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Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux

By Anil Kumar Pugalia on August 1, 2011 in Coding, Developers 21 Comments and 0 Reactions

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This article, which is part of the series on Linux device drivers, talks about the typical ioctl() implementation and usage in Linux.
Get me a laptop, and tell me about the x86 hardware interfacing experiments in the last Linux device drivers lab session, and also about whats planned for the next session, cried Shweta, exasperated at being confined to bed due to food poisoning at a friends party. Shwetas friends summarised the session, and told her that they didnt know what the upcoming sessions, though related to hardware, would be about. When the doctor requested them to leave, they took the opportunity to plan and talk about the most common hardware-controlling operation, i o c t l ( ) .

Introducing ioctl()
Input/Output Control (ioctl, in short) is a common operation, or system call, available in most driver categories. It is a one-bill-fits-all kind of system call. If there is no other system call that meets a particular requirement, then i o c t l ( )is the one to use. Practical examples include volume control for an audio device, display configuration for a video device, reading device registers, and so on basically, anything to do with device input/output, or device-specific operations, yet versatile enough for any kind of operation (for example, for debugging a driver by querying driver data structures). The question is: how can all this be achieved by a single function prototype? The trick lies in using its two key parameters: command and argument. The command is a number representing an operation. The argument command is the corresponding parameter for the operation. The i o c t l ( )function implementation does a switch case over the commmand to implement the corresponding functionality. The following has been its prototype in the Linux kernel for quite some time:
i n ti o c t l ( s t r u c ti n o d e* i ,s t r u c tf i l e* f ,u n s i g n e di n tc m d ,u n s i g n e dl o n ga r g ) ;

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However, from kernel 2.6.35, it changed to:

l o n gi o c t l ( s t r u c tf i l e* f ,u n s i g n e di n tc m d ,u n s i g n e dl o n ga r g ) ;

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Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux - LINUX For You

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If there is a need for more arguments, all of them are put in a structure, and a pointer to the structure becomes the one command argument. Whether integer or pointer, the argument is taken as a long integer in kernel-space, and accordingly type-cast and processed.
i o c t l ( )is typically implemented as part of the corresponding driver, and then an appropriate

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function pointer is initialised with it, exactly as in other system calls like o p e n ( ) ,r e a d ( ) , etc. For example, in character drivers, it is the i o c t lor u n l o c k e d _ i o c t l(since kernel 2.6.35) function pointer field in the s t r u c tf i l e _ o p e r a t i o n sthat is to be initialised. Again, like other system calls, it can be equivalently invoked from user-space using the i o c t l ( ) system call, prototyped in < s y s / i o c t l . h >as:
i n ti o c t l ( i n tf d ,i n tc m d ,. . . ) ;

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Here, c m dis the same as what is implemented in the drivers i o c t l ( ) , and the variable argument construct (. . . ) is a hack to be able to pass any type of argument (though only one) to the drivers i o c t l ( ) . Other parameters will be ignored. Note that both the command and command argument type definitions need to be shared across the driver (in kernel-space) and the application (in user-space). Thus, these definitions are commonly put into header files for each space.

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Querying driver-internal variables

To better understand the boring theory explained above, heres the code set for the debugging a driver example mentioned earlier. This driver has three static global variables: s t a t u s , d i g n i t y , and e g o , which need to be queried and possibly operated from an application. The header file q u e r y _ i o c t l . hdefines the corresponding commands and command argument type. A listing follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 # i f n d e fQ U E R Y _ I O C T L _ H # d e f i n eQ U E R Y _ I O C T L _ H # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / i o c t l . h > t y p e d e fs t r u c t { i n ts t a t u s ,d i g n i t y ,e g o ; }q u e r y _ a r g _ t ; # d e f i n eQ U E R Y _ G E T _ V A R I A B L E S_ I O R ( ' q ' ,1 ,q u e r y _ a r g _ t* ) # d e f i n eQ U E R Y _ C L R _ V A R I A B L E S_ I O ( ' q ' ,2 ) # d e f i n eQ U E R Y _ S E T _ V A R I A B L E S_ I O W ( ' q ' ,3 ,q u e r y _ a r g _ t* ) # e n d i f

