fusd/doc/fusd.tex

%
%
% FUSD - Framework for User-Space Devices
% Programming Manual & Tutorial
%
% Jeremy Elson, (c) 2001 Sensoria Corporation, 2003 UCLA
% Released under open-source, BSD license
% See LICENSE file for full license
%

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\title{FUSD:
A Linux {\bf F}ramework for {\bf U}ser-{\bf S}pace {\bf D}evices}

\author{Jeremy Elson\\
jelson@circlemud.org\\
http://www.circlemud.org/\tilde{}jelson/software/fusd}
\date{19 August 2003, Documentation for FUSD 1.10}

\begin{document}

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\begin{center}
\begin{latexonly}\vspace*{2in}\end{latexonly}
{\Huge FUSD:} \\
\vspace{2\baselineskip}
{\huge A Linux {\bf F}ramework for {\bf U}ser-{\bf S}pace {\bf D}evices}

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\vfill

{\large Jeremy Elson \\
\begin{latexonly}\vspace{.5\baselineskip}\end{latexonly}}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
{\tt jelson@circlemud.org\\
http://www.circlemud.org/jelson/software/fusd}

\vspace{2\baselineskip}
19 August 2003\\
Documentation for FUSD 1.10\\

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\section{Introduction}

\subsection{What is FUSD?}

FUSD (pronounced {\em fused}) is a Linux framework for proxying device
file callbacks into user-space, allowing device files to be
implemented by daemons instead of kernel code.  Despite being
implemented in user-space, FUSD devices can look and act just like any
other file under /dev which is implemented by kernel callbacks.

A user-space device driver can do many of the things that kernel
drivers can't, such as perform a long-running computation, block while
waiting for an event, or read files from the file system.  Unlike
kernel drivers, a user-space device driver can {\em use other device
drivers}---that is, access the network, talk to a serial port, get
interactive input from the user, pop up GUI windows, or read from
disks.  User-space drivers implemented using FUSD can be much easier
to debug; it is impossible for them to crash the machine, are easily
traceable using tools such as {\tt gdb}, and can be killed and
restarted without rebooting even if they become corrupted.  FUSD
drivers don't have to be in C---Perl, Python, or any other language
that knows how to read from and write to a file descriptor can work
with FUSD.  User-space drivers can be swapped out, whereas kernel
drivers lock physical memory.

Of course, as with almost everything, there are trade-offs.
User-space drivers are slower than kernel drivers because they require
three times as many system calls, and additional memory copies (see
section~\ref{performance}).  User-space drivers can not receive
interrupts, and do not have the full power to modify arbitrary kernel
data structures as kernel drivers do.  Despite these limitations, we
have found user-space device drivers to be a powerful programming
paradigm with a wide variety of uses (see Section~\ref{use-cases}).

FUSD is free software, distributed under a GPL-compatible license (the
``new'' BSD license, with the advertising clause removed).

\subsection{How does FUSD work?}

FUSD drivers are conceptually similar to kernel drivers: a set of
callback functions called in response to system calls made on file
descriptors by user programs.  FUSD's C library provides a device
registration function, similar to the kernel's {\tt
devfs\_register\_chrdev()} function, to create new devices.  {\tt
fusd\_register()} accepts the device name and a structure full of
pointers.  Those pointers are callback functions which are called in
response to certain user system calls---for example, when a process
tries to open, close, read from, or write to the device file.  The
callback functions should conform to the standard definitions of POSIX
system call behavior.  In many ways, the user-space FUSD callback
functions are identical to their kernel counterparts.

Perhaps the best way to show what FUSD does is by example.
Program~\ref{helloworld.c} is a simple FUSD device driver.  When the
program is run, a device called {\tt /dev/hello-world} appears under
the {\tt /dev} directory.  If that device is read (e.g., using {\tt
cat}), the read returns {\tt Hello, world!} followed by an EOF.
Finally, when the driver is stopped (e.g., by hitting Control-C), the
device file disappears.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{helloworld.c.example}
\caption{helloworld.c: A simple program using FUSD to
	create {\tt /dev/hello-world}}
\label{helloworld.c}
\end{Program}

On line 40 of the source, we use {\tt fusd\_register()} to create the
{\tt /dev/hello-world} device, passing pointers to callbacks for the
open(), close() and read() system calls.  (Lines 36--39 use the GNU C
extension that allows initializer field naming; the 2.4 series of
Linux kernels use also that extension for the same purpose.)  The
``Hello, World'' read() callback itself is virtually identical to what
a kernel driver for this device would look like.  It can inspect and
modify the user's file pointer, copy data into the user-provided
buffer, control the system call return value (either positive, EOF, or
error), and so forth.

The proxying of kernel system calls that makes this kind of program
possible is implemented by FUSD, using a combination of a kernel
module and cooperating user-space library.  The kernel module
implements a character device, {\tt /dev/fusd}, which is used as a
control channel between the two.  fusd\_register() uses this channel
to send a message to the FUSD kernel module, telling the name of the
device the user wants to register.  The kernel module, in turn,
registers that device with the kernel proper using devfs.  devfs and
the kernel don't know anything unusual is happening; it appears from
their point of view that the registered devices are simply being
implemented by the FUSD module.

Later, when kernel makes a callback due to a system call (e.g.\ when
the character device file is opened or read), the FUSD kernel module's
callback blocks the calling process, marshals the arguments of the
callback into a message and sends it to user-space.  Once there, the
library half of FUSD unmarshals it and calls whatever user-space
callback the FUSD driver passed to fusd\_register().  When that
user-space callback returns a value, the process happens in reverse:
the return value and its side-effects are marshaled by the library
and sent to the kernel.  The FUSD kernel module unmarshals this
message, matches it up with a corresponding outstanding request, and
completes the system call.  The calling process is completely unaware
of this trickery; it simply enters the kernel once, blocks, unblocks,
and returns from the system call---just as it would for any other
blocking call.

One of the primary design goals of FUSD is {\em stability}.  It should
not be possible for a FUSD driver to corrupt or crash the kernel,
either due to error or malice.  Of course, a buggy driver itself may
corrupt itself (e.g., due to a buffer overrun).  However, strict error
checking is implemented at the user-kernel boundary which should
prevent drivers from corrupting the kernel or any other user-space
process---including the errant driver's own clients, and other FUSD
drivers.


\subsection{What FUSD {\em Isn't}}

FUSD looks similar to certain other Linux facilities that are already
available.  It also skirts near a few of the kernel's hot-button
political issues.  So, to avoid confusion, we present a list of
things that FUSD is {\em not}.

\begin{itemize}

\item {\bf A FUSD driver is not a kernel module.}  Kernel modules
allow---well, modularity of kernel code.  They let you insert and
remove kernel modules dynamically after the kernel boots.  However,
once inserted, the kernel modules are actually part of the kernel
proper.  They run in the kernel's address space, with all the same
privileges and restrictions that native kernel code does.  A FUSD
device driver, in contrast, is more similar to a daemon---a program
that runs as a user-space process, with a process ID.

\item {\bf FUSD is not, and doesn't replace, devfs.}  When a FUSD
driver registers a FUSD device, it automatically creates a device file
in {\tt /dev}.  However, FUSD is not a replacement for devfs---quite
the contrary, FUSD creates those device files by {\em using} devfs.
In a normal Linux system, only kernel modules proper---not user-space
programs---can register with devfs (see above).

\item {\bf FUSD is not UDI.}  UDI, the \htmladdnormallinkfoot{Uniform
Driver Interface}{http://www.projectudi.org}, aims to create a binary
API for drivers that is uniform across operating systems.  It's true
that FUSD could conceivably be used for a similar purpose (inasmuch as
it defines a system call messaging structure).  However, this was not
the goal of FUSD as much as an accidental side effect.  We do not
advocate publishing drivers in binary-only form, even though FUSD does
make this possible in some cases.

\item {\bf FUSD is not an attempt to turn Linux into a microkernel.}
We aren't trying to port existing drivers into user-space for a
variety of reasons (not the least of which is performance).  We've
used FUSD as a tool to write new drivers that are much easier from
user-space than they would be in the kernel; see
Section~\ref{use-cases} for use cases.


\end{itemize}


\subsection{Related Work}

FUSD is a new implementation, but certainly not a new idea---the
theory of its operation is the same as any microkernel operating
system.  A microkernel (roughly speaking) is one that implements only
very basic resource protection and message passing in the kernel.
Implementation of device drivers, file systems, network stacks, and so
forth are relegated to userspace.  Patrick Bridges maintains a list of
such \htmladdnormallinkfoot{microkernel operating systems}{http://www.cs.arizona.edu/people/bridges/os/microkernel.html}.

Also related is the idea of a user-space filesystem, which has been
implemented in a number of contexts.  Some examples include Klaus
Schauser's \htmladdnormallinkfoot{UFO
Project}{http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/projects/ufo/index.html} for Solaris,
and Jeremy Fitzhardinge's (no longer maintained)
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{UserFS}{http://www.goop.org/~jeremy/userfs/}
for Linux 1.x.  The \htmladdnormallinkfoot{UFO
paper}{http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/projects/ufo/97-usenix-ufo.ps} is also
notable because it has a good survey of similar projects that
integrate user-space code with system calls.

\subsection{Limitations and Future Work}

In its current form, FUSD is useful and has proven to be quite
stable---we use it in production systems.  However, it does have some
limitations that could benefit from the attention of developers.
Contributions to correct any of these deficiencies are welcomed!
(Many of these limitations will not make sense without having read the
rest of the documentation first.)


\begin{itemize}
\item Currently, FUSD only supports implementation of character
devices.  Block devices and network devices are not supported yet.

\item The kernel has 15 different callbacks in its {\tt
file\_operations} structure.  The current version of FUSD does not
proxy some of the more obscure ones out to userspace.

