May 2002 - Darwin-kernel - lists.apple.com

Re: Getting prefs to my driver (was: reading a file from kernel)
by Dean Reece 07 May '02

07 May '02

On the darwin-dev list I read a post from Dean Reece where he said they were working on a feature that allowed "per-kext preferences to be stored", any news on that? No news on that yet. It is now at the top of our to-do list, now that we've gotten the KEXT tools suite up to where we want it. On Tuesday, May 7, 2002, at 01:28 AM, Frode Isaksen wrote: I have exactly the same problem with the PCI and USB drivers for an adsl modem. I need to know the modulation (G.dmt,ANSI,G.lite) when starting up. Launching a tool with KUNCExecute fails during boot, and after boot I am not called any more, since the driver is an Ethernet controller. I chose to use the non-recommended solution to modify the driver Info.plist. To be more specific, on-the-fly changes to your Info.plist is unsupported. We've steered people away from this for a very good reason - it won't work on future releases. More complex caching, and features like driver signing will not permit any changes within the kext bundle. This mechanism is OK for use during development as a quick way to tweak driver settings. It is also OK for installation-time settings: Install the driver to /tmp; ask user questions; tweak plist accordingly; make plist read-only; move driver to /S/L/E. It is NOT OK for on-the-fly changes. Of course I will change my driver when a better solution exists. What I really would like to have is the CFPreferences API for KEXT's. This is pretty much what we are working on. - Dean _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Re: Getting prefs to my driver (was: reading a file from kernel)
by Shawn Erickson 07 May '02

07 May '02

FYI... I was going to work on a generic framework for this as a project under OpenDarwin. I don't think it will be ready in the next couple of months but some day soon... Let me know of your requirements for such a beast (I have similar needs in drivers that I am writing but not on a per users basis). The following is from a project idea listing I sent to OpenDarwin hackers list... - Driver configuration information framework Provides a framework for the setting, getting and persistent storing of driver configuration information. The main setters would come from user mode applications/preference panels/installers and the getters would be in kernel component/drivers. A main requirement is the ability to get config information to drivers at boot time. Secondary requirements are the ability to store per user config information for those drivers that change depending on logged in user. Currently every driver vendor that needs driver configuration information has to implement their own method. This project would attempt to provide a standardized and tested way of doing what is needed. _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Re: Getting prefs to my driver (was: reading a file from kernel)
by Frode Isaksen 07 May '02

07 May '02

> Hi. > > So, now I read up some more on what's been said here before about getting > preferences or settings for a driver. It seems as the recommened (and > only..?) way to do this is to have a usermode process feeding sysctls (or > ioctls) to the driver, as I stated earlier I've got a problem with that > approach. Let me explain: > > The sysctl solution is fine if you have a driver thats loaded at boot-time, > in that case I could have a Startup Item feeding me the prefs. But, my kext > is a driver for a USB modem so when it's plugged in I'll have to tell my > "PrefsLoader" app to start, have it read my file and wait in the kext for it > to return, all this *before* the user decides to connect. Well, I suppose > that in most cases there'd be more than enough time but I'm not comfortable > making assumptions. Is this the way to go after all? > > How do you all do it with your drivers? Does all drivers in OSX (that need > settings) have usermode processes running feeding them settings? Is there > *really, really, really* no way to read a file? > > So, what about the IORegistry then, I remember seeing that it's not saved to > disk, but is there really nothing the IORegistry can do for me in this dark > hour? > > On the darwin-dev list I read a post from Dean Reece where he said they were > working on a feature that allowed "per-kext preferences to be stored", any > news on that? > I have exactly the same problem with the PCI and USB drivers for an adsl modem. I need to know the modulation (G.dmt,ANSI,G.lite) when starting up. Launching a tool with KUNCExecute fails during boot, and after boot I am not called any more, since the driver is an Ethernet controller. I chose to use the non-recommended solution to modify the driver Info.plist. Of course I will change my driver when a better solution exists. What I really would like to have is the CFPreferences API for KEXT's. Frode _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Getting prefs to my driver (was: reading a file from kernel)
by Torsten Gatu 06 May '02

06 May '02

Hi. So, now I read up some more on what's been said here before about getting preferences or settings for a driver. It seems as the recommened (and only..?) way to do this is to have a usermode process feeding sysctls (or ioctls) to the driver, as I stated earlier I've got a problem with that approach. Let me explain: The sysctl solution is fine if you have a driver thats loaded at boot-time, in that case I could have a Startup Item feeding me the prefs. But, my kext is a driver for a USB modem so when it's plugged in I'll have to tell my "PrefsLoader" app to start, have it read my file and wait in the kext for it to return, all this *before* the user decides to connect. Well, I suppose that in most cases there'd be more than enough time but I'm not comfortable making assumptions. Is this the way to go after all? How do you all do it with your drivers? Does all drivers in OSX (that need settings) have usermode processes running feeding them settings? Is there *really, really, really* no way to read a file? So, what about the IORegistry then, I remember seeing that it's not saved to disk, but is there really nothing the IORegistry can do for me in this dark hour? On the darwin-dev list I read a post from Dean Reece where he said they were working on a feature that allowed "per-kext preferences to be stored", any news on that? Thanks /TG _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Re: reading a file from kernel?
by Dean Reece 03 May '02

