5 ACPI can be used for ARMv8 general purpose servers designed to follow
6 the ARM SBSA (Server Base System Architecture) [0] and SBBR (Server
7 Base Boot Requirements) [1] specifications. Please note that the SBBR
8 can be retrieved simply by visiting [1], but the SBSA is currently only
9 available to those with an ARM login due to ARM IP licensing concerns.
11 The ARMv8 kernel implements the reduced hardware model of ACPI version
12 5.1 or later. Links to the specification and all external documents
13 it refers to are managed by the UEFI Forum. The specification is
14 available at http://www.uefi.org/specifications and documents referenced
15 by the specification can be found via http://www.uefi.org/acpi.
17 If an ARMv8 system does not meet the requirements of the SBSA and SBBR,
18 or cannot be described using the mechanisms defined in the required ACPI
19 specifications, then ACPI may not be a good fit for the hardware.
21 While the documents mentioned above set out the requirements for building
22 industry-standard ARMv8 servers, they also apply to more than one operating
23 system. The purpose of this document is to describe the interaction between
24 ACPI and Linux only, on an ARMv8 system -- that is, what Linux expects of
25 ACPI and what ACPI can expect of Linux.
30 Before examining the details of the interface between ACPI and Linux, it is
31 useful to understand why ACPI is being used. Several technologies already
32 exist in Linux for describing non-enumerable hardware, after all. In this
33 section we summarize a blog post [2] from Grant Likely that outlines the
34 reasoning behind ACPI on ARMv8 servers. Actually, we snitch a good portion
35 of the summary text almost directly, to be honest.
37 The short form of the rationale for ACPI on ARM is:
39 - ACPI’s byte code (AML) allows the platform to encode hardware behavior,
40 while DT explicitly does not support this. For hardware vendors, being
41 able to encode behavior is a key tool used in supporting operating
42 system releases on new hardware.
44 - ACPI’s OSPM defines a power management model that constrains what the
45 platform is allowed to do into a specific model, while still providing
46 flexibility in hardware design.
48 - In the enterprise server environment, ACPI has established bindings (such
49 as for RAS) which are currently used in production systems. DT does not.
50 Such bindings could be defined in DT at some point, but doing so means ARM
51 and x86 would end up using completely different code paths in both firmware
54 - Choosing a single interface to describe the abstraction between a platform
55 and an OS is important. Hardware vendors would not be required to implement
56 both DT and ACPI if they want to support multiple operating systems. And,
57 agreeing on a single interface instead of being fragmented into per OS
58 interfaces makes for better interoperability overall.
60 - The new ACPI governance process works well and Linux is now at the same
61 table as hardware vendors and other OS vendors. In fact, there is no
62 longer any reason to feel that ACPI only belongs to Windows or that
63 Linux is in any way secondary to Microsoft in this arena. The move of
64 ACPI governance into the UEFI forum has significantly opened up the
65 specification development process, and currently, a large portion of the
66 changes being made to ACPI are being driven by Linux.
68 Key to the use of ACPI is the support model. For servers in general, the
69 responsibility for hardware behaviour cannot solely be the domain of the
70 kernel, but rather must be split between the platform and the kernel, in
71 order to allow for orderly change over time. ACPI frees the OS from needing
72 to understand all the minute details of the hardware so that the OS doesn’t
73 need to be ported to each and every device individually. It allows the
74 hardware vendors to take responsibility for power management behaviour without
75 depending on an OS release cycle which is not under their control.
77 ACPI is also important because hardware and OS vendors have already worked
78 out the mechanisms for supporting a general purpose computing ecosystem. The
79 infrastructure is in place, the bindings are in place, and the processes are
80 in place. DT does exactly what Linux needs it to when working with vertically
81 integrated devices, but there are no good processes for supporting what the
82 server vendors need. Linux could potentially get there with DT, but doing so
83 really just duplicates something that already works. ACPI already does what
84 the hardware vendors need, Microsoft won’t collaborate on DT, and hardware
85 vendors would still end up providing two completely separate firmware
86 interfaces -- one for Linux and one for Windows.
91 One of the primary motivations for ACPI is standardization, and using that
92 to provide backward compatibility for Linux kernels. In the server market,
93 software and hardware are often used for long periods. ACPI allows the
94 kernel and firmware to agree on a consistent abstraction that can be
95 maintained over time, even as hardware or software change. As long as the
96 abstraction is supported, systems can be updated without necessarily having
97 to replace the kernel.