\item Currently, all system calls that FUSD understands are proxied
from the FUSD kernel module to userspace.  Only the userspace library
knows which callbacks have actually been registered by the FUSD
driver.  For example, the kernel may proxy a write() system call to
user-space even if the driver has not registered a write() callback
with fusd\_register().

fusd\_register() should, but currently does not, tell the kernel
module which callbacks it wants to receive, per-device.  This will be
more efficient because it will prevent useless system calls for
unsupported operations.  In addition, it will lead to more logical and
consistent behavior by allowing the kernel to use its default
implementations of certain functions such as writev(), instead of
being fooled into thinking the driver has an implementation of it in
cases where it doesn't.

\item It should be possible to write a FUSD library in any language
that supports reads and writes on raw file descriptors.  In the
future, it might be possible to write FUSD device drivers in a variety
of languages---Perl, Python, maybe even Java.  However, the current
implementation has only a C library.

\item It's possible for drivers that use FUSD to deadlock---for
example, if a driver tries to open itself.  In this one case, FUSD
returns {\tt -EDEADLOCK}.  However, deadlock protection should be
expanded to more general detection of cycles of arbitrary length.

\item FUSD should provide a /proc interface that gives debugging and
status information, and allows parameter tuning.

\item FUSD was written with efficiency in mind, but a number of
important optimizations have not yet been implemented.  Specifically,
we'd like to try to reduce the number of memory copies by using a
buffer shared between user and kernel space to pass messages.

\item FUSD currently requires devfs, which is used to dynamically
create device files under {\tt /dev} when a FUSD driver registers
itself.   This is, perhaps, the most convenient and useful paradigm
for FUSD.  However, some users have asked if it's possible to use FUSD
without devfs.  This should be possible if FUSD drivers bind to device
major numbers instead of device file names.

\end{itemize}




\subsection{Author Contact Information and Acknowledgments}

The original version of FUSD was written by Jeremy Elson
\htmladdnormallink{(jelson@circlemud.org)}{mailto:jelson@circlemud.org}
and Lewis Girod at Sensoria Corporation.
Sensoria no longer maintains public releases of FUSD, but the same
authors have since forked the last public release and continue to
maintain FUSD from the University of California, Los Angeles.

If you have bug reports, patches, suggestions, or any other comments,
please feel free to contact the authors.

FUSD has two
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{SourceForge}{http://www.sourceforge.net}-host
mailing lists: a low-traffic list for announcements ({\tt fusd-announce})
and a list for general discussion ({\tt fusd-devel}).  Subscription
information for both lists is available at the
\htmladdnormallink{SourceForge's FUSD mailing list
page}{http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=36326}.

For the latest releases and information about FUSD, please see the
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{official FUSD home
page}{http://www.circlemud.org/jelson/software/fusd}.



\subsection{Licensing Information}

FUSD is free software, distributed under a GPL-compatible license (the
``new'' BSD license, with the advertising clause removed).  The
license is enumerated in its entirety below.

Copyright (c) 2001, Sensoria Corporation; (c) 2003 University of
California, Los Angeles.  All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:
\begin{itemize}
\item Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

\item Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
distribution.

\item Neither the names of Sensoria Corporation or UCLA, nor the
names of other contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
\end{itemize}

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR CONTRIBUTORS
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE
OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN
IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

\section{Why use FUSD?}
\label{use-cases}

One basic question about FUSD that one might ask is: what is it good
for?  Why use it?  In this section, we describe some of the situations
in which FUSD has been the solution for us.

\subsection{Device Driver Layering}

A problem that comes up frequently in modern operating systems is
contention for a single resource by multiple competing processes.  In
UNIX, it's the job of a device driver to coordinate access to such
resources.  By accepting requests from user processes and (for
example) queuing and serializing them, it becomes safe for processes
that know nothing about each other to make requests in parallel to the
same resource.  Of course, kernel drivers do this job already, but
they typically operate on top of hardware directly.  However, kernel
drivers can't easily be layered on top of {\em other device drivers}.

For example, consider a device such as a modem that is connected to a
host via a serial port.  Let's say we want to implement a device
driver that allows multiple users to dial the telephone (e.g., {\tt
echo 1-310-555-1212 > /dev/phone-dialer}).  Such a driver should be
layered {\em on top of} the serial port driver---that is, it most
likely wants to write to {\tt /dev/ttyS0}, not directly to the UART
hardware itself.

While it is possible to write to a logical file from within a kernel
device driver, it is both tricky and considered bad practice.  In the
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{words of kernel hacker Dick Johnson}
{http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0005.3/0061.html},
``You should never write a [kernel] module that requires reading or
writing to any logical device. The kernel is the thing that translates
physical I/O to logical I/O. Attempting to perform logical I/O in the
kernel is effectively going backwards.''

With FUSD, it's possible to layer device drivers because the driver is
a user-space process, not a kernel module.  A FUSD implementation of
our hypothetical {\tt /dev/phone-dialer} can open {\tt /dev/ttyS0}
just as any other process would.

Typically, such layering is accomplished by system daemons.  For
example, the {\tt lpd} daemon manages printers at a high level.  Since
it is a user-space process, it can access the physical printer devices
using kernel device drivers (for example, using printer or network
drivers).  There a number of advantages to using FUSD instead:
\begin{itemize}
\item Using FUSD, a daemon/driver can create a standard device file
which is accessible by any program that knows how to use the POSIX
system call interface.  Some trickery is possible using named
pipes and FIFOs, but quickly becomes difficult because of multiplexed
writes from multiple processes.
\item FUSD drivers receive the UID, GID, and process ID along with
every file operation, allowing the same sorts of security policies to
be implemented as would be possible with a real kernel driver.  In
contrast, writes to a named pipe, UDP, and so forth are ``anonymous.''
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Use of User-Space Libraries}

Since a FUSD driver is just a regular user-space program, it can
naturally use any of the enormous body of existing libraries that
exist for almost any task.  FUSD drivers can easily incorporate user
interfaces, encryption, network protocols, threads, and almost
anything else.  In contrast, porting arbitrary C code into the kernel
is difficult and usually a bad idea.

\subsection{Driver Memory Protection}

Since FUSD drivers run in their own process space, the rest of the
system is protected from them.  A buggy or malicious FUSD driver, at
the very worst, can only corrupt itself.  It's not possible for it to
corrupt the kernel, other FUSD drivers, or even the processes that are
using its devices.  In contrast, a buggy kernel module can bring down
any process in the system, or the entire kernel itself.

\subsection{Giving libraries language independence and standard
notification interfaces}

One particularly interesting application of FUSD that we've found very
useful is as a way to let regular user-space libraries export device
file APIs.  For example, imagine you had a library which factored
large composite numbers.  Typically, it might have a C
interface---say, a function called {\tt int\ *factorize(int\ bignum)}.
With FUSD, it's possible to create a device file interface---say, a
device called {\tt /dev/factorize} to which clients can {\tt write(2)}
a big number, then {\tt read(2)} back its factors.

This may sound strange, but device file APIs have at least three
advantages over a typical library API.  First, it becomes much more
language independent---any language that can make system calls can
access the factorization library.  Second, the factorization code is
running in a different address space; if it crashes, it won't crash or
corrupt the caller.  Third, and most interestingly, it is possible to
use {\tt select(2)} to wait for the factorization to complete.  {\tt
select(2)} would make it easy for a client to factor a large number
while remaining responsive to {\em other} events that might happen in
the meantime.  In other words, FUSD allows normal user-space libraries
to integrate seamlessly with UNIX's existing, POSIX-standard event
notification interface: {\tt select(2)}.

\subsection{Development and Debugging Convenience}

FUSD processes can be developed and debugged with all the normal
user-space tools.  Buggy drivers won't crash the system, but instead
dump cores that can be analyzed.  All of your favorite visual
debuggers, memory bounds checkers, leak detectors, profilers, and
other tools can be applied to FUSD drivers as they would to any other
program.

\section{Installing FUSD}

This section describes the installation procedure for FUSD.  It
assumes a good working knowledge of Linux system administration.


\subsection{Prerequisites}

Before installing FUSD, make sure you have all of the following
packages installed and working correctly:

\begin{itemize}
\item {\bf Linux kernel 2.4.0 or later}.  FUSD was developed under
2.4.0 and should work with any kernel in the 2.4 series.

\item {\bf devfs installed and running.}  FUSD dynamically registers
devices using devfs, the Linux device filesystem by Richard Gooch.
For FUSD to work, devfs must be installed and running on your system.
For more information about devfs installation, see the
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{devfs home
page}{http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/devfs.html}.

Note that some distributions make installation devfs easier.  RedHat
7.1, for example, already has all of the necessary daemons and
configuration changes integrated.  devfs can be installed simply by
recompiling the kernel with devfs support enabled and reconfiguring
LILO to pass {\tt "devfs=mount"} to the kernel.
\end{itemize}


\subsection{Compiling FUSD as a Kernel Module}

Before compiling anything, take a look at the Makefile in FUSD's home
directory.  Adjust any constants that are not correct.  In particular,
make sure {\tt KERNEL\_HOME} correctly reflects the place where your
kernel sources are installed, if they aren't in the default location
of {\tt /usr/src/linux}.

Then, type {\tt make}.  It should generate a directory whose name
looks something like {\tt obj.i686-linux}, or some variation depending
on your architecture.  Inside of that directory will be a number of
files, including:
\begin{itemize}
\item kfusd.o -- The FUSD kernel module
\item libfusd.a -- The C library used to talk to the kernel module
\item Example programs -- linked against libfusd.a
\end{itemize}

Compilation of the kernel module will fail if the dependencies
described in the previous section are not satisfied.  The module must
be compiled again Linux kernel must be v2.4.0 or later, and the kernel
must have devfs support enabled.


\subsection{Testing and Troubleshooting}

Once everything has been compiled, give it a try to see if it actually
does something.  First, use {\tt insmod} to insert the FUSD kernel
module, e.g. {\tt insmod obj.i686-linux/kfusd.o}.  A greeting message
similar to ``{\tt fusd: starting, Revision: 1.50}'' should appear in
the kernel log (accessed using the {\tt dmesg} command, or by typing
{\tt cat /proc/kmsg}).  You can verify the module has been inserted by
typing {\tt lsmod}, or alternatively {\tt cat /proc/modules}.

