From dd0b38d8eef86308dbbba7557400e4894e55e3c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Oliver Neukum Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2016 15:52:43 +0100 Subject: Documentation: convert USB to new format This is a conversion of the USB documentation to the Sphinx format. No content was altered or reformatted. Signed-off-by: Oliver Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet --- Documentation/driver-api/index.rst | 1 + Documentation/driver-api/usb.rst | 748 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 749 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/driver-api/usb.rst (limited to 'Documentation/driver-api') diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst index e18135b..743828e 100644 --- a/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/index.rst @@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ available subsections can be seen below. sound frame-buffer input + usb spi i2c hsi diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/usb.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/usb.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..851cc40b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/usb.rst @@ -0,0 +1,748 @@ +=========================== +The Linux-USB Host Side API +=========================== + +Introduction to USB on Linux +============================ + +A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is used to connect a host, such as a PC or +workstation, to a number of peripheral devices. USB uses a tree +structure, with the host as the root (the system's master), hubs as +interior nodes, and peripherals as leaves (and slaves). Modern PCs +support several such trees of USB devices, usually +a few USB 3.0 (5 GBit/s) or USB 3.1 (10 GBit/s) and some legacy +USB 2.0 (480 MBit/s) busses just in case. + +That master/slave asymmetry was designed-in for a number of reasons, one +being ease of use. It is not physically possible to mistake upstream and +downstream or it does not matter with a type C plug (or they are built into the +peripheral). Also, the host software doesn't need to deal with +distributed auto-configuration since the pre-designated master node +manages all that. + +Kernel developers added USB support to Linux early in the 2.2 kernel +series and have been developing it further since then. Besides support +for each new generation of USB, various host controllers gained support, +new drivers for peripherals have been added and advanced features for latency +measurement and improved power management introduced. + +Linux can run inside USB devices as well as on the hosts that control +the devices. But USB device drivers running inside those peripherals +don't do the same things as the ones running inside hosts, so they've +been given a different name: *gadget drivers*. This document does not +cover gadget drivers. + +USB Host-Side API Model +======================= + +Host-side drivers for USB devices talk to the "usbcore" APIs. There are +two. One is intended for *general-purpose* drivers (exposed through +driver frameworks), and the other is for drivers that are *part of the +core*. Such core drivers include the *hub* driver (which manages trees +of USB devices) and several different kinds of *host controller +drivers*, which control individual busses. + +The device model seen by USB drivers is relatively complex. + +- USB supports four kinds of data transfers (control, bulk, interrupt, + and isochronous). Two of them (control and bulk) use bandwidth as + it's available, while the other two (interrupt and isochronous) are + scheduled to provide guaranteed bandwidth. + +- The device description model includes one or more "configurations" + per device, only one of which is active at a time. Devices are supposed + to be capable of operating at lower than their top + speeds and may provide a BOS descriptor showing the lowest speed they + remain fully operational at. + +- From USB 3.0 on configurations have one or more "functions", which + provide a common functionality and are grouped together for purposes + of power management. + +- Configurations or functions have one or more "interfaces", each of which may have + "alternate settings". Interfaces may be standardized by USB "Class" + specifications, or may be specific to a vendor or device. + + USB device drivers actually bind to interfaces, not devices. Think of + them as "interface drivers", though you may not see many devices + where the distinction is important. *Most USB devices are simple, + with only one function, one configuration, one interface, and one alternate + setting.