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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.txt b/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..30ae758e3eef --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/devicetree/overlay-notes.txt @@ -0,0 +1,133 @@ +Device Tree Overlay Notes +------------------------- + +This document describes the implementation of the in-kernel +device tree overlay functionality residing in drivers/of/overlay.c and is a +companion document to Documentation/devicetree/dt-object-internal.txt[1] & +Documentation/devicetree/dynamic-resolution-notes.txt[2] + +How overlays work +----------------- + +A Device Tree's overlay purpose is to modify the kernel's live tree, and +have the modification affecting the state of the the kernel in a way that +is reflecting the changes. +Since the kernel mainly deals with devices, any new device node that result +in an active device should have it created while if the device node is either +disabled or removed all together, the affected device should be deregistered. + +Lets take an example where we have a foo board with the following base tree +which is taken from [1]. + +---- foo.dts ----------------------------------------------------------------- + /* FOO platform */ + / { + compatible = "corp,foo"; + + /* shared resources */ + res: res { + }; + + /* On chip peripherals */ + ocp: ocp { + /* peripherals that are always instantiated */ + peripheral1 { ... }; + } + }; +---- foo.dts ----------------------------------------------------------------- + +The overlay bar.dts, when loaded (and resolved as described in [2]) should + +---- bar.dts ----------------------------------------------------------------- +/plugin/; /* allow undefined label references and record them */ +/ { + .... /* various properties for loader use; i.e. part id etc. */ + fragment@0 { + target = <&ocp>; + __overlay__ { + /* bar peripheral */ + bar { + compatible = "corp,bar"; + ... /* various properties and child nodes */ + } + }; + }; +}; +---- bar.dts ----------------------------------------------------------------- + +result in foo+bar.dts + +---- foo+bar.dts ------------------------------------------------------------- + /* FOO platform + bar peripheral */ + / { + compatible = "corp,foo"; + + /* shared resources */ + res: res { + }; + + /* On chip peripherals */ + ocp: ocp { + /* peripherals that are always instantiated */ + peripheral1 { ... }; + + /* bar peripheral */ + bar { + compatible = "corp,bar"; + ... /* various properties and child nodes */ + } + } + }; +---- foo+bar.dts ------------------------------------------------------------- + +As a result of the the overlay, a new device node (bar) has been created +so a bar platform device will be registered and if a matching device driver +is loaded the device will be created as expected. + +Overlay in-kernel API +-------------------------------- + +The API is quite easy to use. + +1. Call of_overlay_create() to create and apply an overlay. The return value +is a cookie identifying this overlay. + +2. Call of_overlay_destroy() to remove and cleanup the overlay previously +created via the call to of_overlay_create(). Removal of an overlay that +is stacked by another will not be permitted. + +Finally, if you need to remove all overlays in one-go, just call +of_overlay_destroy_all() which will remove every single one in the correct +order. + +Overlay DTS Format +------------------ + +The DTS of an overlay should have the following format: + +{ + /* ignored properties by the overlay */ + + fragment@0 { /* first child node */ + + target=<phandle>; /* phandle target of the overlay */ + or + target-path="/path"; /* target path of the overlay */ + + __overlay__ { + property-a; /* add property-a to the target */ + node-a { /* add to an existing, or create a node-a */ + ... + }; + }; + } + fragment@1 { /* second child node */ + ... + }; + /* more fragments follow */ +} + +Using the non-phandle based target method allows one to use a base DT which does +not contain a __symbols__ node, i.e. it was not compiled with the -@ option. +The __symbols__ node is only required for the target=<phandle> method, since it +contains the information required to map from a phandle to a tree location. |