Once the module has been inserted successfully, trying running the
{\tt helloworld} example program.  When run, the program should print
a greeting message similar to {\tt /dev/hello-world should now exist -
calling fusd\_run}.  This means everything is working; the daemon is
now blocked, waiting for requests to the new device.  From another
shell, type {\tt cat /dev/hello-world}.  You should see {\tt Hello,
world!} printed in response.  Try killing the test program; the
corresponding device file should disappear.

If nothing seems to be working, try looking at the kernel message log
(type {\tt dmesg} or {\tt cat /proc/kmsg}) to see if there are any
errors.  If nothing seems obviously wrong, try turning on FUSD kernel
module debugging by defining {\tt CONFIG\_FUSD\_DEBUG} in kfusd.c,
then recompiling and reinserting the module.


\subsection{Installation}

Typing {\tt make install} will copy the FUSD library, header files,
and man pages into {\tt /usr/local}.  The FUSD kernel module is {\em
not} installed automatically because of variations among different
Linux distributions in how this is accomplished.  You may want to
arrange to have the module start automatically on boot by (for
example) copying it into {\tt /lib/modules/your-kernel-version}, and
adding it to {\tt /etc/modules.conf}.


\subsection{Making FUSD Part of the Kernel Proper}

The earlier instructions, by default, create a FUSD kernel module.
If desired, it's also very easy to build FUSD right into the kernel,
instead:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Unpack the 2.4 kernel sources and copy all the files in the {\tt
include} and {\tt kfusd} directories into your kernel source tree,
under {\tt drivers/char}.  For example, if FUSD is in
your home directory, and your kernel is in {\tt /usr/src/linux}:
\begin{verbatim}
        cp ~/fusd/kfusd/* ~/fusd/include/* /usr/src/linux/drivers/char
\end{verbatim}

\item Apply the patch found in FUSD's {\tt patches} directory to your
kernel source tree.  For example:
\begin{verbatim}
        cd /usr/src/linux
        patch -p0 < ~/fusd/patches/fusd-inkernel.patch
\end{verbatim}
The FUSD in-kernel patch doesn't actually change any kernel sources
proper; it just adds FUSD to the kernel configuration menu and
Makefile.
\item Using your kernel configurator of choice (e.g. {\tt make
menuconfig}), turn on the FUSD options.  It will be under the
``Character devices'' menu.
\item Build and install the kernel as usual.
\end{enumerate}


\section{Basic Device Creation}

Enough introduction---it's time to actually create a basic device
driver using FUSD!

This following sections will illustrate various techniques using
example programs.  To save space, interesting excerpts are shown
instead of entire programs.  However, the {\tt examples} directory
of the FUSD distribution contains all the examples in their
entirety.  They can actually be compiled and run on a system with the
FUSD kernel module installed.

Where this text refers to example program line numbers, it refers to
the line numbers printed alongside the excerpts in the manual---not
the line numbers of the actual programs in the {\tt examples}
directory.


\subsection{Using {\tt fusd\_register} to create a new device}
\label{using-fusd-register}

We saw an example of a simple driver, helloworld.c, in
Program~\ref{helloworld.c} on page~\pageref{helloworld.c}.  Let's go
back and examine that program now in more detail.

The FUSD ball starts rolling when the {\tt fusd\_register} function is
called, as shown on line 40.  This function tells the FUSD kernel
module:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt char *name}---The name of the device being created.  The
prefix (such as {\tt /dev/}) must match the location where devfs has
been mounted.  Names containing slashes (e.g., {\tt
/dev/my-devices/dev1}) are legal; devfs creates subdirectories
automatically.
\item {\tt mode\_t mode}---The device's default permissions.  This is
usually specified using an octal constant with a leading 0---{\tt 0666}
(readable and writable by everyone) instead of the incorrect decimal
constant {\tt 666}.
\item {\tt void *device\_info}---Private data that should be passed to
callback functions for this device.  The use of this field is
described in Section~\ref{device-info}.
\item {\tt struct fusd\_file\_operations *fops}---A structure containing
pointers to the callback functions that should be called by FUSD
in response to certain events.
\end{itemize}

If device registration is successful, {\tt fusd\_register} returns a
{\em device handle}---a small integer $\ge0$.  On errors, it returns
-1 and sets the global variable {\tt errno} appropriately.  In
reality, the device handle you get is a plain old file descriptor,
as we'll see in Section~\ref{selecting}.

Although Program~\ref{helloworld.c} only calls {\tt fusd\_register}
once, it can be called multiple times if the FUSD driver is handling
more than one device as we'll see in Program~\ref{drums.c}.

There is intentional similarity between {\tt fusd\_register()} and the
kernel's device registration functions, such as {\tt
devfs\_register()} and {\tt register\_chrdev()}.  In many ways, FUSD's
interface is meant to mirror the kernel interface as closely as
possible.

The {\tt fusd\_file\_operations} structure, defined in {\tt fusd.h},
contains a list of callbacks that are used in response to different
system calls executed on a file.  It is similar to the kernel's {\tt
file\_operations} structure, accepting callbacks for system calls such
as {\tt open()}, {\tt close()}, {\tt read()}, {\tt write()}, and {\tt
ioctl()}.  For the most part, the prototypes of FUSD file operation
callbacks are the same as their kernel cousins, with one important
exception.  The first argument of FUSD callbacks is always a pointer
to a {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structure; it contains information that
can be used to identify the file.  This structure is used instead of
the kernel's {\tt file} and {\tt inode} structures, and will be
described in more detail later.

In lines 35--38 of Program~\ref{helloworld.c}, we create and
initialize a {\tt fusd\_file\_operations} structure.  A GCC-specific C
extension allows us to name structure fields explicitly in the
initializer.  This style may look strange, but it guards against
errors in the future in case the order of fields in the structure ever
changes.  The 2.4 kernel series uses the same trick.

After calling {\tt fusd\_register()} on line 40, the example program
calls {\tt fusd\_run()} on line 44.  This function turns control over
to the FUSD framework.  fusd\_run blocks the driver until one of the
devices it registered needs to be serviced.  Then, it calls the
appropriate callback and blocks again until the next event.

Now, imagine that a user types {\tt cat /dev/hello-world}.  What
happens?  Recall first what the {\tt cat} program itself does: opens a
file, reads from it until it receives an EOF (printing whatever it
reads to stdout), then closes it.  {\tt cat} works the same way
regardless of what it's reading---be it a a FUSD device, a regular
file, a serial port, or anything else.  The {\tt strace} program is a
great way to see this in action; see Appendix~\ref{strace} for
details.

\subsection{The {\tt open} and {\tt close} callbacks}
\label{open-close}

The first two callbacks that most drivers typically implement are {\tt
open} and {\tt close}.  Each of these two functions are passed just
one argument---the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structure that describes the
instance of the file being opened or closed.  Use of the information
in that structure will be covered in more detail in
Section~\ref{fusd-file-info}.

The semantics of an {\tt open} callback's return value are exactly the
same as inside the kernel:
\begin{itemize}
\item 0 means success, and the file is opened.  If the file is allowed
to open, the kernel returns a valid file descriptor to the client.
Using that descriptor, other callbacks may be called for that file,
including (at least) a {\tt close} callback.

\item A negative number indicates a failure, and that the file should
not be opened.  Such return values should {\em always} be the
specified as a negative {\tt errno} value such as {\tt -EPERM}, {\tt
-EBUSY}, {\tt -ENODEV}, {\tt -ENOMEM}, and so on.  For example, if the
callback returns {\tt -EPERM}, the caller's {\tt open()} will return
-1, with {\tt errno} set to {\tt EPERM}.  A complete list of possible
return values can be found in the Linux kernel sources, under {\tt
include/asm/errno.h}.
\end{itemize}

If an {\tt open} callback returns 0 (success), a driver is {\em
guaranteed} to receive exactly one {\tt close} callback for that file
later.  By the same token, the close callback {\em will not} be called
if the open fails.  Therefore, {\tt open} callbacks that can return
failure must be sure to deallocate any resources they might have
allocated before returning a failure.

Let's return to our example in Program~\ref{helloworld.c}, which
creates the {\tt /dev/hello-world} device.  If a user types {\tt cat
/dev/hello-world}, {\tt cat} will will use the {\tt open(2)} system
call to open the file.  FUSD will then proxy that system call to the
driver and activate the callback that was registered as the {\tt open}
callback.  Recall from line 36 of Program~\ref{helloworld.c} that we
registered {\tt do\_open\_or\_close}, which appears on line 8.

In {\tt helloworld.c}, the {\tt open} callback always returns 0, or
success.  However, in a real driver, something more interesting will
probably happen---permissions checks, memory allocation for
state-keeping, and so forth.  The corresponding {\em de}-allocation of
those resources should occur in the {\tt close} callback, which is
called when a user application calls {\tt close} on their file
descriptor.  {\tt close} callbacks are allowed to return error values,
but this does not prevent the file from actually closing.