* + +- Interfaces have one or more "endpoints", each of which supports one + type and direction of data transfer such as "bulk out" or "interrupt + in". The entire configuration may have up to sixteen endpoints in + each direction, allocated as needed among all the interfaces. + +- Data transfer on USB is packetized; each endpoint has a maximum + packet size. Drivers must often be aware of conventions such as + flagging the end of bulk transfers using "short" (including zero + length) packets. + +- The Linux USB API supports synchronous calls for control and bulk + messages. It also supports asynchronous calls for all kinds of data + transfer, using request structures called "URBs" (USB Request + Blocks). + +Accordingly, the USB Core API exposed to device drivers covers quite a +lot of territory. You'll probably need to consult the USB 3.0 +specification, available online from www.usb.org at no cost, as well as +class or device specifications. + +The only host-side drivers that actually touch hardware (reading/writing +registers, handling IRQs, and so on) are the HCDs. In theory, all HCDs +provide the same functionality through the same API. In practice, that's +becoming more true, but there are still differences +that crop up especially with fault handling on the less common controllers. +Different controllers don't +necessarily report the same aspects of failures, and recovery from +faults (including software-induced ones like unlinking an URB) isn't yet +fully consistent. Device driver authors should make a point of doing +disconnect testing (while the device is active) with each different host +controller driver, to make sure drivers don't have bugs of their own as +well as to make sure they aren't relying on some HCD-specific behavior. + +USB-Standard Types +================== + +In ```` you will find the USB data types defined in +chapter 9 of the USB specification. These data types are used throughout +USB, and in APIs including this host side API, gadget APIs, and usbfs. + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/usb/ch9.h + :internal: + +Host-Side Data Types and Macros +=============================== + +The host side API exposes several layers to drivers, some of which are +more necessary than others. These support lifecycle models for host side +drivers and devices, and support passing buffers through usbcore to some +HCD that performs the I/O for the device driver. + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/usb.h + :internal: + +USB Core APIs +============= + +There are two basic I/O models in the USB API. The most elemental one is +asynchronous: drivers submit requests in the form of an URB, and the +URB's completion callback handles the next step. All USB transfer types +support that model, although there are special cases for control URBs +(which always have setup and status stages, but may not have a data +stage) and isochronous URBs (which allow large packets and include +per-packet fault reports). Built on top of that is synchronous API +support, where a driver calls a routine that allocates one or more URBs, +submits them, and waits until they complete. There are synchronous +wrappers for single-buffer control and bulk transfers (which are awkward +to use in some driver disconnect scenarios), and for scatterlist based +streaming i/o (bulk or interrupt). + +USB drivers need to provide buffers that can be used for DMA, although +they don't necessarily need to provide the DMA mapping themselves. There +are APIs to use used when allocating DMA buffers, which can prevent use +of bounce buffers on some systems. In some cases, drivers may be able to +rely on 64bit DMA to eliminate another kind of bounce buffer. + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/urb.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/message.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/file.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/driver.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/usb.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/hub.c + :export: + +Host Controller APIs +==================== + +These APIs are only for use by host controller drivers, most of which +implement standard register interfaces such as XHCI, EHCI, OHCI, or UHCI. UHCI +was one of the first interfaces, designed by Intel and also used by VIA; +it doesn't do much in hardware. OHCI was designed later, to have the +hardware do more work (bigger transfers, tracking protocol state, and so +on). EHCI was designed with USB 2.0; its design has features that +resemble OHCI (hardware does much more work) as well as UHCI (some parts +of ISO support, TD list processing). XHCI was designed with USB 3.0. It +continues to shift support for functionality into hardware. + +There are host controllers other than the "big three", although most PCI +based controllers (and a few non-PCI based ones) use one of those +interfaces. Not all host controllers use DMA; some use PIO, and there is +also a simulator and a virtual host controller to pipe USB over the network. + +The same basic APIs are available to drivers for all those controllers. +For historical reasons they are in two layers: :c:type:`struct +usb_bus ` is a rather thin layer that became available +in the 2.2 kernels, while :c:type:`struct usb_hcd ` +is a more featureful layer +that lets HCDs share common code, to shrink driver size and +significantly reduce hcd-specific behaviors. + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/hcd.