diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/00-INDEX | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/nfsroot.txt | 270 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/rpc-cache.txt | 202 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/seq_file.txt | 283 |
4 files changed, 761 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/00-INDEX b/Documentation/filesystems/00-INDEX index e68021c08fb..52cd611277a 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/00-INDEX +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/00-INDEX @@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ mandatory-locking.txt - info on the Linux implementation of Sys V mandatory file locking. ncpfs.txt - info on Novell Netware(tm) filesystem using NCP protocol. +nfsroot.txt + - short guide on setting up a diskless box with NFS root filesystem. ntfs.txt - info and mount options for the NTFS filesystem (Windows NT). ocfs2.txt @@ -82,6 +84,10 @@ relay.txt - info on relay, for efficient streaming from kernel to user space. romfs.txt - description of the ROMFS filesystem. +rpc-cache.txt + - introduction to the caching mechanisms in the sunrpc layer. +seq_file.txt + - how to use the seq_file API sharedsubtree.txt - a description of shared subtrees for namespaces. smbfs.txt diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/nfsroot.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/nfsroot.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..31b32917234 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/nfsroot.txt @@ -0,0 +1,270 @@ +Mounting the root filesystem via NFS (nfsroot) +=============================================== + +Written 1996 by Gero Kuhlmann <gero@gkminix.han.de> +Updated 1997 by Martin Mares <mj@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz> +Updated 2006 by Nico Schottelius <nico-kernel-nfsroot@schottelius.org> +Updated 2006 by Horms <horms@verge.net.au> + + + +In order to use a diskless system, such as an X-terminal or printer server +for example, it is necessary for the root filesystem to be present on a +non-disk device. This may be an initramfs (see Documentation/filesystems/ +ramfs-rootfs-initramfs.txt), a ramdisk (see Documentation/initrd.txt) or a +filesystem mounted via NFS. The following text describes on how to use NFS +for the root filesystem. For the rest of this text 'client' means the +diskless system, and 'server' means the NFS server. + + + + +1.) Enabling nfsroot capabilities + ----------------------------- + +In order to use nfsroot, NFS client support needs to be selected as +built-in during configuration. Once this has been selected, the nfsroot +option will become available, which should also be selected. + +In the networking options, kernel level autoconfiguration can be selected, +along with the types of autoconfiguration to support. Selecting all of +DHCP, BOOTP and RARP is safe. + + + + +2.) Kernel command line + ------------------- + +When the kernel has been loaded by a boot loader (see below) it needs to be +told what root fs device to use. And in the case of nfsroot, where to find +both the server and the name of the directory on the server to mount as root. +This can be established using the following kernel command line parameters: + + +root=/dev/nfs + + This is necessary to enable the pseudo-NFS-device. Note that it's not a + real device but just a synonym to tell the kernel to use NFS instead of + a real device. + + +nfsroot=[<server-ip>:]<root-dir>[,<nfs-options>] + + If the `nfsroot' parameter is NOT given on the command line, + the default "/tftpboot/%s" will be used. + + <server-ip> Specifies the IP address of the NFS server. + The default address is determined by the `ip' parameter + (see below). This parameter allows the use of different + servers for IP autoconfiguration and NFS. + + <root-dir> Name of the directory on the server to mount as root. + If there is a "%s" token in the string, it will be + replaced by the ASCII-representation of the client's + IP address. + + <nfs-options> Standard NFS options. All options are separated by commas. + The following defaults are used: + port = as given by server portmap daemon + rsize = 4096 + wsize = 4096 + timeo = 7 + retrans = 3 + acregmin = 3 + acregmax = 60 + acdirmin = 30 + acdirmax = 60 + flags = hard, nointr, noposix, cto, ac + + +ip=<client-ip>:<server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<device>:<autoconf> + + This parameter tells the kernel how to configure IP addresses of devices + and also how to set up the IP routing table. It was originally called + `nfsaddrs', but now the boot-time IP configuration works independently of + NFS, so it was renamed to `ip' and the old name remained as an alias for + compatibility reasons. + + If this parameter is missing from the kernel command line, all fields are + assumed to be empty, and the defaults mentioned below apply. In general + this means that the kernel tries to configure everything using + autoconfiguration. + + The <autoconf> parameter can appear alone as the value to the `ip' + parameter (without all the ':' characters before). If the value is + "ip=off" or "ip=none", no autoconfiguration will take place, otherwise + autoconfiguration will take place. The most common way to use this + is "ip=dhcp". + + <client-ip> IP address of the client. + + Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. + + <server-ip> IP