\subsection{The {\tt read} callback}
\label{read-callback}

Returning to our {\tt cat /dev/hello-world} example, what happens
after the {\tt open} is successful?  Next, {\tt cat} will try to use
{\tt read(2)}, which will get proxied by FUSD to the function {\tt
do\_read} on line 13.  This function takes some additional arguments
that we didn't see in the open and close callbacks:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt struct fusd\_file\_info *file}---The first argument to all
callbacks, containing information which describes the file; see
Section~\ref{fusd-file-info}.
\item {\tt char *user\_buffer}---The buffer that the callback should use to
write data that it is returning to the user.
\item {\tt size\_t user\_length}---The maximum number of bytes
requested by the user.  The driver is allowed to return fewer bytes,
but should never write more then {\tt user\_length} bytes into {\tt
user\_buffer}.
\item {\tt loff\_t *offset}---A pointer to an integer which represents
the caller's offset into the file (i.e., the user's file pointer).
This value can be modified by the callback; any change will be
propagated back to the user's file pointer inside the kernel.
\end{itemize}

The semantics of the return value are the same as if the
callback were being written inside the kernel itself:
\begin{itemize}
\item Positive return values indicate success.  If the call is
successful, and the driver has copied data into {\tt buffer}, the
return value indicates how many bytes were copied.  This number should
never be greater than the {\tt user\_length} argument.
\item A 0 return value indicates EOF has been reached on the file.
\item As in the {\tt open} and {\tt close} callbacks, negative values
(such as -EPERM, -EPIPE, or -ENOMEM) indicate errors. Such values will
cause the user's {\tt read()} to return -1 with errno set
appropriately.
\end{itemize}

The first time a read is done on a device file, the user's file
pointer ({\tt *offset}) is 0.  In the case of this first read, a
greeting message of {\tt Hello, world!} is copied back to the user, as
seen on line 24.  The user's file pointer is then advanced.  The next
read therefore fails the comparison at line 20, falling straight
through to return 0, or EOF.

In this simple program, we also see an example of an error return on
line 22: if the user tries to do a read smaller than the length of the
greeting message, the read will fail with -EINVAL.  (In an actual
driver, it would normally not be an error for a user to provide a
smaller read buffer than the size of the available data.  The right
way for drivers to handle this situation is to return partial data,
then move {\tt *offset} forward so that the remainder is returned on
the next {\tt read()}.  We see an example of this in
Program~\ref{echo.c}.)

\subsection{The {\tt write} callback}

Program~\ref{helloworld.c} illustrated how a driver could return data
{\em to} a client using the {\tt read} callback.  As you might expect, there
is a corresponding {\tt write} callback that allows the driver to
receive data {\em from} a client.  {\tt write} takes four arguments,
similar to the {\tt read} callback:

\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt struct fusd\_file\_info *file}---The first argument to all
callbacks, containing information which describes the file; see
Section~\ref{fusd-file-info}.
\item {\tt const char *user\_buffer}---Pointer to data being written
by the client (read-only).
\item {\tt size\_t user\_length}---The number of bytes pointed to by
{\tt user\_buffer}.
\item {\tt loff\_t *offset}---A pointer to an integer which represents
the caller's offset into the file (i.e., the user's file pointer).
This value can be modified by the callback; any change will be
propagated back to the user's file pointer inside the kernel.
\end{itemize}

The semantics of {\tt write}'s return value are the same as in a
kernel callback:
\begin{itemize}
\item Positive return values indicate success and indicate how many
bytes of the user's buffer were successfully written (i.e.,
successfully processed by the driver in some way).  The return value
may be less than or equal to the {\tt user\_length} argument, but
should never be greater.
\item 0 should only be returned in response to a {\tt write} of length
0.
\item Negative values (such as -EPERM, -EPIPE, or -ENOMEM) indicate
errors.  Such values will cause the user's {\tt write()} to return -1
with errno set appropriately.
\end{itemize}

Program~\ref{echo.c}, echo.c, is an example implementation of a device
({\tt /dev/echo}) that uses both {\tt read()} and {\tt write()}
callbacks.  A client that tries to {\tt read()} from this device will
get the contents of the most recent {\tt write()}.  For example:\\
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\begin{verbatim}
% echo Hello there > /dev/echo
% cat /dev/echo
Hello there
% echo Device drivers are fun > /dev/echo
% cat /dev/echo
Device drivers are fun

\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{echo.c.example}
\caption{echo.c: Using both {\tt read} and {\tt write} callbacks}
\label{echo.c}
\end{Program}

The implementation of {\tt /dev/echo} keeps a global variable, {\tt
data}, which serves as a cache for the data most recently written to
the driver by a client program.  The driver does not assume the data
is null-terminated, so it also keeps track of the number of bytes of
data available.  (These two variables appear on lines 1--2.)

The driver's {\tt write} callback first frees any data which might
have been allocated by a previous call to write (lines 26--29).  Next,
on line 33, it attempts to allocate new memory for the new data
arriving.  If the allocation fails, {\tt -ENOMEM} is returned to the
client.  If the allocation is successful, the driver copies the data
into its local buffer and stores its length (lines 37--38).  Finally,
the driver tells the user that the entire buffer was consumed by
returning a value equal to the number of bytes the user tried to write
({\tt user\_length}).

The {\tt read} callback has some extra features that we did not see in
Program~\ref{helloworld.c}'s {\tt read()} callback.  The most
important is that it allows the driver to read the available data {\em
incrementally}, instead of requiring that the first {\tt read()}
executed by the client has enough space for all the data the driver
has available.  In other words, a client can do two 50-byte reads,
and expect the same effect as if it had done a single 100-byte read.

This is implemented using {\tt *offset}, the user's file pointer.  If
the user is trying to read past the amount of data we have available,
the driver returns EOF (lines 8--9).  Normally, this happens after the
client has finished reading data.  However, in this driver, it might
happen on a client's first read if nothing has been written to the
driver yet or if the most recent write's memory allocation failed.

If there is data to return, the driver computes the number of bytes
that should be copied back to the client---the minimum of the number
of bytes the user asked for, and the number of bytes of data that this
client hasn't seen yet (line 12).  This data is copied back to the
user's buffer (line 15), and the user's file pointer is advanced
accordingly (line 16).  Finally, on line 19, the client is told how
many bytes were copied to its buffer.


\subsection{Unregistering a device with {\tt fusd\_unregister()}}

All devices registered by a driver are unregistered automatically when
the program exits (or crashes).  However, the {\tt fusd\_unregister()}
function can be used to unregister a device without terminating the
entire driver.  {\tt fusd\_unregister} takes one argument: a device
handle (i.e., the return value from {\tt fusd\_register()}).

A device can be unregistered at any time.  Any client system calls
that are pending when a device is unregistered will return immediately
with an error.  In this case, {\tt errno} will be set to {\tt -EPIPE}.


\section{Using Information in {\tt fusd\_file\_info}}

\label{fusd-file-info}

We mentioned in the previous sections that the first argument to every
callback is a pointer to a {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structure.  This
structure contains information that can be useful to driver
implementers in deciding how to respond to a system call request.

The fields of {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structures fall into several
categories:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\em Read-only.}  The driver can inspect the value, but changing
it will have no effect.
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt pid\_t pid}: The process ID of the process making the
request
\item {\tt uid\_t uid}: The user ID of the owner of the process making
the request
\item {\tt gid\_t gid}: The group ID of the owner of the process making
the request
\end{itemize}
\item {\em Read-write.}  Any changes to the value will be propagated
back to the kernel and be written to the appropriate in-kernel
structure.
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt unsigned int flags}: A copy of the {\tt f\_flags} field in
the kernel's {\tt file} structure.  The flags are an or'd-together set
of the kernel's {\tt O\_} series of flags: {\tt O\_NONBLOCK}, {\tt
O\_APPEND}, {\tt O\_SYNC}, etc.
\item {\tt void *device\_info}: The data passed to {\tt
fusd\_register} when the device was registered; see
Section~\ref{device-info} for details
\item {\tt void *private\_data}: A generic per-file-descriptor pointer
usable by the driver for its own purposes, such as to keep state (or a
pointer to state) that should be maintained between operations on the
same instance of an open file.  It is guaranteed to be NULL when the
file is first opened.  See Section~\ref{private-data} for more
details.
\end{itemize}
\item {\em Hidden fields.}  The driver should not touch these fields
(such as {\tt fd}).  They contain state used by the FUSD library to
generate the reply sent to the kernel.
\end{itemize}

{\bf Important note:} the value of the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} pointer
itself has {\em no meaning}.  Repeated requests on the same file
descriptor {\em will not} generate callbacks with identical {\tt
fusd\_file\_info} pointer values, as would be the case with an
in-kernel driver.  In other words, if a driver needs to keep state in
between successive system calls on a user's file descriptor, it {\em
must} store that state using the {\tt private\_data} field.  The {\tt
fusd\_file\_info} pointer itself is ephemeral; the data to which it
points is persistent.

Program~\ref{uid-filter.c} shows an example of how a driver might make
use of the data in the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structure.  Much of the
driver is identical to helloworld.c.  However, instead of printing a
static greeting, this new program generates a custom message each time
the device file is read, as seen on line 25.  The message contains the
PID of the user process that requested the read ({\tt file->pid}).

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{uid-filter.c.example}
\caption{uid-filter.c: Inspecting data in {\tt fusd\_file\_info} such
as UID and PID of the calling process}
\label{uid-filter.c}
\end{Program}

In addition, Program~\ref{uid-filter.c}'s {\tt open} callback does not
return 0 (success) unconditionally as it did in
Program~\ref{helloworld.c}.  Instead, it checks (on line 7) to make
sure the UID of the process trying to read from the device ({\tt
file->uid}) matches the UID under which the driver itself is running
({\tt getuid()}).  If they don't match, -EPERM is returned.  In other
words, only the user who ran the driver is allowed to read from the
device that it creates.  If any other user---including root!---tries
to open it, a ``Permission denied'' error will be generated.


\subsection{Registration of Multiple Devices, and Passing Data to Callbacks}

\label{device-info}

Device drivers frequently expose several different ``flavors'' of a
device.  For example, a single magnetic tape drive will often have
many different device files in {\tt /dev}.  Each device file
represents a different combination of options such as
rewind/no-rewind, or compressed/uncompressed.  However, they access
the same physical tape drive.

Traditionally, the device file's {\em minor number} was used to
communicate the desired options with device drivers.  But, since devfs
dynamically (and unpredictably) generates both major and minor numbers
every time a device is registered, a different technique was
developed.  When using devfs, drivers are allowed to associate a value
(of type {\tt void *}) with each device they register.  This facility
takes the place of the minor number.

