TTY Buffer

Here, we document functions for taking care of tty buffer and their flipping. Drivers are supposed to fill the buffer by one of those functions below and then flip the buffer, so that the data are passed to line discipline for further processing.

Flip Buffer Management

size_t tty_prepare_flip_string(struct tty_port *port, u8 **chars, size_t size)

make room for characters

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

u8 **chars

return pointer for character write area

size_t size

desired size

Description

Prepare a block of space in the buffer for data.

This is used for drivers that need their own block copy routines into the buffer. There is no guarantee the buffer is a DMA target!

Return

the length available and buffer pointer (chars) to the space which is now allocated and accounted for as ready for normal characters.

size_t tty_ldisc_receive_buf(struct tty_ldisc *ld, const u8 *p, const u8 *f, size_t count)

forward data to line discipline

Parameters

struct tty_ldisc *ld

line discipline to process input

const u8 *p

char buffer

const u8 *f

TTY_NORMAL, TTY_BREAK, etc. flags buffer

size_t count

number of bytes to process

Description

Callers other than flush_to_ldisc() need to exclude the kworker from concurrent use of the line discipline, see paste_selection().

Return

the number of bytes processed.

void tty_flip_buffer_push(struct tty_port *port)

push terminal buffers

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port to push

Description

Queue a push of the terminal flip buffers to the line discipline. Can be called from IRQ/atomic context.

In the event of the queue being busy for flipping the work will be held off and retried later.

size_t tty_insert_flip_string_fixed_flag(struct tty_port *port, const u8 *chars, u8 flag, size_t size)

add characters to the tty buffer

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

const u8 *chars

characters

u8 flag

flag value for each character

size_t size

size

Description

Queue a series of bytes to the tty buffering. All the characters passed are marked with the supplied flag.

Return

the number added.

size_t tty_insert_flip_string_flags(struct tty_port *port, const u8 *chars, const u8 *flags, size_t size)

add characters to the tty buffer

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

const u8 *chars

characters

const u8 *flags

flag bytes

size_t size

size

Description

Queue a series of bytes to the tty buffering. For each character the flags array indicates the status of the character.

Return

the number added.

size_t tty_insert_flip_char(struct tty_port *port, u8 ch, u8 flag)

add one character to the tty buffer

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

u8 ch

character

u8 flag

flag byte

Description

Queue a single byte ch to the tty buffering, with an optional flag.

---

Other Functions

unsigned int tty_buffer_space_avail(struct tty_port *port)

return unused buffer space

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port owning the flip buffer

Return

the # of bytes which can be written by the driver without reaching the buffer limit.

Note

this does not guarantee that memory is available to write the returned # of bytes (use tty_prepare_flip_string() to pre-allocate if memory guarantee is required).

int tty_buffer_set_limit(struct tty_port *port, int limit)

change the tty buffer memory limit

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port to change

int limit

memory limit to set

Description

Change the tty buffer memory limit.

Must be called before the other tty buffer functions are used.

---

Buffer Locking

These are used only in special circumstances. Avoid them.

void tty_buffer_lock_exclusive(struct tty_port *port)

gain exclusive access to buffer

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port owning the flip buffer

Description

Guarantees safe use of the tty_ldisc_ops.receive_buf() method by excluding the buffer work and any pending flush from using the flip buffer. Data can continue to be added concurrently to the flip buffer from the driver side.

See also tty_buffer_unlock_exclusive().

void tty_buffer_unlock_exclusive(struct tty_port *port)

release exclusive access

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port owning the flip buffer

Description

The buffer work is restarted if there is data in the flip buffer.

See also tty_buffer_lock_exclusive().

---

Internal Functions

void tty_buffer_free_all(struct tty_port *port)

free buffers used by a tty

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port to free from

Description

Remove all the buffers pending on a tty whether queued with data or in the free ring. Must be called when the tty is no longer in use.

struct tty_buffer *tty_buffer_alloc(struct tty_port *port, size_t size)

allocate a tty buffer

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

size_t size

desired size (characters)

Description

Allocate a new tty buffer to hold the desired number of characters. We round our buffers off in 256 character chunks to get better allocation behaviour.

Return

NULL if out of memory or the allocation would exceed the per device queue.

void tty_buffer_free(struct tty_port *port, struct tty_buffer *b)

free a tty buffer

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port owning the buffer

struct tty_buffer *b

the buffer to free

Description

Free a tty buffer, or add it to the free list according to our internal strategy.

void tty_buffer_flush(struct tty_struct *tty, struct tty_ldisc *ld)

flush full tty buffers

Parameters

struct tty_struct *tty

tty to flush

struct tty_ldisc *ld

optional ldisc ptr (must be referenced)

Description

Flush all the buffers containing receive data. If ld != NULL, flush the ldisc input buffer.

Locking: takes buffer lock to ensure single-threaded flip buffer 'consumer'.

int __tty_buffer_request_room(struct tty_port *port, size_t size, bool flags)

grow tty buffer if needed

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

size_t size

size desired

bool flags

buffer has to store flags along character data

Description

Make at least size bytes of linear space available for the tty buffer.

Will change over to a new buffer if the current buffer is encoded as TTY_NORMAL (so has no flags buffer) and the new buffer requires a flags buffer.

Return

the size we managed to find.

void flush_to_ldisc(struct work_struct *work)

flush data from buffer to ldisc

Parameters

struct work_struct *work

tty structure passed from work queue.

Description

This routine is called out of the software interrupt to flush data from the buffer chain to the line discipline.

The receive_buf() method is single threaded for each tty instance.

Locking: takes buffer lock to ensure single-threaded flip buffer 'consumer'.

int tty_insert_flip_string_and_push_buffer(struct tty_port *port, const u8 *chars, size_t size)

add characters to the tty buffer and push

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port

const u8 *chars

characters

size_t size

size

Description

The function combines tty_insert_flip_string() and tty_flip_buffer_push() with the exception of properly holding the port->lock.

To be used only internally (by pty currently).

Return

the number added.

void tty_buffer_init(struct tty_port *port)

prepare a tty buffer structure

Parameters

struct tty_port *port

tty port to initialise

Description

Set up the initial state of the buffer management for a tty device. Must be called before the other tty buffer functions are used.