Re: [PATCH RFC] gpio: Add Virtual Aggregator GPIO Driver

[Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>]

Hi Bartosz,

On Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 4:59 PM Bartosz Golaszewski
<bgolaszewski@baylibre.com> wrote:
> pon., 8 lip 2019 o 12:24 Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org> napisał(a):
> > On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 11:45 AM Bartosz Golaszewski
> > <bgolaszewski@baylibre.com> wrote:
> > > pt., 5 lip 2019 o 18:05 Geert Uytterhoeven <geert+renesas@glider.be> napisał(a):
> > > > GPIO controllers are exported to userspace using /dev/gpiochip*
> > > > character devices.  Access control to these devices is provided by
> > > > standard UNIX file system permissions, on an all-or-nothing basis:
> > > > either a GPIO controller is accessible for a user, or it is not.
> > > > Currently no mechanism exists to control access to individual GPIOs.
> > > >
> > > > Hence add a virtual GPIO driver to aggregate existing GPIOs (up to 32),
> > > > and expose them as a new gpiochip.  This is useful for implementing
> > > > access control, and assigning a set of GPIOs to a specific user.
> > > > Furthermore, it would simplify and harden exporting GPIOs to a virtual
> > > > machine, as the VM can just grab the full virtual GPIO controller, and
> > > > no longer needs to care about which GPIOs to grab and which not,
> > > > reducing the attack surface.
> > > >
> > > > Virtual GPIO controllers are instantiated by writing to the "new_device"
> > > > attribute file in sysfs:
> > > >
> > > >     $ echo "<gpiochipA> <gpioA1> [<gpioA2> ...]"
> > > >            "[, <gpiochipB> <gpioB1> [<gpioB2> ...]] ...]"
> > > >             > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/gpio-virt-agg/new_device
> > > >
> > > > Likewise, virtual GPIO controllers can be destroyed after use:
> > > >
> > > >     $ echo gpio-virt-agg.<N> \
> > > >             > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/gpio-virt-agg/delete_device

> Am I doing it right? I'm trying to create a device and am only getting this:
>
> # echo gpiochip2 23 > new_device
> [  707.507039] gpio-virt-agg gpio-virt-agg.0: Cannot find gpiochip gpiochip2
>
> gpiochip2 *does* exist in the system.

Please try the name of the platform device instead.
I.e. for my koelsch (R-Car M2-W), it needs "e6052000.gpio" instead
of "gpiochip2".

Probably the driver should match on both.

> I see. I'll try to review it more thoroughly once I get to play with
> it. So far I'm stuck on creating the virtual chip.

Thanks, good luck!

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

                        Geert

-- 
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
                                -- Linus Torvalds