address of the NFS server. If RARP is used to determine + the client address and this parameter is NOT empty only + replies from the specified server are accepted. + + Only required for for NFS root. That is autoconfiguration + will not be triggered if it is missing and NFS root is not + in operation. + + Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. + The address of the autoconfiguration server is used. + + <gw-ip> IP address of a gateway if the server is on a different subnet. + + Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. + + <netmask> Netmask for local network interface. If unspecified + the netmask is derived from the client IP address assuming + classful addressing. + + Default: Determined using autoconfiguration. + + <hostname> Name of the client. May be supplied by autoconfiguration, + but its absence will not trigger autoconfiguration. + + Default: Client IP address is used in ASCII notation. + + <device> Name of network device to use. + + Default: If the host only has one device, it is used. + Otherwise the device is determined using + autoconfiguration. This is done by sending + autoconfiguration requests out of all devices, + and using the device that received the first reply. + + <autoconf> Method to use for autoconfiguration. In the case of options + which specify multiple autoconfiguration protocols, + requests are sent using all protocols, and the first one + to reply is used. + + Only autoconfiguration protocols that have been compiled + into the kernel will be used, regardless of the value of + this option. + + off or none: don't use autoconfiguration + (do static IP assignment instead) + on or any: use any protocol available in the kernel + (default) + dhcp: use DHCP + bootp: use BOOTP + rarp: use RARP + both: use both BOOTP and RARP but not DHCP + (old option kept for backwards compatibility) + + Default: any + + + + +3.) Boot Loader + ---------- + +To get the kernel into memory different approaches can be used. +They depend on various facilities being available: + + +3.1) Booting from a floppy using syslinux + + When building kernels, an easy way to create a boot floppy that uses + syslinux is to use the zdisk or bzdisk make targets which use + and bzimage images respectively. Both targets accept the + FDARGS parameter which can be used to set the kernel command line. + + e.g. + make bzdisk FDARGS="root=/dev/nfs" + + Note that the user running this command will need to have + access to the floppy drive device, /dev/fd0 + + For more information on syslinux, including how to create bootdisks + for prebuilt kernels, see http://syslinux.zytor.com/ + + N.B: Previously it was possible to write a kernel directly to + a floppy using dd, configure the boot device using rdev, and + boot using the resulting floppy. Linux no longer supports this + method of booting. + +3.2) Booting from a cdrom using isolinux + + When building kernels, an easy way to create a bootable cdrom that + uses isolinux is to use the isoimage target which uses a bzimage + image. Like zdisk and bzdisk, this target accepts the FDARGS + parameter which can be used to set the kernel command line. + + e.g. + make isoimage FDARGS="root=/dev/nfs" + + The resulting iso image will be arch/<ARCH>/boot/image.iso + This can be written to a cdrom using a variety of tools including + cdrecord. + + e.g. + cdrecord dev=ATAPI:1,0,0 arch/i386/boot/image.iso + + For more information on isolinux, including how to create bootdisks + for prebuilt kernels, see http://syslinux.zytor.com/ + +3.2) Using LILO + When using LILO all the necessary command line parameters may be + specified using the 'append=' directive in the LILO configuration + file. + + However, to use the 'root=' directive you also need to create + a dummy root device, which may be removed after LILO is run. + + mknod /dev/boot255 c 0 255 + + For information on configuring LILO, please refer to its documentation. + +3.3) Using GRUB + When using GRUB, kernel parameter are simply appended after the kernel + specification: kernel <kernel> <parameters> + +3.4) Using loadlin + loadlin may be used to boot Linux from a DOS command prompt without + requiring a local hard disk to mount as root. This has not been + thoroughly tested by the authors of this document, but in general + it should be possible configure the kernel command line similarly + to the configuration of LILO. + + Please refer to the loadlin documentation for further information. + +3.5) Using a boot ROM + This is probably the most elegant way of booting a diskless client. + With a boot ROM the kernel is loaded using the TFTP protocol. The + authors of this document are not aware of any no commercial boot + ROMs that support booting Linux over the network. However, there + are two free implementations of a boot ROM, netboot-nfs and + etherboot, both of which are available on sunsite.unc.edu, and both + of which contain everything you need to boot a diskless Linux client. + +3.6) Using pxelinux + Pxelinux may be used to boot linux using the PXE boot loader + which is present on many modern network cards. + + When using pxelinux, the kernel image is specified using + "kernel <relative-path-below /tftpboot>". The nfsroot parameters + are passed to the kernel by adding them to the "append" line. + It is common to use serial console in conjunction with pxeliunx, + see Documentation/serial-console.txt for more information. + + For more information on isolinux, including how to create bootdisks + for prebuilt kernels, see http://syslinux.zytor.com/ + + + + +4.) Credits + ------- + + The nfsroot code in the kernel and the RARP support have been written + by Gero Kuhlmann <gero@gkminix.han.de>. + + The rest of the IP layer autoconfiguration code has been written + by Martin Mares <mj@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz>. + + In order to write the initial version of nfsroot I would like to thank + Jens-Uwe Mager <jum@anubis.han.de> for his help. