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@@ -162,3 +162,35 @@ device_remove_file(dev,&dev_attr_power);
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The file name will be 'power' with a mode of 0644 (-rw-r--r--).
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+Word of warning: While the kernel allows device_create_file() and
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+device_remove_file() to be called on a device at any time, userspace has
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+strict expectations on when attributes get created. When a new device is
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+registered in the kernel, a uevent is generated to notify userspace (like
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+udev) that a new device is available. If attributes are added after the
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+device is registered, then userspace won't get notified and userspace will
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+not know about the new attributes.
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+
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+This is important for device driver that need to publish additional
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+attributes for a device at driver probe time. If the device driver simply
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+calls device_create_file() on the device structure passed to it, then
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+userspace will never be notified of the new attributes. Instead, it should
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+probably use class_create() and class->dev_attrs to set up a list of
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+desired attributes in the modules_init function, and then in the .probe()
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+hook, and then use device_create() to create a new device as a child
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+of the probed device. The new device will generate a new uevent and
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+properly advertise the new attributes to userspace.
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+
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+For example, if a driver wanted to add the following attributes:
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+struct device_attribute mydriver_attribs[] = {
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+ __ATTR(port_count, 0444, port_count_show),
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+ __ATTR(serial_number, 0444, serial_number_show),
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+ NULL
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+};
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+
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+Then in the module init function is would do:
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+ mydriver_class = class_create(THIS_MODULE, "my_attrs");
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+ mydriver_class.dev_attr = mydriver_attribs;
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+
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+And assuming 'dev' is the struct device passed into the probe hook, the driver
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+probe function would do something like:
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+ create_device(&mydriver_class, dev, chrdev, &private_data, "my_name");
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