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From: Vishwaroop A <va@nvidia.com>
To: Mark Brown <broonie@kernel.org>
Cc: <linux-spi@vger.kernel.org>, <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
	"Thierry Reding" <thierry.reding@kernel.org>,
	Jonathan Hunter <jonathanh@nvidia.com>, <smangipudi@nvidia.com>,
	<va@nvidia.com>
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] spi: add new_device/delete_device sysfs interface
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2026 03:14:16 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260420031417.291442-2-va@nvidia.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260420031417.291442-1-va@nvidia.com>

Development boards such as the Jetson AGX Orin expose SPI buses
on expansion headers (e.g. the 40-pin header) so that users can
connect and interact with SPI peripherals from userspace. The
standard way to get /dev/spidevB.C character device nodes for
this purpose is to register spi_device instances backed by the
spidev driver.

Today there is no viable way to do this on upstream kernels:

  - The spidev driver rejects the bare "spidev" compatible
    string in DT, since spidev is a Linux software interface
    and not a description of real hardware.
  - Vendor-specific compatible strings (e.g. "nvidia,tegra-spidev")
    have been rejected by DT maintainers for the same reason.

The I2C subsystem solved an analogous problem by exposing
new_device/delete_device sysfs attributes on each adapter. Add
the same interface to SPI host controllers, so that userspace
(e.g. a systemd unit at boot) can instantiate SPI devices at
runtime without needing anything in device-tree.

The new_device file accepts:

  <modalias> <chip_select> [<max_speed_hz> [<mode>]]

where chip_select is required, while max_speed_hz and mode are
optional and default to 0 if omitted. max_speed_hz == 0 is
clamped to the controller's maximum by spi_setup(); mode == 0
selects SPI mode 0 (CPOL=0, CPHA=0).

The modalias is used both as the device identifier and as a
driver_override, so that the device binds to the named driver
directly. This is necessary because some drivers like spidev
deliberately exclude generic names from their id_table.

Devices created this way are limited compared to those declared
via DT or board files:

  - No IRQ is assigned (the device gets IRQ 0 / no interrupt).
  - No platform_data or device properties are attached.
  - No OF node is associated with the device.

These limitations are acceptable for spidev, which only needs a
registered spi_device to expose a character device to userspace.

Only devices created via new_device can be removed through
delete_device; DT and platform devices are unaffected.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-tegra/909f0c92-d110-4253-903e-5c81e21e12c9@nvidia.com/

Signed-off-by: Vishwaroop A <va@nvidia.com>
---
 drivers/spi/spi.c       | 172 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 include/linux/spi/spi.h |  10 +++
 2 files changed, 182 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/spi/spi.c b/drivers/spi/spi.c
index 7001f5dce8bd..b0c66f7b3ea0 100644
--- a/drivers/spi/spi.c
+++ b/drivers/spi/spi.c
@@ -296,8 +296,160 @@ static const struct attribute_group spi_controller_statistics_group = {
 	.attrs  = spi_controller_statistics_attrs,
 };
 
+/*
+ * new_device_store - instantiate a new SPI device from userspace
+ *
+ * Takes parameters: <modalias> <chip_select> [<max_speed_hz> [<mode>]]
+ *
+ * Examples:
+ *   echo spidev 0 > new_device
+ *   echo spidev 0 10000000 > new_device
+ *   echo spidev 0 10000000 3 > new_device
+ */
+static ssize_t
+new_device_store(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr,
+		 const char *buf, size_t count)
+{
+	struct spi_controller *ctlr = container_of(dev, struct spi_controller,
+						   dev);
+	struct spi_device *spi;
+	char modalias[SPI_NAME_SIZE];
+	u16 chip_select;
+	u32 max_speed_hz = 0;
+	u32 mode = 0;
+	char *blank;
+	int n, res, status;
+
+	blank = strchr(buf, ' ');
+	if (!blank) {
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Missing parameters\n", "new_device");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	if (blank - buf > SPI_NAME_SIZE - 1) {
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Invalid device name\n", "new_device");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	memset(modalias, 0, sizeof(modalias));
+	memcpy(modalias, buf, blank - buf);
+
+	/*
+	 * sscanf fills only the fields it matches; unmatched optional
+	 * fields (max_speed_hz, mode) stay zero from initialisation above.
+	 * max_speed_hz == 0 is clamped to the controller max by spi_setup().
+	 * mode == 0 selects SPI mode 0 (CPOL=0, CPHA=0).
+	 */
+	res = sscanf(++blank, "%hu %u %u%n",
+		     &chip_select, &max_speed_hz, &mode, &n);
+	if (res < 1) {
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Can't parse chip select\n", "new_device");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	if (chip_select >= ctlr->num_chipselect) {
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Chip select %u >= max %u\n", "new_device",
+			chip_select, ctlr->num_chipselect);
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	spi = spi_alloc_device(ctlr);
+	if (!spi)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
+	spi_set_chipselect(spi, 0, chip_select);
+	spi->max_speed_hz = max_speed_hz;
+	spi->mode = mode;
+	spi->cs_index_mask = BIT(0);
+	strscpy(spi->modalias, modalias, sizeof(spi->modalias));
+
+	/*
+	 * Set driver_override so that the device binds to the driver
+	 * named by modalias regardless of whether that driver's
+	 * id_table contains a matching entry.  This is needed because
+	 * some drivers (e.g. spidev) deliberately omit generic names
+	 * from their id_table.
+	 */
+	status = device_set_driver_override(&spi->dev, modalias);
+	if (status) {
+		spi_dev_put(spi);
+		return status;
+	}
+
+	status = spi_add_device(spi);
+	if (status) {
+		spi_dev_put(spi);
+		return status;
+	}
+
+	mutex_lock(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+	list_add_tail(&spi->userspace_node, &ctlr->userspace_clients);
+	mutex_unlock(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+	dev_info(dev, "%s: Instantiated device %s at CS%u\n", "new_device",
+		 modalias, chip_select);
+
+	return count;
+}
+static DEVICE_ATTR_WO(new_device);
+
+static ssize_t
+delete_device_store(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr,
+		    const char *buf, size_t count)
+{
+	struct spi_controller *ctlr = container_of(dev, struct spi_controller,
+						   dev);
+	struct spi_device *spi, *next;
+	unsigned short cs;
+	char end;
+	int res;
+
+	res = sscanf(buf, "%hu%c", &cs, &end);
+	if (res < 1) {
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Can't parse chip select\n", "delete_device");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+	if (res > 1 && end != '\n') {
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Extra parameters\n", "delete_device");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	res = -ENOENT;
+	mutex_lock(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+	list_for_each_entry_safe(spi, next, &ctlr->userspace_clients,
+				 userspace_node) {
+		if (spi_get_chipselect(spi, 0) == cs) {
+			dev_info(dev, "%s: Deleting device %s at CS%u\n",
+				 "delete_device", spi->modalias, cs);
+
+			list_del(&spi->userspace_node);
+			spi_unregister_device(spi);
+			res = count;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	mutex_unlock(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+
+	if (res < 0)
+		dev_err(dev, "%s: Can't find device in list\n",
+			"delete_device");
+	return res;
+}
+static DEVICE_ATTR_IGNORE_LOCKDEP(delete_device, 0200, NULL,
+				   delete_device_store);
+
+static struct attribute *spi_controller_userspace_attrs[] = {
+	&dev_attr_new_device.attr,
+	&dev_attr_delete_device.attr,
+	NULL,
+};
+
+static const struct attribute_group spi_controller_userspace_group = {
+	.attrs = spi_controller_userspace_attrs,
+};
+
 static const struct attribute_group *spi_controller_groups[] = {
 	&spi_controller_statistics_group,
+	&spi_controller_userspace_group,
 	NULL,
 };
 