99 When a Linux driver or subsystem is first implemented using ACPI, it by
100 definition ends up requiring a specific version of the ACPI specification
101 -- it's baseline. ACPI firmware must continue to work, even though it may
102 not be optimal, with the earliest kernel version that first provides support
103 for that baseline version of ACPI. There may be a need for additional drivers,
104 but adding new functionality (e.g., CPU power management) should not break
105 older kernel versions. Further, ACPI firmware must also work with the most
106 recent version of the kernel.
109 Relationship with Device Tree
110 -----------------------------
111 ACPI support in drivers and subsystems for ARMv8 should never be mutually
112 exclusive with DT support at compile time.
114 At boot time the kernel will only use one description method depending on
115 parameters passed from the boot loader (including kernel bootargs).
117 Regardless of whether DT or ACPI is used, the kernel must always be capable
118 of booting with either scheme (in kernels with both schemes enabled at compile
122 Booting using ACPI tables
123 -------------------------
124 The only defined method for passing ACPI tables to the kernel on ARMv8
125 is via the UEFI system configuration table. Just so it is explicit, this
126 means that ACPI is only supported on platforms that boot via UEFI.
128 When an ARMv8 system boots, it can either have DT information, ACPI tables,
129 or in some very unusual cases, both. If no command line parameters are used,
130 the kernel will try to use DT for device enumeration; if there is no DT
131 present, the kernel will try to use ACPI tables, but only if they are present.
132 In neither is available, the kernel will not boot. If acpi=force is used
133 on the command line, the kernel will attempt to use ACPI tables first, but
134 fall back to DT if there are no ACPI tables present. The basic idea is that
135 the kernel will not fail to boot unless it absolutely has no other choice.
137 Processing of ACPI tables may be disabled by passing acpi=off on the kernel
138 command line; this is the default behavior.
140 In order for the kernel to load and use ACPI tables, the UEFI implementation
141 MUST set the ACPI_20_TABLE_GUID to point to the RSDP table (the table with
142 the ACPI signature "RSD PTR "). If this pointer is incorrect and acpi=force
143 is used, the kernel will disable ACPI and try to use DT to boot instead; the
144 kernel has, in effect, determined that ACPI tables are not present at that
147 If the pointer to the RSDP table is correct, the table will be mapped into
148 the kernel by the ACPI core, using the address provided by UEFI.
150 The ACPI core will then locate and map in all other ACPI tables provided by
151 using the addresses in the RSDP table to find the XSDT (eXtended System
152 Description Table). The XSDT in turn provides the addresses to all other
153 ACPI tables provided by the system firmware; the ACPI core will then traverse
154 this table and map in the tables listed.
156 The ACPI core will ignore any provided RSDT (Root System Description Table).
157 RSDTs have been deprecated and are ignored on arm64 since they only allow
158 for 32-bit addresses.
160 Further, the ACPI core will only use the 64-bit address fields in the FADT
161 (Fixed ACPI Description Table). Any 32-bit address fields in the FADT will
164 Hardware reduced mode (see Section 4.1 of the ACPI 6.1 specification) will
165 be enforced by the ACPI core on arm64. Doing so allows the ACPI core to
166 run less complex code since it no longer has to provide support for legacy
167 hardware from other architectures. Any fields that are not to be used for
168 hardware reduced mode must be set to zero.
170 For the ACPI core to operate properly, and in turn provide the information
171 the kernel needs to configure devices, it expects to find the following
172 tables (all section numbers refer to the ACPI 6.1 specification):
174 - RSDP (Root System Description Pointer), section 5.2.5
176 - XSDT (eXtended System Description Table), section 5.2.8
178 - FADT (Fixed ACPI Description Table), section 5.2.9
180 - DSDT (Differentiated System Description Table), section
183 - MADT (Multiple APIC Description Table), section 5.2.12
185 - GTDT (Generic Timer Description Table), section 5.2.24
187 - If PCI is supported, the MCFG (Memory mapped ConFiGuration
188 Table), section 5.2.6, specifically Table 5-31.
190 - If booting without a console=<device> kernel parameter is
191 supported, the SPCR (Serial Port Console Redirection table),
192 section 5.2.6, specifically Table 5-31.