The devfs solution is also used by FUSD.  The mysterious third
argument to {\tt fusd\_register} that we mentioned in
Section~\ref{using-fusd-register} is an arbitrary piece of data that
can be passed to FUSD when a device is registered.  Later, when a
callback is activated, the contents of that argument are available in
the {\tt device\_info} member of the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structure.

Program~\ref{drums.c} shows an example of this technique, inspired by 
Alessandro Rubini's similar devfs tutorial
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{published in Linux
Magazine}{http://www.linux.it/kerneldocs/devfs/}.  It creates a number
of devices in the {\tt /dev/drums} directory, each of which is useful
for generating a different kind of ``sound''---{\tt /dev/drums/bam},
{\tt /dev/drums/boom}, and so on.  Reading from any of these devices
will return a string equal to the device's name.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{drums.c.example}
\caption{drums.c: Passing private data to {\tt fusd\_register} and
retrieving it from {\tt device\_info}}
\label{drums.c}
\end{Program}

The first thing to notice about {\tt drums.c} is that it registers
more than one FUSD device.  In the loop starting in line 31, it calls
{\tt fusd\_register()} once for every device named in {\tt
drums\_strings} on line 1.  When {\tt fusd\_run()} is called, it
automatically watches every device the driver registered, and
activates the callbacks associated with each device as needed.
Although {\tt drums.c} uses the same set of callbacks for every device
it registers (as can be seen on line 33), each device could have
different callbacks if desired.  (Not shown is the initialization of
{\tt drums\_fops}, which assigns {\tt drums\_read} to be the {\tt
read} callback.)

If {\tt drums\_read} is called for all 6 types of drums, how does it
know which device it's supposed to be servicing when it gets called?
The answer is in the third argument of {\tt fusd\_register()}, which
we were previously ignoring.  Whatever value is passed to {\tt
fusd\_register()} will be passed back to the callback in the {\tt
device\_info} field of the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} structure.  The name
of the drum sound is passed to {\tt fusd\_register} on line 33, and
later retrieved by the driver on line 12.

Although this example uses a string as its {\tt device\_info}, the
pointer can be used for anything---a mode number, a pointer to a
configuration structure, and so on.


\subsection{The difference between {\tt device\_info} and {\tt
private\_data}}

\label{private-data}

As we mentioned in Section~\ref{fusd-file-info}, the {\tt
fusd\_file\_info} structure has two seemingly similar fields, both of
which can be used by drivers to store their own data: {\tt
device\_info} and {\tt private\_data}.  However, there is an important
difference between them:

\begin{itemize}

\item {\tt private\_data} is stored {\em per file descriptor}.  If 20
processes open a FUSD device (or, one process opens a FUSD device 20
times), each of those 20 file descriptors will have their own copy of
{\tt private\_data} associated with them.  This field is therefore
useful to drivers that need to differentiate multiple requests to a
single device that might be serviced in parallel.  (Note that most
UNIX variants, including Linux, do allow multiple processes to share a
single file descriptor---specifically, if a process {\tt open}s a
file, then {\tt fork}s.  In this case, processes will also share a
single copy of {\tt private\_data}.)

The first time a FUSD driver sees {\tt private\_data} (in the {\tt
open} callback), it is guaranteed to be NULL.  Any changes to it by a
driver callback will only affect the state associated with that single
file descriptor.

\item {\tt device\_info} is kept {\em per device}.  That is, {\em all}
clients of a device share a {\em single} copy of {\tt device\_info}.
Unlike {\tt private\_data}, which is always initialized to NULL, {\tt
device\_info} is always initialized to whatever value the driver
passed to {\tt fusd\_register} as described in the previous section.
If a callback changes the copy of {\tt device\_info} in the {\tt
fusd\_file\_info} structure, this has no effect; {\tt device\_info}
can only be set at registration time, with {\tt fusd\_register}.

\end{itemize}

In short, {\tt device\_info} is used to differentiate {\em devices}.
{\tt private\_data} is used to differentiate {\em users of those
devices}.

Program~\ref{drums2.c}, drums2.c, illustrates the difference between
{\tt device\_info} and {\tt private\_data}.  Like the original
drums.c, it creates a bunch of devices in {\tt /dev/drums/}, each of
which ``plays'' a different sound.  However, it also does something
new: keeps track of how many times each device has been opened.  Every
read to any drum gives you the name of its sound as well as your
unique ``user number''.  And, instead of returning just a single line
(as drums.c did), it will keep generating more ``sound'' every time a
{\tt read()} system call arrives.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{drums2.c.example}
\caption{drums2.c: Using both {\tt device\_info} and {\tt private\_data}}
\label{drums2.c}
\end{Program}

The trick is that we want to keep users separate from each other.  For
example, user one might type:\\
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\begin{verbatim}
% more /dev/drums/bam
You are user 1 to hear a drum go 'bam'!
You are user 1 to hear a drum go 'bam'!
You are user 1 to hear a drum go 'bam'!
...

\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}

Meanwhile, another user in a different shell might type the same
command at the same time, and get different results:\\
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\begin{verbatim}
% more /dev/drums/bam
You are user 2 to hear a drum go 'bam'!
You are user 2 to hear a drum go 'bam'!
You are user 2 to hear a drum go 'bam'!
...

\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}

The idea is that no matter how long those two users go on reading
their devices, the driver always generates a message that is specific
to that user.  The two users' data are not intermingled.

To implement this, Program~\ref{drums2.c} introduces a new {\tt
drum\_info} structure (lines 1-4), which keeps track of both the
drum's name, and the number of time each drum device has been opened.
An instance of this structure, {\tt drums}, is initialized on lines
4-8.  Note that the call to {\tt fusd\_register} (line 45) now passes
a pointer to a {\tt drum\_info} structure.  (This {\tt drum\_info *}
pointer is shared by every instance of a client that opens a
particular type of drum.)

Each time a drum device is opened, its {\tt drum\_info} structure is
retrieved from {\tt device\_info} (line 15).  Then, on line 18, the
{\tt num\_users} field is incremented and the new user number is
stored in {\tt fusd\_file\_info}'s {\tt private\_data} field.  To
reiterate our earlier point: {\em {\tt device\_info} contains
information global to all users of a device, while {\tt private\_data}
has information specific to a particular user of the device.}

It's also worthwhile to note that when we increment {\tt num\_users}
on line 18, a simple {\tt num\_users++} is correct.  If this was a
driver inside the kernel, we'd have to use something like {\tt
atomic\_inc()} because a plain {\tt i++} is not atomic.  Such a
non-atomic statement will result in a race condition on SMP platforms,
if an interrupt handler also touches {\tt num\_users}, or in some
future Linux kernel that is preemptive.  Since this FUSD driver is
just a plain, single-threaded user-space application, good old {\tt
++} still works.


\section{Writing {\tt ioctl} Callbacks}

The POSIX API provides for a function called {\tt ioctl}, which allows
``out-of-band'' configuration information to be passed to a device
driver through a file descriptor.  Using FUSD, you can write a device
driver with a callback to handle {\tt ioctl} requests from clients.
For the most part, it's just like writing a callback for {\tt read} or
{\tt write}, as we've seen in previous sections.  From the client's
point of view, {\tt ioctl} traditionally takes three arguments: a file
descriptor, a command number, and a pointer to any additional data
that might be required for the command.

\subsection{Using macros to generate {\tt ioctl} command numbers}

The Linux header file {\tt /usr/include/asm/ioctl.h} defines macros
that {\em must} be used to create the {\tt ioctl} command number.
These macros take various combinations of three arguments:

\begin{itemize}

\item {\tt type}---an 8-bit integer selected to be specific to the
device driver.  {\tt type} should be chosen so as not to conflict with
other drivers that might be ``listening'' to the same file descriptor.
(Inside the kernel, for example, the TCP and IP stacks use distinct
numbers since an {\tt ioctl} sent to a socket file descriptor might be
examined by both stacks.)

\item {\tt number}---an 8-bit integer ``command number.''  Within a
driver, distinct numbers should be chosen for each different kind of
{\tt ioctl} command that the driver services.

\item {\tt data\_type}---The name of a type used to compute how many
bytes are exchanged between the client and the driver.  This argument
is, for example, the name of a structure.

\end{itemize}

The macros used to generate command numbers are:

\begin{itemize}

\item {\tt \_IO(int type, int number)} -- used for a simple ioctl that
sends nothing but the type and number, and receives back nothing but
an (integer) retval.

\item {\tt \_IOR(int type, int number, data\_type)} -- used for an
ioctl that reads data {\em from} the device driver.  The driver will
be allowed to return {\tt sizeof(data\_type)} bytes to the user.

\item {\tt \_IOW(int type, int number, data\_type)} -- similar to
\_IOR, but used to write data {\em to} the driver.

\item {\tt \_IORW(int type, int number, data\_type)} -- a combination
of {\tt \_IOR} and {\tt \_IOW}.  That is, data is both written to the
driver and then read back from the driver by the client.
\end{itemize}

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{ioctl.h.example}
\caption{ioctl.h: Using the {\tt \_IO} macros to generate {\tt ioctl}
command numbers}
\label{ioctl.h}
\end{Program}

Program~\ref{ioctl.h} is an example header file showing the use of
these macros.  In real programs, the client executing an ioctl and the
driver that services it must share the same header file.

\subsection{Example client calls and driver callbacks}

Program~\ref{ioctl-client.c} shows a client program that executes {\tt
ioctl}s using the ioctl command numbers defined in
Program~\ref{ioctl.h}.  The {\tt ioctl\_data\_t} is
application-specific; our simple test program defines it as a
structure containing two arrays of characters.  The first {\tt ioctl}
call (line 10) sends the command {\tt IOCTL\_TEST3}, which retrieves
strings {\em from} the driver.  The second {\tt ioctl} uses the
command {\tt IOCTL\_TEST4} (line 18), which sends strings {\em to} the
driver.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{ioctl-client.c.example}
\caption{ioctl-client.c: A program that makes {\tt ioctl} requests on
a file descriptor}
\label{ioctl-client.c}
\end{Program}

The portion of the FUSD driver that services these calls is shown in
Program~\ref{ioctl-server.c}.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{ioctl-server.c.example}
\caption{ioctl-server.c: A driver that handles {\tt ioctl} requests}
\label{ioctl-server.c}
\end{Program}

The ioctl example header file and test programs shown in this document
(Programs~\ref{ioctl.h}, \ref{ioctl-client.c}, and
\ref{ioctl-server.c}) are actually contained in a larger, single
example program included in the FUSD distribution called {\tt
ioctl.c}.  That source code shows other variations on calling and
servicing {\tt ioctl} commands.


