1 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 # Character device configuration
6 menu "Character devices"
8 source "drivers/tty/Kconfig"
11 bool "/dev/mem virtual device support"
14 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/mem device.
15 The /dev/mem device is used to access areas of physical
17 When in doubt, say "Y".
20 bool "/dev/kmem virtual device support"
21 # On arm64, VMALLOC_START < PAGE_OFFSET, which confuses kmem read/write
24 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/kmem device. The
25 /dev/kmem device is rarely used, but can be used for certain
26 kind of kernel debugging operations.
27 When in doubt, say "N".
30 bool "SGI Altix system controller communication support"
31 depends on (IA64_SGI_SN2 || IA64_GENERIC)
33 If you have an SGI Altix and you want to enable system
34 controller communication from user space (you want this!),
35 say Y. Otherwise, say N.
38 bool "SGI TIO CX driver support"
39 depends on (IA64_SGI_SN2 || IA64_GENERIC)
41 If you have an SGI Altix and you have fpga devices attached
42 to your TIO, say Y here, otherwise say N.
45 tristate "SGI FPGA Core Services driver support"
48 If you have an SGI Altix with an attached SABrick
49 say Y or M here, otherwise say N.
51 source "drivers/tty/serial/Kconfig"
52 source "drivers/tty/serdev/Kconfig"
55 tristate "TTY driver to output user messages via printk"
56 depends on EXPERT && TTY
59 If you say Y here, the support for writing user messages (i.e.
60 console messages) via printk is available.
62 The feature is useful to inline user messages with kernel
64 In order to use this feature, you should output user messages
65 to /dev/ttyprintk or redirect console to this TTY.
70 tristate "Parallel printer support"
73 If you intend to attach a printer to the parallel port of your Linux
74 box (as opposed to using a serial printer; if the connector at the
75 printer has 9 or 25 holes ["female"], then it's serial), say Y.
76 Also read the Printing-HOWTO, available from
77 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>.
79 It is possible to share one parallel port among several devices
80 (e.g. printer and ZIP drive) and it is safe to compile the
81 corresponding drivers into the kernel.
83 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here and read
84 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/parport.rst>. The module will be called lp.
86 If you have several parallel ports, you can specify which ports to
87 use with the "lp" kernel command line option. (Try "man bootparam"
88 or see the documentation of your boot loader (lilo or loadlin) about
89 how to pass options to the kernel at boot time.) The syntax of the
90 "lp" command line option can be found in <file:drivers/char/lp.c>.
92 If you have more than 8 printers, you need to increase the LP_NO
93 macro in lp.c and the PARPORT_MAX macro in parport.h.
96 bool "Support for console on line printer"
99 If you want kernel messages to be printed out as they occur, you
100 can have a console on the printer. This option adds support for
101 doing that; to actually get it to happen you need to pass the
102 option "console=lp0" to the kernel at boot time.
104 If the printer is out of paper (or off, or unplugged, or too
105 busy..) the kernel will stall until the printer is ready again.
106 By defining CONSOLE_LP_STRICT to 0 (at your own risk) you
107 can make the kernel continue when this happens,
108 but it'll lose the kernel messages.
113 tristate "Support for user-space parallel port device drivers"
116 Saying Y to this adds support for /dev/parport device nodes. This
117 is needed for programs that want portable access to the parallel
118 port, for instance deviceid (which displays Plug-and-Play device
121 This is the parallel port equivalent of SCSI generic support (sg).
122 It is safe to say N to this -- it is not needed for normal printing
123 or parallel port CD-ROM/disk support.
125 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
126 module will be called ppdev.
130 source "drivers/tty/hvc/Kconfig"
132 config VIRTIO_CONSOLE
133 tristate "Virtio console"
134 depends on VIRTIO && TTY
137 Virtio console for use with hypervisors.
139 Also serves as a general-purpose serial device for data
140 transfer between the guest and host. Character devices at
141 /dev/vportNpn will be created when corresponding ports are
142 found, where N is the device number and n is the port number
143 within that device. If specified by the host, a sysfs
144 attribute called 'name' will be populated with a name for
145 the port which can be used by udev scripts to create a
146 symlink to the device.