03 May '02

On Friday, May 3, 2002, at 07:54 AM, Shawn Erickson wrote: Folks any reasons that the USB modem driver must be in the kernel? Currently, you have to be in the kernel in order for the IOSerialBSDClient to find you and publish /dev nodes on your behalf. I am not familiar with the USB side of the things but it would be best if the driver could be done in user space (plus this gives you the ability to load file information). We've considered adding "trampoline" code that would allow user-space entities to publish /dev nodes (particularly for tape drivers). This seems like another reasonable use of such a mechanism. We don't have anything as formal as a plan for doing this, just an idea we are kicking around. - Dean _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Re: reading a file from kernel?
by Shawn Erickson 03 May '02

03 May '02

Folks any reasons that the USB modem driver must be in the kernel? I am not familiar with the USB side of the things but it would be best if the driver could be done in user space (plus this gives you the ability to load file information). -Shawn On Thursday, May 2, 2002, at 08:11 AM, Torsten Gatu wrote: Hi, I'm writing a driver for a USB modem. The driver needs to read a file with preferences when the user connects. I haven't been able to find any documentation on how to do this in kernel mode but from reading a couple of LINUX ng's I've come to understand that there might be a problem doing this. Does anyone know what would be the right way to do this? (a usermode process sending ioctls with the preferences will not work in this case) _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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RE: reading a file from kernel?
by Torsten Gatu 03 May '02

03 May '02

I did actually search the archives before posting but I was probably searching for the wrong words. I'll try yours and see what turns up, thanks. /TG -----Original Message----- From: Francis bouchard [mailto:francis.bouchard@matrox.com] Sent: den 3 maj 2002 15:58 To: 'darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com' Subject: Re: reading a file from kernel? On 02/05/02 11:11, "Torsten Gatu" <torsten.gatu(a)msab.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm writing a driver for a USB modem. The driver needs to read a file with > preferences when the user connects. I haven't been able to find any > documentation on how to do this in kernel mode but from reading a couple of > LINUX ng's I've come to understand that there might be a problem doing this. > > Does anyone know what would be the right way to do this? (a usermode process > sending ioctls with the preferences will not work in this case) > This have been discussed a lot of times. You can check in the archives for: - Notify a kext when a user logsin or logsout - Post Login StartupItems - Preferences for a kext - Storing and retrieving kext settings In darwin-dev list francis _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Re: reading a file from kernel?
by Sean McBride 03 May '02

03 May '02

Torsten Gatu (torsten.gatu(a)msab.com) wrote: >I'm writing a driver for a USB modem. The driver needs to read a file with >preferences when the user connects. I haven't been able to find any >documentation on how to do this in kernel mode but from reading a couple of >LINUX ng's I've come to understand that there might be a problem doing this. > >Does anyone know what would be the right way to do this? (a usermode process >sending ioctls with the preferences will not work in this case) As meeroh told you on csmp, this issue has been discussed at length several times. You can search the list archives. One solution is to send the prefs down to your driver from user level. But you say this won't work in your case? Why? Anyway, I think there is another solution, that allows a driver to send something up, maybe even showing a UI. It was discussed, but I forget what its called, let alone the details. _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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Re: reading a file from kernel?
by Francis bouchard 03 May '02

03 May '02

On 02/05/02 11:11, "Torsten Gatu" <torsten.gatu(a)msab.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm writing a driver for a USB modem. The driver needs to read a file with > preferences when the user connects. I haven't been able to find any > documentation on how to do this in kernel mode but from reading a couple of > LINUX ng's I've come to understand that there might be a problem doing this. > > Does anyone know what would be the right way to do this? (a usermode process > sending ioctls with the preferences will not work in this case) > This have been discussed a lot of times. You can check in the archives for: - Notify a kext when a user logsin or logsout - Post Login StartupItems - Preferences for a kext - Storing and retrieving kext settings In darwin-dev list francis _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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reading a file from kernel?
by Torsten Gatu 02 May '02

02 May '02

Hi, I'm writing a driver for a USB modem. The driver needs to read a file with preferences when the user connects. I haven't been able to find any documentation on how to do this in kernel mode but from reading a couple of LINUX ng's I've come to understand that there might be a problem doing this. Does anyone know what would be the right way to do this? (a usermode process sending ioctls with the preferences will not work in this case) Thanks /TG _______________________________________________ darwin-kernel mailing list | darwin-kernel(a)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/darwin-kernel Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.

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