What is the method for handling interrupts in Linux serial port drivers?
In Linux serial port drivers, interrupt handling can be achieved by following these steps:
- Interrupt registration: During driver initialization, use the request_irq() function to register the interrupt handler. This function requires specifying parameters such as the interrupt number, interrupt handler, and interrupt flags.
- Interrupt handler: An interrupt handler is a function that is triggered to execute when data is received by the serial port. The interrupt handler needs to complete the following tasks:
- Read the serial data register to retrieve the received data.
- Handle the received data by placing it into a buffer for the application to read.
- Clear the interrupt flag so that the serial port can continue to receive data.
- Binding interrupt handlers: associating interrupt handlers with interrupt numbers. Multiple devices can share the same interrupt handler by using the IRQF_SHARED flag.
- Enabling and disabling interruptions: To enable or disable interruptions in the drive’s open and close functions, the enable_irq() and disable_irq() functions are used. Disabling interruptions while the serial port is not working can help save system resources.
It is important to note that interrupt handlers should be kept short and quick to avoid prolonged use of CPU resources. If dealing with complex tasks, data can be stored in a buffer for processing in the application. Additionally, interrupt handlers should pay attention to protecting shared resources by addressing synchronization issues, such as using spin locks or mutex locks.
Furthermore, Linux offers advanced interrupt handling mechanisms such as tasklets and workqueues to handle interrupts. Tasklets are a type of soft interrupt that can be executed in both interrupt context and process context, while workqueues are a mechanism for deferred execution that can be executed in process context. These mechanisms allow interrupt handlers to perform more complex tasks without blocking other interrupts or processes.