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Using these, the drivers i o c t l ( )implementation in q u e r y _ i o c t l . cwould be as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 3 8 3 9 4 0 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / m o d u l e . h > # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / k e r n e l . h > # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / v e r s i o n . h > # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / f s . h > # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / c d e v . h > # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / d e v i c e . h > # i n c l u d e< l i n u x / e r r n o . h > # i n c l u d e< a s m / u a c c e s s . h > # i n c l u d e" q u e r y _ i o c t l . h " # d e f i n eF I R S T _ M I N O R0 # d e f i n eM I N O R _ C N T1 s t a t i cd e v _ td e v ; s t a t i cs t r u c tc d e vc _ d e v ; s t a t i cs t r u c tc l a s s* c l ; s t a t i ci n ts t a t u s=1 ,d i g n i t y=3 ,e g o=5 ; s t a t i ci n tm y _ o p e n ( s t r u c ti n o d e* i ,s t r u c tf i l e* f ) { r e t u r n0 ; } s t a t i ci n tm y _ c l o s e ( s t r u c ti n o d e* i ,s t r u c tf i l e* f ) { r e t u r n0 ; } # i f( L I N U X _ V E R S I O N _ C O D E<K E R N E L _ V E R S I O N ( 2 , 6 , 3 5 ) ) s t a t i ci n tm y _ i o c t l ( s t r u c ti n o d e* i ,s t r u c tf i l e* f ,u n s i g n e di n tc m d ,u n s i g n e d # e l s e s t a t i cl o n gm y _ i o c t l ( s t r u c tf i l e* f ,u n s i g n e di n tc m d ,u n s i g n e dl o n ga r g ) # e n d i f { q u e r y _ a r g _ tq ; s w i t c h( c m d ) { c a s eQ U E R Y _ G E T _ V A R I A B L E S : q . s t a t u s=s t a t u s ; q . d i g n i t y=d i g n i t y ; q . e g o=e g o ; i f( c o p y _ t o _ u s e r ( ( q u e r y _ a r g _ t* ) a r g ,& q ,s i z e o f ( q u e r y _ a r g _ t ) ) ) { r e t u r nE A C C E S ; } b r e a k ;

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4 7 4 8 4 9 5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 6 0 6 1 6 2 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 6 7 6 8 6 9 7 0 7 1 7 2 7 3 7 4 7 5 7 6 7 7 7 8 7 9 8 0 8 1 8 2 8 3 8 4 8 5 8 6 8 7 8 8 8 9 9 0 9 1 9 2 9 3 9 4 9 5 9 6 9 7 9 8 9 9 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 3 1 0 4 1 0 5 1 0 6 1 0 7 1 0 8 1 0 9 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 1 6 1 1 7 1 1 8 1 1 9 1 2 0 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 3 1 2 4 1 2 5 1 2 6 1 2 7 1 2 8

Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux - LINUX For You

c a s eQ U E R Y _ C L R _ V A R I A B L E S : s t a t u s=0 ; d i g n i t y=0 ; e g o=0 ; b r e a k ; c a s eQ U E R Y _ S E T _ V A R I A B L E S : i f( c o p y _ f r o m _ u s e r ( & q ,( q u e r y _ a r g _ t* ) a r g ,s i z e o f ( q u e r y _ a r g _ t ) ) ) { r e t u r nE A C C E S ; } s t a t u s=q . s t a t u s ; d i g n i t y=q . d i g n i t y ; e g o=q . e g o ; b r e a k ; d e f a u l t : r e t u r nE I N V A L ;