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/hcd-pci.c + :export: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/usb/core/buffer.c + :internal: + +The USB Filesystem (usbfs) +========================== + +This chapter presents the Linux *usbfs*. You may prefer to avoid writing +new kernel code for your USB driver; that's the problem that usbfs set +out to solve. User mode device drivers are usually packaged as +applications or libraries, and may use usbfs through some programming +library that wraps it. Such libraries include +`libusb `__ for C/C++, and +`jUSB `__ for Java. + + **Note** + + This particular documentation is incomplete, especially with respect + to the asynchronous mode. As of kernel 2.5.66 the code and this + (new) documentation need to be cross-reviewed. + +Configure usbfs into Linux kernels by enabling the *USB filesystem* +option (CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS), and you get basic support for user mode +USB device drivers. Until relatively recently it was often (confusingly) +called *usbdevfs* although it wasn't solving what *devfs* was. Every USB +device will appear in usbfs, regardless of whether or not it has a +kernel driver. + +What files are in "usbfs"? +-------------------------- + +Conventionally mounted at ``/proc/bus/usb``, usbfs features include: + +- ``/proc/bus/usb/devices`` ... a text file showing each of the USB + devices on known to the kernel, and their configuration descriptors. + You can also poll() this to learn about new devices. + +- ``/proc/bus/usb/BBB/DDD`` ... magic files exposing the each device's + configuration descriptors, and supporting a series of ioctls for + making device requests, including I/O to devices. (Purely for access + by programs.) + +Each bus is given a number (BBB) based on when it was enumerated; within +each bus, each device is given a similar number (DDD). Those BBB/DDD +paths are not "stable" identifiers; expect them to change even if you +always leave the devices plugged in to the same hub port. *Don't even +think of saving these in application configuration files.* Stable +identifiers are available, for user mode applications that want to use +them. HID and networking devices expose these stable IDs, so that for +example you can be sure that you told the right UPS to power down its +second server. "usbfs" doesn't (yet) expose those IDs. + +Mounting and Access Control +--------------------------- + +There are a number of mount options for usbfs, which will be of most +interest to you if you need to override the default access control +policy. That policy is that only root may read or write device files +(``/proc/bus/BBB/DDD``) although anyone may read the ``devices`` or +``drivers`` files. I/O requests to the device also need the +CAP_SYS_RAWIO capability, + +The significance of that is that by default, all user mode device +drivers need super-user privileges. You can change modes or ownership in +a driver setup when the device hotplugs, or maye just start the driver +right then, as a privileged server (or some activity within one). That's +the most secure approach for multi-user systems, but for single user +systems ("trusted" by that user) it's more convenient just to grant +everyone all access (using the *devmode=0666* option) so the driver can +start whenever it's needed. + +The mount options for usbfs, usable in /etc/fstab or in command line +invocations of *mount*, are: + +*busgid*\ =NNNNN + Controls the GID used for the /proc/bus/usb/BBB directories. + (Default: 0) + +*busmode*\ =MMM + Controls the file mode used for the /proc/bus/usb/BBB directories. + (Default: 0555) + +*busuid*\ =NNNNN + Controls the UID used for the /proc/bus/usb/BBB directories. + (Default: 0) + +*devgid*\ =NNNNN + Controls the GID used for the /proc/bus/usb/BBB/DDD files. (Default: + 0) + +*devmode*\ =MMM + Controls the file mode used for the /proc/bus/usb/BBB/DDD files. + (Default: 0644) + +*devuid*\ =NNNNN + Controls the UID used for the /proc/bus/usb/BBB/DDD files. (Default: + 0) + +*listgid*\ =NNNNN + Controls the GID used for the /proc/bus/usb/devices and drivers + files. (Default: 0) + +*listmode*\ =MMM + Controls the file mode used for the /proc/bus/usb/devices and + drivers files. (Default: 0444) + +*listuid*\ =NNNNN + Controls the UID used for the /proc/bus/usb/devices and drivers + files. (Default: 0) + +Note that many Linux distributions hard-wire the mount options for usbfs +in their init scripts, such as ``/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit``, rather than +making it easy to set this per-system policy in ``/etc/fstab``. + +/proc/bus/usb/devices +--------------------- + +This file is handy for status viewing tools in user mode, which can scan +the text format and ignore most of it. More detailed device status +(including class and vendor status) is available from device-specific +files. For information about the current format of this file, see the +``Documentation/usb/proc_usb_info.txt`` file in your Linux kernel +sources. + +This file, in combination with the poll() system call, can also be used +to detect when devices are added or removed: + +:: + + int fd; + struct pollfd pfd; + + fd = open("/proc/bus/usb/devices", O_RDONLY); + pfd = { fd, POLLIN, 0 }; + for (;;) { + /* The first time through, this call will return immediately. */ + poll(&pfd, 1, -1); + + /* To see what's changed, compare the file's previous and current + contents or scan the filesystem. (Scanning is more precise.) */ + } + +Note that this behavior is intended to be used for informational and +debug purposes. It would be