Userland interfaces
The DRM core exports several interfaces to applications, generally
intended to be used through corresponding libdrm wrapper functions. In
addition, drivers export device-specific interfaces for use by userspace
drivers & device-aware applications through ioctls and sysfs files.
External interfaces include: memory mapping, context management, DMA
operations, AGP management, vblank control, fence management, memory
management, and output management.
Cover generic ioctls and sysfs layout here. We only need high-level
info, since man pages should cover the rest.
libdrm Device Lookup
BEWARE THE DRAGONS! MIND THE TRAPDOORS!
In an attempt to warn anyone else who’s trying to figure out what’s going
on here, I’ll try to summarize the story. First things first, let’s clear up
the names, because the kernel internals, libdrm and the ioctls are all named
differently:
GET_UNIQUE ioctl, implemented by drm_getunique is wrapped up in libdrm
through the drmGetBusid function.
The libdrm drmSetBusid function is backed by the SET_UNIQUE ioctl. All
that code is nerved in the kernel with drm_invalid_op()
.
The internal set_busid kernel functions and driver callbacks are
exclusively use by the SET_VERSION ioctl, because only drm 1.0 (which is
nerved) allowed userspace to set the busid through the above ioctl.
Other ioctls and functions involved are named consistently.
For anyone wondering what’s the difference between drm 1.1 and 1.4: Correctly
handling pci domains in the busid on ppc. Doing this correctly was only
implemented in libdrm in 2010, hence can’t be nerved yet. No one knows what’s
special with drm 1.2 and 1.3.
Now the actual horror story of how device lookup in drm works. At large,
there’s 2 different ways, either by busid, or by device driver name.
Opening by busid is fairly simple:
First call SET_VERSION to make sure pci domains are handled properly. As a
side-effect this fills out the unique name in the master structure.
Call GET_UNIQUE to read out the unique name from the master structure,
which matches the busid thanks to step 1. If it doesn’t, proceed to try
the next device node.
Opening by name is slightly different:
Directly call VERSION to get the version and to match against the driver
name returned by that ioctl. Note that SET_VERSION is not called, which
means the the unique name for the master node just opening is _not_ filled
out. This despite that with current drm device nodes are always bound to
one device, and can’t be runtime assigned like with drm 1.0.
Match driver name. If it mismatches, proceed to the next device node.
Call GET_UNIQUE, and check whether the unique name has length zero (by
checking that the first byte in the string is 0). If that’s not the case
libdrm skips and proceeds to the next device node. Probably this is just
copypasta from drm 1.0 times where a set unique name meant that the driver
was in use already, but that’s just conjecture.
Long story short: To keep the open by name logic working, GET_UNIQUE must
_not_ return a unique string when SET_VERSION hasn’t been called yet,
otherwise libdrm breaks. Even when that unique string can’t ever change, and
is totally irrelevant for actually opening the device because runtime
assignable device instances were only support in drm 1.0, which is long dead.
But the libdrm code in drmOpenByName somehow survived, hence this can’t be
broken.
Primary Nodes, DRM Master and Authentication
struct drm_master
is used to track groups of clients with open
primary/legacy device nodes. For every struct drm_file
which has had at
least once successfully became the device master (either through the
SET_MASTER IOCTL, or implicitly through opening the primary device node when
no one else is the current master that time) there exists one drm_master
.
This is noted in drm_file.is_master
. All other clients have just a pointer
to the drm_master
they are associated with.
In addition only one drm_master
can be the current master for a drm_device
.
It can be switched through the DROP_MASTER and SET_MASTER IOCTL, or
implicitly through closing/openeing the primary device node. See also
drm_is_current_master()
.
Clients can authenticate against the current master (if it matches their own)
using the GETMAGIC and AUTHMAGIC IOCTLs. Together with exchanging masters,
this allows controlled access to the device for an entire group of mutually
trusted clients.
-
bool drm_is_current_master(struct drm_file *fpriv)
checks whether priv is the current master
Parameters
struct drm_file * fpriv
DRM file private
Description
Checks whether fpriv is current master on its device. This decides whether a
client is allowed to run DRM_MASTER IOCTLs.
Most of the modern IOCTL which require DRM_MASTER are for kernel modesetting
- the current master is assumed to own the non-shareable display hardware.
-
struct drm_master *drm_master_get(struct drm_master *master)
reference a master pointer
Parameters
struct drm_master * master
struct drm_master
Description
Increments the reference count of master and returns a pointer to master.
