Master(4dsp)


Master -- generic configuration information for a kernel module

Description

The Master file is one of the Installable Driver/Tunable Parameters kernel configuration files and it describes a kernel module that can potentially be configured into the system. For configuration information for individual kernel modules, see System(4dsp).

When the Master component of a module's Driver Software Package (DSP) is installed, idinstall(1M) stores the module's Master file information in /etc/conf/mdevice.d/module-name, where the file module-name is the name of the module being installed. Package scripts should never access /etc/conf/mdevice.d/module-name files directly; instead use the idinstall(1M) and idcheck(1M) commands.

Blank lines in Master files and lines beginning with ``#'' or ``*'' are considered comments and are ignored.

The first non-comment line should be:

   $version 2

Older Master file versions are also supported by idinstall (see "Compatibility Considerations").

Following the $version line should be one or more of the following lines, in any sequence:

   $contact contact-information
   $depend module-name-list
   $entry entry-point-list
   $interface interface-name interface-version-list
   $magic magic-number-list
   $modtype loadable-module-type-name
   $name visible-name
   $oversion original-version-number

The description of each line follows:


$contact
User-readable contact information for the driver provider. One or more $contact lines, with arbitrary text, can be supplied. If there is a problem or potential problem configuring the module, this contact information might be printed in a warning or error message.

$depend
For dynamically loadable kernel modules only, specifies the names of the loadable modules (if any) that contain symbols referenced by this loadable module. One or more $depend lines can be used to specify the module names. If a single $depend line specifies more than one module name, the names must be separated by white space.

The preferred method for showing dependencies is to use the $depend line(s) in an Interface(4dsp) file, which is referenced by a $interface line, rather than placing $depend line(s) directly in the Master file.


$entry
Specifies the names of the named entry point routines included in the module. $entry is legal only for entry-type 0 modules; see Interface(4dsp) for a description of entry-type.

One or more $entry lines can be used to specify the entry point names. If a single $entry line specifies more than one entry point name, the names must be separated by white space.

The function names are created by appending the entry point name to the module's prefix(D1). Only functions explicitly listed on $entry lines are called directly by the kernel. The following entry points are built into idbuild(1M). Note that some of these entry points apply only to certain module types:

   _init chpoll close core devinfo exec init intr ioctl
   mmap open read size strategy textinfo write
Other entry points are defined by Ftab(4dsp) files.

The Section D2 manual pages in Section D2 manual pages define the $entry values used to identify each named entry point routine used with DDI versions prior to version 8.

Note that open(D2str) and. close(D2str) routines for STREAMS drivers and modules are not considered entry points for $entry, because they are called indirectly through the module's streamtab(D4str) structure, not directly. Similarly, the _load(D2), _unload(D2), and _verify(D2) routines used by dynamically loadable kernel modules (see ``Dynamically-loadable kernel modules (DLKM)'' in HDK Technical Reference) are not listed with $entry since they are referenced indirectly through a module's wrapper.


$interface
Specifies the versioned interface to which the module conforms. For example, you can specify that a DDI device driver conforms to a specific version of the ddi interface. This allows the system to support the use of functions or variables within well-defined interfaces. See ``DDI interface versioning'' in HDK Technical Reference.

The interface-version-list for each $interface line usually consists of just one version number. If multiple versions are specified, the driver must only use functions that exist in the intersection of the two versions; it must not use any functionality that is defined in one version but not the other. The syntax was designed to take multiple version numbers, thinking that this was a way to support drivers that are coded to work with multiple interface versions. SCO recommends that, instead of using this syntax, drivers that work with different interface versions have a separate DSP for each supported version. Beginning with UnixWare 7, idcheck(1M) provides the -i option that determines the appropriate DSP to install with the idinstall(1M) command.

Every Master file must contain at least one $interface line. To be accepted by the system, each interface line must contain an interface name and version that is supported by this release of the operating system. For loadable modules, this evaluation is done when the module is loaded; for static modules, this is done at idbuild time.