more appropriate to use programs such as +udev or HAL to initialize a device or start a user-mode helper program, +for instance. + +/proc/bus/usb/BBB/DDD +--------------------- + +Use these files in one of these basic ways: + +*They can be read,* producing first the device descriptor (18 bytes) and +then the descriptors for the current configuration. See the USB 2.0 spec +for details about those binary data formats. You'll need to convert most +multibyte values from little endian format to your native host byte +order, although a few of the fields in the device descriptor (both of +the BCD-encoded fields, and the vendor and product IDs) will be +byteswapped for you. Note that configuration descriptors include +descriptors for interfaces, altsettings, endpoints, and maybe additional +class descriptors. + +*Perform USB operations* using *ioctl()* requests to make endpoint I/O +requests (synchronously or asynchronously) or manage the device. These +requests need the CAP_SYS_RAWIO capability, as well as filesystem +access permissions. Only one ioctl request can be made on one of these +device files at a time. This means that if you are synchronously reading +an endpoint from one thread, you won't be able to write to a different +endpoint from another thread until the read completes. This works for +*half duplex* protocols, but otherwise you'd use asynchronous i/o +requests. + +Life Cycle of User Mode Drivers +------------------------------- + +Such a driver first needs to find a device file for a device it knows +how to handle. Maybe it was told about it because a ``/sbin/hotplug`` +event handling agent chose that driver to handle the new device. Or +maybe it's an application that scans all the /proc/bus/usb device files, +and ignores most devices. In either case, it should :c:func:`read()` +all the descriptors from the device file, and check them against what it +knows how to handle. It might just reject everything except a particular +vendor and product ID, or need a more complex policy. + +Never assume there will only be one such device on the system at a time! +If your code can't handle more than one device at a time, at least +detect when there's more than one, and have your users choose which +device to use. + +Once your user mode driver knows what device to use, it interacts with +it in either of two styles. The simple style is to make only control +requests; some devices don't need more complex interactions than those. +(An example might be software using vendor-specific control requests for +some initialization or configuration tasks, with a kernel driver for the +rest.) + +More likely, you need a more complex style driver: one using non-control +endpoints, reading or writing data and claiming exclusive use of an +interface. *Bulk* transfers are easiest to use, but only their sibling +*interrupt* transfers work with low speed devices. Both interrupt and +*isochronous* transfers offer service guarantees because their bandwidth +is reserved. Such "periodic" transfers are awkward to use through usbfs, +unless you're using the asynchronous calls. However, interrupt transfers +can also be used in a synchronous "one shot" style. + +Your user-mode driver should never need to worry about cleaning up +request state when the device is disconnected, although it should close +its open file descriptors as soon as it starts seeing the ENODEV errors. + +The ioctl() Requests +-------------------- + +To use these ioctls, you need to include the following headers in your +userspace program: + +:: + + #include + #include + #include + +The standard USB device model requests, from "Chapter 9" of the USB 2.0 +specification, are automatically included from the ```` +header. + +Unless noted otherwise, the ioctl requests described here will update +the modification time on the usbfs file to which they are applied +(unless they fail). A return of zero indicates success; otherwise, a +standard USB error code is returned. (These are documented in +``Documentation/usb/error-codes.txt`` in your kernel sources.) + +Each of these files multiplexes access to several I/O streams, one per +endpoint. Each device has one control endpoint (endpoint zero) which +supports a limited RPC style RPC access. Devices are configured by +hub_wq (in the kernel) setting a device-wide *configuration* that +affects things like power consumption and basic functionality. The +endpoints are part of USB *interfaces*, which may have *altsettings* +affecting things like which endpoints are available. Many devices only +have a single configuration and interface, so drivers for them will +ignore configurations and altsettings. + +Management/Status Requests +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +A number of usbfs requests don't deal very directly with device I/O. +They mostly relate to device management and status. These are all +synchronous requests. + +USBDEVFS_CLAIMINTERFACE + This is used to force usbfs to claim a specific interface, which has + not previously been claimed by usbfs or any other kernel driver. The + ioctl parameter is an integer holding the number of the interface + (bInterfaceNumber from descriptor). + + Note that if your driver doesn't claim an interface before trying to + use one of its endpoints, and no other driver has bound to it, then + the interface is automatically claimed by usbfs. + + This claim will be released by a RELEASEINTERFACE ioctl, or by + closing the file descriptor. File modification time is not updated + by this request. + +USBDEVFS_CONNECTINFO + Says whether the device is lowspeed. The ioctl parameter points to a + structure like this: + + :: + + struct usbdevfs_connectinfo { + unsigned int devnum; + unsigned char slow; + }; + + File modification time is not updated by this request. + + *You can't tell whether a "not slow" device is connected at high + speed (480 MBit/sec) or just full speed (12 MBit/sec).