\section{Integrating FUSD With Your Application Using {\tt fusd\_dispatch()}}
\label{selecting}

The example applications we've seen so far have something in common:
after initialization and device registration, they call {\tt
fusd\_run()}.  This gives up control of the program's flow, turning it
over to the FUSD library instead.  This worked fine for our simple
example programs, but doesn't work in a real program that needs to
wait for events other than FUSD callbacks.  For this reason, our
framework provides another way to activate callbacks that does not
require the driver to give up control of its {\tt main()}.

\subsection{Using {\tt fusd\_dispatch()}}

Recall from Section~\ref{using-fusd-register} that {\tt
fusd\_register} returns a {\em file descriptor} for every device that
is successfully registered.  This file descriptor can be used to
activate device callbacks ``manually,'' without passing control of the
application to {\tt fusd\_run()}.  Whenever the file descriptor
becomes readable according to {\tt select(2)}, it should be passed to
{\tt fusd\_dispatch()}, which in turn will activate callbacks in the
same way that {\tt fusd\_run()} does.  In other words, an application
can:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Save the file descriptors returned by {\tt fusd\_register()};
\item Add those FUSD file descriptors to an {\tt fd\_set} that is
passed to {\tt select}, along with any other file
descriptors that might be interesting to the application; and
\item Pass every FUSD file descriptor that {\tt select} indicates is
readable to {\tt fusd\_dispatch}.
\end{enumerate}

{\tt fusd\_dispatch()} returns 0 if at least one callback was
successfully activated.  On error, -1 is returned with {\tt errno} set
appropriately.  {\tt fusd\_dispatch()} will never block---if no
messages are available from the kernel, it will return -1 with {\tt
errno} set to {\tt EAGAIN}.

\subsection{Helper Functions for Constructing an {\tt fd\_set}}

The FUSD library provides two (optional) utility functions that can
make it easier to write applications that integrate FUSD into their
own {\tt select()} loops.  Specifically:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt void fusd\_fdset\_add(fd\_set *set, int *max)}---is meant
to help construct an {\tt fd\_set} that will be passed as the
``readable fds'' set to select.  This function adds the file
descriptors of all previously registered FUSD devices to the fd\_set
{\tt set}.  It assumes that {\tt set} has already been initialized by
the caller.  The integer {\tt max} is updated to reflect the largest
file descriptor number in the set.  {\tt max} is not changed if the
value passed to {\tt fusd\_fdset\_add} is already larger than the
largest FUSD file descriptor added to the set.

\item {\tt void fusd\_dispatch\_fdset(fd\_set *set)}---is meant to be
called on the {\tt fd\_set} that is {\em returned} by select.  It
assumes that {\tt set} contains a set file descriptors that {\tt
select()} has indicated are readable.  {\tt fusd\_dispatch\_fdset()}
calls {\tt fusd\_dispatch} on every descriptor in {\tt set} that is a
valid FUSD descriptor.  Non-FUSD descriptors in {\tt set} are
ignored.
\end{itemize}


\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{drums3.c.example}
\caption{drums3.c: Waiting for both FUSD and non-FUSD events in a
{\tt select} loop}
\label{drums3.c}
\end{Program}

The excerpt of {\tt drums3.c} shown in Program~\ref{drums3.c}
demonstrates the use of these helper functions.  This program is
similar to the earlier drums.c example: it creates a number of musical
instruments such as {\tt /dev/drums/bam} and {\tt /dev/drums/boom}.
However, in addition to servicing its musical callbacks, the driver
also prints a prompt to standard input asking how ``loud'' the drums
should be.  Instead of turning control of {\tt main()} over to {\tt
fusd\_run()} as in the previous examples, {\tt drums3} uses {\tt
select()} to simultaneously watch its FUSD file descriptors and standard
input.  It responds to input from both sources.

On lines 2--5, an {\tt fd\_set} and its associated ``max'' value are
initialized to contain stdin's file descriptor.  On line 9, we use
{\tt fusd\_fdset\_add} to add the FUSD file descriptors for all
registered devices.  (Not shown in this excerpt is the device
registration, which is the same as the registration code we saw in
{\tt drums.c}.)  On line 13 we call select, which blocks until one of
the fd's in the set is readable.  On lines 17 and 18, we check to see
if standard input is readable; if so, a function is called which reads
the user's response from standard input and prints a new prompt.
Finally, on line 21, we call {\tt fusd\_dispatch\_fdset}, which in
turn will activate the callbacks for devices that have pending system
calls waiting to be serviced.

It's worth reiterating that drivers are not required to use the FUSD
helper functions {\tt fusd\_fdset\_add} and {\tt
fusd\_dispatch\_fdset}.  If it's more convenient, a driver can
manually save all of the file descriptors returned by {\tt
fusd\_register}, construct its own {\tt fd\_set}, and then call {\tt
fusd\_dispatch} on each descriptor that is readable.  This method is
sometimes required for integration with other frameworks that want to
take over your {\tt main()}.  For example, the 
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{GTK user interface
framework}{http://www.gtk.org} is event-driven and requires that you
pass control of your {\tt main} to it.  However, it does allow you to
give it a file descriptor and a function pointer, saying ``Call this
callback when {\tt select} indicates this file descriptor has become
readable.''  A GTK application that implements FUSD devices can work
by giving GTK all the FUSD file descriptors individually, and calling
{\tt fusd\_dispatch()} when GTK calls the associated callbacks.



\section{Implementing Blocking System Calls}

All of the example drivers that we've seen until now have had an
important feature missing: they never had to {\em wait} for anything.
So far, a driver's response to a system call has always been
immediately available---allowing the driver to response immediately.
However, real devices are often not that lucky: they usually have to
wait for something to happen before completing a client's system call.
For example, a driver might be waiting for data to arrive from the
serial port or over the network, or even waiting for a user action.

In situations like this, a basic capability most device drivers must
have is the ability to {\em block} the caller.  Blocking operations
are important because they provide a simple interface to user programs
that does flow control, rather than something more expensive like
continuous polling.  For example, user programs expect to be able to
execute a statement like {\tt read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf))}, and expect
the read call to block (stop the flow of the calling program) until
data is available.  This is much simpler and more efficient than
polling repeatedly.

In the following sections, we'll describe how to block and unblock
system calls for devices that use FUSD.


\subsection{Blocking the caller by blocking the driver}

The easiest (but least useful) way to block a client's system call is
simply to block the driver, too.  For example, consider
Program~\ref{console-read.c}, which implements a device called {\tt
/dev/console-read}.  Whenever a process tries to read from this
device, the driver prints a prompt to standard input, asking for a
reply.  (The prompt appears in the shell the driver was run in, not
the shell that's trying to read from the device.)  When the user
enters a line of text, the response is returned to the client that did
the original {\tt read()}.  By blocking the driver waiting for the
reply, the client that issued the system call is blocked as well.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{console-read.c.example}
\caption{console-read.c: A simple blocking system call}
\label{console-read.c}
\end{Program}

Blocking the driver this way is safe---unlike programming in the
kernel proper, where doing something like this would block the entire
system.  It's also easy to implement, as seen from the example above.
However, it makes the driver unresponsive to system call requests that
might be coming from other clients.  If another process tries to do
anything at all with a blocked driver's device---even an {\tt
open()}---it will block until the driver wakes up again.  This
limitation makes blocking drivers inappropriate for any device driver
that expects to service more than one client at a time.


\subsection{Blocking the caller using {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY};
unblocking it using {\tt fusd\_return()}}
\label{fusd-noreply}

If a device driver expects more than one client at a time---as is
often the case---a slightly different programming model is needed for
system calls that can potentially block.  Instead of blocking, the
driver immediately sends a message to the FUSD framework that says, in
essence, ``Don't unblock the client that issued this system call, but
continue sending additional system call requests that might be coming
from other clients.''  Driver callbacks can send this message to FUSD
by returning the special value {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY} instead of a
normal system call return value.

Before a callback blocks the caller by returning {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY},
it must save the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} pointer that was provided to
the callback as its first argument.  Later, when an event occurs which
allows the client's blocked system call to complete, the driver should
call {\tt fusd\_return()}, which will unblock the calling process and
complete its system call.  {\tt fusd\_return()} takes two arguments:
\begin{itemize}
\item The {\tt fusd\_file\_info} pointer that the callback saved
earlier; and
\item The system call's return value (in other words, the value that
would have been returned by the callback function had it not returned
{\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}).  FUSD itself {\em does not} examine the return
value passed as the second argument to {\tt fusd\_return}; it simply
propagates that value back to the kernel as the return value of the
blocked system call.
\end{itemize}

Drivers should never call {\tt fusd\_return} more than once on a
single {\tt fusd\_file\_info} pointer.  Doing so will have undefined
results, similar to calling {\tt free()} twice on the same pointer.

It also bears repeating that a callback can call {\em either} call
fusd\_return() explicitly {\em or} return a normal return value (i.e.,
not {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}), but not both.

{\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY} and {\tt fusd\_return()} make it easy for a
driver to block a process, then unblock it later when data becomes
available.  When the callback returns {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}, the driver
is freed up to wait for other events, even though the process making
the system call is still blocked.  The driver can then wait for
something to happen that unblocks the original caller---for example,
another FUSD event, data from a serial port, or data from the network.
(Recall from Section~\ref{selecting} that a FUSD driver can
simultaneously wait for both FUSD and non-FUSD events.)

