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- <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
- <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
- "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" []>
- <book id="drmDevelopersGuide">
- <bookinfo>
- <title>Linux DRM Developer's Guide</title>
- <copyright>
- <year>2008-2009</year>
- <holder>
- Intel Corporation (Jesse Barnes <jesse.barnes@intel.com>)
- </holder>
- </copyright>
- <legalnotice>
- <para>
- The contents of this file may be used under the terms of the GNU
- General Public License version 2 (the "GPL") as distributed in
- the kernel source COPYING file.
- </para>
- </legalnotice>
- </bookinfo>
- <toc></toc>
- <!-- Introduction -->
- <chapter id="drmIntroduction">
- <title>Introduction</title>
- <para>
- The Linux DRM layer contains code intended to support the needs
- of complex graphics devices, usually containing programmable
- pipelines well suited to 3D graphics acceleration. Graphics
- drivers in the kernel may make use of DRM functions to make
- tasks like memory management, interrupt handling and DMA easier,
- and provide a uniform interface to applications.
- </para>
- <para>
- A note on versions: this guide covers features found in the DRM
- tree, including the TTM memory manager, output configuration and
- mode setting, and the new vblank internals, in addition to all
- the regular features found in current kernels.
- </para>
- <para>
- [Insert diagram of typical DRM stack here]
- </para>
- </chapter>
- <!-- Internals -->
- <chapter id="drmInternals">
- <title>DRM Internals</title>
- <para>
- This chapter documents DRM internals relevant to driver authors
- and developers working to add support for the latest features to
- existing drivers.
- </para>
- <para>
- First, we go over some typical driver initialization
- requirements, like setting up command buffers, creating an
- initial output configuration, and initializing core services.
- Subsequent sections cover core internals in more detail,
- providing implementation notes and examples.
- </para>
- <para>
- The DRM layer provides several services to graphics drivers,
- many of them driven by the application interfaces it provides
- through libdrm, the library that wraps most of the DRM ioctls.
- These include vblank event handling, memory
- management, output management, framebuffer management, command
- submission & fencing, suspend/resume support, and DMA
- services.
- </para>
- <para>
- The core of every DRM driver is struct drm_driver. Drivers
- typically statically initialize a drm_driver structure,
- then pass it to drm_init() at load time.
- </para>
- <!-- Internals: driver init -->
- <sect1>
- <title>Driver initialization</title>
- <para>
- Before calling the DRM initialization routines, the driver must
- first create and fill out a struct drm_driver structure.
- </para>
- <programlisting>
- static struct drm_driver driver = {
- /* Don't use MTRRs here; the Xserver or userspace app should
- * deal with them for Intel hardware.
- */
- .driver_features =
- DRIVER_USE_AGP | DRIVER_REQUIRE_AGP |
- DRIVER_HAVE_IRQ | DRIVER_IRQ_SHARED | DRIVER_MODESET,
- .load = i915_driver_load,
- .unload = i915_driver_unload,
- .firstopen = i915_driver_firstopen,
- .lastclose = i915_driver_lastclose,
- .preclose = i915_driver_preclose,
- .save = i915_save,
- .restore = i915_restore,
- .device_is_agp = i915_driver_device_is_agp,
- .get_vblank_counter = i915_get_vblank_counter,
- .enable_vblank = i915_enable_vblank,
- .disable_vblank = i915_disable_vblank,
- .irq_preinstall = i915_driver_irq_preinstall,
- .irq_postinstall = i915_driver_irq_postinstall,
- .irq_uninstall = i915_driver_irq_uninstall,
- .irq_handler = i915_driver_irq_handler,
- .reclaim_buffers = drm_core_reclaim_buffers,
- .get_map_ofs = drm_core_get_map_ofs,
- .get_reg_ofs = drm_core_get_reg_ofs,
- .fb_probe = intelfb_probe,
- .fb_remove = intelfb_remove,
- .fb_resize = intelfb_resize,
- .master_create = i915_master_create,
- .master_destroy = i915_master_destroy,
- #if defined(CONFIG_DEBUG_FS)
- .debugfs_init = i915_debugfs_init,
- .debugfs_cleanup = i915_debugfs_cleanup,
- #endif
- .gem_init_object = i915_gem_init_object,
- .gem_free_object = i915_gem_free_object,
- .gem_vm_ops = &i915_gem_vm_ops,