All external symbol references from a module must be to symbols defined in one of its specified interfaces, or to symbols defined in a module for which it has a $depend line.

The special $interface line $interface base (with no version strings) can be used by SCO base system modules to allow symbol references outside of defined interfaces. For third party and SCO add-on modules, the $interface line $interface nonconforming can be used to achieve the same effect; however, this should be avoided since compatibility support cannot be guaranteed. Modules with $interface nonconforming may no longer work when the operating system is upgraded; they may have to be replaced or deconfigured.

Using $interface nonconforming in combination with an explicitly numbered version allows access to additional symbols, but does not change the behavior of functions that are part of the explicitly specified interface versions. See ``DDI interface versioning'' in HDK Technical Reference for more information.

$contact is required when $interface nonconforming is used.


$magic
Specifies the magic numbers supported by the exec module. A leading 0 indicates the base is 8. A leading 0X or 0x indicates the base is 16.

If wildcard is specified, an additional entry is generated for the module, following the entries for the explicit magic numbers. This additional entry has a NULL magic number pointer that instructs the system to call the handler regardless of the magic number. If a non-exec module specifies this line or there are multiple iterations of this line for an exec module, it is an error.


$modtype
For dynamically loadable kernel modules only, specifies the character string (maximum of 40 characters, including white space characters) used in error messages to identify the type of this module.

$name
Specifies a visible-name to use instead of module-name for user-visible aspects of the module. It was designed to be used as the name for a filesystem as given to the mount(1M) command. Do not use this feature for device drivers.

$oversion
Specifies the original version number (from $version) of a file that was converted to the current version by idinstall. This line is automatically appended by idinstall and is not added manually.

For entry-type 1 modules (such as DDI 8 drivers), the last non-comment line of the Master file contains the following combination of fields and dashes:

   module-name - characteristics

For entry-type 0 modules (such as DDI 7 drivers), the last non-comment line of the Master file contains the following six fields:

   module-name prefix characteristics order bmaj cmaj

For entry-type 0 modules, a value must be specified for each field; the fields are separated by white space. For entry-type 1 modules, the first and third fields must be specified with a dash supplied for the second field.


module-name
Specifies the internal name of the module (maximum of 14 characters). The first character must be alphabetic; the remaining characters can be letters, digits or underscores.

prefix
For entry-type 0 modules, specifies the character string prefixed to all named entry-point routines and variable names associated with this module (maximum of 8 characters); see prefix(D1). During the kernel build process, an all uppercase version of this string is used to construct the #define symbolic constants accessible to the module's Space.c(4dsp) file (see idbuild(1M)).

If the module has no named entry-points or special variables, this field can contain a dash; then, no #define symbols are generated. entry-type 1 modules have no named entry point routines, so this field is always a dash.


characteristics
Defines a set of flags that identify the characteristics of the module. If none of the characteristics listed below apply to the module, the characteristics field must contain a dash. Valid field values are:

b
The module is a ``block'' device driver. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

c
The module is a (STREAMS or non-STREAMS) character device driver. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

d
The module is a dispatcher class module. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

e
The module is an exec module. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

h
The module controls hardware or requires access to hardware I/O resources (for example, interrupts or bus addresses). This flag must be used for any module that specifies resources (including interrupts) in its System file.

k
Keep majors flag. This flag is intended for device drivers supplied with the base system only. It indicates that idinstall should use the major numbers specified by the bmaj and cmaj fields in the module's Master file, instead of automatically assigning major numbers to the module. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

l
The module contains loadable stubs (Modstub.o). This should be used only by base system modules. Add-on drivers cannot use loadable stubs.

m
The module is a STREAMS module. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

o
The module may have only one System file entry. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

u
The module is a device driver that requires identical block major numbers and character major numbers. Note that both the b and c flags must be set when using this flag; if they are not set, the u flag is ignored. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

C
The module contains console driver support and the variable pfxconssw that defines the console (indirect) entry points. Such a module is referred to as console-capable. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

D
The module is a hardware module that can share its DMA channel(s) with other drivers.