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/rpc-cache.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/rpc-cache.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..8a382bea680 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/rpc-cache.txt @@ -0,0 +1,202 @@ + This document gives a brief introduction to the caching +mechanisms in the sunrpc layer that is used, in particular, +for NFS authentication. + +CACHES +====== +The caching replaces the old exports table and allows for +a wide variety of values to be caches. + +There are a number of caches that are similar in structure though +quite possibly very different in content and use. There is a corpus +of common code for managing these caches. + +Examples of caches that are likely to be needed are: + - mapping from IP address to client name + - mapping from client name and filesystem to export options + - mapping from UID to list of GIDs, to work around NFS's limitation + of 16 gids. + - mappings between local UID/GID and remote UID/GID for sites that + do not have uniform uid assignment + - mapping from network identify to public key for crypto authentication. + +The common code handles such things as: + - general cache lookup with correct locking + - supporting 'NEGATIVE' as well as positive entries + - allowing an EXPIRED time on cache items, and removing + items after they expire, and are no longer in-use. + - making requests to user-space to fill in cache entries + - allowing user-space to directly set entries in the cache + - delaying RPC requests that depend on as-yet incomplete + cache entries, and replaying those requests when the cache entry + is complete. + - clean out old entries as they expire. + +Creating a Cache +---------------- + +1/ A cache needs a datum to store. This is in the form of a + structure definition that must contain a + struct cache_head + as an element, usually the first. + It will also contain a key and some content. + Each cache element is reference counted and contains + expiry and update times for use in cache management. +2/ A cache needs a "cache_detail" structure that + describes the cache. This stores the hash table, some + parameters for cache management, and some operations detailing how + to work with particular cache items. + The operations requires are: + struct cache_head *alloc(void) + This simply allocates appropriate memory and returns + a pointer to the cache_detail embedded within the + structure + void cache_put(struct kref *) + This is called when the last reference to an item is + dropped. The pointer passed is to the 'ref' field + in the cache_head. cache_put should release any + references create by 'cache_init' and, if CACHE_VALID + is set, any references created by cache_update. + It should then release the memory allocated by + 'alloc'. + int match(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) + test if the keys in the two structures match. Return + 1 if they do, 0 if they don't. + void init(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) + Set the 'key' fields in 'new' from 'orig'. This may + include taking references to shared objects. + void update(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) + Set the 'content' fileds in 'new' from 'orig'. + int cache_show(struct seq_file *m, struct cache_detail *cd, + struct cache_head *h) + Optional. Used to provide a /proc file that lists the + contents of a cache. This should show one item, + usually on just one line. + int cache_request(struct cache_detail *cd, struct cache_head *h, + char **bpp, int *blen) + Format a request to be send to user-space for an item + to be instantiated. *bpp is a buffer of size *blen. + bpp should be moved forward over the encoded message, + and *blen should be reduced to show how much free + space remains. Return 0 on success or <0 if not + enough room or other problem. + int cache_parse(struct cache_detail *cd, char *buf, int len) + A message from user space has arrived to fill out a + cache entry. It is in 'buf' of length 'len'. + cache_parse should parse this, find the item in the + cache with sunrpc_cache_lookup, and update the item + with sunrpc_cache_update. + + +3/ A cache needs to be registered using cache_register(). This + includes it on a list of caches that will be regularly + cleaned to discard old data. + +Using a cache +------------- + +To find a value in a cache, call sunrpc_cache_lookup passing a pointer +to the cache_head in a sample item with the 'key' fields filled in. +This will be passed to ->match to identify the target entry. If no +entry is found, a new entry will be create, added to the cache, and +marked as not containing valid data. + +The item returned is typically passed to cache_check which will check +if the data is valid, and may initiate an up-call to get fresh data. +cache_check will return -ENOENT in the