- .ioctls = i915_ioctls,
- .fops = {
- .owner = THIS_MODULE,
- .open = drm_open,
- .release = drm_release,
- .ioctl = drm_ioctl,
- .mmap = drm_mmap,
- .poll = drm_poll,
- .fasync = drm_fasync,
- #ifdef CONFIG_COMPAT
- .compat_ioctl = i915_compat_ioctl,
- #endif
- .llseek = noop_llseek,
- },
- .pci_driver = {
- .name = DRIVER_NAME,
- .id_table = pciidlist,
- .probe = probe,
- .remove = __devexit_p(drm_cleanup_pci),
- },
- .name = DRIVER_NAME,
- .desc = DRIVER_DESC,
- .date = DRIVER_DATE,
- .major = DRIVER_MAJOR,
- .minor = DRIVER_MINOR,
- .patchlevel = DRIVER_PATCHLEVEL,
- };
- </programlisting>
- <para>
- In the example above, taken from the i915 DRM driver, the driver
- sets several flags indicating what core features it supports;
- we go over the individual callbacks in later sections. Since
- flags indicate which features your driver supports to the DRM
- core, you need to set most of them prior to calling drm_init(). Some,
- like DRIVER_MODESET can be set later based on user supplied parameters,
- but that's the exception rather than the rule.
- </para>
- <variablelist>
- <title>Driver flags</title>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_USE_AGP</term>
- <listitem><para>
- Driver uses AGP interface
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_REQUIRE_AGP</term>
- <listitem><para>
- Driver needs AGP interface to function.
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_USE_MTRR</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Driver uses MTRR interface for mapping memory. Deprecated.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_PCI_DMA</term>
- <listitem><para>
- Driver is capable of PCI DMA. Deprecated.
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_SG</term>
- <listitem><para>
- Driver can perform scatter/gather DMA. Deprecated.
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_HAVE_DMA</term>
- <listitem><para>Driver supports DMA. Deprecated.</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_HAVE_IRQ</term><term>DRIVER_IRQ_SHARED</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- DRIVER_HAVE_IRQ indicates whether the driver has an IRQ
- handler. DRIVER_IRQ_SHARED indicates whether the device &
- handler support shared IRQs (note that this is required of
- PCI drivers).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_DMA_QUEUE</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Should be set if the driver queues DMA requests and completes them
- asynchronously. Deprecated.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_FB_DMA</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Driver supports DMA to/from the framebuffer. Deprecated.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRIVER_MODESET</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Driver supports mode setting interfaces.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- <para>
- In this specific case, the driver requires AGP and supports
- IRQs. DMA, as discussed later, is handled by device-specific ioctls
- in this case. It also supports the kernel mode setting APIs, though
- unlike in the actual i915 driver source, this example unconditionally
- exports KMS capability.
- </para>
- </sect1>
- <!-- Internals: driver load -->
- <sect1>
- <title>Driver load</title>
- <para>
- In the previous section, we saw what a typical drm_driver
- structure might look like. One of the more important fields in
- the structure is the hook for the load function.
- </para>
- <programlisting>
- static struct drm_driver driver = {
- ...
- .load = i915_driver_load,
- ...
- };
- </programlisting>
- <para>
- The load function has many responsibilities: allocating a driver
- private structure, specifying supported performance counters,
- configuring the device (e.g. mapping registers & command
- buffers), initializing the memory manager, and setting up the
- initial output configuration.
- </para>
- <para>
- If compatibility is a concern (e.g. with drivers converted over
- to the new interfaces from the old ones), care must be taken to
- prevent device initialization and control that is incompatible with
- currently active userspace drivers. For instance, if user
- level mode setting drivers are in use, it would be problematic
- to perform output discovery & configuration at load time.