194 - If necessary to describe the I/O topology, SMMUs and GIC ITSs,
195 the IORT (Input Output Remapping Table, section 5.2.6, specifically
198 - If NUMA is supported, the SRAT (System Resource Affinity Table)
199 and SLIT (System Locality distance Information Table), sections
200 5.2.16 and 5.2.17, respectively.
202 If the above tables are not all present, the kernel may or may not be
203 able to boot properly since it may not be able to configure all of the
204 devices available. This list of tables is not meant to be all inclusive;
205 in some environments other tables may be needed (e.g., any of the APEI
206 tables from section 18) to support specific functionality.
211 Drivers should determine their probe() type by checking for a null
212 value for ACPI_HANDLE, or checking .of_node, or other information in
213 the device structure. This is detailed further in the "Driver
214 Recommendations" section.
216 In non-driver code, if the presence of ACPI needs to be detected at
217 run time, then check the value of acpi_disabled. If CONFIG_ACPI is not
218 set, acpi_disabled will always be 1.
223 Device descriptions in ACPI should use standard recognized ACPI interfaces.
224 These may contain less information than is typically provided via a Device
225 Tree description for the same device. This is also one of the reasons that
226 ACPI can be useful -- the driver takes into account that it may have less
227 detailed information about the device and uses sensible defaults instead.
228 If done properly in the driver, the hardware can change and improve over
229 time without the driver having to change at all.
231 Clocks provide an excellent example. In DT, clocks need to be specified
232 and the drivers need to take them into account. In ACPI, the assumption
233 is that UEFI will leave the device in a reasonable default state, including
234 any clock settings. If for some reason the driver needs to change a clock
235 value, this can be done in an ACPI method; all the driver needs to do is
236 invoke the method and not concern itself with what the method needs to do
237 to change the clock. Changing the hardware can then take place over time
238 by changing what the ACPI method does, and not the driver.
240 In DT, the parameters needed by the driver to set up clocks as in the example
241 above are known as "bindings"; in ACPI, these are known as "Device Properties"
242 and provided to a driver via the _DSD object.
244 ACPI tables are described with a formal language called ASL, the ACPI
245 Source Language (section 19 of the specification). This means that there
246 are always multiple ways to describe the same thing -- including device
247 properties. For example, device properties could use an ASL construct
248 that looks like this: Name(KEY0, "value0"). An ACPI device driver would
249 then retrieve the value of the property by evaluating the KEY0 object.
250 However, using Name() this way has multiple problems: (1) ACPI limits
251 names ("KEY0") to four characters unlike DT; (2) there is no industry
252 wide registry that maintains a list of names, minimizing re-use; (3)
253 there is also no registry for the definition of property values ("value0"),
254 again making re-use difficult; and (4) how does one maintain backward
255 compatibility as new hardware comes out? The _DSD method was created
256 to solve precisely these sorts of problems; Linux drivers should ALWAYS
257 use the _DSD method for device properties and nothing else.
259 The _DSM object (ACPI Section 9.14.1) could also be used for conveying
260 device properties to a driver. Linux drivers should only expect it to
261 be used if _DSD cannot represent the data required, and there is no way
262 to create a new UUID for the _DSD object. Note that there is even less
263 regulation of the use of _DSM than there is of _DSD. Drivers that depend
264 on the contents of _DSM objects will be more difficult to maintain over
265 time because of this; as of this writing, the use of _DSM is the cause
266 of quite a few firmware problems and is not recommended.
268 Drivers should look for device properties in the _DSD object ONLY; the _DSD
269 object is described in the ACPI specification section 6.2.5, but this only
270 describes how to define the structure of an object returned via _DSD, and
271 how specific data structures are defined by specific UUIDs. Linux should
272 only use the _DSD Device Properties UUID [5]:
274 - UUID: daffd814-6eba-4d8c-8a91-bc9bbf4aa301
276 - https://www.uefi.org/sites/default/files/resources/_DSD-device-properties-UUID.pdf
278 The UEFI Forum provides a mechanism for registering device properties [4]
279 so that they may be used across all operating systems supporting ACPI.
280 Device properties that have not been registered with the UEFI Forum should
283 Before creating new device properties, check to be sure that they have not
284 been defined before and either registered in the Linux kernel documentation
285 as DT bindings, or the UEFI Forum as device properties. While we do not want
286 to simply move all DT bindings into ACPI device properties, we can learn from
287 what has been previously defined.
