kgdb: documentation fixes

Minor cleanups to kgdb docs.

Signed-off-by: Jason Wessel <jason.wessel@windriver.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
This commit is contained in:
Jason Wessel 2008-04-01 16:55:26 -05:00 committed by Ingo Molnar
parent 974460c5bf
commit 225a4424ad
1 changed files with 58 additions and 46 deletions

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@ -152,9 +152,10 @@
<para>
The kgdboc driver was originally an abbreviation meant to stand for
"kgdb over console". Kgdboc is designed to work with a single
serial port as example, and it was meant to cover the circumstance
serial port. It was meant to cover the circumstance
where you wanted to use a serial console as your primary console as
well as using it to perform kernel debugging.
well as using it to perform kernel debugging. Of course you can
also use kgdboc without assigning a console to the same port.
</para>
<sect2 id="UsingKgdboc">
<title>Using kgdboc</title>
@ -195,37 +196,6 @@
unmodified gdb to do the debugging.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="kgdbocDesign">
<title>kgdboc internals</title>
<para>
The kgdboc driver is actually a very thin driver that relies on the
underlying low level to the hardware driver having "polling hooks"
which the to which the tty driver is attached. In the initial
implementation of kgdboc it the serial_core was changed to expose a
low level uart hook for doing polled mode reading and writing of a
single character while in an atomic context. When kgdb makes an I/O
request to the debugger, kgdboc invokes a call back in the serial
core which in turn uses the call back in the uart driver. It is
certainly possible to extend kgdboc to work with non-uart based
consoles in the future.
</para>
<para>
When using kgdboc with a uart, the uart driver must implement two callbacks in the <constant>struct uart_ops</constant>. Example from drivers/8250.c:<programlisting>
#ifdef CONFIG_CONSOLE_POLL
.poll_get_char = serial8250_get_poll_char,
.poll_put_char = serial8250_put_poll_char,
#endif
</programlisting>
Any implementation specifics around creating a polling driver use the
<constant>#ifdef CONFIG_CONSOLE_POLL</constant>, as shown above.
Keep in mind that polling hooks have to be implemented in such a way
that they can be called from an atomic context and have to restore
the state of the uart chip on return such that the system can return
to normal when the debugger detaches. You need to be very careful
with any kind of lock you consider, because failing here is most
going to mean pressing the reset button.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="kgdbcon">
<title>Kernel parameter: kgdbcon</title>
@ -327,6 +297,8 @@
</para>
</chapter>
<chapter id="CommonBackEndReq">
<title>KGDB Internals</title>
<sect1 id="kgdbArchitecture">
<title>Architecture Specifics</title>
<para>
Kgdb is organized into three basic components:
@ -365,18 +337,23 @@
</listitem>
<listitem><para>kgdb I/O driver</para>
<para>
Each kgdb I/O driver has to provide an configuration
initialization, and cleanup handler for when it
unloads/unconfigures. Any given kgdb I/O driver has to operate
very closely with the hardware and must do it in such a way that
does not enable interrupts or change other parts of the system
context without completely restoring them. Every kgdb I/O
driver must provide a read and write character interface. The
kgdb core will repeatedly "poll" a kgdb I/O driver for characters
when it needs input. The I/O driver is expected to return
immediately if there is no data available. Doing so allows for
the future possibility to touch watch dog hardware in such a way
as to have a target system not reset when these are enabled.
Each kgdb I/O driver has to provide an implemenation for the following:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>configuration via builtin or module</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>dynamic configuration and kgdb hook registration calls</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>read and write character interface</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A cleanup handler for unconfiguring from the kgdb core</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>(optional) Early debug methodology</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
Any given kgdb I/O driver has to operate very closely with the
hardware and must do it in such a way that does not enable
interrupts or change other parts of the system context without
completely restoring them. The kgdb core will repeatedly "poll"
a kgdb I/O driver for characters when it needs input. The I/O
driver is expected to return immediately if there is no data
available. Doing so allows for the future possibility to touch
watch dog hardware in such a way as to have a target system not
reset when these are enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
@ -419,6 +396,38 @@
does not need to provide a specific implementation.
</para>
!Iinclude/linux/kgdb.h
</sect1>
<sect1 id="kgdbocDesign">
<title>kgdboc internals</title>
<para>
The kgdboc driver is actually a very thin driver that relies on the
underlying low level to the hardware driver having "polling hooks"
which the to which the tty driver is attached. In the initial
implementation of kgdboc it the serial_core was changed to expose a
low level uart hook for doing polled mode reading and writing of a
single character while in an atomic context. When kgdb makes an I/O
request to the debugger, kgdboc invokes a call back in the serial
core which in turn uses the call back in the uart driver. It is
certainly possible to extend kgdboc to work with non-uart based
consoles in the future.
</para>
<para>
When using kgdboc with a uart, the uart driver must implement two callbacks in the <constant>struct uart_ops</constant>. Example from drivers/8250.c:<programlisting>
#ifdef CONFIG_CONSOLE_POLL
.poll_get_char = serial8250_get_poll_char,
.poll_put_char = serial8250_put_poll_char,
#endif
</programlisting>
Any implementation specifics around creating a polling driver use the
<constant>#ifdef CONFIG_CONSOLE_POLL</constant>, as shown above.
Keep in mind that polling hooks have to be implemented in such a way
that they can be called from an atomic context and have to restore
the state of the uart chip on return such that the system can return
to normal when the debugger detaches. You need to be very careful
with any kind of lock you consider, because failing here is most
going to mean pressing the reset button.
</para>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<chapter id="credits">
<title>Credits</title>
@ -427,8 +436,11 @@
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>Amit Kale<email>amitkale@linsyssoft.com</email></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Tom Rini<email>trini@kernel.crashing.org</email></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Jason Wessel<email>jason.wessel@windriver.com</email></para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
In March 2008 this document was completely rewritten by:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Jason Wessel<email>jason.wessel@windriver.com</email></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</chapter>
</book>