- Likewise, if user-level drivers unaware of memory management are
- in use, memory management and command buffer setup may need to
- be omitted. These requirements are driver-specific, and care
- needs to be taken to keep both old and new applications and
- libraries working. The i915 driver supports the "modeset"
- module parameter to control whether advanced features are
- enabled at load time or in legacy fashion.
- </para>
- <sect2>
- <title>Driver private & performance counters</title>
- <para>
- The driver private hangs off the main drm_device structure and
- can be used for tracking various device-specific bits of
- information, like register offsets, command buffer status,
- register state for suspend/resume, etc. At load time, a
- driver may simply allocate one and set drm_device.dev_priv
- appropriately; it should be freed and drm_device.dev_priv set
- to NULL when the driver is unloaded.
- </para>
- <para>
- The DRM supports several counters which may be used for rough
- performance characterization. Note that the DRM stat counter
- system is not often used by applications, and supporting
- additional counters is completely optional.
- </para>
- <para>
- These interfaces are deprecated and should not be used. If performance
- monitoring is desired, the developer should investigate and
- potentially enhance the kernel perf and tracing infrastructure to export
- GPU related performance information for consumption by performance
- monitoring tools and applications.
- </para>
- </sect2>
- <sect2>
- <title>Configuring the device</title>
- <para>
- Obviously, device configuration is device-specific.
- However, there are several common operations: finding a
- device's PCI resources, mapping them, and potentially setting
- up an IRQ handler.
- </para>
- <para>
- Finding & mapping resources is fairly straightforward. The
- DRM wrapper functions, drm_get_resource_start() and
- drm_get_resource_len(), may be used to find BARs on the given
- drm_device struct. Once those values have been retrieved, the
- driver load function can call drm_addmap() to create a new
- mapping for the BAR in question. Note that you probably want a
- drm_local_map_t in your driver private structure to track any
- mappings you create.
- <!-- !Fdrivers/gpu/drm/drm_bufs.c drm_get_resource_* -->
- <!-- !Finclude/drm/drmP.h drm_local_map_t -->
- </para>
- <para>
- if compatibility with other operating systems isn't a concern
- (DRM drivers can run under various BSD variants and OpenSolaris),
- native Linux calls may be used for the above, e.g. pci_resource_*
- and iomap*/iounmap. See the Linux device driver book for more
- info.
- </para>
- <para>
- Once you have a register map, you may use the DRM_READn() and
- DRM_WRITEn() macros to access the registers on your device, or
- use driver-specific versions to offset into your MMIO space
- relative to a driver-specific base pointer (see I915_READ for
- an example).
- </para>
- <para>
- If your device supports interrupt generation, you may want to
- set up an interrupt handler when the driver is loaded. This
- is done using the drm_irq_install() function. If your device
- supports vertical blank interrupts, it should call
- drm_vblank_init() to initialize the core vblank handling code before
- enabling interrupts on your device. This ensures the vblank related
- structures are allocated and allows the core to handle vblank events.
- </para>
- <!--!Fdrivers/char/drm/drm_irq.c drm_irq_install-->
- <para>
- Once your interrupt handler is registered (it uses your
- drm_driver.irq_handler as the actual interrupt handling
- function), you can safely enable interrupts on your device,
- assuming any other state your interrupt handler uses is also
- initialized.
- </para>
- <para>
- Another task that may be necessary during configuration is
- mapping the video BIOS. On many devices, the VBIOS describes
- device configuration, LCD panel timings (if any), and contains
- flags indicating device state. Mapping the BIOS can be done
- using the pci_map_rom() call, a convenience function that
- takes care of mapping the actual ROM, whether it has been
- shadowed into memory (typically at address 0xc0000) or exists
- on the PCI device in the ROM BAR. Note that after the ROM
- has been mapped and any necessary information has been extracted,
- it should be unmapped; on many devices, the ROM address decoder is
- shared with other BARs, so leaving it mapped could cause
- undesired behavior like hangs or memory corruption.