-
void drm_master_put(struct drm_master **master)
unreference and clear a master pointer
Parameters
struct drm_master ** master
pointer to a pointer of struct drm_master
Description
This decrements the drm_master
behind master and sets it to NULL.
-
struct drm_master
drm master structure
Definition
struct drm_master {
struct kref refcount;
struct drm_device *dev;
char *unique;
int unique_len;
struct idr magic_map;
void *driver_priv;
struct drm_master *lessor;
int lessee_id;
struct list_head lessee_list;
struct list_head lessees;
struct idr leases;
struct idr lessee_idr;
};
Members
refcount
Refcount for this master object.
dev
Link back to the DRM device
unique
Unique identifier: e.g. busid. Protected by
drm_device.master_mutex
.
unique_len
Length of unique field. Protected by
drm_device.master_mutex
.
magic_map
Map of used authentication tokens. Protected by
drm_device.master_mutex
.
driver_priv
Pointer to driver-private information.
lessor
Lease holder
lessee_id
id for lessees. Owners always have id 0
lessee_list
other lessees of the same master
lessees
drm_masters leasing from this one
leases
Objects leased to this drm_master.
lessee_idr
All lessees under this owner (only used where lessor == NULL)
Description
Note that master structures are only relevant for the legacy/primary device
nodes, hence there can only be one per device, not one per drm_minor.
Open-Source Userspace Requirements
The DRM subsystem has stricter requirements than most other kernel subsystems on
what the userspace side for new uAPI needs to look like. This section here
explains what exactly those requirements are, and why they exist.
The short summary is that any addition of DRM uAPI requires corresponding
open-sourced userspace patches, and those patches must be reviewed and ready for
merging into a suitable and canonical upstream project.
GFX devices (both display and render/GPU side) are really complex bits of
hardware, with userspace and kernel by necessity having to work together really
closely. The interfaces, for rendering and modesetting, must be extremely wide
and flexible, and therefore it is almost always impossible to precisely define
them for every possible corner case. This in turn makes it really practically
infeasible to differentiate between behaviour that’s required by userspace, and
which must not be changed to avoid regressions, and behaviour which is only an
accidental artifact of the current implementation.
Without access to the full source code of all userspace users that means it
becomes impossible to change the implementation details, since userspace could
depend upon the accidental behaviour of the current implementation in minute
details. And debugging such regressions without access to source code is pretty
much impossible. As a consequence this means:
The Linux kernel’s “no regression” policy holds in practice only for
open-source userspace of the DRM subsystem. DRM developers are perfectly fine
if closed-source blob drivers in userspace use the same uAPI as the open
drivers, but they must do so in the exact same way as the open drivers.
Creative (ab)use of the interfaces will, and in the past routinely has, lead
to breakage.
Any new userspace interface must have an open-source implementation as
demonstration vehicle.
The other reason for requiring open-source userspace is uAPI review. Since the
kernel and userspace parts of a GFX stack must work together so closely, code
review can only assess whether a new interface achieves its goals by looking at
both sides. Making sure that the interface indeed covers the use-case fully
leads to a few additional requirements:
The open-source userspace must not be a toy/test application, but the real
thing. Specifically it needs to handle all the usual error and corner cases.
These are often the places where new uAPI falls apart and hence essential to
assess the fitness of a proposed interface.
The userspace side must be fully reviewed and tested to the standards of that
userspace project. For e.g. mesa this means piglit testcases and review on the
mailing list. This is again to ensure that the new interface actually gets the
job done. The userspace-side reviewer should also provide an Acked-by on the
kernel uAPI patch indicating that they believe the proposed uAPI is sound and
sufficiently documented and validated for userspace’s consumption.
The userspace patches must be against the canonical upstream, not some vendor
fork. This is to make sure that no one cheats on the review and testing
requirements by doing a quick fork.
The kernel patch can only be merged after all the above requirements are met,
but it must be merged to either drm-next or drm-misc-next before the
userspace patches land. uAPI always flows from the kernel, doing things the
other way round risks divergence of the uAPI definitions and header files.
These are fairly steep requirements, but have grown out from years of shared
pain and experience with uAPI added hastily, and almost always regretted about
just as fast. GFX devices change really fast, requiring a paradigm shift and
entire new set of uAPI interfaces every few years at least. Together with the
Linux kernel’s guarantee to keep existing userspace running for 10+ years this
is already rather painful for the DRM subsystem, with multiple different uAPIs
for the same thing co-existing. If we add a few more complete mistakes into the
mix every year it would be entirely unmanageable.