FUSD includes an example program, {\tt pager.c}, which demonstrates
these techniques.  The pager driver implements a simple notification
interface which lets any number of ``waiters'' wait for a signal from
a ``notifier.''  All the waiters wait by trying to read from {\tt
/dev/pager/notify}.  Those reads will block until a notifier writes
the string {\tt page} to {\tt /dev/pager/input}.  It's easy to try
the application out---run the driver, and then open three other
shells.  In two of them, type {\tt cat /dev/pager/notify}.  The reads
will block.  Then, in the third shell, type {\tt echo page >
/dev/pager/input}---the other two shells should become unblocked.

Let's take a look at how this application is implemented, step by
step.

\subsubsection{Keeping Per-Client State}

The first thing to notice about {\tt pager.c} is that it keeps {\em
per-client state}.  That is, for every file descriptor open to the
driver, a structure is allocated that has information relating to that
file descriptor.  Previous driver examples were, for the most part,
{\em reactive}---they received requests, and immediately generated
responses.  Since there was never more than one request outstanding,
there was no need to keep a list of them.  The pager application is
the first one that must keep track of an arbitrary number of requests
that might be outstanding at the same time.  The first excerpt of {\tt
pager.c}, which appears in Program~\ref{pager-open.c}, shows the code
which creates this per-client state.  Lines 1--6 define a structure,
{\tt pager\_client}, which keeps all the information we need about
each client attached to the driver.  The {\tt open} callback for {\tt
/dev/pager/notify}, shown on lines 12--31, allocates memory for an
instance of this structure and adds it to a linked list.  (If the
memory allocation fails, an error is returned to the client on line
18; this will prevent the file from opening.)  Note on line 25 that we
use the {\tt private\_data} field to store a pointer to the client
state; this allows the structure to be retrieved when later callbacks
on this file descriptor arrive.  The memory is deallocated when the
file is closed; we'll see that in a later section.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{pager-open.c.example}
\caption{pager.c (Part 1): Creating state for every client using the
driver}
\label{pager-open.c}
\end{Program}

Another thing to notice about the open callback is the use of the {\tt
last\_page\_seen} variable.  The driver gives a sequence number to
every page it receives; {\tt last\_page\_seen} stores the number of
the most recent page seen by a client.  When a new client arrives
(i.e., it opens {\tt /dev/pager/notify}), its {\tt last\_page\_seen}
state is set equal to the page that has most recently arrived; this
forces a new client to wait for the {\em next} page, rather than
immediately being notified of a page that has arrived in the past.

\subsubsection{Blocking and completing reads}

The next part of {\tt pager.c} is shown in Program~\ref{pager-read.c}.
The {\tt pager\_notify\_read} function seen on line 1 is registered as
the {\tt read} callback for the {\tt /dev/pager/notify} device.  It
blocks the read request using the technique we described earlier: it
stores the {\tt fusd\_file\_info} pointer in that client's state
structure, and returns {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}.  (Note that the pointer
to the client's state structure comes from the {\tt private\_data}
field of {\tt fusd\_file\_info}, where the open callback stored it.)

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{pager-read.c.example}
\caption{pager.c (Part 2): Block clients' {\tt read} requests, and later
completing the blocked reads}
\label{pager-read.c}
\end{Program}


{\tt pager\_notify\_complete\_read} {\em unblocks} previously blocked
reads.  This function first checks to see that there is, in fact, a blocked
read (line 19).  It then checks to see if a page has arrived that the
client hasn't seen yet (line 23).  Finally, it updates the client
state and unblocks the blocked read by calling {\tt fusd\_return}.
Note the second argument to {\tt fusd\_return} is a 0; as we
saw in Section~\ref{read-callback}, a 0 return value to a {\tt read}
system call means EOF.  (The system call will be unblocked regardless
of the return value.)

{\tt pager\_notify\_complete\_read} is called every time a new page
arrives.  New pages are processed by {\tt pager\_input\_write} (line
34), which is the {\tt write} callback for {\tt /dev/pager/input}.
After recording the fact that a new page has arrived, it calls {\tt
pager\_notify\_complete\_read} for each client that has an open file
descriptor.  This will complete the reads of any clients who have not
yet seen this new data, and have no effect on clients that don't have
outstanding reads.

There is another interesting point to notice about {\tt
pager\_notify\_read}.  On line 12, after it stores the blocked system
call's pointer, but before we return {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}, it calls
the completion function.  This has the effect of returning any data
that might already be available back to the caller immediately.  If
that happens, we will end up calling {\tt fusd\_return} {\em before}
we return {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}.  This probably seems strange, but it's
legal.  Recall that a callback can call fusd\_return() explicitly {\em
or} return a normal (not {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}) return value, but not
both; the order doesn't matter.

\subsubsection{Using {\tt fusd\_destroy()} to clean up client state}
\label{fusd-destroy}

Finally, let's take a look at one last aspect of the pager program:
how it cleans up the per-client state when a client leaves.  This is
mostly straightforward, with one exception: a client may have an
outstanding read request out when a close request comes in.  Normally,
a client can't make another system call request while a previous
system call is still blocked.  However, the {\tt close} system call is
an exception: it gets called when a client dies (for example, if it
receives an interrupt signal).  If a {\tt close} comes in while
another system call is still outstanding, the state associated with
the outstanding request should be freed to avoid a memory leak.  The
{\tt fusd\_destroy} function is used to do this, seen on linen 12-14
of Program~\ref{pager-close.c}.

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{pager-close.c.example}
\caption{pager.c (Part 3): Cleaning up when a client leaves}
\label{pager-close.c}
\end{Program}


\subsection{Retrieving a blocked system call's arguments from a {\tt
fusd\_file\_info} pointer}

\label{logring}

In the previous section, we showed how the {\tt fusd\_return} function
can be used to specify the return value of a system call that was
previously blocked.  However, many system calls have side effects in
addition to returning a value---for example, in a {\tt read()}
request, the data being returned has to be copied into the caller's
buffer.  To facilitate this, FUSD provides accessor functions that let
drivers retrieve the arguments that had been passed to its callbacks
at the time the call was originally issued.  For example, the {\tt
fusd\_get\_read\_buffer()} function will return a pointer to the data
buffer that is provided with {\tt read()} callbacks.  Drivers can use
these accessor functions to affect change to a client {\em before}
calling {\tt fusd\_return()}.

The following accessor functions are available, all of which take a
single {\tt fusd\_file\_info *} argument:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt int char *fusd\_get\_read\_buffer}---The destination buffer
for data that a driver is returning to a process doing a {\tt read()}.
\item {\tt const char *fusd\_get\_write\_buffer}---The source buffer
containing data sent to the driver by a process doing a {\tt write()}.
\item {\tt fusd\_get\_length}---The length (in bytes) of the buffer
for either a {\tt read()} or a {\tt write()}.
\item {\tt loff\_t fusd\_get\_offset}---The file descriptor's byte
offset, typically used in {\tt read()} and {\tt write()} callbacks.
\item {\tt int fusd\_get\_ioctl\_request}---An ioctl's request
``command number'' (i.e., the first argument of an ioctl).
\item {\tt int fusd\_get\_ioctl\_arg}---The second argument of an
ioctl for non-data-bearing {\tt ioctl} requests (i.e., {\tt \_IO}
commands).
\item {\tt void *fusd\_get\_ioctl\_buffer}---The data buffer for
data-bearing {\tt ioctl} requests ({\tt \_IOR}, {\tt \_IOW}, and
{\tt \_IORW} commands).
\item {\tt int fusd\_get\_poll\_diff\_cached\_state}---See
Section~\ref{selectable}.
\end{itemize}

We got away without using these accessor functions in our {\tt
pager.c} example because the pager doesn't actually return data---it
just blocks and unblocks {\tt read} calls.  However, the FUSD
distribution contains another example program, {\tt logring}, that
demonstrates their use.

{\tt logring} makes it easy to access the most recent (and only the most
recent) output from a process. It works just like {\tt tail -f} on a
log file, except that the storage required never grows. This can be
useful in embedded systems where there isn't enough memory or disk
space for keeping complete log files, but the most recent debugging
messages are sometimes needed (e.g., after an error is observed).

{\tt logring} uses FUSD to implement a character device, {\tt
/dev/logring}, that acts like a named pipe that has a finite, circular
buffer.  The size of the buffer is given as a command-line argument.
As more data is written into the buffer, the oldest data is discarded.
A process that reads from the logring device will first read the
existing buffer, then block and see new data as it's written, similar
to monitoring a log file using {\tt tail -f}.

You can run this example program by typing {\tt logring <logsize>},
where {\tt logsize} is the size of the circular buffer in bytes.
Then, type {\tt cat /dev/logring} in a shell.  The {\tt cat} process
will block, waiting for data.  From another shell, write to the
logring (e.g., {\tt echo Hi there > /dev/logring}).  The {\tt cat}
process will see the message appear.

(This example program is based on {\em emlog}, a (real) Linux kernel
module with identical functionality.  If you find logring useful, but
want to use it on a system that does not have FUSD, check out the
original
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{emlog}{http://www.circlemud.org/jelson/software/emlog}.)





\section{Implementing {\tt select}able Devices}
\label{selectable}

One important feature that almost every device driver in a system
should have is support for the {\tt select(2)} system call.  {\tt
select} allows clients to assemble a set of file descriptors and ask
to be notified when one of them becomes readable or writable.  This
simple feature is deceptively powerful---it allows clients to wait for
any number of a set of possible events to occur.  This is
fundamentally different than (for example) a blocking read, which only
unblocks on one kind of event.  In this section, we'll describe how
FUSD can be used to create a device whose state can be queried by a
client's call to {\tt select(2)}.

