1 .. -*- coding: utf-8; mode: rst -*-
12 fe-open - Open a frontend device
23 .. c:function:: int open( const char *device_name, int flags )
33 Open flags. Access can either be ``O_RDWR`` or ``O_RDONLY``.
35 Multiple opens are allowed with ``O_RDONLY``. In this mode, only
36 query and read ioctls are allowed.
38 Only one open is allowed in ``O_RDWR``. In this mode, all ioctls are
41 When the ``O_NONBLOCK`` flag is given, the system calls may return
42 ``EAGAIN`` error code when no data is available or when the device
43 driver is temporarily busy.
45 Other flags have no effect.
51 This system call opens a named frontend device
52 (``/dev/dvb/adapter?/frontend?``) for subsequent use. Usually the first
53 thing to do after a successful open is to find out the frontend type
54 with :ref:`FE_GET_INFO`.
56 The device can be opened in read-only mode, which only allows monitoring
57 of device status and statistics, or read/write mode, which allows any
58 kind of use (e.g. performing tuning operations.)
60 In a system with multiple front-ends, it is usually the case that
61 multiple devices cannot be open in read/write mode simultaneously. As
62 long as a front-end device is opened in read/write mode, other open()
63 calls in read/write mode will either fail or block, depending on whether
64 non-blocking or blocking mode was specified. A front-end device opened
65 in blocking mode can later be put into non-blocking mode (and vice
66 versa) using the F_SETFL command of the fcntl system call. This is a
67 standard system call, documented in the Linux manual page for fcntl.
68 When an open() call has succeeded, the device will be ready for use in
69 the specified mode. This implies that the corresponding hardware is
70 powered up, and that other front-ends may have been powered down to make
77 On success :ref:`open() <frontend_f_open>` returns the new file descriptor.
78 On error, -1 is returned, and the ``errno`` variable is set appropriately.
80 Possible error codes are:
83 The caller has no permission to access the device.
86 The the device driver is already in use.
89 No device corresponding to this device special file exists.
92 Not enough kernel memory was available to complete the request.
95 The process already has the maximum number of files open.
98 The limit on the total number of files open on the system has been
102 The device got removed.