} }

r e t u r n0 ;

s t a t i cs t r u c tf i l e _ o p e r a t i o n sq u e r y _ f o p s= { . o w n e r=T H I S _ M O D U L E , . o p e n=m y _ o p e n , . r e l e a s e=m y _ c l o s e , # i f( L I N U X _ V E R S I O N _ C O D E<K E R N E L _ V E R S I O N ( 2 , 6 , 3 5 ) ) . i o c t l=m y _ i o c t l # e l s e . u n l o c k e d _ i o c t l=m y _ i o c t l # e n d i f } ; s t a t i ci n t_ _ i n i tq u e r y _ i o c t l _ i n i t ( v o i d ) { i n tr e t ; s t r u c td e v i c e* d e v _ r e t ; i f( ( r e t=a l l o c _ c h r d e v _ r e g i o n ( & d e v ,F I R S T _ M I N O R ,M I N O R _ C N T ," q u e r y _ i o c t l " ) )<0 ) { r e t u r nr e t ; } c d e v _ i n i t ( & c _ d e v ,& q u e r y _ f o p s ) ; i f( ( r e t=c d e v _ a d d ( & c _ d e v ,d e v ,M I N O R _ C N T ) )<0 ) { r e t u r nr e t ; } i f( I S _ E R R ( c l=c l a s s _ c r e a t e ( T H I S _ M O D U L E ," c h a r " ) ) ) { c d e v _ d e l ( & c _ d e v ) ; u n r e g i s t e r _ c h r d e v _ r e g i o n ( d e v ,M I N O R _ C N T ) ; r e t u r nP T R _ E R R ( c l ) ; } i f( I S _ E R R ( d e v _ r e t=d e v i c e _ c r e a t e ( c l ,N U L L ,d e v ,N U L L ," q u e r y " ) ) ) { c l a s s _ d e s t r o y ( c l ) ; c d e v _ d e l ( & c _ d e v ) ; u n r e g i s t e r _ c h r d e v _ r e g i o n ( d e v ,M I N O R _ C N T ) ; r e t u r nP T R _ E R R ( d e v _ r e t ) ; } } r e t u r n0 ;

s t a t i cv o i d_ _ e x i tq u e r y _ i o c t l _ e x i t ( v o i d ) { d e v i c e _ d e s t r o y ( c l ,d e v ) ; c l a s s _ d e s t r o y ( c l ) ; c d e v _ d e l ( & c _ d e v ) ; u n r e g i s t e r _ c h r d e v _ r e g i o n ( d e v ,M I N O R _ C N T ) ; } m o d u l e _ i n i t ( q u e r y _ i o c t l _ i n i t ) ; m o d u l e _ e x i t ( q u e r y _ i o c t l _ e x i t ) ; M O D U L E _ L I C E N S E ( " G P L " ) ; M O D U L E _ A U T H O R ( " A n i lK u m a rP u g a l i a< e m a i l _ a t _ s a r i k a p u g s _ d o t _ c o m > " ) ; M O D U L E _ D E S C R I P T I O N ( " Q u e r yi o c t l ( )C h a rD r i v e r " ) ;

And finally, the corresponding invocation functions from the application q u e r y _ a p p . cwould be as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 # i n c l u d e< s t d i o . h > # i n c l u d e< s y s / t y p e s . h > # i n c l u d e< f c n t l . h > # i n c l u d e< u n i s t d . h > # i n c l u d e< s t r i n g . h > # i n c l u d e< s y s / i o c t l . h > # i n c l u d e" q u e r y _ i o c t l . h " v o i dg e t _ v a r s ( i n tf d ) { q u e r y _ a r g _ tq ; i f( i o c t l ( f d ,Q U E R Y _ G E T _ V A R I A B L E S ,& q )= =1 ) { p e r r o r ( " q u e r y _ a p p si o c t lg e t " ) ; } e l s e { p r i n t f ( " S t a t u s:% d \ n " ,q . s t a t u s ) ;