This section is limited to a discussion what a FUSD driver writer
needs to know to implement a selectable device.  Details of the FUSD
implementation required to support this feature are described in
Section~\ref{poll-diff-implementation}


\subsection{Poll state and the {\tt poll\_diff} callback}

FUSD's implementation of selectable devices depends on the concept of
{\em poll state}.  A file descriptor's poll state is a bitmask that
describes its current properties---readable, writable, or exception
raised.  These three states correspond to {\tt select(2)}'s three
{\tt fd\_set}s.  FUSD has constants used to describe these states:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\tt FUSD\_NOTIFY\_INPUT}---Input is available; a read will not
block.
\item {\tt FUSD\_NOTIFY\_OUTPUT}---Output space is available; a write
will not block.
\item {\tt FUSD\_NOTIFY\_EXCEPT}---An exception has occurred.
\end{itemize}

These constants can be combined with C's bitwise-or operator.  For
example, a descriptor that is both readable and writable is expressed
as {\tt FUSD\_NOTIFY\_INPUT | FUSD\_NOTIFY\_OUTPUT}.  0 means a file
descriptor is not readable, not writable, and not in the exception
set.

For a FUSD device to be selectable, its driver must implement a
callback called {\tt poll\_diff}.  This callback is very different
than the others; it is not a ``direct line'' between the client and
the driver as is the case with a call such as {\tt ioctl}.  A driver's
response to {\tt poll\_diff} is {\em not} the return value seen by a
client's call to {\tt select}.  When a client tries to {\tt select} on
a set of file descriptors, the kernel collects the responses from all
the appropriate callbacks---{\tt poll} for file descriptors managed by
kernel drivers, and {\tt poll\_diff} callbacks those managed by FUSD
drivers---and synthesizes all of that information into the return
value seen by the client.

FUSD keeps a cache of the poll state it has most recently received
from each FUSD device driver, initially assumed to be 0.  This state
is returned to clients trying to {\tt select()} on devices managed by
those drivers.  Under certain conditions, FUSD sends a query to the
driver in order to ensure that the kernel's poll state cache is up to
date.  This query takes the form of a {\tt poll\_diff} callback
activation, which is given a single argument: the poll state that FUSD
currently has cached.  The driver should consult its internal data
structures to determine the actual, current poll state (i.e., whether
or not buffers have readable data).  Then:
\begin{itemize}
\item If the FUSD cache is incorrect (that is, the current true poll
state is different than FUSD's cached state), the current poll state
should be returned immediately.
\item If the FUSD cache is up to date (that is, it matches the real
current state), the callback should save the {\tt fusd\_file\_info}
pointer and return {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY}.  Later, when the poll
state changes, the driver can call {\tt fusd\_return()} to update
FUSD's cache.
\end{itemize}

In other words, when a driver's {\tt poll\_diff} callback is
activated, the kernel is effectively saying to the driver, ``Here is
what I think the current poll state of this file descriptor is; let me
know when that state {\em changes}.''  The driver can either respond
immediately (if the kernel's cache is already known to be out of
date), or return {\tt -FUSD\_NOREPLY} if no update is immediately
necessary.  Later, when the poll state changes (for example, if new
data arrives that makes a device readable), the driver can used its
saved {\tt fusd\_file\_info} pointer to send a poll state update to
the kernel.

When a FUSD driver sends a poll state update, it might (or might not)
have the effect of waking up a client that was blocked in {\tt
select(2)}.  On the same note, it's worth reiterating that a {\tt
-FUSD\_NOREPLY} response to a {\tt poll\_diff} callback {\em does not}
necessarily block the client---other descriptors in the client's {\tt
select} set might be readable, for example.

\subsection{Receiving a {\tt poll\_diff} request when the previous one
has not been returned yet}
\label{multiple-polldiffs}

Calls such as {\tt read} and {\tt write} are synchronous from the
standpoint of an individual client---a request is made, and the
requester blocks until a reply is received.  This means that there
can't ever be more than a single {\tt read} request outstanding for a
single client at a time.  (The driver as a whole may be keeping track
of many outstanding {\tt read} requests in parallel, but no two of them will
be from the same client file descriptor.)

As we mentioned in the previous section, the {\tt poll\_diff} callback
is different from other callbacks.  It is not part of a synchronous
request/reply sequence that causes the client to block.  It is also an
interface to the {\em kernel}, not directly to the client.  So, it
{\em is} possible to receive a {\tt poll\_diff} request while there is
already one outstanding.  This happens if the kernel's poll state
cache changes, causing it to notify the driver that it has a new
cached value.

This is easy to handle; the client should simply
\begin{enumerate}
\item Destroy the old (now out-of-date) {\tt poll\_diff} request
using the {\tt fusd\_destroy} function we saw in
Section~\ref{fusd-destroy}.
\item Either respond to or save the new {\tt poll\_diff} request,
exactly as described in the previous section.
\end{enumerate}

The next section will show an example of this technique.


\subsection{Adding {\tt select} support to {\tt pager.c}}

Given the explanation of {\tt poll\_diff} in the previous sections, it
might seem that implementing a selectable device is a daunting task.
It's actually not as bad as it sounds---the example code may well be
shorter than its explanation!

\begin{Program}
\listinginput[5]{1}{pager-polldiff.c.example}
\caption{pager.c (Part 4): Supporting {\tt select(2)} by implementing a
{\tt poll\_diff} callback}
\label{pager-polldiff.c}
\end{Program}

Program~\ref{pager-polldiff.c} shows the implementation of {\tt
poll\_diff} in {\tt pager.c}, which makes its notification interface
({\tt /dev/pager/notify}) selectable.  It is decomposed into a ``top
half'' and ``bottom half'' function, exactly as we did for the
blocking {\tt read} implementation in Program~\ref{pager-read.c}.
First, on lines 1--20, we see the the callback for {\tt poll\_diff}
callback itself.  It is virtually identical to the {\tt read} callback
in Program~\ref{pager-read.c}.  The main difference is that it first
checks (on line 12) to see if a {\tt poll\_diff} request is already
outstanding when a new request comes in.  If so, the out-of-date
request is destroyed using {\tt fusd\_destroy}, as we described in
Section~\ref{multiple-polldiffs}.

The bottom half is shown on lines 22-46.  First, on lines 32--35, it
computes the current poll state---if a page has arrived that the
client hasn't seen yet, the file is readable; otherwise, it isn't.
Next, the driver compares the current poll state with the poll state
that the kernel has cached.  If the kernel's cache is out of date, the
current state is returned to the kernel.  Otherwise, it does nothing.

As with the {\tt read} callback we saw previously, notice that {\tt
pager\_notify\_complete\_polldiff} is called in two different cases:
\begin{enumerate}
\item It is called immediately from the {\tt pager\_notify\_polldiff}
callback itself.  This causes the current poll state to be returned to
the kernel immediately when the request arrives if the driver already
knows the kernel's state needs to be updated.
\item It is called when new data arrives that causes the poll state to
change.  Refer back to Program~\ref{pager-read.c} on
page~\pageref{pager-read.c}; in the callback that receives new pages,
notice on line 45 that the {\tt poll\_diff} completion function is called
alongside the {\tt read} completion function.
\end{enumerate}

With this {\tt poll\_diff} implementation, it is possible for a client
to open {\tt /dev/pager/notify}, and block in a {\tt select(2)} system
call.  If another client writes {\tt page} to {\tt /dev/pager/input},
the first client's {\tt select} will unblock, indicating the file has
become readable.

For additional example code, take a look at the {\tt logring} example
program we first mentioned in Section~\ref{logring}.  It also supports
{\tt select} by implementing a similar {\tt poll\_diff} callback.

\section{Performance of User-Space Devices}
\label{performance}

This section hasn't been written yet.  I have some pretty graphs and
whatnot, but no time to write about them here before the release.

\section{FUSD Implementation Notes}

In this section, we describe some of the details of how FUSD is
implemented.  It's not necessary to understand these details in order
to use FUSD.  However, these notes can be useful for people who are
trying to understand the FUSD framework itself---hackers, debuggers,
or the generally curious.

\subsection{The situation with {\tt poll\_diff}}
\label{poll-diff-implementation}


In-kernel device drivers support select by implementing a callback
called {\tt poll}.  This driver's callback is supposed to do two
things.  First, it should return the current state of a file
descriptor---a combination of being readable, writable, or having
exceptions.  Second, it should provide a pointer to one of the
driver's internal wait queues that will be awakened whenever the state
changes.  The {\tt poll} call itself should never block---it should
just instantaneously report what the {\em current} state is.

FUSD's implementation of selectable devices is different, but attempts
to maintain three properties that we thought to be most important from
the point of view of a client using {\tt select}.  Specifically:
\begin{enumerate}
\item The {\tt select(2)} call itself should never become blocked.
For example, if one file descriptor in its set isn't readable, that
shouldn't prevent it from reporting other file descriptors that are.
\item If {\tt select(2)} indicates a file descriptor is readable (or
writable), a read (or write) on that file descriptor shouldn't block.
\item Clients should be allowed to seamlessly {\tt select} on any set
of file descriptors, even if that set contains a mix of both FUSD and
non-FUSD devices.
\end{enumerate}


The FUSD kernel module keeps a cache of the driver's most recent
answer for each file descriptor, initially assumed to be 0.  When the
kernel module's internal {\tt poll} callback is activated, it:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Dispatches a {\em non-}blocking {\tt poll\_diff} to the
associated user-space driver, asking for a cache update---if and only
if there isn't already an outstanding poll diff request out that has
the same value.
\item Immediately returns the cached value to the kernel
\end{enumerate}

In addition, the cached value's readable bit is cleared on every read;
the writable bit is cleared on every write.  This is necessary to
prevent old poll state---which says ``device is readable''---from
being returned out of the cache when it might be invalid.  FUSD
assumes that any read to a device can make it potentially unreadable.
This mechanism is what causes an updated poll diff to be sent to a
client before the previous one has been returned.

(this section isn't finished yet; fancy time diagrams coming someday)

\subsection{Restartable System Calls}

No time to write this section yet...


\appendix

\section{Using {\tt strace}}
\label{strace}

This section hasn't been written yet.  Contributions are welcome.

\end{document}