- <!--!Fdrivers/pci/rom.c pci_map_rom-->
- </para>
- </sect2>
- <sect2>
- <title>Memory manager initialization</title>
- <para>
- In order to allocate command buffers, cursor memory, scanout
- buffers, etc., as well as support the latest features provided
- by packages like Mesa and the X.Org X server, your driver
- should support a memory manager.
- </para>
- <para>
- If your driver supports memory management (it should!), you
- need to set that up at load time as well. How you initialize
- it depends on which memory manager you're using: TTM or GEM.
- </para>
- <sect3>
- <title>TTM initialization</title>
- <para>
- TTM (for Translation Table Manager) manages video memory and
- aperture space for graphics devices. TTM supports both UMA devices
- and devices with dedicated video RAM (VRAM), i.e. most discrete
- graphics devices. If your device has dedicated RAM, supporting
- TTM is desirable. TTM also integrates tightly with your
- driver-specific buffer execution function. See the radeon
- driver for examples.
- </para>
- <para>
- The core TTM structure is the ttm_bo_driver struct. It contains
- several fields with function pointers for initializing the TTM,
- allocating and freeing memory, waiting for command completion
- and fence synchronization, and memory migration. See the
- radeon_ttm.c file for an example of usage.
- </para>
- <para>
- The ttm_global_reference structure is made up of several fields:
- </para>
- <programlisting>
- struct ttm_global_reference {
- enum ttm_global_types global_type;
- size_t size;
- void *object;
- int (*init) (struct ttm_global_reference *);
- void (*release) (struct ttm_global_reference *);
- };
- </programlisting>
- <para>
- There should be one global reference structure for your memory
- manager as a whole, and there will be others for each object
- created by the memory manager at runtime. Your global TTM should
- have a type of TTM_GLOBAL_TTM_MEM. The size field for the global
- object should be sizeof(struct ttm_mem_global), and the init and
- release hooks should point at your driver-specific init and
- release routines, which probably eventually call
- ttm_mem_global_init and ttm_mem_global_release, respectively.
- </para>
- <para>
- Once your global TTM accounting structure is set up and initialized
- by calling ttm_global_item_ref() on it,
- you need to create a buffer object TTM to
- provide a pool for buffer object allocation by clients and the
- kernel itself. The type of this object should be TTM_GLOBAL_TTM_BO,
- and its size should be sizeof(struct ttm_bo_global). Again,
- driver-specific init and release functions may be provided,
- likely eventually calling ttm_bo_global_init() and
- ttm_bo_global_release(), respectively. Also, like the previous
- object, ttm_global_item_ref() is used to create an initial reference
- count for the TTM, which will call your initialization function.
- </para>
- </sect3>
- <sect3>
- <title>GEM initialization</title>
- <para>
- GEM is an alternative to TTM, designed specifically for UMA
- devices. It has simpler initialization and execution requirements
- than TTM, but has no VRAM management capability. Core GEM
- is initialized by calling drm_mm_init() to create
- a GTT DRM MM object, which provides an address space pool for
- object allocation. In a KMS configuration, the driver
- needs to allocate and initialize a command ring buffer following
- core GEM initialization. A UMA device usually has what is called a
- "stolen" memory region, which provides space for the initial
- framebuffer and large, contiguous memory regions required by the
- device. This space is not typically managed by GEM, and it must
- be initialized separately into its own DRM MM object.
- </para>
- <para>
- Initialization is driver-specific. In the case of Intel
- integrated graphics chips like 965GM, GEM initialization can
- be done by calling the internal GEM init function,
- i915_gem_do_init(). Since the 965GM is a UMA device
- (i.e. it doesn't have dedicated VRAM), GEM manages
- making regular RAM available for GPU operations. Memory set
- aside by the BIOS (called "stolen" memory by the i915
- driver) is managed by the DRM memrange allocator; the
- rest of the aperture is managed by GEM.
