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IOWorkLoop

Inherits from:	OSObject
Declared In:	IOWorkLoop.h

Overview

An IOWorkLoop is a thread of control that is intended to be used to provide single threaded access to hardware. This class has no knowledge of the nature and type of the events that it marshals and forwards. When a device driver successfully starts (see IOService::start), it is expected to create the event sources it will need to receive events. Then a work loop is initialized and the events are added to the work loop for monitoring. In general this set up will be automated by the family superclass of the specific device.

The thread main method walks the event source linked list and messages each one requesting a work check. At this point each event source is expected to notify its registered owner that the event has occurred. After each event has been walked and each indicates that another loop isn't required (by setting the 'more' flag to false) the thread will go to sleep on a signaling semaphore.

When an event source is registered with a work loop it is informed of the semaphore to use to wake up the loop.

Functions

_maintRequest: Synchronous implementation of addEventSource and removeEventSource functions.
addEventSource
disableAllEventSources: Calls disable() in all event sources.
disableAllInterrupts: Calls disable() in all interrupt event sources.
enableAllEventSources: Calls enable() in all event sources.
enableAllInterrupts: Calls enable() in all interrupt event sources.
free
getThread: Gets the workThread.
inGate: Is the current execution context holding the work-loop's gate?
init
onThread: Is the current execution context on the work thread?
removeEventSource
runAction: Single thread a call to an action with the work-loop.
runEventSources
threadMain
threadMainContinuation: Static function that calls the threadMain function.
workLoop: Factory member function to construct and intialize a work loop.
workLoopWithOptions: Factory member function to constuct and intialize a work loop.
workLoopWithOptions(IOOptionBits options): Factory member function to constuct and intialize a work loop.

_maintRequest

Synchronous implementation of addEventSource and removeEventSource functions.

protected

virtual IOReturn _maintRequest(
    void *command,
    void *data,
    void *,
    void *);

Return Value

kIOReturnUnsupported if the command given is not implemented, kIOReturnSuccess otherwise.

Discussion

This function implements the commands as defined in the maintCommandEnum. It can be subclassed but it isn't an external API in the usual sense. A subclass implementation of _maintRequest would be called synchronously with respect to the work loop and it should be implemented in the usual way that an ioctl would be.

addEventSource

public

virtual IOReturn addEventSource(
    IOEventSource *newEvent);

Parameters

newEvent: Pointer to IOEventSource subclass to add.

Return Value

Always returns kIOReturnSuccess.

Discussion

Add an event source to be monitored by the work loop. This function does not return until the work loop has acknowledged the arrival of the new event source. When a new event has been added the threadMain will always restart its loop and check all outstanding events. The event source is retained by the work loop.

disableAllEventSources

Calls disable() in all event sources.

public

virtual void disableAllEventSources() const;

Discussion

For all event sources in eventChain, call disable() function. See IOEventSource::disable().

disableAllInterrupts

Calls disable() in all interrupt event sources.

public

virtual void disableAllInterrupts() const;

Discussion

For all event sources (ES) for which IODynamicCast(IOInterruptEventSource, ES) is valid, in eventChain call disable() function. See IOEventSource::disable().

enableAllEventSources

Calls enable() in all event sources.

public

virtual void enableAllEventSources() const;

Discussion

For all event sources in eventChain, call enable() function. See IOEventSource::enable().

enableAllInterrupts

Calls enable() in all interrupt event sources.

public

virtual void enableAllInterrupts() const;

Discussion

For all event sources (ES) for which IODynamicCast(IOInterruptEventSource, ES) is valid, in eventChain call enable() function. See IOEventSource::enable().

free

protected

virtual void free();

Discussion

Mandatory free of the object independent of the current retain count. If the work loop is running, this method will not return until the thread has successfully terminated. Each event source in the chain will be released and the working semaphore will be destroyed.

If the client has some outstanding requests on an event they will never be informed of completion. If an external thread is blocked on any of the event sources they will be awakened with a KERN_INTERUPTED status.

getThread

Gets the workThread.

public

virtual IOThread getThread() const;

Return Value

Returns workThread.

inGate

Is the current execution context holding the work-loop's gate?

public

virtual bool inGate() const;

Return Value

Returns true if IOThreadSelf() is gate holder.

init

public

virtual bool init();

Return Value

Returns true if initialized successfully, false otherwise.

Discussion

Initializes an instance of the workloop. This method creates and initializes the signaling semaphore, the controller gate lock, and spawns the thread that will continue executing.

onThread

Is the current execution context on the work thread?

public

virtual bool onThread() const;

Return Value

Returns true if IOThreadSelf() == workThread.

removeEventSource

public

virtual IOReturn removeEventSource(
    IOEventSource *toRemove);

Parameters

toRemove: Pointer to IOEventSource subclass to remove.

Return Value

Returns kIOReturnSuccess if successful, kIOReturnBadArgument if toRemove couldn't be found.

Discussion

Remove an event source from the work loop. This function does not return until the work loop has acknowledged the removal of the event source. When an event has been removed the threadMain will always restart its loop and check all outstanding events. The event source will be released before return.

runAction

Single thread a call to an action with the work-loop.

public

virtual IOReturn runAction(
    Action action,
    OSObject *target, 
    void *arg0 = 0,
    void *arg1 = 0, 
    void *arg2 = 0,
    void *arg3 = 0);

Parameters

action: Pointer to function to be executed in work-loop context.
arg0: Parameter for action parameter, defaults to 0.
arg1: Parameter for action parameter, defaults to 0.
arg2: Parameter for action parameter, defaults to 0.
arg3: Parameter for action parameter, defaults to 0.