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2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 3 8 3 9 4 0 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 4 9 5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 6 0 6 1 6 2 6 3 6 4 6 5 6 6 6 7 6 8 6 9 7 0 7 1 7 2 7 3 7 4 7 5 7 6 7 7 7 8 7 9 8 0 8 1 8 2 8 3 8 4 8 5 8 6 8 7 8 8 8 9 9 0 9 1 9 2 9 3 9 4 9 5 9 6 9 7 9 8 9 9 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 3 1 0 4 1 0 5 1 0 6 1 0 7 1 0 8 1 0 9 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 1 6 1 1 7 1 1 8 1 1 9 1 2 0 1 2 1

Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux - LINUX For You

} } v o i dc l r _ v a r s ( i n tf d ) { i f( i o c t l ( f d ,Q U E R Y _ C L R _ V A R I A B L E S )= =1 ) { p e r r o r ( " q u e r y _ a p p si o c t lc l r " ) ; } } v o i ds e t _ v a r s ( i n tf d ) { i n tv ; q u e r y _ a r g _ tq ; p r i n t f ( " E n t e rS t a t u s :" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d " ,& v ) ; g e t c h a r ( ) ; q . s t a t u s=v ; p r i n t f ( " E n t e rD i g n i t y :" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d " ,& v ) ; g e t c h a r ( ) ; q . d i g n i t y=v ; p r i n t f ( " E n t e rE g o :" ) ; s c a n f ( " % d " ,& v ) ; g e t c h a r ( ) ; q . e g o=v ; i f( i o c t l ( f d ,Q U E R Y _ S E T _ V A R I A B L E S ,& q )= =1 ) { p e r r o r ( " q u e r y _ a p p si o c t ls e t " ) ; } p r i n t f ( " D i g n i t y :% d \ n " ,q . d i g n i t y ) ; p r i n t f ( " E g o :% d \ n " ,q . e g o ) ;

i n tm a i n ( i n ta r g c ,c h a r* a r g v [ ] ) { c h a r* f i l e _ n a m e=" / d e v / q u e r y " ; i n tf d ; e n u m { e _ g e t , e _ c l r , e _ s e t }o p t i o n ; i f( a r g c= =1 ) { o p t i o n=e _ g e t ; } e l s ei f( a r g c= =2 ) { i f( s t r c m p ( a r g v [ 1 ] ," g " )= =0 ) { o p t i o n=e _ g e t ; } e l s ei f( s t r c m p ( a r g v [ 1 ] ," c " )= =0 ) { o p t i o n=e _ c l r ; } e l s ei f( s t r c m p ( a r g v [ 1 ] ," s " )= =0 ) { o p t i o n=e _ s e t ; } e l s e { f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r ," U s a g e :% s[ g|c|s ] \ n " ,a r g v [ 0 ] ) ; r e t u r n1 ; } } e l s e { f p r i n t f ( s t d e r r ," U s a g e :% s[ g|c|s ] \ n " ,a r g v [ 0 ] ) ; r e t u r n1 ; } f d=o p e n ( f i l e _ n a m e ,O _ R D W R ) ; i f( f d= =1 ) { p e r r o r ( " q u e r y _ a p p so p e n " ) ; r e t u r n2 ; } s w i t c h( o p t i o n ) { c a s ee _ g e t : g e t _ v a r s ( f d ) ; b r e a k ; c a s ee _ c l r : c l r _ v a r s ( f d ) ; b r e a k ; c a s ee _ s e t : s e t _ v a r s ( f d ) ; b r e a k ; d e f a u l t : b r e a k ; } c l o s e( f d ) ; } r e t u r n0 ;

Now try out q u e r y _ a p p . cand q u e r y _ i o c t l . cwith the following operations: Build the q u e r y _ i o c t ldriver (q u e r y _ i o c t l . k ofile) and the application (q u e r y _ a p pfile) by running m a k e , using the following M a k e f i l e :

