Merge branch 'i2c-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jdelvar...

[safe/jmp/linux-2.6] / Documentation / IPMI.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/IPMI.txt b/Documentation/IPMI.txt
index 9101cbf..bc38283 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/IPMI.txt
+++ b/Documentation/IPMI.txt
@@ -365,6 +365,7 @@ You can change this at module load time (for a module) with:
        regshifts=<shift1>,<shift2>,...
        slave_addrs=<addr1>,<addr2>,...
        force_kipmid=<enable1>,<enable2>,...
+       unload_when_empty=[0|1]
 
 Each of these except si_trydefaults is a list, the first item for the
 first interface, second item for the second interface, etc.
@@ -416,6 +417,11 @@ by the driver, but systems with broken interrupts might need an enable,
 or users that don't want the daemon (don't need the performance, don't
 want the CPU hit) can disable it.
 
+If unload_when_empty is set to 1, the driver will be unloaded if it
+doesn't find any interfaces or all the interfaces fail to work.  The
+default is one.  Setting to 0 is useful with the hotmod, but is
+obviously only useful for modules.
+
 When compiled into the kernel, the parameters can be specified on the
 kernel command line as:
 
@@ -435,12 +441,34 @@ ACPI, and if none of those then a KCS device at the spec-specified
 0xca2.  If you want to turn this off, set the "trydefaults" option to
 false.
 
-If you have high-res timers compiled into the kernel, the driver will
-use them to provide much better performance.  Note that if you do not
-have high-res timers enabled in the kernel and you don't have
-interrupts enabled, the driver will run VERY slowly.  Don't blame me,
+If your IPMI interface does not support interrupts and is a KCS or
+SMIC interface, the IPMI driver will start a kernel thread for the
+interface to help speed things up.  This is a low-priority kernel
+thread that constantly polls the IPMI driver while an IPMI operation
+is in progress.  The force_kipmid module parameter will all the user to
+force this thread on or off.  If you force it off and don't have
+interrupts, the driver will run VERY slowly.  Don't blame me,
 these interfaces suck.
 
+The driver supports a hot add and remove of interfaces.  This way,
+interfaces can be added or removed after the kernel is up and running.
+This is done using /sys/modules/ipmi_si/parameters/hotmod, which is a
+write-only parameter.  You write a string to this interface.  The string
+has the format:
+   <op1>[:op2[:op3...]]
+The "op"s are:
+   add|remove,kcs|bt|smic,mem|i/o,<address>[,<opt1>[,<opt2>[,...]]]
+You can specify more than one interface on the line.  The "opt"s are:
+   rsp=<regspacing>
+   rsi=<regsize>
+   rsh=<regshift>
+   irq=<irq>
+   ipmb=<ipmb slave addr>
+and these have the same meanings as discussed above.  Note that you
+can also use this on the kernel command line for a more compact format
+for specifying an interface.  Note that when removing an interface,
+only the first three parameters (si type, address type, and address)
+are used for the comparison.  Any options are ignored for removing.
 
 The SMBus Driver
 ----------------
@@ -556,9 +584,11 @@ The watchdog will panic and start a 120 second reset timeout if it
 gets a pre-action.  During a panic or a reboot, the watchdog will
 start a 120 timer if it is running to make sure the reboot occurs.
 
-Note that if you use the NMI preaction for the watchdog, you MUST
-NOT use nmi watchdog mode 1.  If you use the NMI watchdog, you
-must use mode 2.
+Note that if you use the NMI preaction for the watchdog, you MUST NOT
+use the nmi watchdog.  There is no reasonable way to tell if an NMI
+comes from the IPMI controller, so it must assume that if it gets an
+otherwise unhandled NMI, it must be from IPMI and it will panic
+immediately.
 
 Once you open the watchdog timer, you must write a 'V' character to the
 device to close it, or the timer will not stop.  This is a new semantic