149 tristate "IBM POWER Barrier Synchronization Register support"
150 depends on PPC_PSERIES
152 This devices exposes a hardware mechanism for fast synchronization
153 of threads across a large system which avoids bouncing a cacheline
154 between several cores on a system
156 config POWERNV_OP_PANEL
157 tristate "IBM POWERNV Operator Panel Display support"
158 depends on PPC_POWERNV
161 If you say Y here, a special character device node, /dev/op_panel,
162 will be created which exposes the operator panel display on IBM
163 Power Systems machines with FSPs.
165 If you don't require access to the operator panel display from user
168 If unsure, say M here to build it as a module called powernv-op-panel.
170 source "drivers/char/ipmi/Kconfig"
173 tristate "NetWinder thermometer support"
174 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
176 Say Y here to include support for the thermal management hardware
177 found in the NetWinder. This driver allows the user to control the
178 temperature set points and to read the current temperature.
180 It is also possible to say M here to build it as a module (ds1620)
181 It is recommended to be used on a NetWinder, but it is not a
185 tristate "NetWinder Button"
186 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
188 If you say Y here and create a character device node /dev/nwbutton
189 with major and minor numbers 10 and 158 ("man mknod"), then every
190 time the orange button is pressed a number of times, the number of
191 times the button was pressed will be written to that device.
193 This is most useful for applications, as yet unwritten, which
194 perform actions based on how many times the button is pressed in a
197 Do not hold the button down for too long, as the driver does not
198 alter the behaviour of the hardware reset circuitry attached to the
199 button; it will still execute a hard reset if the button is held
200 down for longer than approximately five seconds.
202 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
203 module will be called nwbutton.
205 Most people will answer Y to this question and "Reboot Using Button"
206 below to be able to initiate a system shutdown from the button.
208 config NWBUTTON_REBOOT
209 bool "Reboot Using Button"
212 If you say Y here, then you will be able to initiate a system
213 shutdown and reboot by pressing the orange button a number of times.
214 The number of presses to initiate the shutdown is two by default,
215 but this can be altered by modifying the value of NUM_PRESSES_REBOOT
216 in nwbutton.h and recompiling the driver or, if you compile the
217 driver as a module, you can specify the number of presses at load
218 time with "insmod button reboot_count=<something>".
221 tristate "NetWinder flash support"
222 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
224 If you say Y here and create a character device /dev/flash with
225 major 10 and minor 160 you can manipulate the flash ROM containing
226 the NetWinder firmware. Be careful as accidentally overwriting the
227 flash contents can render your computer unbootable. On no account
228 allow random users access to this device. :-)
230 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
231 module will be called nwflash.
233 If you're not sure, say N.
235 source "drivers/char/hw_random/Kconfig"
238 tristate "/dev/nvram support"
239 depends on ATARI || X86 || GENERIC_NVRAM
241 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/nvram
242 with major number 10 and minor number 144 using mknod ("man mknod"),
243 you get read and write access to the extra bytes of non-volatile
244 memory in the real time clock (RTC), which is contained in every PC
245 and most Ataris. The actual number of bytes varies, depending on the
246 nvram in the system, but is usually 114 (128-14 for the RTC).
248 This memory is conventionally called "CMOS RAM" on PCs and "NVRAM"
249 on Ataris. /dev/nvram may be used to view settings there, or to
250 change them (with some utility). It could also be used to frequently
251 save a few bits of very important data that may not be lost over
252 power-off and for which writing to disk is too insecure. Note
253 however that most NVRAM space in a PC belongs to the BIOS and you
254 should NEVER idly tamper with it. See Ralf Brown's interrupt list
255 for a guide to the use of CMOS bytes by your BIOS.
257 On Atari machines, /dev/nvram is always configured and does not need
260 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
261 module will be called nvram.
264 # These legacy RTC drivers just cause too many conflicts with the generic
265 # RTC framework ... let's not even try to coexist any more.