- <programlisting>
- /* Basic memrange allocator for stolen space (aka vram) */
- drm_memrange_init(&dev_priv->vram, 0, prealloc_size);
- /* Let GEM Manage from end of prealloc space to end of aperture */
- i915_gem_do_init(dev, prealloc_size, agp_size);
- </programlisting>
- <!--!Edrivers/char/drm/drm_memrange.c-->
- </para>
- <para>
- Once the memory manager has been set up, we may allocate the
- command buffer. In the i915 case, this is also done with a
- GEM function, i915_gem_init_ringbuffer().
- </para>
- </sect3>
- </sect2>
- <sect2>
- <title>Output configuration</title>
- <para>
- The final initialization task is output configuration. This involves:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- Finding and initializing the CRTCs, encoders, and connectors
- for the device.
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- Creating an initial configuration.
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- Registering a framebuffer console driver.
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- <sect3>
- <title>Output discovery and initialization</title>
- <para>
- Several core functions exist to create CRTCs, encoders, and
- connectors, namely: drm_crtc_init(), drm_connector_init(), and
- drm_encoder_init(), along with several "helper" functions to
- perform common tasks.
- </para>
- <para>
- Connectors should be registered with sysfs once they've been
- detected and initialized, using the
- drm_sysfs_connector_add() function. Likewise, when they're
- removed from the system, they should be destroyed with
- drm_sysfs_connector_remove().
- </para>
- <programlisting>
- <![CDATA[
- void intel_crt_init(struct drm_device *dev)
- {
- struct drm_connector *connector;
- struct intel_output *intel_output;
- intel_output = kzalloc(sizeof(struct intel_output), GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!intel_output)
- return;
- connector = &intel_output->base;
- drm_connector_init(dev, &intel_output->base,
- &intel_crt_connector_funcs, DRM_MODE_CONNECTOR_VGA);
- drm_encoder_init(dev, &intel_output->enc, &intel_crt_enc_funcs,
- DRM_MODE_ENCODER_DAC);
- drm_mode_connector_attach_encoder(&intel_output->base,
- &intel_output->enc);
- /* Set up the DDC bus. */
- intel_output->ddc_bus = intel_i2c_create(dev, GPIOA, "CRTDDC_A");
- if (!intel_output->ddc_bus) {
- dev_printk(KERN_ERR, &dev->pdev->dev, "DDC bus registration "
- "failed.\n");
- return;
- }
- intel_output->type = INTEL_OUTPUT_ANALOG;
- connector->interlace_allowed = 0;
- connector->doublescan_allowed = 0;
- drm_encoder_helper_add(&intel_output->enc, &intel_crt_helper_funcs);
- drm_connector_helper_add(connector, &intel_crt_connector_helper_funcs);
- drm_sysfs_connector_add(connector);
- }
- ]]>
- </programlisting>
- <para>
- In the example above (again, taken from the i915 driver), a
- CRT connector and encoder combination is created. A device-specific
- i2c bus is also created for fetching EDID data and
- performing monitor detection. Once the process is complete,
- the new connector is registered with sysfs to make its
- properties available to applications.
- </para>
- <sect4>
- <title>Helper functions and core functions</title>
- <para>
- Since many PC-class graphics devices have similar display output
- designs, the DRM provides a set of helper functions to make
- output management easier. The core helper routines handle
- encoder re-routing and the disabling of unused functions following
- mode setting. Using the helpers is optional, but recommended for
- devices with PC-style architectures (i.e. a set of display planes
- for feeding pixels to encoders which are in turn routed to
- connectors). Devices with more complex requirements needing
- finer grained management may opt to use the core callbacks
- directly.
- </para>
- <para>
- [Insert typical diagram here.] [Insert OMAP style config here.]
- </para>
- </sect4>
- <para>
- Each encoder object needs to provide:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- A DPMS (basically on/off) function.
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- A mode-fixup function (for converting requested modes into
- native hardware timings).
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- Functions (prepare, set, and commit) for use by the core DRM
- helper functions.
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- Connector helpers need to provide functions (mode-fetch, validity,
- and encoder-matching) for returning an ideal encoder for a given
- connector. The core connector functions include a DPMS callback,
- save/restore routines (deprecated), detection, mode probing,
- property handling, and cleanup functions.