F
The module is a VFS filesystem module. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

K
Keep nodes flag. This flag prevents idmknodd(1M) from removing device nodes for this device (as determined by the major number(s) in the Valid only for entry-type 0 modules. Master file).

L
Loadable module flag. The driver module is a loadable module; however, if the System file contains $static, then this entry overrides the flag and the module is statically linked. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

M
The CMA range of this device can overlap that of another device.

O
The IOA range of this device can overlap that of another device.

R
Force idinstall(1M) to create a resource manager entry; used for DDI 8 pseudo drivers.

S
The module is a STREAMS driver, a STREAMS module, or both. Valid only for entry-type 0 modules.

For entry-type 1 modules, the only valid flags are h, l, D, O, M, and R.


order
Specifies a decimal numeric value used to control the sequence in which the module's init( ) and start( ) routines are called, and the sequence of execsw entries for exec modules. Higher-numbered positive values are first. The highest value allowed is 32767; negative numbers are not supported. For most modules, the sequence is unimportant, and this field should be 0.

All the execsw entries are processed in the sequence specified in this field, calling the appropriate handlers if the magic number matches, until one returns 0 for success or an error other than ENOEXEC.

Modules that are entry-type 1 do not use init( ) and start( ) entry points, so this field is omitted.


bmaj
When the b flag is set, specifies the block major number(s) for this module. Typically, drivers do not specify the actual major number(s). Instead, this field is a placeholder that is modified by idinstall(1M) when the driver is installed; idinstall(1M) assigns an unused major number to this driver.

For most drivers, bmaj is a single decimal number. When the driver needs multiple major numbers, this entry is a range: the first and last number of the range, separated by a dash. For example, to request four major numbers, a driver can set bmaj to 0-3, and this entry will be changed to an assigned range of major numbers.

When the k flag is set, the original value of bmaj is unchanged by idinstall(1M). Note that this flag is intended for installations with the base system only.

Modules that are entry-type 1 do not use major numbers, so this field is omitted.


cmaj
When the c flag is set, the cmaj entry is processed as described for bmaj except that cmaj applies to character major number(s) rather than block major number(s).

Modules that are entry-type 1 do not use major numbers, so this field is omitted.

Usage

For DDI versions prior to version 8, STREAMS modules and drivers are treated slightly differently from other drivers, and their configuration reflects this difference. To specify a STREAMS device driver, its Master file should specify both an S and a c flag in the characteristics field. This indicates that it is a STREAMS driver and that it requires an entry in the cdevsw table, where STREAMS drivers typically are configured into the system.

A STREAMS module that is not a device driver, such as a line discipline module, requires both an S and an m flag in the characteristics field of its Master file; it should not specify a c flag, as a device driver does.

In cases where a module contains both a STREAMS module and a STREAMS driver, the S, c and m flags should all be specified.

Warnings

Package scripts should never access /etc/conf/mdevice.d files directly; only the idinstall(1M) and idcheck(1M) commands should be used.

References

Ftab(4dsp), idbuild(1M), idcheck(1M), idinstall(1M), Interface(4dsp), Master(4dsp), modadmin(1M), Space.c(4dsp), System(4dsp)

``DDI interface versioning'' in HDK Technical Reference
``Major and minor numbers'' in HDK Technical Reference
``Entry-point routines'' in HDK Technical Reference

Notices

Compatibility considerations

For compatibility with existing add-on DSP packages, idinstall accepts the old (version 0 and version 1) Master file formats, and converts them to the current version 2 format.

version 0 format

Version 0 Master files are not supported for exec modules.

The version 0 format is a single non-comment line that contains the following nine fields:

   name  funcs  characteristics  prefix  bmaj  cmaj  min_unit  max_unit  dmachan

When converting version 0 mdevice files to the current format:

version 1 format

The version 1 format is closer to the current version 2 format, except that the last line can have an optional seventh field that is the cpu field used to bind the driver to a specific processor.


25 April 2004
© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 25 April 2004