (KLD) Facility Programming Tutorial - Daemonnews October 2000 How to Write Kernel Drivers with NEWBUS - Daemonnews July 2000 Other &unix; systems may support a second type of disk device known as block devices. Block devices are disk devices for which the kernel provides caching. This caching makes block-devices almost unusable, or at least dangerously unreliable. The caching will reorder the sequence of write operations, depriving the application of the ability to know the exact disk contents at any one instant in time. This makes predictable and reliable crash recovery of on-disk data structures (filesystems, databases etc.) impossible. Since writes may be delayed, there is no way the kernel can report to the application which particular write operation encountered a write error, this further compounds the consistency problem. For this reason, no serious applications rely on block devices, and in fact, almost all applications which access disks directly take great pains to specify that character (or raw) devices should always be used. Because the implementation of the aliasing of each disk (partition) to two devices with different semantics significantly complicated the relevant kernel code &os; dropped support for cached disk devices as part of the modernization of the disk I/O infrastructure. Drivers for network devices do not use device nodes in order to be accessed. Their selection is based on other decisions made inside the kernel and instead of calling open(), use of a network device is generally introduced by using the system call socket(2). man ifnet(), loopback device, Bill Paul's drivers, etc..