289 If it is necessary to define a new device property, or if it makes sense to
290 synthesize the definition of a binding so it can be used in any firmware,
291 both DT bindings and ACPI device properties for device drivers have review
292 processes. Use them both. When the driver itself is submitted for review
293 to the Linux mailing lists, the device property definitions needed must be
294 submitted at the same time. A driver that supports ACPI and uses device
295 properties will not be considered complete without their definitions. Once
296 the device property has been accepted by the Linux community, it must be
297 registered with the UEFI Forum [4], which will review it again for consistency
298 within the registry. This may require iteration. The UEFI Forum, though,
299 will always be the canonical site for device property definitions.
301 It may make sense to provide notice to the UEFI Forum that there is the
302 intent to register a previously unused device property name as a means of
303 reserving the name for later use. Other operating system vendors will
304 also be submitting registration requests and this may help smooth the
307 Once registration and review have been completed, the kernel provides an
308 interface for looking up device properties in a manner independent of
309 whether DT or ACPI is being used. This API should be used [6]; it can
310 eliminate some duplication of code paths in driver probing functions and
311 discourage divergence between DT bindings and ACPI device properties.
314 Programmable Power Control Resources
315 ------------------------------------
316 Programmable power control resources include such resources as voltage/current
317 providers (regulators) and clock sources.
319 With ACPI, the kernel clock and regulator framework is not expected to be used
322 The kernel assumes that power control of these resources is represented with
323 Power Resource Objects (ACPI section 7.1). The ACPI core will then handle
324 correctly enabling and disabling resources as they are needed. In order to
325 get that to work, ACPI assumes each device has defined D-states and that these
326 can be controlled through the optional ACPI methods _PS0, _PS1, _PS2, and _PS3;
327 in ACPI, _PS0 is the method to invoke to turn a device full on, and _PS3 is for
328 turning a device full off.
330 There are two options for using those Power Resources. They can:
332 - be managed in a _PSx method which gets called on entry to power
335 - be declared separately as power resources with their own _ON and _OFF
336 methods. They are then tied back to D-states for a particular device
337 via _PRx which specifies which power resources a device needs to be on
338 while in Dx. Kernel then tracks number of devices using a power resource
339 and calls _ON/_OFF as needed.
341 The kernel ACPI code will also assume that the _PSx methods follow the normal
342 ACPI rules for such methods:
344 - If either _PS0 or _PS3 is implemented, then the other method must also
347 - If a device requires usage or setup of a power resource when on, the ASL
348 should organize that it is allocated/enabled using the _PS0 method.
350 - Resources allocated or enabled in the _PS0 method should be disabled
351 or de-allocated in the _PS3 method.
353 - Firmware will leave the resources in a reasonable state before handing
354 over control to the kernel.
356 Such code in _PSx methods will of course be very platform specific. But,
357 this allows the driver to abstract out the interface for operating the device
358 and avoid having to read special non-standard values from ACPI tables. Further,
359 abstracting the use of these resources allows the hardware to change over time
360 without requiring updates to the driver.
365 ACPI makes the assumption that clocks are initialized by the firmware --
366 UEFI, in this case -- to some working value before control is handed over
367 to the kernel. This has implications for devices such as UARTs, or SoC-driven
368 LCD displays, for example.
370 When the kernel boots, the clocks are assumed to be set to reasonable
371 working values. If for some reason the frequency needs to change -- e.g.,
372 throttling for power management -- the device driver should expect that
373 process to be abstracted out into some ACPI method that can be invoked
374 (please see the ACPI specification for further recommendations on standard
375 methods to be expected). The only exceptions to this are CPU clocks where
376 CPPC provides a much richer interface than ACPI methods. If the clocks
377 are not set, there is no direct way for Linux to control them.
379 If an SoC vendor wants to provide fine-grained control of the system clocks,
380 they could do so by providing ACPI methods that could be invoked by Linux
381 drivers. However, this is NOT recommended and Linux drivers should NOT use
382 such methods, even if they are provided. Such methods are not currently
383 standardized in the ACPI specification, and using them could tie a kernel
384 to a very specific SoC, or tie an SoC to a very specific version of the
385 kernel, both of which we are trying to avoid.
388 Driver Recommendations
389 ----------------------
390 DO NOT remove any DT handling when adding ACPI support for a driver. The
391 same device may be used on many different systems.
