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@@ -96,6 +96,46 @@ System setup also associates those clocks with the device, so that that
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calls to clk_get(&pdev->dev, clock_name) return them as needed.
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+Legacy Drivers: Device Probing
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+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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+Some drivers are not fully converted to the driver model, because they take
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+on a non-driver role: the driver registers its platform device, rather than
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+leaving that for system infrastructure. Such drivers can't be hotplugged
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+or coldplugged, since those mechanisms require device creation to be in a
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+different system component than the driver.
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+
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+The only "good" reason for this is to handle older system designs which, like
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+original IBM PCs, rely on error-prone "probe-the-hardware" models for hardware
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+configuration. Newer systems have largely abandoned that model, in favor of
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+bus-level support for dynamic configuration (PCI, USB), or device tables
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+provided by the boot firmware (e.g. PNPACPI on x86). There are too many
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+conflicting options about what might be where, and even educated guesses by
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+an operating system will be wrong often enough to make trouble.
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+
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+This style of driver is discouraged. If you're updating such a driver,
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+please try to move the device enumeration to a more appropriate location,
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+outside the driver. This will usually be cleanup, since such drivers
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+tend to already have "normal" modes, such as ones using device nodes that
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+were created by PNP or by platform device setup.
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+
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+None the less, there are some APIs to support such legacy drivers. Avoid
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+using these calls except with such hotplug-deficient drivers.
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+
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+ struct platform_device *platform_device_alloc(
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+ char *name, unsigned id);
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+
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+You can use platform_device_alloc() to dynamically allocate a device, which
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+you will then initialize with resources and platform_device_register().
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+A better solution is usually:
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+
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+ struct platform_device *platform_device_register_simple(
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+ char *name, unsigned id,
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+ struct resource *res, unsigned nres);
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+
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+You can use platform_device_register_simple() as a one-step call to allocate
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+and register a device.
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+
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+
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Device Naming and Driver Binding
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The platform_device.dev.bus_id is the canonical name for the devices.
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