You should see something like this:
<...U-Boot banner...>
- Running 17 driver model tests
+ Running 22 driver model tests
Test: dm_test_autobind
Test: dm_test_autoprobe
+ Test: dm_test_bus_children
+ Device 'd-test': seq 3 is in use by 'b-test'
+ Device 'c-test@0': seq 0 is in use by 'a-test'
+ Device 'c-test@1': seq 1 is in use by 'd-test'
+ Test: dm_test_bus_children_funcs
+ Test: dm_test_bus_children_iterators
+ Test: dm_test_bus_parent_data
+ Test: dm_test_bus_parent_ops
Test: dm_test_children
Test: dm_test_fdt
Device 'd-test': seq 3 is in use by 'b-test'
U-Boot numbers devices from 0 in many situations, such as in the command
line for I2C and SPI buses, and the device names for serial ports (serial0,
serial1, ...). Driver model supports this numbering and permits devices
-to be locating by their 'sequence'.
+to be locating by their 'sequence'. This numbering unique identifies a
+device in its uclass, so no two devices within a particular uclass can have
+the same sequence number.
Sequence numbers start from 0 but gaps are permitted. For example, a board
may have I2C buses 0, 1, 4, 5 but no 2 or 3. The choice of how devices are
an error.
+Bus Drivers
+-----------
+
+A common use of driver model is to implement a bus, a device which provides
+access to other devices. Example of buses include SPI and I2C. Typically
+the bus provides some sort of transport or translation that makes it
+possible to talk to the devices on the bus.
+
+Driver model provides a few useful features to help with implementing
+buses. Firstly, a bus can request that its children store some 'parent
+data' which can be used to keep track of child state. Secondly, the bus can
+define methods which are called when a child is probed or removed. This is
+similar to the methods the uclass driver provides.
+
+Here an explanation of how a bus fits with a uclass may be useful. Consider
+a USB bus with several devices attached to it, each from a different (made
+up) uclass:
+
+ xhci_usb (UCLASS_USB)
+ eth (UCLASS_ETHERNET)
+ camera (UCLASS_CAMERA)
+ flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE)
+
+Each of the devices is connected to a different address on the USB bus.
+The bus device wants to store this address and some other information such
+as the bus speed for each device.
+
+To achieve this, the bus device can use dev->parent_priv in each of its
+three children. This can be auto-allocated if the bus driver has a non-zero
+value for per_child_auto_alloc_size. If not, then the bus device can
+allocate the space itself before the child device is probed.
+
+Also the bus driver can define the child_pre_probe() and child_post_remove()
+methods to allow it to do some processing before the child is activated or
+after it is deactivated.
+
+Note that the information that controls this behaviour is in the bus's
+driver, not the child's. In fact it is possible that child has no knowledge
+that it is connected to a bus. The same child device may even be used on two
+different bus types. As an example. the 'flash' device shown above may also
+be connected on a SATA bus or standalone with no bus:
+
+ xhci_usb (UCLASS_USB)
+ flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE) - parent data/methods defined by USB bus
+
+ sata (UCLASS_SATA)
+ flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE) - parent data/methods defined by SATA bus
+
+ flash (UCLASS_FLASH_STORAGE) - no parent data/methods (not on a bus)
+
+Above you can see that the driver for xhci_usb/sata controls the child's
+bus methods. In the third example the device is not on a bus, and therefore
+will not have these methods at all. Consider the case where the flash
+device defines child methods. These would be used for *its* children, and
+would be quite separate from the methods defined by the driver for the bus
+that the flash device is connetced to. The act of attaching a device to a
+parent device which is a bus, causes the device to start behaving like a
+bus device, regardless of its own views on the matter.
+
+The uclass for the device can also contain data private to that uclass.
+But note that each device on the bus may be a memeber of a different
+uclass, and this data has nothing to do with the child data for each child
+on the bus.
+
+
Driver Lifecycle
----------------
stored in the device, but it is uclass data. owned by the uclass driver.
It is possible for the device to access it.
- d. All parent devices are probed. It is not possible to activate a device
+ d. If the device's immediate parent specifies a per_child_auto_alloc_size
+ then this space is allocated. This is intended for use by the parent
+ device to keep track of things related to the child. For example a USB
+ flash stick attached to a USB host controller would likely use this
+ space. The controller can hold information about the USB state of each
+ of its children.
+
+ e. All parent devices are probed. It is not possible to activate a device
unless its predecessors (all the way up to the root device) are activated.
This means (for example) that an I2C driver will require that its bus
be activated.
- e. The device's sequence number is assigned, either the requested one
+ f. The device's sequence number is assigned, either the requested one
(assuming no conflicts) or the next available one if there is a conflict
or nothing particular is requested.
- f. If the driver provides an ofdata_to_platdata() method, then this is
+ g. If the driver provides an ofdata_to_platdata() method, then this is
called to convert the device tree data into platform data. This should
do various calls like fdtdec_get_int(gd->fdt_blob, dev->of_offset, ...)
to access the node and store the resulting information into dev->platdata.
data, one day it is possible that U-Boot will cache platformat data for
devices which are regularly de/activated).
- g. The device's probe() method is called. This should do anything that
+ h. The device's probe() method is called. This should do anything that
is required by the device to get it going. This could include checking
that the hardware is actually present, setting up clocks for the
hardware and setting up hardware registers to initial values. The code
allocate the priv space here yourself. The same applies also to
platdata_auto_alloc_size. Remember to free them in the remove() method.
- h. The device is marked 'activated'
+ i. The device is marked 'activated'
- i. The uclass's post_probe() method is called, if one exists. This may
+ j. The uclass's post_probe() method is called, if one exists. This may
cause the uclass to do some housekeeping to record the device as
activated and 'known' by the uclass.
to be sure that no hardware is running, it should be enough to remove
all devices.
- d. The device memory is freed (platform data, private data, uclass data).
+ d. The device memory is freed (platform data, private data, uclass data,
+ parent data).
Note: Because the platform data for a U_BOOT_DEVICE() is defined with a
static pointer, it is not de-allocated during the remove() method. For