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1

Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux - LINUX For You

#I fc a l l e dd i r e c t l yf r o mt h ec o m m a n dl i n e ,i n v o k et h ek e r n e lb u i l ds y s t e m . i f e q( $ ( K E R N E L R E L E A S E ) , ) K E R N E L _ S O U R C E: =/ u s r / s r c / l i n u x P W D: =$ ( s h e l lp w d ) d e f a u l t :m o d u l eq u e r y _ a p p m o d u l e : $ ( M A K E )C$ ( K E R N E L _ S O U R C E )S U B D I R S = $ ( P W D )m o d u l e s c l e a n : $ ( M A K E )C$ ( K E R N E L _ S O U R C E )S U B D I R S = $ ( P W D )c l e a n $ { R M }q u e r y _ a p p #O t h e r w i s eK E R N E L R E L E A S Ei sd e f i n e d ;w e ' v eb e e ni n v o k e df r o mt h e #k e r n e lb u i l ds y s t e ma n dc a nu s ei t sl a n g u a g e . e l s e o b j m: =q u e r y _ i o c t l . o e n d i f

Load the driver using i n s m o dq u e r y _ i o c t l . k o . With appropriate privileges and command-line arguments, run the application q u e r y _ a p p :
. / q u e r y _ a p p to display the driver variables . / q u e r y _ a p pc to clear the driver variables . / q u e r y _ a p pg to display the driver variables . / q u e r y _ a p ps to set the driver variables (not mentioned above)

Unload the driver using r m m o dq u e r y _ i o c t l .

Defining the ioctl() commands

"Visiting time is over," yelled the security guard. Shweta thanked her friends since she could understand most of the code now, including the need for c o p y _ t o _ u s e r ( ) , as learnt earlier. But she wondered about _ I O R ,_ I O , etc., which were used in defining commands in
q u e r y _ i o c t l . h . These are usual numbers only, as mentioned earlier for an i o c t l ( )

command. Just that, now additionally, some useful command related information is also encoded as part of these numbers using various macros, as per the POSIX standard for i o c t l . The standard talks about the 32-bit command numbers, formed of four components embedded into the [31:0] bits: 1. The direction of command operation [bits 31:30] -- read, write, both, or none -- filled by the corresponding macro (_ I O R ,_ I O W ,_ I O W R ,_ I O ). 2. The size of the command argument [bits 29:16] -- computed using s i z e o f ( )with the command argument's type -- the third argument to these macros. 3. The 8-bit magic number [bits 15:8] -- to render the commands unique enough -- typically an ASCII character (the first argument to these macros). 4. The original command number [bits 7:0] -- the actual command number (1, 2, 3, ...), defined as per our requirement -- the second argument to these macros. Check out the header < a s m g e n e r i c / i o c t l . h >for implementation details.

Related Posts:
Device Drivers, Part 5: Character Device Files Creation & Operations Device Drivers, Part 7: Generic Hardware Access in Linux Device Drivers, Part 6: Decoding Character Device File Operations Device Drivers, Part 17: Module Interactions Working with MTD Devices
Tags: ASCII, data structures, device input, driver, drivers, I/O, input output, ioctl, kernel space, LFY August 2011, Linux, linux device drivers, Linux Device Drivers Series, Linux kernel, long ar, POSIX, registers, struct inode, switch case, system call, unsigned int, userspace, x86 hardware

Article written by:

Anil Kumar Pugalia
The author is a freelance trainer in Linux internals, Linux device drivers, embedded Linux and related topics. Prior to this, he had worked at Intel and Nvidia. He has been exploring Linux since 1994. A gold medallist from the Indian Institute of Science, Linux and knowledge-sharing are two of his many passions. Connect with him: Website - Twitter - Facebook - Google+