entry is negative or if an up +call is needed but not possible, -EAGAIN if an upcall is pending, +or 0 if the data is valid; + +cache_check can be passed a "struct cache_req *". This structure is +typically embedded in the actual request and can be used to create a +deferred copy of the request (struct cache_deferred_req). This is +done when the found cache item is not uptodate, but the is reason to +believe that userspace might provide information soon. When the cache +item does become valid, the deferred copy of the request will be +revisited (->revisit). It is expected that this method will +reschedule the request for processing. + +The value returned by sunrpc_cache_lookup can also be passed to +sunrpc_cache_update to set the content for the item. A second item is +passed which should hold the content. If the item found by _lookup +has valid data, then it is discarded and a new item is created. This +saves any user of an item from worrying about content changing while +it is being inspected. If the item found by _lookup does not contain +valid data, then the content is copied across and CACHE_VALID is set. + +Populating a cache +------------------ + +Each cache has a name, and when the cache is registered, a directory +with that name is created in /proc/net/rpc + +This directory contains a file called 'channel' which is a channel +for communicating between kernel and user for populating the cache. +This directory may later contain other files of interacting +with the cache. + +The 'channel' works a bit like a datagram socket. Each 'write' is +passed as a whole to the cache for parsing and interpretation. +Each cache can treat the write requests differently, but it is +expected that a message written will contain: + - a key + - an expiry time + - a content. +with the intention that an item in the cache with the give key +should be create or updated to have the given content, and the +expiry time should be set on that item. + +Reading from a channel is a bit more interesting. When a cache +lookup fails, or when it succeeds but finds an entry that may soon +expire, a request is lodged for that cache item to be updated by +user-space. These requests appear in the channel file. + +Successive reads will return successive requests. +If there are no more requests to return, read will return EOF, but a +select or poll for read will block waiting for another request to be +added. + +Thus a user-space helper is likely to: + open the channel. + select for readable + read a request + write a response + loop. + +If it dies and needs to be restarted, any requests that have not been +answered will still appear in the file and will be read by the new +instance of the helper. + +Each cache should define a "cache_parse" method which takes a message +written from user-space and processes it. It should return an error +(which propagates back to the write syscall) or 0. + +Each cache should also define a "cache_request" method which +takes a cache item and encodes a request into the buffer +provided. + +Note: If a cache has no active readers on the channel, and has had not +active readers for more than 60 seconds, further requests will not be +added to the channel but instead all lookups that do not find a valid +entry will fail. This is partly for backward compatibility: The +previous nfs exports table was deemed to be authoritative and a +failed lookup meant a definite 'no'. + +request/response format +----------------------- + +While each cache is free to use it's own format for requests +and responses over channel, the following is recommended as +appropriate and support routines are available to help: +Each request or response record should be printable ASCII +with precisely one newline character which should be at the end. +Fields within the record should be separated by spaces, normally one. +If spaces, newlines, or nul characters are needed in a field they +much be quoted. two mechanisms are available: +1/ If a field begins '\x' then it must contain an even number of + hex digits, and pairs of these digits provide the bytes in the + field. +2/ otherwise a \ in the field must be followed by 3 octal digits + which give the code for a byte. Other characters are treated + as them selves. At the very least, space, newline, nul, and + '\' must be quoted in this way. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/seq_file.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/seq_file.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..cc6cdb95b73 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/seq_file.txt @@ -0,0 +1,283 @@ +The seq_file interface + + Copyright 2003 Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> + This file is originally from the LWN.net Driver Porting series at + http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/ + + +There are numerous ways for a device driver (or other kernel component) to +provide information to the user or system administrator. One useful +technique is the creation of virtual files, in debugfs, /proc or elsewhere. +Virtual files can provide human-readable output that is easy to get at +without any special utility programs; they can also make life easier for +script writers. It is not surprising that the use of virtual files has +grown over the years. + +Creating those files correctly has always been a bit of a challenge, +however. It is not that hard to make