Render nodes
DRM core provides multiple character-devices for user-space to use.
Depending on which device is opened, user-space can perform a different
set of operations (mainly ioctls). The primary node is always created
and called card<num>. Additionally, a currently unused control node,
called controlD<num> is also created. The primary node provides all
legacy operations and historically was the only interface used by
userspace. With KMS, the control node was introduced. However, the
planned KMS control interface has never been written and so the control
node stays unused to date.
With the increased use of offscreen renderers and GPGPU applications,
clients no longer require running compositors or graphics servers to
make use of a GPU. But the DRM API required unprivileged clients to
authenticate to a DRM-Master prior to getting GPU access. To avoid this
step and to grant clients GPU access without authenticating, render
nodes were introduced. Render nodes solely serve render clients, that
is, no modesetting or privileged ioctls can be issued on render nodes.
Only non-global rendering commands are allowed. If a driver supports
render nodes, it must advertise it via the DRIVER_RENDER DRM driver
capability. If not supported, the primary node must be used for render
clients together with the legacy drmAuth authentication procedure.
If a driver advertises render node support, DRM core will create a
separate render node called renderD<num>. There will be one render node
per device. No ioctls except PRIME-related ioctls will be allowed on
this node. Especially GEM_OPEN will be explicitly prohibited. Render
nodes are designed to avoid the buffer-leaks, which occur if clients
guess the flink names or mmap offsets on the legacy interface.
Additionally to this basic interface, drivers must mark their
driver-dependent render-only ioctls as DRM_RENDER_ALLOW so render
clients can use them. Driver authors must be careful not to allow any
privileged ioctls on render nodes.
With render nodes, user-space can now control access to the render node
via basic file-system access-modes. A running graphics server which
authenticates clients on the privileged primary/legacy node is no longer
required. Instead, a client can open the render node and is immediately
granted GPU access. Communication between clients (or servers) is done
via PRIME. FLINK from render node to legacy node is not supported. New
clients must not use the insecure FLINK interface.
Besides dropping all modeset/global ioctls, render nodes also drop the
DRM-Master concept. There is no reason to associate render clients with
a DRM-Master as they are independent of any graphics server. Besides,
they must work without any running master, anyway. Drivers must be able
to run without a master object if they support render nodes. If, on the
other hand, a driver requires shared state between clients which is
visible to user-space and accessible beyond open-file boundaries, they
cannot support render nodes.
IOCTL Support on Device Nodes
First things first, driver private IOCTLs should only be needed for drivers
supporting rendering. Kernel modesetting is all standardized, and extended
through properties. There are a few exceptions in some existing drivers,
which define IOCTL for use by the display DRM master, but they all predate
properties.
Now if you do have a render driver you always have to support it through
driver private properties. There’s a few steps needed to wire all the things
up.
First you need to define the structure for your IOCTL in your driver private
UAPI header in include/uapi/drm/my_driver_drm.h
:
struct my_driver_operation {
u32 some_thing;
u32 another_thing;
};
Please make sure that you follow all the best practices from
Documentation/ioctl/botching-up-ioctls.rst
. Note that drm_ioctl()
automatically zero-extends structures, hence make sure you can add more stuff
at the end, i.e. don’t put a variable sized array there.
Then you need to define your IOCTL number, using one of DRM_IO(), DRM_IOR(),
DRM_IOW() or DRM_IOWR(). It must start with the DRM_IOCTL_ prefix:
##define DRM_IOCTL_MY_DRIVER_OPERATION * DRM_IOW(DRM_COMMAND_BASE, struct my_driver_operation)
DRM driver private IOCTL must be in the range from DRM_COMMAND_BASE to
DRM_COMMAND_END. Finally you need an array of struct drm_ioctl_desc
to wire
up the handlers and set the access rights:
static const struct drm_ioctl_desc my_driver_ioctls[] = {
DRM_IOCTL_DEF_DRV(MY_DRIVER_OPERATION, my_driver_operation,
DRM_AUTH|DRM_RENDER_ALLOW),
};
And then assign this to the drm_driver.ioctls
field in your driver
structure.
See the separate chapter on file operations for how
the driver-specific IOCTLs are wired up.