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Newest Community E s hwar

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14 days ago

For Latest Kernels use the following Makefile #3.7.10-1.16 # If called directly from the command line, invoke the kernel build system. ifeq ($(KERNELRELEASE),) # KERNEL_SOURCE := /usr/src/linux KERNEL_SOURCE := /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build PWD := $(shell pwd) default: module query_app #make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) modules module: $(MAKE) -C $(KERNEL_SOURCE) SUBDIRS=$(PWD) modules

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anil_pugalia

> Eshwar

14 days ago

dhanamjay a

It is nothing to do with latest kernels. It's how the kernel source/headers are organized in your particular disto. In fact, this file would work with previous versions of kernel as well.
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19 days ago

what is the use of magicnumber

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anil_pugalia

> dhanamjaya
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19 days ago

To make it unique enough.

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Jay aram P rabhu

6 months ago

amazing materials you have here ! keep up the gud work !

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anil_pugalia

> Jayaram Prabhu

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6 months ago

Thanks for the motivational words.

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A nand

8 months ago

Great article..Understood lots of things..simple prgrm explanation,now evn i can start www.linuxforu.com/2011/08/io-control-in-linux/

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John

Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux - LINUX For You Great article..Understood lots of things..simple prgrm explanation,now evn i can start to write my own in better manner..thanks..i would like to get these type of DD explanation more n more..:-)
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8 months ago

Hi sir, I want to write a module that returns inode of specific file ,so how can i code it to get inode of particular file?
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anil_pugalia

> John

8 months ago

You do not really need to write a module for that. You may use the already available system call "lstat".
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> anil_pugalia

8 months ago

Thanks for the reply Sir, Now i want to trace the code of inode & ioctl files of ext4 using printk statements for better understanding there working.How can i do that whether i need to recomplie kernel?
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anil_pugalia

> John

8 months ago

Rama

If ext4 is compiled as a module, you do not need to recompile the kernel, but just recompile the module; otherwise recompile the kernel by making ext4 as module and then follow the above step.
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8 months ago

Hi Anil, Really these articles are very useful to start up. I have one query on open call. in open system call if we give device file name as input it finally interact with that device_open function in driver. if we look at device_open syntax, the first parameter is struct inode*. The struct inode* internally has i_cdev, by using macros we can get major and minor number. The question is how your device file name linked to driver open function?. how device file name in open system call identifies the major number?. After sucess it returns file descriptor. I know the sequence once we got file descriptor how it interact with file structure. Could you please explain how open system call internally works from user space to till kernel space, not with respect to general system call execution, with respect to device file name to driver_open flow
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anil_pugalia

> Rama

8 months ago

user space open call with the file name goes to VFS, which checks out the inode of the file, based on its absolute path, thus populating the struct inode for it. And then creates a struct file based on that, and then it invokes the driver_open (the actual system call), with both of these as the parameters. On success of the same, a per-process free file descriptor (integer) is allotted and returned back to the user. Hope that clarifies your doubt. In short, VFS is the key translator.
1 foc us

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9 months ago

I enjoy reading your tutorial.. Thanks for keeping it simple and clear. Keep up the good work.
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anil_pugalia

> focus

8 months ago

S ent hil

Thanks for reading & appreciating.

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10 months ago

Really excellent work ,i have read so many books for understanding "ioctl" but
www.linuxforu.com/2011/08/io-control-in-linux/ 7/8

8/12/13

Device Drivers, Part 9: I/O Control in Linux - LINUX For You

everybody explains it as a toughest thing in Device drivers but you are outstanding in explaining it in a simple way.
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anil_pugalia

> Senthil

8 months ago

rak es h

Thanks for reading & writing the feedback.

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11 months ago

I became fan of you for your generosity to take time and explain so greatly. Thank you
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A nil P ugalia

> rakesh

11 months ago

anil_pugalia 1

Thanks for becoming my fan.

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a year ago

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Thanks for appreciating.

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das t agir 1

a year ago

Sir, u are great. U helped me a lot. pls keep going

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