* You should + know the devnum value already, it's the DDD value of the device file + name. + +USBDEVFS_GETDRIVER + Returns the name of the kernel driver bound to a given interface (a + string). Parameter is a pointer to this structure, which is + modified: + + :: + + struct usbdevfs_getdriver { + unsigned int interface; + char driver[USBDEVFS_MAXDRIVERNAME + 1]; + }; + + File modification time is not updated by this request. + +USBDEVFS_IOCTL + Passes a request from userspace through to a kernel driver that has + an ioctl entry in the *struct usb_driver* it registered. + + :: + + struct usbdevfs_ioctl { + int ifno; + int ioctl_code; + void *data; + }; + + /* user mode call looks like this. + * 'request' becomes the driver->ioctl() 'code' parameter. + * the size of 'param' is encoded in 'request', and that data + * is copied to or from the driver->ioctl() 'buf' parameter. + */ + static int + usbdev_ioctl (int fd, int ifno, unsigned request, void *param) + { + struct usbdevfs_ioctl wrapper; + + wrapper.ifno = ifno; + wrapper.ioctl_code = request; + wrapper.data = param; + + return ioctl (fd, USBDEVFS_IOCTL, &wrapper); + } + + File modification time is not updated by this request. + + This request lets kernel drivers talk to user mode code through + filesystem operations even when they don't create a character or + block special device. It's also been used to do things like ask + devices what device special file should be used. Two pre-defined + ioctls are used to disconnect and reconnect kernel drivers, so that + user mode code can completely manage binding and configuration of + devices. + +USBDEVFS_RELEASEINTERFACE + This is used to release the claim usbfs made on interface, either + implicitly or because of a USBDEVFS_CLAIMINTERFACE call, before the + file descriptor is closed. The ioctl parameter is an integer holding + the number of the interface (bInterfaceNumber from descriptor); File + modification time is not updated by this request. + + **Warning** + + *No security check is made to ensure that the task which made + the claim is the one which is releasing it. This means that user + mode driver may interfere other ones.* + +USBDEVFS_RESETEP + Resets the data toggle value for an endpoint (bulk or interrupt) to + DATA0. The ioctl parameter is an integer endpoint number (1 to 15, + as identified in the endpoint descriptor), with USB_DIR_IN added + if the device's endpoint sends data to the host. + + **Warning** + + *Avoid using this request. It should probably be removed.* Using + it typically means the device and driver will lose toggle + synchronization. If you really lost synchronization, you likely + need to completely handshake with the device, using a request + like CLEAR_HALT or SET_INTERFACE. + +USBDEVFS_DROP_PRIVILEGES + This is used to relinquish the ability to do certain operations + which are considered to be privileged on a usbfs file descriptor. + This includes claiming arbitrary interfaces, resetting a device on + which there are currently claimed interfaces from other users, and + issuing USBDEVFS_IOCTL calls. The ioctl parameter is a 32 bit mask + of interfaces the user is allowed to claim on this file descriptor. + You may issue this ioctl more than one time to narrow said mask. + +Synchronous I/O Support +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Synchronous requests involve the kernel blocking until the user mode +request completes, either by finishing successfully or by reporting an +error. In most cases this is the simplest way to use usbfs, although as +noted above it does prevent performing I/O to more than one endpoint at +a time. + +USBDEVFS_BULK + Issues a bulk read or write request to the device. The ioctl + parameter is a pointer to this structure: + + :: + + struct usbdevfs_bulktransfer { + unsigned int ep; + unsigned int len; + unsigned int timeout; /* in milliseconds */ + void *data; + }; + + The "ep" value identifies a bulk endpoint number (1 to 15, as + identified in an endpoint descriptor), masked with USB_DIR_IN when + referring to an endpoint which sends data to the host from the + device. The length of the data buffer is identified by "len"; Recent + kernels support requests up to about 128KBytes. *FIXME say how read + length is returned, and how short reads are handled.