- </para>
- <!--!Edrivers/char/drm/drm_crtc.h-->
- <!--!Edrivers/char/drm/drm_crtc.c-->
- <!--!Edrivers/char/drm/drm_crtc_helper.c-->
- </sect3>
- </sect2>
- </sect1>
- <!-- Internals: vblank handling -->
- <sect1>
- <title>VBlank event handling</title>
- <para>
- The DRM core exposes two vertical blank related ioctls:
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRM_IOCTL_WAIT_VBLANK</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>DRM_IOCTL_MODESET_CTL</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This should be called by application level drivers before and
- after mode setting, since on many devices the vertical blank
- counter is reset at that time. Internally, the DRM snapshots
- the last vblank count when the ioctl is called with the
- _DRM_PRE_MODESET command, so that the counter won't go backwards
- (which is dealt with when _DRM_POST_MODESET is used).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- <!--!Edrivers/char/drm/drm_irq.c-->
- </para>
- <para>
- To support the functions above, the DRM core provides several
- helper functions for tracking vertical blank counters, and
- requires drivers to provide several callbacks:
- get_vblank_counter(), enable_vblank() and disable_vblank(). The
- core uses get_vblank_counter() to keep the counter accurate
- across interrupt disable periods. It should return the current
- vertical blank event count, which is often tracked in a device
- register. The enable and disable vblank callbacks should enable
- and disable vertical blank interrupts, respectively. In the
- absence of DRM clients waiting on vblank events, the core DRM
- code uses the disable_vblank() function to disable
- interrupts, which saves power. They are re-enabled again when
- a client calls the vblank wait ioctl above.
- </para>
- <para>
- A device that doesn't provide a count register may simply use an
- internal atomic counter incremented on every vertical blank
- interrupt (and then treat the enable_vblank() and disable_vblank()
- callbacks as no-ops).
- </para>
- </sect1>
- <sect1>
- <title>Memory management</title>
- <para>
- The memory manager lies at the heart of many DRM operations; it
- is required to support advanced client features like OpenGL
- pbuffers. The DRM currently contains two memory managers: TTM
- and GEM.
- </para>
- <sect2>
- <title>The Translation Table Manager (TTM)</title>
- <para>
- TTM was developed by Tungsten Graphics, primarily by Thomas
- Hellström, and is intended to be a flexible, high performance
- graphics memory manager.
- </para>
- <para>
- Drivers wishing to support TTM must fill out a drm_bo_driver
- structure.
- </para>
- <para>
- TTM design background and information belongs here.
- </para>
- </sect2>
- <sect2>
- <title>The Graphics Execution Manager (GEM)</title>
- <para>
- GEM is an Intel project, authored by Eric Anholt and Keith
- Packard. It provides simpler interfaces than TTM, and is well
- suited for UMA devices.
- </para>
- <para>
- GEM-enabled drivers must provide gem_init_object() and
- gem_free_object() callbacks to support the core memory
- allocation routines. They should also provide several driver-specific
- ioctls to support command execution, pinning, buffer
- read & write, mapping, and domain ownership transfers.
- </para>
- <para>
- On a fundamental level, GEM involves several operations:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>Memory allocation and freeing</listitem>
- <listitem>Command execution</listitem>
- <listitem>Aperture management at command execution time</listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- Buffer object allocation is relatively
- straightforward and largely provided by Linux's shmem layer, which
- provides memory to back each object. When mapped into the GTT
- or used in a command buffer, the backing pages for an object are
- flushed to memory and marked write combined so as to be coherent
- with the GPU. Likewise, if the CPU accesses an object after the GPU
- has finished rendering to the object, then the object must be made
- coherent with the CPU's view
- of memory, usually involving GPU cache flushing of various kinds.
- This core CPU<->GPU coherency management is provided by a
- device-specific ioctl, which evaluates an object's current domain and
- performs any necessary flushing or synchronization to put the object
- into the desired coherency domain (note that the object may be busy,
- i.e. an active render target; in that case, setting the domain
- blocks the client and waits for rendering to complete before
- performing any necessary flushing operations).