Recommended IOCTL Return Values
In theory a driver’s IOCTL callback is only allowed to return very few error
codes. In practice it’s good to abuse a few more. This section documents common
practice within the DRM subsystem:
- ENOENT:
Strictly this should only be used when a file doesn’t exist e.g. when
calling the open() syscall. We reuse that to signal any kind of object
lookup failure, e.g. for unknown GEM buffer object handles, unknown KMS
object handles and similar cases.
- ENOSPC:
Some drivers use this to differentiate “out of kernel memory” from “out
of VRAM”. Sometimes also applies to other limited gpu resources used for
rendering (e.g. when you have a special limited compression buffer).
Sometimes resource allocation/reservation issues in command submission
IOCTLs are also signalled through EDEADLK.
Simply running out of kernel/system memory is signalled through ENOMEM.
- EPERM/EACCES:
Returned for an operation that is valid, but needs more privileges.
E.g. root-only or much more common, DRM master-only operations return
this when when called by unpriviledged clients. There’s no clear
difference between EACCES and EPERM.
- ENODEV:
The device is not (yet) present or fully initialized.
- EOPNOTSUPP:
Feature (like PRIME, modesetting, GEM) is not supported by the driver.
- ENXIO:
Remote failure, either a hardware transaction (like i2c), but also used
when the exporting driver of a shared dma-buf or fence doesn’t support a
feature needed.
- EINTR:
DRM drivers assume that userspace restarts all IOCTLs. Any DRM IOCTL can
return EINTR and in such a case should be restarted with the IOCTL
parameters left unchanged.
- EIO:
The GPU died and couldn’t be resurrected through a reset. Modesetting
hardware failures are signalled through the “link status” connector
property.
- EINVAL:
Catch-all for anything that is an invalid argument combination which
cannot work.
IOCTL also use other error codes like ETIME, EFAULT, EBUSY, ENOTTY but their
usage is in line with the common meanings. The above list tries to just document
DRM specific patterns. Note that ENOTTY has the slightly unintuitive meaning of
“this IOCTL does not exist”, and is used exactly as such in DRM.
-
typedef int drm_ioctl_t (struct drm_device * dev, void * data, struct drm_file * file_priv)
DRM ioctl function type.
Parameters
struct drm_device * dev
DRM device inode
void * data
private pointer of the ioctl call
struct drm_file * file_priv
DRM file this ioctl was made on
Description
This is the DRM ioctl typedef. Note that drm_ioctl()
has alrady copied data
into kernel-space, and will also copy it back, depending upon the read/write
settings in the ioctl command code.
-
typedef int drm_ioctl_compat_t (struct file * filp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
compatibility DRM ioctl function type.
Parameters
struct file * filp
file pointer
unsigned int cmd
ioctl command code
unsigned long arg
DRM file this ioctl was made on
Description
Just a typedef to make declaring an array of compatibility handlers easier.
New drivers shouldn’t screw up the structure layout for their ioctl
structures and hence never need this.
-
enum drm_ioctl_flags
DRM ioctl flags
Constants
DRM_AUTH
This is for ioctl which are used for rendering, and require that the
file descriptor is either for a render node, or if it’s a
legacy/primary node, then it must be authenticated.
DRM_MASTER
This must be set for any ioctl which can change the modeset or
display state. Userspace must call the ioctl through a primary node,
while it is the active master.
Note that read-only modeset ioctl can also be called by
unauthenticated clients, or when a master is not the currently active
one.
DRM_ROOT_ONLY
Anything that could potentially wreak a master file descriptor needs
to have this flag set. Current that’s only for the SETMASTER and
DROPMASTER ioctl, which e.g. logind can call to force a non-behaving
master (display compositor) into compliance.
This is equivalent to callers with the SYSADMIN capability.
DRM_UNLOCKED
Whether drm_ioctl_desc.func
should be called with the DRM BKL held
or not. Enforced as the default for all modern drivers, hence there
should never be a need to set this flag.
Do not use anywhere else than for the VBLANK_WAIT IOCTL, which is the
only legacy IOCTL which needs this.
DRM_RENDER_ALLOW
This is used for all ioctl needed for rendering only, for drivers
which support render nodes. This should be all new render drivers,
and hence it should be always set for any ioctl with DRM_AUTH set.
Note though that read-only query ioctl might have this set, but have
not set DRM_AUTH because they do not require authentication.
Description
Various flags that can be set in drm_ioctl_desc.flags
to control how
userspace can use a given ioctl.