393 DO try to structure the driver so that it is data-driven. That is, set up
394 a struct containing internal per-device state based on defaults and whatever
395 else must be discovered by the driver probe function. Then, have the rest
396 of the driver operate off of the contents of that struct. Doing so should
397 allow most divergence between ACPI and DT functionality to be kept local to
398 the probe function instead of being scattered throughout the driver. For
401 static int device_probe_dt(struct platform_device *pdev)
403 /* DT specific functionality */
407 static int device_probe_acpi(struct platform_device *pdev)
409 /* ACPI specific functionality */
413 static int device_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
416 struct device_node node = pdev->dev.of_node;
420 ret = device_probe_dt(pdev);
421 else if (ACPI_HANDLE(&pdev->dev))
422 ret = device_probe_acpi(pdev);
424 /* other initialization */
426 /* Continue with any generic probe operations */
430 DO keep the MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE entries together in the driver to make it
431 clear the different names the driver is probed for, both from DT and from
434 static struct of_device_id virtio_mmio_match[] = {
435 { .compatible = "virtio,mmio", },
438 MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(of, virtio_mmio_match);
440 static const struct acpi_device_id virtio_mmio_acpi_match[] = {
444 MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(acpi, virtio_mmio_acpi_match);
449 The ACPI specification changes regularly. During the year 2014, for instance,
450 version 5.1 was released and version 6.0 substantially completed, with most of
451 the changes being driven by ARM-specific requirements. Proposed changes are
452 presented and discussed in the ASWG (ACPI Specification Working Group) which
453 is a part of the UEFI Forum. The current version of the ACPI specification
454 is 6.1 release in January 2016.
456 Participation in this group is open to all UEFI members. Please see
457 http://www.uefi.org/workinggroup for details on group membership.
459 It is the intent of the ARMv8 ACPI kernel code to follow the ACPI specification
460 as closely as possible, and to only implement functionality that complies with
461 the released standards from UEFI ASWG. As a practical matter, there will be
462 vendors that provide bad ACPI tables or violate the standards in some way.
463 If this is because of errors, quirks and fix-ups may be necessary, but will
464 be avoided if possible. If there are features missing from ACPI that preclude
465 it from being used on a platform, ECRs (Engineering Change Requests) should be
466 submitted to ASWG and go through the normal approval process; for those that
467 are not UEFI members, many other members of the Linux community are and would
468 likely be willing to assist in submitting ECRs.
473 Individual items specific to Linux on ARM, contained in the Linux
474 source code, are in the list that follows:
477 This macro defines the string to be returned when
478 an ACPI method invokes the _OS method. On ARM64
479 systems, this macro will be "Linux" by default.
480 The command line parameter acpi_os=<string>
481 can be used to set it to some other value. The
482 default value for other architectures is "Microsoft
483 Windows NT", for example.
487 Detailed expectations for ACPI tables and object are listed in the file
488 Documentation/arm64/acpi_object_usage.rst.
493 [0] http://silver.arm.com
494 document ARM-DEN-0029, or newer:
495 "Server Base System Architecture", version 2.3, dated 27 Mar 2014
497 [1] http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.den0044a/Server_Base_Boot_Requirements.pdf
498 Document ARM-DEN-0044A, or newer: "Server Base Boot Requirements, System
499 Software on ARM Platforms", dated 16 Aug 2014
501 [2] http://www.secretlab.ca/archives/151,
502 10 Jan 2015, Copyright (c) 2015,
503 Linaro Ltd., written by Grant Likely.
505 [3] AMD ACPI for Seattle platform documentation
506 http://amd-dev.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wordpress/media/2012/10/Seattle_ACPI_Guide.pdf
509 [4] http://www.uefi.org/acpi
510 please see the link for the "ACPI _DSD Device
511 Property Registry Instructions"
513 [5] http://www.uefi.org/acpi
514 please see the link for the "_DSD (Device
515 Specific Data) Implementation Guide"
517 [6] Kernel code for the unified device
518 property interface can be found in
519 include/linux/property.h and drivers/base/property.c.
524 - Al Stone <al.stone@linaro.org>
525 - Graeme Gregory <graeme.gregory@linaro.org>
526 - Hanjun Guo <hanjun.guo@linaro.org>
528 - Grant Likely <grant.likely@linaro.org>, for the "Why ACPI on ARM?" section