a virtual file which returns a +string. But life gets trickier if the output is long - anything greater +than an application is likely to read in a single operation. Handling +multiple reads (and seeks) requires careful attention to the reader's +position within the virtual file - that position is, likely as not, in the +middle of a line of output. The kernel has traditionally had a number of +implementations that got this wrong. + +The 2.6 kernel contains a set of functions (implemented by Alexander Viro) +which are designed to make it easy for virtual file creators to get it +right. + +The seq_file interface is available via <linux/seq_file.h>. There are +three aspects to seq_file: + + * An iterator interface which lets a virtual file implementation + step through the objects it is presenting. + + * Some utility functions for formatting objects for output without + needing to worry about things like output buffers. + + * A set of canned file_operations which implement most operations on + the virtual file. + +We'll look at the seq_file interface via an extremely simple example: a +loadable module which creates a file called /proc/sequence. The file, when +read, simply produces a set of increasing integer values, one per line. The +sequence will continue until the user loses patience and finds something +better to do. The file is seekable, in that one can do something like the +following: + + dd if=/proc/sequence of=out1 count=1 + dd if=/proc/sequence skip=1 out=out2 count=1 + +Then concatenate the output files out1 and out2 and get the right +result. Yes, it is a thoroughly useless module, but the point is to show +how the mechanism works without getting lost in other details. (Those +wanting to see the full source for this module can find it at +http://lwn.net/Articles/22359/). + + +The iterator interface + +Modules implementing a virtual file with seq_file must implement a simple +iterator object that allows stepping through the data of interest. +Iterators must be able to move to a specific position - like the file they +implement - but the interpretation of that position is up to the iterator +itself. A seq_file implementation that is formatting firewall rules, for +example, could interpret position N as the Nth rule in the chain. +Positioning can thus be done in whatever way makes the most sense for the +generator of the data, which need not be aware of how a position translates +to an offset in the virtual file. The one obvious exception is that a +position of zero should indicate the beginning of the file. + +The /proc/sequence iterator just uses the count of the next number it +will output as its position. + +Four functions must be implemented to make the iterator work. The first, +called start() takes a position as an argument and returns an iterator +which will start reading at that position. For our simple sequence example, +the start() function looks like: + + static void *ct_seq_start(struct seq_file *s, loff_t *pos) + { + loff_t *spos = kmalloc(sizeof(loff_t), GFP_KERNEL); + if (! spos) + return NULL; + *spos = *pos; + return spos; + } + +The entire data structure for this iterator is a single loff_t value +holding the current position. There is no upper bound for the sequence +iterator, but that will not be the case for most other seq_file +implementations; in most cases the start() function should check for a +"past end of file" condition and return NULL if need be. + +For more complicated applications, the private field of the seq_file +structure can be used. There is also a special value whch can be returned +by the start() function called SEQ_START_TOKEN; it can be used if you wish +to instruct your show() function (described below) to print a header at the +top of the output. SEQ_START_TOKEN should only be used if the offset is +zero, however. + +The next function to implement is called, amazingly, next(); its job is to +move the iterator forward to the next position in the sequence. The +example module can simply increment the position by one; more useful +modules will do what is needed to step through some data structure. The +next() function returns a new iterator, or NULL if the sequence is +complete. Here's the example version: + + static void *ct_seq_next(struct seq_file *s, void *v, loff_t *pos) + { + loff_t *spos = v; + *pos = ++*spos; + return spos; + } + +The stop() function is called when iteration is complete; its job, of +course, is to clean up. If dynamic memory is allocated for the iterator, +stop() is the place to free it. + + static void ct_seq_stop(struct seq_file *s, void *v) + { + kfree(v); + } + +Finally, the show() function should format the object currently pointed to +by the iterator for output. It should return zero, or an error code if +something goes wrong. The example module's show() function is: + + static int ct_seq_show(struct seq_file *s, void *v) + { + loff_t *spos = v; + seq_printf(s, "%lld\n", (long long)*spos); + return 0; + } + +We will look at seq_printf() in a moment. But first, the definition of the +seq_file iterator is finished by creating a seq_operations structure with +the four functions we have just defined: + + static const struct seq_operations ct_seq_ops = { + .start = ct_seq_start, + .next = ct_seq_next, + .stop = ct_seq_stop, + .show = ct_seq_show + }; + +This structure will be needed to tie our iterator to the /proc file in +a little bit. + +It's