-
struct drm_ioctl_desc
DRM driver ioctl entry
Definition
struct drm_ioctl_desc {
unsigned int cmd;
enum drm_ioctl_flags flags;
drm_ioctl_t *func;
const char *name;
};
Members
cmd
ioctl command number, without flags
flags
a bitmask of enum drm_ioctl_flags
func
handler for this ioctl
name
user-readable name for debug output
Description
For convenience it’s easier to create these using the DRM_IOCTL_DEF_DRV()
macro.
-
DRM_IOCTL_DEF_DRV ( ioctl, _func, _flags)
helper macro to fill out a struct drm_ioctl_desc
Parameters
ioctl
ioctl command suffix
_func
handler for the ioctl
_flags
a bitmask of enum drm_ioctl_flags
Description
Small helper macro to create a struct drm_ioctl_desc
entry. The ioctl
command number is constructed by prepending DRM_IOCTL\_
and passing that
to DRM_IOCTL_NR().
-
int drm_noop(struct drm_device *dev, void *data, struct drm_file *file_priv)
DRM no-op ioctl implemntation
Parameters
struct drm_device * dev
DRM device for the ioctl
void * data
data pointer for the ioctl
struct drm_file * file_priv
DRM file for the ioctl call
Description
This no-op implementation for drm ioctls is useful for deprecated
functionality where we can’t return a failure code because existing userspace
checks the result of the ioctl, but doesn’t care about the action.
Always returns successfully with 0.
-
int drm_invalid_op(struct drm_device *dev, void *data, struct drm_file *file_priv)
DRM invalid ioctl implemntation
Parameters
struct drm_device * dev
DRM device for the ioctl
void * data
data pointer for the ioctl
struct drm_file * file_priv
DRM file for the ioctl call
Description
This no-op implementation for drm ioctls is useful for deprecated
functionality where we really don’t want to allow userspace to call the ioctl
any more. This is the case for old ums interfaces for drivers that
transitioned to kms gradually and so kept the old legacy tables around. This
only applies to radeon and i915 kms drivers, other drivers shouldn’t need to
use this function.
Always fails with a return value of -EINVAL.
-
int drm_ioctl_permit(u32 flags, struct drm_file *file_priv)
Check ioctl permissions against caller
Parameters
u32 flags
ioctl permission flags.
struct drm_file * file_priv
Pointer to struct drm_file identifying the caller.
Description
Checks whether the caller is allowed to run an ioctl with the
indicated permissions.
Return
Zero if allowed, -EACCES otherwise.
-
long drm_ioctl(struct file *filp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
ioctl callback implementation for DRM drivers
Parameters
struct file * filp
file this ioctl is called on
unsigned int cmd
ioctl cmd number
unsigned long arg
user argument
Description
Looks up the ioctl function in the DRM core and the driver dispatch table,
stored in drm_driver.ioctls
. It checks for necessary permission by calling
drm_ioctl_permit()
, and dispatches to the respective function.
Return
Zero on success, negative error code on failure.
-
bool drm_ioctl_flags(unsigned int nr, unsigned int *flags)
Check for core ioctl and return ioctl permission flags
Parameters
unsigned int nr
ioctl number
unsigned int * flags
where to return the ioctl permission flags
Description
This ioctl is only used by the vmwgfx driver to augment the access checks
done by the drm core and insofar a pretty decent layering violation. This
shouldn’t be used by any drivers.
Return
True if the nr corresponds to a DRM core ioctl number, false otherwise.
-
long drm_compat_ioctl(struct file *filp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
32bit IOCTL compatibility handler for DRM drivers
Parameters
struct file * filp
file this ioctl is called on
unsigned int cmd
ioctl cmd number
unsigned long arg
user argument
Description
Compatibility handler for 32 bit userspace running on 64 kernels. All actual
IOCTL handling is forwarded to drm_ioctl()
, while marshalling structures as
appropriate. Note that this only handles DRM core IOCTLs, if the driver has
botched IOCTL itself, it must handle those by wrapping this function.
Return
Zero on success, negative error code on failure.
Testing and validation
Testing Requirements for userspace API
New cross-driver userspace interface extensions, like new IOCTL, new KMS
properties, new files in sysfs or anything else that constitutes an API change
should have driver-agnostic testcases in IGT for that feature, if such a test
can be reasonably made using IGT for the target hardware.
Validating changes with IGT
There’s a collection of tests that aims to cover the whole functionality of
DRM drivers and that can be used to check that changes to DRM drivers or the
core don’t regress existing functionality. This test suite is called IGT and
its code and instructions to build and run can be found in
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/igt-gpu-tools/.
