Console Drivers¶

The Linux kernel has 2 general types of console drivers. The first type is assigned by the kernel to all the virtual consoles during the boot process. This type will be called ‘system driver’, and only one system driver is allowed to exist. The system driver is persistent and it can never be unloaded, though it may become inactive.

The second type has to be explicitly loaded and unloaded. This will be called ‘modular driver’ by this document. Multiple modular drivers can coexist at any time with each driver sharing the console with other drivers including the system driver. However, modular drivers cannot take over the console that is currently occupied by another modular driver. (Exception: Drivers that call do_take_over_console() will succeed in the takeover regardless of the type of driver occupying the consoles.) They can only take over the console that is occupied by the system driver. In the same token, if the modular driver is released by the console, the system driver will take over.

Modular drivers, from the programmer’s point of view, have to call:

do_take_over_console() - load and bind driver to console layer
give_up_console() - unload driver; it will only work if driver
                    is fully unbound

In newer kernels, the following are also available:

do_register_con_driver()
do_unregister_con_driver()

If sysfs is enabled, the contents of /sys/class/vtconsole can be examined. This shows the console backends currently registered by the system which are named vtcon<n> where <n> is an integer from 0 to 15. Thus:

ls /sys/class/vtconsole
.  ..  vtcon0  vtcon1

Each directory in /sys/class/vtconsole has 3 files:

ls /sys/class/vtconsole/vtcon0
.  ..  bind  name  uevent

What do these files signify?

1. bind - this is a read/write file. It shows the status of the driver if read, or acts to bind or unbind the driver to the virtual consoles when written to. The possible values are:

   0

   • means the driver is not bound and if echo’ed, commands the driver to unbind

   1

   • means the driver is bound and if echo’ed, commands the driver to bind

2. name - read-only file. Shows the name of the driver in this format:

   cat /sys/class/vtconsole/vtcon0/name
   (S) VGA+
   
       '(S)' stands for a (S)ystem driver, i.e., it cannot be directly
       commanded to bind or unbind
   
       'VGA+' is the name of the driver
   
   cat /sys/class/vtconsole/vtcon1/name
   (M) frame buffer device
   
       In this case, '(M)' stands for a (M)odular driver, one that can be
       directly commanded to bind or unbind.
   

3. uevent - ignore this file

When unbinding, the modular driver is detached first, and then the system driver takes over the consoles vacated by the driver. Binding, on the other hand, will bind the driver to the consoles that are currently occupied by a system driver.

NOTE1:

Binding and unbinding must be selected in Kconfig. It’s under:

Device Drivers ->
    Character devices ->
            Support for binding and unbinding console drivers

NOTE2:

If any of the virtual consoles are in KD_GRAPHICS mode, then binding or unbinding will not succeed. An example of an application that sets the console to KD_GRAPHICS is X.

How useful is this feature? This is very useful for console driver developers. By unbinding the driver from the console layer, one can unload the driver, make changes, recompile, reload and rebind the driver without any need for rebooting the kernel. For regular users who may want to switch from framebuffer console to VGA console and vice versa, this feature also makes this possible. (NOTE NOTE NOTE: Please read fbcon.txt under Documentation/fb for more details.)

do_register_con_driver()
do_bind_con_driver() - private function