Why is the probe method needed in Linux device drivers in addition to init?

Question

In the linux kernel, what does the probe() method, that the driver provides, do? How different is it from the driver\'s init function, i.e. why can

Answer 1

Linux kernel uses a hardware device matching a software device driver process. init is called very early, and registers probe function and a hardware device name like "taiko_sound_card", to the kernel. This is to tell kernel that "I am sw driver for this device of this name". When the kernel goes through hw devices (device tree or bus enum), and finds a match, it will call your registered probe function. Now your sw device driver owns the hw device.

If no matching device is found, your probe may never get called. This is why typically init is tiny and probe does all the init work.