Using VKMS to test DRM API
VKMS is a software-only model of a KMS driver that is useful for testing
and for running compositors. VKMS aims to enable a virtual display without
the need for a hardware display capability. These characteristics made VKMS
a perfect tool for validating the DRM core behavior and also support the
compositor developer. VKMS makes it possible to test DRM functions in a
virtual machine without display, simplifying the validation of some of the
core changes.
To Validate changes in DRM API with VKMS, start setting the kernel: make
sure to enable VKMS module; compile the kernel with the VKMS enabled and
install it in the target machine. VKMS can be run in a Virtual Machine
(QEMU, virtme or similar). It’s recommended the use of KVM with the minimum
of 1GB of RAM and four cores.
It’s possible to run the IGT-tests in a VM in two ways:
Use IGT inside a VM
Use IGT from the host machine and write the results in a shared directory.
As follow, there is an example of using a VM with a shared directory with
the host machine to run igt-tests. As an example it’s used virtme:
$ virtme-run --rwdir /path/for/shared_dir --kdir=path/for/kernel/directory --mods=auto
Run the igt-tests in the guest machine, as example it’s ran the ‘kms_flip’
tests:
$ /path/for/igt-gpu-tools/scripts/run-tests.sh -p -s -t "kms_flip.*" -v
In this example, instead of build the igt_runner, Piglit is used
(-p option); it’s created html summary of the tests results and it’s saved
in the folder “igt-gpu-tools/results”; it’s executed only the igt-tests
matching the -t option.
Display CRC Support
DRM device drivers can provide to userspace CRC information of each frame as
it reached a given hardware component (a CRC sampling “source”).
Userspace can control generation of CRCs in a given CRTC by writing to the
file dri/0/crtc-N/crc/control in debugfs, with N being the index of the CRTC.
Accepted values are source names (which are driver-specific) and the “auto”
keyword, which will let the driver select a default source of frame CRCs
for this CRTC.
Once frame CRC generation is enabled, userspace can capture them by reading
the dri/0/crtc-N/crc/data file. Each line in that file contains the frame
number in the first field and then a number of unsigned integer fields
containing the CRC data. Fields are separated by a single space and the number
of CRC fields is source-specific.
Note that though in some cases the CRC is computed in a specified way and on
the frame contents as supplied by userspace (eDP 1.3), in general the CRC
computation is performed in an unspecified way and on frame contents that have
been already processed in also an unspecified way and thus userspace cannot
rely on being able to generate matching CRC values for the frame contents that
it submits. In this general case, the maximum userspace can do is to compare
the reported CRCs of frames that should have the same contents.
On the driver side the implementation effort is minimal, drivers only need to
implement drm_crtc_funcs.set_crc_source
and drm_crtc_funcs.verify_crc_source
.
The debugfs files are automatically set up if those vfuncs are set. CRC samples
need to be captured in the driver by calling drm_crtc_add_crc_entry()
.
Depending on the driver and HW requirements, drm_crtc_funcs.set_crc_source
may result in a commit (even a full modeset).
CRC results must be reliable across non-full-modeset atomic commits, so if a
commit via DRM_IOCTL_MODE_ATOMIC would disable or otherwise interfere with
CRC generation, then the driver must mark that commit as a full modeset
(drm_atomic_crtc_needs_modeset()
should return true). As a result, to ensure
consistent results, generic userspace must re-setup CRC generation after a
legacy SETCRTC or an atomic commit with DRM_MODE_ATOMIC_ALLOW_MODESET.
-
int drm_crtc_add_crc_entry(struct drm_crtc *crtc, bool has_frame, uint32_t frame, uint32_t *crcs)
Add entry with CRC information for a frame
Parameters
struct drm_crtc * crtc
CRTC to which the frame belongs
bool has_frame
whether this entry has a frame number to go with
uint32_t frame
number of the frame these CRCs are about
uint32_t * crcs
array of CRC values, with length matching #drm_crtc_crc.values_cnt
Description
For each frame, the driver polls the source of CRCs for new data and calls
this function to add them to the buffer from where userspace reads.
Debugfs Support
-
struct drm_info_list
debugfs info list entry
Definition
struct drm_info_list {
const char *name;
int (*show)(struct seq_file*, void*);
u32 driver_features;
void *data;
};
Members
name
file name
show
Show callback. seq_file->private
will be set to the struct
drm_info_node
corresponding to the instance of this info on a given
struct drm_minor
.
driver_features
Required driver features for this entry
data
Driver-private data, should not be device-specific.