worth noting that the interator value returned by start() and +manipulated by the other functions is considered to be completely opaque by +the seq_file code. It can thus be anything that is useful in stepping +through the data to be output. Counters can be useful, but it could also be +a direct pointer into an array or linked list. Anything goes, as long as +the programmer is aware that things can happen between calls to the +iterator function. However, the seq_file code (by design) will not sleep +between the calls to start() and stop(), so holding a lock during that time +is a reasonable thing to do. The seq_file code will also avoid taking any +other locks while the iterator is active. + + +Formatted output + +The seq_file code manages positioning within the output created by the +iterator and getting it into the user's buffer. But, for that to work, that +output must be passed to the seq_file code. Some utility functions have +been defined which make this task easy. + +Most code will simply use seq_printf(), which works pretty much like +printk(), but which requires the seq_file pointer as an argument. It is +common to ignore the return value from seq_printf(), but a function +producing complicated output may want to check that value and quit if +something non-zero is returned; an error return means that the seq_file +buffer has been filled and further output will be discarded. + +For straight character output, the following functions may be used: + + int seq_putc(struct seq_file *m, char c); + int seq_puts(struct seq_file *m, const char *s); + int seq_escape(struct seq_file *m, const char *s, const char *esc); + +The first two output a single character and a string, just like one would +expect. seq_escape() is like seq_puts(), except that any character in s +which is in the string esc will be represented in octal form in the output. + +There is also a function for printing filenames: + + int seq_path(struct seq_file *m, struct path *path, char *esc); + +Here, path indicates the file of interest, and esc is a set of characters +which should be escaped in the output. + + +Making it all work + +So far, we have a nice set of functions which can produce output within the +seq_file system, but we have not yet turned them into a file that a user +can see. Creating a file within the kernel requires, of course, the +creation of a set of file_operations which implement the operations on that +file. The seq_file interface provides a set of canned operations which do +most of the work. The virtual file author still must implement the open() +method, however, to hook everything up. The open function is often a single +line, as in the example module: + + static int ct_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file) + { + return seq_open(file, &ct_seq_ops); + } + +Here, the call to seq_open() takes the seq_operations structure we created +before, and gets set up to iterate through the virtual file. + +On a successful open, seq_open() stores the struct seq_file pointer in +file->private_data. If you have an application where the same iterator can +be used for more than one file, you can store an arbitrary pointer in the +private field of the seq_file structure; that value can then be retrieved +by the iterator functions. + +The other operations of interest - read(), llseek(), and release() - are +all implemented by the seq_file code itself. So a virtual file's +file_operations structure will look like: + + static const struct file_operations ct_file_ops = { + .owner = THIS_MODULE, + .open = ct_open, + .read = seq_read, + .llseek = seq_lseek, + .release = seq_release + }; + +There is also a seq_release_private() which passes the contents of the +seq_file private field to kfree() before releasing the structure. + +The final step is the creation of the /proc file itself. In the example +code, that is done in the initialization code in the usual way: + + static int ct_init(void) + { + struct proc_dir_entry *entry; + + entry = create_proc_entry("sequence", 0, NULL); + if (entry) + entry->proc_fops = &ct_file_ops; + return 0; + } + + module_init(ct_init); + +And that is pretty much it. + + +seq_list + +If your file will be iterating through a linked list, you may find these +routines useful: + + struct list_head *seq_list_start(struct list_head *head, + loff_t pos); + struct list_head *seq_list_start_head(struct list_head *head, + loff_t pos); + struct list_head *seq_list_next(void *v, struct list_head *head, + loff_t *ppos); + +These helpers will interpret pos as a position within the list and iterate +accordingly. Your start() and next() functions need only invoke the +seq_list_* helpers with a pointer to the appropriate list_head structure. + + +The extra-simple version + +For extremely simple virtual files, there is an even easier interface. A +module can define only the show() function, which should create all the +output that the virtual file will contain. The file's open() method then +calls: + + int single_open(struct file *file, + int (*show)(struct seq_file *m, void *p), + void *data); + +When output time comes, the show() function will be called once. The data +value given to single_open() can be found in the private field of the +seq_file structure. When using single_open(), the programmer should use +single_release() instead of seq_release() in the file_operations structure +to avoid a memory leak. |