@@ -3256,6 +3408,8 @@ struct spi_controller *__spi_alloc_controller(struct device *dev,
 	mutex_init(&ctlr->bus_lock_mutex);
 	mutex_init(&ctlr->io_mutex);
 	mutex_init(&ctlr->add_lock);
+	mutex_init(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ctlr->userspace_clients);
 	ctlr->bus_num = -1;
 	ctlr->num_chipselect = 1;
 	ctlr->num_data_lanes = 1;
@@ -3633,6 +3787,24 @@ void spi_unregister_controller(struct spi_controller *ctlr)
 	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SPI_DYNAMIC))
 		mutex_lock(&ctlr->add_lock);
 
+	/*
+	 * Remove devices created via the sysfs new_device interface.
+	 * These must be explicitly removed before device_for_each_child()
+	 * below because spi_unregister_device() does not remove devices
+	 * from the userspace_clients list; freeing them without list_del()
+	 * first would leave dangling pointers in that list.
+	 */
+	mutex_lock(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+	while (!list_empty(&ctlr->userspace_clients)) {
+		struct spi_device *spi;
+
+		spi = list_first_entry(&ctlr->userspace_clients,
+				       struct spi_device, userspace_node);
+		list_del(&spi->userspace_node);
+		spi_unregister_device(spi);
+	}
+	mutex_unlock(&ctlr->userspace_clients_lock);
+
 	device_for_each_child(&ctlr->dev, NULL, __unregister);
 
 	/* First make sure that this controller was ever added */
diff --git a/include/linux/spi/spi.h b/include/linux/spi/spi.h
index 7587b1c5d7ec..63c267ca9730 100644
--- a/include/linux/spi/spi.h
+++ b/include/linux/spi/spi.h
@@ -250,6 +250,9 @@ struct spi_device {
 	u8			rx_lane_map[SPI_DEVICE_DATA_LANE_CNT_MAX];
 	u8			num_rx_lanes;
 
+	/* Entry on controller's userspace_clients list */
+	struct list_head	userspace_node;
+
 	/*
 	 * Likely need more hooks for more protocol options affecting how
 	 * the controller talks to each chip, like:
@@ -554,6 +557,9 @@ extern struct spi_device *devm_spi_new_ancillary_device(struct spi_device *spi,
  * @defer_optimize_message: set to true if controller cannot pre-optimize messages
  *	and needs to defer the optimization step until the message is actually
  *	being transferred
+ * @userspace_clients: list of SPI devices instantiated from userspace via
+ *	the sysfs new_device interface
+ * @userspace_clients_lock: mutex protecting @userspace_clients
  *
  * Each SPI controller can communicate with one or more @spi_device
  * children.  These make a small bus, sharing MOSI, MISO and SCK signals
@@ -809,6 +815,10 @@ struct spi_controller {
 	bool			queue_empty;
 	bool			must_async;
 	bool			defer_optimize_message;
+
+	/* List of SPI devices created via sysfs new_device interface */
+	struct list_head	userspace_clients;
+	struct mutex		userspace_clients_lock;
 };
 
 static inline void *spi_controller_get_devdata(struct spi_controller *ctlr)
-- 
2.17.1


  reply	other threads:[~2026-04-20  3:14 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-04-20  3:14 [PATCH 0/2] spi: add sysfs interface for userspace device instantiation Vishwaroop A
2026-04-20  3:14 ` Vishwaroop A [this message]
2026-04-20  3:14 ` [PATCH 2/2] docs: spi: add documentation " Vishwaroop A

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