Description
This structure represents a debugfs file to be created by the drm
core.
-
struct drm_info_node
Per-minor debugfs node structure
Definition
struct drm_info_node {
struct drm_minor *minor;
const struct drm_info_list *info_ent;
};
Members
minor
struct drm_minor
for this node.
info_ent
template for this node.
Description
This structure represents a debugfs file, as an instantiation of a struct
drm_info_list
on a struct drm_minor
.
FIXME:
No it doesn’t make a hole lot of sense that we duplicate debugfs entries for
both the render and the primary nodes, but that’s how this has organically
grown. It should probably be fixed, with a compatibility link, if needed.
-
int drm_debugfs_create_files(const struct drm_info_list *files, int count, struct dentry *root, struct drm_minor *minor)
Initialize a given set of debugfs files for DRM minor
Parameters
const struct drm_info_list * files
The array of files to create
int count
The number of files given
struct dentry * root
DRI debugfs dir entry.
struct drm_minor * minor
device minor number
Description
Create a given set of debugfs files represented by an array of
struct drm_info_list
in the given root directory. These files will be removed
automatically on drm_debugfs_cleanup().
Sysfs Support
DRM provides very little additional support to drivers for sysfs
interactions, beyond just all the standard stuff. Drivers who want to expose
additional sysfs properties and property groups can attach them at either
drm_device.dev
or drm_connector.kdev
.
Registration is automatically handled when calling drm_dev_register()
, or
drm_connector_register()
in case of hot-plugged connectors. Unregistration is
also automatically handled by drm_dev_unregister()
and
drm_connector_unregister()
.
-
void drm_sysfs_hotplug_event(struct drm_device *dev)
generate a DRM uevent
Parameters
struct drm_device * dev
DRM device
Description
Send a uevent for the DRM device specified by dev. Currently we only
set HOTPLUG=1 in the uevent environment, but this could be expanded to
deal with other types of events.
Any new uapi should be using the drm_sysfs_connector_status_event()
for uevents on connector status change.
-
void drm_sysfs_connector_status_event(struct drm_connector *connector, struct drm_property *property)
generate a DRM uevent for connector property status change
Parameters
struct drm_connector * connector
connector on which property status changed
struct drm_property * property
connector property whose status changed.
Description
Send a uevent for the DRM device specified by dev. Currently we
set HOTPLUG=1 and connector id along with the attached property id
related to the status change.
-
int drm_class_device_register(struct device *dev)
register new device with the DRM sysfs class
Parameters
struct device * dev
device to register
Description
Registers a new struct device
within the DRM sysfs class. Essentially only
used by ttm to have a place for its global settings. Drivers should never use
this.
-
void drm_class_device_unregister(struct device *dev)
unregister device with the DRM sysfs class
Parameters
struct device * dev
device to unregister
Description
Unregisters a struct device
from the DRM sysfs class. Essentially only used
by ttm to have a place for its global settings. Drivers should never use
this.
VBlank event handling
The DRM core exposes two vertical blank related ioctls:
- DRM_IOCTL_WAIT_VBLANK
This takes a struct drm_wait_vblank structure as its argument, and
it is used to block or request a signal when a specified vblank
event occurs.
- DRM_IOCTL_MODESET_CTL
This was only used for user-mode-settind drivers around modesetting
changes to allow the kernel to update the vblank interrupt after
mode setting, since on many devices the vertical blank counter is
reset to 0 at some point during modeset. Modern drivers should not
call this any more since with kernel mode setting it is a no-op.
Userspace API Structures
DRM exposes many UAPI and structure definition to have a consistent
and standardized interface with user.
Userspace can refer to these structure definitions and UAPI formats
to communicate to driver
-
struct hdr_metadata_infoframe
HDR Metadata Infoframe Data.
Definition
struct hdr_metadata_infoframe {
__u8 eotf;
__u8 metadata_type;
struct {
__u16 x, y;
} display_primaries[3];
struct {
__u16 x, y;
} white_point;
__u16 max_display_mastering_luminance;
__u16 min_display_mastering_luminance;
__u16 max_cll;
__u16 max_fall;
};
Members
eotf
Electro-Optical Transfer Function (EOTF)
used in the stream.
metadata_type
Static_Metadata_Descriptor_ID.
display_primaries
Color Primaries of the Data.