- </para>
- <para>
- Perhaps the most important GEM function is providing a command
- execution interface to clients. Client programs construct command
- buffers containing references to previously allocated memory objects,
- and then submit them to GEM. At that point, GEM takes care to bind
- all the objects into the GTT, execute the buffer, and provide
- necessary synchronization between clients accessing the same buffers.
- This often involves evicting some objects from the GTT and re-binding
- others (a fairly expensive operation), and providing relocation
- support which hides fixed GTT offsets from clients. Clients must
- take care not to submit command buffers that reference more objects
- than can fit in the GTT; otherwise, GEM will reject them and no rendering
- will occur. Similarly, if several objects in the buffer require
- fence registers to be allocated for correct rendering (e.g. 2D blits
- on pre-965 chips), care must be taken not to require more fence
- registers than are available to the client. Such resource management
- should be abstracted from the client in libdrm.
- </para>
- </sect2>
- </sect1>
- <!-- Output management -->
- <sect1>
- <title>Output management</title>
- <para>
- At the core of the DRM output management code is a set of
- structures representing CRTCs, encoders, and connectors.
- </para>
- <para>
- A CRTC is an abstraction representing a part of the chip that
- contains a pointer to a scanout buffer. Therefore, the number
- of CRTCs available determines how many independent scanout
- buffers can be active at any given time. The CRTC structure
- contains several fields to support this: a pointer to some video
- memory, a display mode, and an (x, y) offset into the video
- memory to support panning or configurations where one piece of
- video memory spans multiple CRTCs.
- </para>
- <para>
- An encoder takes pixel data from a CRTC and converts it to a
- format suitable for any attached connectors. On some devices,
- it may be possible to have a CRTC send data to more than one
- encoder. In that case, both encoders would receive data from
- the same scanout buffer, resulting in a "cloned" display
- configuration across the connectors attached to each encoder.
- </para>
- <para>
- A connector is the final destination for pixel data on a device,
- and usually connects directly to an external display device like
- a monitor or laptop panel. A connector can only be attached to
- one encoder at a time. The connector is also the structure
- where information about the attached display is kept, so it
- contains fields for display data, EDID data, DPMS &
- connection status, and information about modes supported on the
- attached displays.
- </para>
- <!--!Edrivers/char/drm/drm_crtc.c-->
- </sect1>
- <sect1>
- <title>Framebuffer management</title>
- <para>
- Clients need to provide a framebuffer object which provides a source
- of pixels for a CRTC to deliver to the encoder(s) and ultimately the
- connector(s). A framebuffer is fundamentally a driver-specific memory
- object, made into an opaque handle by the DRM's addfb() function.
- Once a framebuffer has been created this way, it may be passed to the
- KMS mode setting routines for use in a completed configuration.
- </para>
- </sect1>
- <sect1>
- <title>Command submission & fencing</title>
- <para>
- This should cover a few device-specific command submission
- implementations.
- </para>
- </sect1>
- <sect1>
- <title>Suspend/resume</title>
- <para>
- The DRM core provides some suspend/resume code, but drivers
- wanting full suspend/resume support should provide save() and
- restore() functions. These are called at suspend,
- hibernate, or resume time, and should perform any state save or
- restore required by your device across suspend or hibernate
- states.
- </para>
- </sect1>
- <sect1>
- <title>DMA services</title>
- <para>
- This should cover how DMA mapping etc. is supported by the core.
- These functions are deprecated and should not be used.
- </para>
- </sect1>
- </chapter>
- <!-- External interfaces -->
- <chapter id="drmExternals">
- <title>Userland interfaces</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- External interfaces include: memory mapping, context management,
- DMA operations, AGP management, vblank control, fence
- management, memory management, and output management.
- </para>
- <para>
- Cover generic ioctls and sysfs layout here. We only need high-level
- info, since man pages should cover the rest.
- </para>
- </chapter>
- <!-- API reference -->
- <appendix id="drmDriverApi">
- <title>DRM Driver API</title>
- <para>
- Include auto-generated API reference here (need to reference it
- from paragraphs above too).
- </para>
- </appendix>
- </book>
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