270 tristate "Enhanced Real Time Clock Support (legacy PC RTC driver)"
271 depends on ALPHA || (MIPS && MACH_LOONGSON64)
273 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/rtc with
274 major number 10 and minor number 135 using mknod ("man mknod"), you
275 will get access to the real time clock (or hardware clock) built
278 Every PC has such a clock built in. It can be used to generate
279 signals from as low as 1Hz up to 8192Hz, and can also be used
280 as a 24 hour alarm. It reports status information via the file
281 /proc/driver/rtc and its behaviour is set by various ioctls on
284 If you run Linux on a multiprocessor machine and said Y to
285 "Symmetric Multi Processing" above, you should say Y here to read
286 and set the RTC in an SMP compatible fashion.
288 If you think you have a use for such a device (such as periodic data
289 sampling), then say Y here, and read <file:Documentation/rtc.txt>
292 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
293 module will be called rtc.
296 tristate "Enhanced Real Time Clock Support"
297 depends on SPARC32 && PCI
299 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/rtc with
300 major number 10 and minor number 135 using mknod ("man mknod"), you
301 will get access to the real time clock (or hardware clock) built
304 Every PC has such a clock built in. It can be used to generate
305 signals from as low as 1Hz up to 8192Hz, and can also be used
306 as a 24 hour alarm. It reports status information via the file
307 /proc/driver/rtc and its behaviour is set by various ioctls on
310 If you think you have a use for such a device (such as periodic data
311 sampling), then say Y here, and read <file:Documentation/rtc.txt>
314 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
315 module will be called js-rtc.
318 bool "EFI Real Time Clock Services"
324 tristate "Double Talk PC internal speech card support"
327 This driver is for the DoubleTalk PC, a speech synthesizer
328 manufactured by RC Systems (<http://www.rcsys.com/>). It is also
329 called the `internal DoubleTalk'.
331 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
332 module will be called dtlk.
335 tristate "Xilinx HWICAP Support"
336 depends on XILINX_VIRTEX || MICROBLAZE
338 This option enables support for Xilinx Internal Configuration
339 Access Port (ICAP) driver. The ICAP is used on Xilinx Virtex
340 FPGA platforms to partially reconfigure the FPGA at runtime.
345 tristate "Siemens R3964 line discipline"
348 This driver allows synchronous communication with devices using the
349 Siemens R3964 packet protocol. Unless you are dealing with special
350 hardware like PLCs, you are unlikely to need this.
352 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
353 module will be called n_r3964.
358 tristate "Applicom intelligent fieldbus card support"
361 This driver provides the kernel-side support for the intelligent
362 fieldbus cards made by Applicom International. More information
363 about these cards can be found on the WWW at the address
364 <http://www.applicom-int.com/>, or by email from David Woodhouse
365 <dwmw2@infradead.org>.
367 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
368 module will be called applicom.
373 tristate "Sony Vaio Programmable I/O Control Device support"
374 depends on X86_32 && PCI && INPUT
376 This driver enables access to the Sony Programmable I/O Control
377 Device which can be found in many (all ?) Sony Vaio laptops.
379 If you have one of those laptops, read
380 <file:Documentation/laptops/sonypi.txt>, and say Y or M here.
382 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
383 module will be called sonypi.
386 tristate "TANBAC TB0219 GPIO support"
387 depends on TANBAC_TB022X
390 source "drivers/char/pcmcia/Kconfig"
393 tristate "ACP Modem (Mwave) support"
394 depends on X86 && TTY
397 The ACP modem (Mwave) for Linux is a WinModem. It is composed of a
398 kernel driver and a user level application. Together these components
399 support direct attachment to public switched telephone networks (PSTNs)
400 and support selected world wide countries.
402 This version of the ACP Modem driver supports the IBM Thinkpad 600E,
403 600, and 770 that include on board ACP modem hardware.
405 The modem also supports the standard communications port interface
406 (ttySx) and is compatible with the Hayes AT Command Set.
408 The user level application needed to use this driver can be found at
409 the IBM Linux Technology Center (LTC) web site:
410 <http://www.ibm.com/linux/ltc/>.