Return Value

Returns the value of the Action callout.

Discussion

Client function that causes the given action to be called in a single threaded manner. Beware: the work-loop's gate is recursive and runAction can cause direct or indirect re-entrancy. When executing on a client's thread, runAction will sleep until the work-loop's gate opens for execution of client actions, the action is single threaded against all other work-loop event sources.

runEventSources

public

virtual bool runEventSources();

Return Value

Return false if the work loop is shutting down, true otherwise.

Discussion

Consists of the inner 2 loops of the threadMain function(qv). The outer loop terminates when there is no more work, and the inside loop walks the event list calling the checkForWork method in each event source. If an event source has more work to do, it can set the more flag and the outer loop will repeat.

This function can be used to clear a priority inversion between the normal workloop thread and multimedia's real time threads. The problem is that the interrupt action routine is often held off by high priority threads. So if they want to get their data now they will have to call us and ask if any data is available. The multi-media user client will arrange for this function to be called, which causes any pending interrupts to be processed and the completion routines called. By the time the function returns all outstanding work will have been completed at the real time threads priority.

threadMain

protected

virtual void threadMain();

Discussion

Work loop threads main function. This function consists of 3 loops: the outermost loop is the semaphore clear and wait loop, the middle loop terminates when there is no more work, and the inside loop walks the event list calling the checkForWork method in each event source. If an event source has more work to do, it can set the more flag and the middle loop will repeat. When no more work is outstanding the outermost will sleep until an event is signalled or the least wakeupTime, whichever occurs first. If the event source does not require the semaphore wait to time out, it must set the provided wakeupTime parameter to zero.

threadMainContinuation

Static function that calls the threadMain function.

private

static void threadMainContinuation(
    IOWorkLoop *self);

workLoop

Factory member function to construct and intialize a work loop.

public

static IOWorkLoop *workLoop();

Return Value

Returns a workLoop instance if constructed successfully, 0 otherwise.

workLoopWithOptions

Factory member function to constuct and intialize a work loop.

public

static IOWorkLoop *workLoopWithOptions(
    IOOptionBits options);

Parameters

options: Options - kPreciousStack to avoid stack deallocation on paging path.

Return Value

Returns a workLoop instance if constructed successfully, 0 otherwise.

workLoopWithOptions(IOOptionBits options)

Factory member function to constuct and intialize a work loop.

public

static IOWorkLoop *workLoopWithOptions(
    IOOptionBits options);

Parameters

options: Options - kPreciousStack to avoid stack deallocation on paging path.

Return Value

Returns a workLoop instance if constructed successfully, 0 otherwise.

Typedefs

Action

public

typedef IOReturn ( *Action)(
    OSObject *target, 
    void *arg0,
    void *arg1, 
    void *arg2,
    void *arg3);

Fields

target: Target of the function, can be used as a refcon. Note if a C++ function was specified, this parameter is implicitly the first parameter in the target member function's parameter list.
arg0: Argument to action from run operation.
arg1: Argument to action from run operation.
arg2: Argument to action from run operation.
arg3: Argument to action from run operation.

Discussion

Type and arguments of callout C function that is used when a runCommand is executed by a client. Cast to this type when you want a C++ member function to be used. Note the arg1 - arg3 parameters are straight pass through from the runCommand to the action callout.

maintCommandEnum

protected

typedef enum {
    mAddEvent,
    mRemoveEvent 
} maintCommandEnum;

Constants

mAddEvent

Used to tag a Remove event source command.

mRemoveEvent

Used to tag a Remove event source command.

Discussion

Enumeration of commands that _maintCommand can deal with.

Structs and Unions

ExpansionData

protected

struct ExpansionData { 
    IOOptionBits options; 
};

Discussion

This structure will be used to expand the capablilties of the IOWorkLoop in the future.

Member Data

controlG

protected

IOCommandGate *controlG;

Discussion

Internal control gate to maintain event system.

eventChain

protected

IOEventSource *eventChain;

Discussion

Pointer to first event source in linked list.

gateLock

protected

IORecursiveLock *gateLock;

Discussion

Mutual exclusion lock that is used by close and open Gate functions. This is a recursive lock, which allows multiple layers of code to share a single IOWorkLoop without deadlock. This is common in IOKit since threads of execution tend to follow the service plane in the IORegistry, and multiple objects along the call path may acquire the gate for the same (shared) workloop.

loopRestart

protected

bool loopRestart;

Discussion

Set if an event chain has been changed and the system has to be rechecked from start. (Internal use only)

reserved

protected

ExpansionData *reserved;

Discussion

Reserved for future use. (Internal use only)

workThread

protected

IOThread workThread;

Discussion

Work loop thread.

workToDo

protected

volatile bool workToDo;

Discussion

Used to to indicate that an interrupt has fired and needs to be processed.

workToDoLock

protected

IOSimpleLock *workToDoLock;

Discussion

The spin lock that is used to guard the 'workToDo' variable.

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Last Updated: 2008-12-19