These are coded as unsigned 16-bit values in units of
0.00002, where 0x0000 represents zero and 0xC350
represents 1.0000.
display_primaries.x: X cordinate of color primary.
display_primaries.y: Y cordinate of color primary.
white_point
White Point of Colorspace Data.
These are coded as unsigned 16-bit values in units of
0.00002, where 0x0000 represents zero and 0xC350
represents 1.0000.
white_point.x: X cordinate of whitepoint of color primary.
white_point.y: Y cordinate of whitepoint of color primary.
max_display_mastering_luminance
Max Mastering Display Luminance.
This value is coded as an unsigned 16-bit value in units of 1 cd/m2,
where 0x0001 represents 1 cd/m2 and 0xFFFF represents 65535 cd/m2.
min_display_mastering_luminance
Min Mastering Display Luminance.
This value is coded as an unsigned 16-bit value in units of
0.0001 cd/m2, where 0x0001 represents 0.0001 cd/m2 and 0xFFFF
represents 6.5535 cd/m2.
max_cll
Max Content Light Level.
This value is coded as an unsigned 16-bit value in units of 1 cd/m2,
where 0x0001 represents 1 cd/m2 and 0xFFFF represents 65535 cd/m2.
max_fall
Max Frame Average Light Level.
This value is coded as an unsigned 16-bit value in units of 1 cd/m2,
where 0x0001 represents 1 cd/m2 and 0xFFFF represents 65535 cd/m2.
Description
HDR Metadata Infoframe as per CTA 861.G spec. This is expected
to match exactly with the spec.
Userspace is expected to pass the metadata information as per
the format described in this structure.
-
struct hdr_output_metadata
HDR output metadata
Definition
struct hdr_output_metadata {
__u32 metadata_type;
union {
struct hdr_metadata_infoframe hdmi_metadata_type1;
};
};
Members
metadata_type
Static_Metadata_Descriptor_ID.
{unnamed_union}
anonymous
hdmi_metadata_type1
HDR Metadata Infoframe.
Description
Metadata Information to be passed from userspace
-
struct drm_mode_create_blob
Create New block property
Definition
struct drm_mode_create_blob {
__u64 data;
__u32 length;
__u32 blob_id;
};
Members
data
Pointer to data to copy.
length
Length of data to copy.
blob_id
new property ID.
Create a new ‘blob’ data property, copying length bytes from data pointer,
and returning new blob ID.
-
struct drm_mode_destroy_blob
Destroy user blob
Definition
struct drm_mode_destroy_blob {
__u32 blob_id;
};
Members
blob_id
blob_id to destroy
Destroy a user-created blob property.
-
struct drm_mode_create_lease
Create lease
Definition
struct drm_mode_create_lease {
__u64 object_ids;
__u32 object_count;
__u32 flags;
__u32 lessee_id;
__u32 fd;
};
Members
object_ids
Pointer to array of object ids.
object_count
Number of object ids.
flags
flags for new FD.
lessee_id
unique identifier for lessee.
fd
file descriptor to new drm_master file.
Lease mode resources, creating another drm_master.
-
struct drm_mode_list_lessees
List lessees
Definition
struct drm_mode_list_lessees {
__u32 count_lessees;
__u32 pad;
__u64 lessees_ptr;
};
Members
count_lessees
Number of lessees.
pad
pad.
lessees_ptr
Pointer to lessess.
List lesses from a drm_master
-
struct drm_mode_get_lease
Get Lease
Definition
struct drm_mode_get_lease {
__u32 count_objects;
__u32 pad;
__u64 objects_ptr;
};
Members
count_objects
Number of leased objects.
pad
pad.
objects_ptr
Pointer to objects.
Get leased objects
-
struct drm_mode_revoke_lease
Revoke lease
Definition
struct drm_mode_revoke_lease {
__u32 lessee_id;
};
Members
lessee_id
Unique ID of lessee.
Revoke lease
-
struct drm_mode_rect
Two dimensional rectangle.
Definition
struct drm_mode_rect {
__s32 x1;
__s32 y1;
__s32 x2;
__s32 y2;
};
Members
x1
Horizontal starting coordinate (inclusive).
y1
Vertical starting coordinate (inclusive).
x2
Horizontal ending coordinate (exclusive).
y2
Vertical ending coordinate (exclusive).
Description
With drm subsystem using struct drm_rect to manage rectangular area this
export it to user-space.
Currently used by drm_mode_atomic blob property FB_DAMAGE_CLIPS.