*. + +USBDEVFS_CLEAR_HALT + Clears endpoint halt (stall) and resets the endpoint toggle. This is + only meaningful for bulk or interrupt endpoints. The ioctl parameter + is an integer endpoint number (1 to 15, as identified in an endpoint + descriptor), masked with USB_DIR_IN when referring to an endpoint + which sends data to the host from the device. + + Use this on bulk or interrupt endpoints which have stalled, + returning *-EPIPE* status to a data transfer request. Do not issue + the control request directly, since that could invalidate the host's + record of the data toggle. + +USBDEVFS_CONTROL + Issues a control request to the device. The ioctl parameter points + to a structure like this: + + :: + + struct usbdevfs_ctrltransfer { + __u8 bRequestType; + __u8 bRequest; + __u16 wValue; + __u16 wIndex; + __u16 wLength; + __u32 timeout; /* in milliseconds */ + void *data; + }; + + The first eight bytes of this structure are the contents of the + SETUP packet to be sent to the device; see the USB 2.0 specification + for details. The bRequestType value is composed by combining a + USB_TYPE_\* value, a USB_DIR_\* value, and a USB_RECIP_\* + value (from **). If wLength is nonzero, it describes + the length of the data buffer, which is either written to the device + (USB_DIR_OUT) or read from the device (USB_DIR_IN). + + At this writing, you can't transfer more than 4 KBytes of data to or + from a device; usbfs has a limit, and some host controller drivers + have a limit. (That's not usually a problem.) *Also* there's no way + to say it's not OK to get a short read back from the device. + +USBDEVFS_RESET + Does a USB level device reset. The ioctl parameter is ignored. After + the reset, this rebinds all device interfaces. File modification + time is not updated by this request. + + **Warning** + + *Avoid using this call* until some usbcore bugs get fixed, since + it does not fully synchronize device, interface, and driver (not + just usbfs) state. + +USBDEVFS_SETINTERFACE + Sets the alternate setting for an interface. The ioctl parameter is + a pointer to a structure like this: + + :: + + struct usbdevfs_setinterface { + unsigned int interface; + unsigned int altsetting; + }; + + File modification time is not updated by this request. + + Those struct members are from some interface descriptor applying to + the current configuration. The interface number is the + bInterfaceNumber value, and the altsetting number is the + bAlternateSetting value. (This resets each endpoint in the + interface.) + +USBDEVFS_SETCONFIGURATION + Issues the :c:func:`usb_set_configuration()` call for the + device. The parameter is an integer holding the number of a + configuration (bConfigurationValue from descriptor). File + modification time is not updated by this request. + + **Warning** + + *Avoid using this call* until some usbcore bugs get fixed, since + it does not fully synchronize device, interface, and driver (not + just usbfs) state. + +Asynchronous I/O Support +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +As mentioned above, there are situations where it may be important to +initiate concurrent operations from user mode code. This is particularly +important for periodic transfers (interrupt and isochronous), but it can +be used for other kinds of USB requests too. In such cases, the +asynchronous requests described here are essential. Rather than +submitting one request and having the kernel block until it completes, +the blocking is separate. + +These requests are packaged into a structure that resembles the URB used +by kernel device drivers. (No POSIX Async I/O support here, sorry.) It +identifies the endpoint type (USBDEVFS_URB_TYPE_\*), endpoint +(number, masked with USB_DIR_IN as appropriate), buffer and length, +and a user "context" value serving to uniquely identify each request. +(It's usually a pointer to per-request data.) Flags can modify requests +(not as many as supported for kernel drivers). + +Each request can specify a realtime signal number (between SIGRTMIN and +SIGRTMAX, inclusive) to request a signal be sent when the request +completes. + +When usbfs returns these urbs, the status value is updated, and the +buffer may have been modified. Except for isochronous transfers, the +actual_length is updated to say how many bytes were transferred; if the +USBDEVFS_URB_DISABLE_SPD flag is set ("short packets are not OK"), if +fewer bytes were read than were requested then you get an error report. + +:: + + struct usbdevfs_iso_packet_desc { + unsigned int length; + unsigned int actual_length; + unsigned int status; + }; + + struct usbdevfs_urb { + unsigned char type; + unsigned char endpoint; + int status; + unsigned int flags; + void *buffer; + int buffer_length; + int actual_length; + int start_frame; + int number_of_packets; + int error_count; + unsigned int signr; + void *usercontext; + struct usbdevfs_iso_packet_desc iso_frame_desc[]; + }; + +For these asynchronous requests, the file modification time reflects +when the request was initiated. This contrasts with their use with the +synchronous requests, where it reflects when requests complete. + +USBDEVFS_DISCARDURB + *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request. + +USBDEVFS_DISCSIGNAL + *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request. + +USBDEVFS_REAPURB + *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request. + +USBDEVFS_REAPURBNDELAY + *TBS* File modification time is not updated by this request. + +USBDEVFS_SUBMITURB + *TBS* -- cgit v1.1