switchtec: Add user interface documentation

Add standard documentation for the sysfs switchtec attributes and a RST
formatted text file which documents the char device interface.  Jonathan
Corbet has indicated he will move this to a new user-space developer
documentation book once it's created.

Tested-by: Krishna Dhulipala <krishnad@fb.com>
Signed-off-by: Logan Gunthorpe <logang@deltatee.com>
Signed-off-by: Stephen Bates <stephen.bates@microsemi.com>
Signed-off-by: Bjorn Helgaas <bhelgaas@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Wei Zhang <wzhang@fb.com>
Reviewed-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@fb.com>

1 files changed, 53 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/switchtec.txt b/Documentation/switchtec.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4bced4c78446
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/switchtec.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+========================
+Linux Switchtec Support
+========================
+
+Microsemi's "Switchtec" line of PCI switch devices is already
+supported by the kernel with standard PCI switch drivers. However, the
+Switchtec device advertises a special management endpoint which
+enables some additional functionality. This includes:
+
+* Packet and Byte Counters
+* Firmware Upgrades
+* Event and Error logs
+* Querying port link status
+* Custom user firmware commands
+
+The switchtec kernel module implements this functionality.
+
+
+Interface
+=========
+
+The primary means of communicating with the Switchtec management firmware is
+through the Memory-mapped Remote Procedure Call (MRPC) interface.
+Commands are submitted to the interface with a 4-byte command
+identifier and up to 1KB of command specific data. The firmware will
+respond with a 4 bytes return code and up to 1KB of command specific
+data. The interface only processes a single command at a time.
+
+
+Userspace Interface
+===================
+
+The MRPC interface will be exposed to userspace through a simple char
+device: /dev/switchtec#, one for each management endpoint in the system.
+
+The char device has the following semantics:
+
+* A write must consist of at least 4 bytes and no more than 1028 bytes.
+  The first four bytes will be interpreted as the command to run and
+  the remainder will be used as the input data. A write will send the
+  command to the firmware to begin processing.
+
+* Each write must be followed by exactly one read. Any double write will
+  produce an error and any read that doesn't follow a write will
+  produce an error.
+
+* A read will block until the firmware completes the command and return
+  the four bytes of status plus up to 1024 bytes of output data. (The
+  length will be specified by the size parameter of the read call --
+  reading less than 4 bytes will produce an error.
+
+* The poll call will also be supported for userspace applications that
+  need to do other things while waiting for the command to complete.