NAME

add_drv - add a new device driver to the system

SYNOPSIS

add_drv [ -b basedir ] [ -c class_name ] [ -i 'identify_name. . .' ] [ -m 'permission','. . .' ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -v ] device_driver

DESCRIPTION

The add_drv command is used to inform the system about newly installed device drivers.

Each device on the system has a name associated with it. This name is represented by the name property for the device. Similarly, the device may also have a list of driver names associated with it. This list is represented by the compatible property for the device.

The system determines which devices will be managed by the driver being added by examining the contents of the name property and the compatible property (if it exists) on each device. If the value in the name property does not match the driver being added, each entry in the compatible property is tried, in order, until either a match occurs or there are no more entries in the compatible property.

In some cases, adding a new driver may require a reconfiguration boot. See the NOTES section.

OPTIONS

-b basedir

Sets the path to the root directory of the diskless client. Used on the server to execute add_drv for a diskless client. The client machine must be rebooted to install the driver.

-c class_name

The driver being added to the system exports the class class_name.

-i 'identify_name'

A white-space separated list of aliases for the driver device_driver.

-m 'permission'

Specify the file system permissions for device nodes created by the system on behalf of device_driver.

-n

Do not try to load and attach device_driver, just modify the system configuration files for the device_driver.

-f

Normally if a reconfiguration boot is required to complete the configuration of the driver into the system, add_drv will not add the driver. The force flag forces add_drv to add the driver even if a reconfiguration boot is required. See the -v flag.

-v

The verbose flag causes add_drv to provide additional information regarding the success or failure of a driver's configuration into the system. See the EXAMPLES section.

EXAMPLES

Example 1

The following example adds the SUNW,example driver to the system, with an alias name of SUNW,alias. It assumes the driver has already been copied to /usr/kernel/drv.

example# add_drv -m '* 0666 bin bin','a 0644 root sys' \
        -i 'SUNW,alias' SUNW,example

Every minor node created by the system for the SUNW,example driver will have the permission 0666 ,and be owned by user bin in the group bin, except for the minor device a , which will be owned by root, group sys, and have a permission of 0644 .

Example 2

The following example adds the driver to the client /export/root/sun1. The driver is installed and loaded when the client machine, sun1, is rebooted. This second example produces the same result as the first, except the changes are on the diskless client, sun1, and the client must be rebooted for the driver to be installed.

example# add_drv -m '* 0666 bin bin','a 0644 root sys' \
        -i 'SUNW,alias' -b /export/root/sun1 \
        SUNW,example

Example 3

The following example illustrates the case where a new driver is added for a device that is already managed by an existing driver. Consider a device that is currently managed by the driver dumb_framebuffer. The name and compatible properties for this device are as follows:

        name="display"
        compatible="whizzy_framebuffer", "dumb_framebuffer"
If add_drv is used to add the whizzy_framebuffer driver, the following will result.
        example# add_drv whizzy_framebuffer
        Error: Could not install driver (whizzy_framebuffer)
        Device managed by another driver.
If the -v flag is specified, the following will result.
        example# add_drv -v whizzy_framebuffer
        Error: Could not install driver (whizzy_framebuffer)
        Device managed by another driver.

Driver installation failed because the following

        entries in /devices would be affected:

/devices/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/display[:* ]

            (Device currently managed by driver "dumb_framebuffer")

        The following entries in /dev would be affected:

/dev/fbs/dumb_framebuffer0

If the -v and -f flags are specified, the driver will be added resulting in the following.
        example# add_drv -vf whizzy_framebuffer

A reconfiguration boot must be performed to complete the

installation of this driver.

The following entries in /devices will be affected:

    /devices/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/display[:* ]
    (Device currently managed by driver "dumb_framebuffer"

The following entries in /dev will be affected:

/dev/fbs/dumb_framebuffer0

The above example is currently only relevant to devices exporting a generic device name.

EXIT STATUS

add_drv returns 0 on success and 1 on failure.

FILES

/kernel/drv

boot device drivers

/usr/kernel/drv

other drivers that could potentially be shared between

platforms

/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/drv platform-dependent drivers /etc/driver_aliases

driver aliases file

/etc/driver_classes

driver classes file

/etc/minor_perm

minor node permissions

/etc/name_to_major

major number binding

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Availability	SUNWcsu

SEE ALSO

boot(1M), devlinks(1M), disks(1M), drvconfig(1M), kernel(1M), modinfo(1M), ports(1M), rem_drv(1M), tapes(1M), driver.conf(4), system(4), attributes(5), ddi_create_minor_node(9F)

Writing Device Drivers

NOTES

Aliases may require quoting (with double-quotes) if they contain numbers.

It is possible to add a driver for a device already being managed by a different driver, where the driver being added appears in the device's compatible list before the current driver. In such cases, a reconfiguration boot is required (see boot(1M) and kernel(1M)). After the reconfiguration boot, device nodes in /devices, entries in /dev, and references to these files may no longer be valid (see the -v flag). If a reconfiguration boot would be required to complete the driver installation, add_drv will fail unless the -f option is specified. See Example 3 in the EXAMPLES section.

BUGS

add_drv will accept a full pathname for device_driver. However, the kernel does not use the full pathname; it only uses the final component and searches the internal driver search path for the driver. This can lead to the kernel loading a different driver than expected.

For this reason, it is not recommended that you use add_drv with a full pathname. See kernel(1M) for more information on the driver search path.