I'm porting / debugging a device driver (that is used by another kernel module) and facing a dead end because dma_sync_single_for_device() fails with an kernel oops.
I have no clue what that function is supposed to do and googling does not really help, so I probably need to learn more about this stuff in total.
The question is, where to start?
Oh yeah, in case it is relevant, the code is supposed to run on a PowerPC (and the linux is OpenWRT)
EDIT: On-line resources preferrable (books take a few days to be delivered :)
On-line:
Anatomy of the Linux slab allocator
Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager
Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition
The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide
Writing device drivers in Linux: A brief tutorial
Books:
Linux Kernel Development (2nd Edition)
Essential Linux Device Drivers ( Only the first 4 - 5 chapters )
Useful Resources:
the Linux Cross Reference ( Searchable Kernel Source for all Kernels )
API changes in the 2.6 kernel series
dma_sync_single_for_device calls dma_sync_single_range_for_cpu a little further up in the file and this is the source documentation ( I assume that even though this is for arm the interface and behavior are the same ):
/**
380 * dma_sync_single_range_for_cpu
381 * @dev: valid struct device pointer, or NULL for ISA and EISA-like devices
382 * @handle: DMA address of buffer
383 * @offset: offset of region to start sync
384 * @size: size of region to sync
385 * @dir: DMA transfer direction (same as passed to dma_map_single)
386 *
387 * Make physical memory consistent for a single streaming mode DMA
388 * translation after a transfer.
389 *
390 * If you perform a dma_map_single() but wish to interrogate the
391 * buffer using the cpu, yet do not wish to teardown the PCI dma
392 * mapping, you must call this function before doing so. At the
393 * next point you give the PCI dma address back to the card, you
394 * must first the perform a dma_sync_for_device, and then the
395 * device again owns the buffer.
396 */
The chapters of the Linux Device Drivers book (in the same series as Understanding the Linux Kernel, recommended by @Matthew Flaschen) might be useful.
You can download the indiivudal chapters from the LWN Website. Chapter 16 deals with DMA.
来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2369411/where-to-start-learning-about-linux-dma-device-drivers-memory-allocation