412 If you own one of the above IBM Thinkpads which has the Mwave chipset
415 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
416 module will be called mwave.
419 tristate "NatSemi SCx200 GPIO Support"
423 Give userspace access to the GPIO pins on the National
424 Semiconductor SCx200 processors.
426 If compiled as a module, it will be called scx200_gpio.
429 tristate "NatSemi PC8736x GPIO Support"
430 depends on X86_32 && !UML
431 default SCx200_GPIO # mostly N
432 select NSC_GPIO # needed for support routines
434 Give userspace access to the GPIO pins on the National
435 Semiconductor PC-8736x (x=[03456]) SuperIO chip. The chip
436 has multiple functional units, inc several managed by
437 hwmon/pc87360 driver. Tested with PC-87366
439 If compiled as a module, it will be called pc8736x_gpio.
442 tristate "NatSemi Base GPIO Support"
444 # selected by SCx200_GPIO and PC8736x_GPIO
445 # what about 2 selectors differing: m != y
447 Common support used (and needed) by scx200_gpio and
448 pc8736x_gpio drivers. If those drivers are built as
449 modules, this one will be too, named nsc_gpio
452 tristate "RAW driver (/dev/raw/rawN)"
455 The raw driver permits block devices to be bound to /dev/raw/rawN.
456 Once bound, I/O against /dev/raw/rawN uses efficient zero-copy I/O.
457 See the raw(8) manpage for more details.
459 Applications should preferably open the device (eg /dev/hda1)
460 with the O_DIRECT flag.
463 int "Maximum number of RAW devices to support (1-65536)"
464 depends on RAW_DRIVER
468 The maximum number of RAW devices that are supported.
469 Default is 256. Increase this number in case you need lots of
473 bool "HPET - High Precision Event Timer" if (X86 || IA64)
477 If you say Y here, you will have a miscdevice named "/dev/hpet/". Each
478 open selects one of the timers supported by the HPET. The timers are
479 non-periodic and/or periodic.
482 bool "Allow mmap of HPET"
486 If you say Y here, user applications will be able to mmap
489 config HPET_MMAP_DEFAULT
490 bool "Enable HPET MMAP access by default"
494 In some hardware implementations, the page containing HPET
495 registers may also contain other things that shouldn't be
496 exposed to the user. This option selects the default (if
497 kernel parameter hpet_mmap is not set) user access to the
498 registers for applications that require it.
500 config HANGCHECK_TIMER
501 tristate "Hangcheck timer"
502 depends on X86 || IA64 || PPC64 || S390
504 The hangcheck-timer module detects when the system has gone
505 out to lunch past a certain margin. It can reboot the system
506 or merely print a warning.
509 tristate "UV_MMTIMER Memory mapped RTC for SGI UV"
513 The uv_mmtimer device allows direct userspace access to the
516 source "drivers/char/tpm/Kconfig"
519 tristate "Telecom clock driver for ATCA SBC"
523 The telecom clock device is specific to the MPCBL0010 and MPCBL0050
524 ATCA computers and allows direct userspace access to the
525 configuration of the telecom clock configuration settings. This
526 device is used for hardware synchronization across the ATCA backplane
527 fabric. Upon loading, the driver exports a sysfs directory,
528 /sys/devices/platform/telco_clock, with a number of files for
529 controlling the behavior of this hardware.
532 bool "/dev/port character device"
533 depends on ISA || PCI
536 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/port device. The /dev/port
537 device is similar to /dev/mem, but for I/O ports.
539 source "drivers/s390/char/Kconfig"
541 source "drivers/char/xillybus/Kconfig"
544 tristate "SPARC Privileged ADI driver"
548 SPARC M7 and newer processors utilize ADI (Application Data
549 Integrity) to version and protect memory. This driver provides
550 read/write access to the ADI versions for privileged processes.
551 This feature is also known as MCD (Memory Corruption Detection)
552 and SSM (Silicon Secured Memory). Intended consumers of this
553 driver include crash and makedumpfile.