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".
29 source "drivers/tty/serial/Kconfig"
30 source "drivers/tty/serdev/Kconfig"
33 tristate "TTY driver to output user messages via printk"
34 depends on EXPERT && TTY
37 If you say Y here, the support for writing user messages (i.e.
38 console messages) via printk is available.
40 The feature is useful to inline user messages with kernel
42 In order to use this feature, you should output user messages
43 to /dev/ttyprintk or redirect console to this TTY.
47 config TTY_PRINTK_LEVEL
49 int "ttyprintk log level (1-7)"
53 Printk log level to use for ttyprintk messages.
56 tristate "Parallel printer support"
59 If you intend to attach a printer to the parallel port of your Linux
60 box (as opposed to using a serial printer; if the connector at the
61 printer has 9 or 25 holes ["female"], then it's serial), say Y.
62 Also read the Printing-HOWTO, available from
63 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>.
65 It is possible to share one parallel port among several devices
66 (e.g. printer and ZIP drive) and it is safe to compile the
67 corresponding drivers into the kernel.
69 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here and read
70 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/parport.rst>. The module will be called lp.
72 If you have several parallel ports, you can specify which ports to
73 use with the "lp" kernel command line option. (Try "man bootparam"
74 or see the documentation of your boot loader (lilo or loadlin) about
75 how to pass options to the kernel at boot time.) The syntax of the
76 "lp" command line option can be found in <file:drivers/char/lp.c>.
78 If you have more than 8 printers, you need to increase the LP_NO
79 macro in lp.c and the PARPORT_MAX macro in parport.h.
82 bool "Support for console on line printer"
85 If you want kernel messages to be printed out as they occur, you
86 can have a console on the printer. This option adds support for
87 doing that; to actually get it to happen you need to pass the
88 option "console=lp0" to the kernel at boot time.
90 If the printer is out of paper (or off, or unplugged, or too
91 busy..) the kernel will stall until the printer is ready again.
92 By defining CONSOLE_LP_STRICT to 0 (at your own risk) you
93 can make the kernel continue when this happens,
94 but it'll lose the kernel messages.
99 tristate "Support for user-space parallel port device drivers"
102 Saying Y to this adds support for /dev/parport device nodes. This
103 is needed for programs that want portable access to the parallel
104 port, for instance deviceid (which displays Plug-and-Play device
107 This is the parallel port equivalent of SCSI generic support (sg).
108 It is safe to say N to this -- it is not needed for normal printing
109 or parallel port CD-ROM/disk support.
111 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
112 module will be called ppdev.
116 source "drivers/tty/hvc/Kconfig"
118 config VIRTIO_CONSOLE
119 tristate "Virtio console"
120 depends on VIRTIO && TTY
123 Virtio console for use with hypervisors.
125 Also serves as a general-purpose serial device for data
126 transfer between the guest and host. Character devices at
127 /dev/vportNpn will be created when corresponding ports are
128 found, where N is the device number and n is the port number
129 within that device. If specified by the host, a sysfs
130 attribute called 'name' will be populated with a name for
131 the port which can be used by udev scripts to create a
132 symlink to the device.
135 tristate "IBM POWER Barrier Synchronization Register support"
136 depends on PPC_PSERIES
138 This devices exposes a hardware mechanism for fast synchronization
139 of threads across a large system which avoids bouncing a cacheline
140 between several cores on a system
142 config POWERNV_OP_PANEL
143 tristate "IBM POWERNV Operator Panel Display support"
144 depends on PPC_POWERNV
147 If you say Y here, a special character device node, /dev/op_panel,
148 will be created which exposes the operator panel display on IBM
149 Power Systems machines with FSPs.
151 If you don't require access to the operator panel display from user
154 If unsure, say M here to build it as a module called powernv-op-panel.
156 source "drivers/char/ipmi/Kconfig"
159 tristate "NetWinder thermometer support"
160 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
162 Say Y here to include support for the thermal management hardware
163 found in the NetWinder. This driver allows the user to control the
164 temperature set points and to read the current temperature.
166 It is also possible to say M here to build it as a module (ds1620)
167 It is recommended to be used on a NetWinder, but it is not a
171 tristate "NetWinder Button"
172 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
174 If you say Y here and create a character device node /dev/nwbutton
175 with major and minor numbers 10 and 158 ("man mknod"), then every
176 time the orange button is pressed a number of times, the number of
177 times the button was pressed will be written to that device.
179 This is most useful for applications, as yet unwritten, which
180 perform actions based on how many times the button is pressed in a
183 Do not hold the button down for too long, as the driver does not
184 alter the behaviour of the hardware reset circuitry attached to the
185 button; it will still execute a hard reset if the button is held
186 down for longer than approximately five seconds.
188 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
189 module will be called nwbutton.
191 Most people will answer Y to this question and "Reboot Using Button"
192 below to be able to initiate a system shutdown from the button.
194 config NWBUTTON_REBOOT
195 bool "Reboot Using Button"
198 If you say Y here, then you will be able to initiate a system
199 shutdown and reboot by pressing the orange button a number of times.
200 The number of presses to initiate the shutdown is two by default,
201 but this can be altered by modifying the value of NUM_PRESSES_REBOOT
202 in nwbutton.h and recompiling the driver or, if you compile the
203 driver as a module, you can specify the number of presses at load
204 time with "insmod button reboot_count=<something>".
207 tristate "NetWinder flash support"
208 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
210 If you say Y here and create a character device /dev/flash with
211 major 10 and minor 160 you can manipulate the flash ROM containing
212 the NetWinder firmware. Be careful as accidentally overwriting the
213 flash contents can render your computer unbootable. On no account
214 allow random users access to this device. :-)
216 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
217 module will be called nwflash.
219 If you're not sure, say N.
221 source "drivers/char/hw_random/Kconfig"
224 tristate "/dev/nvram support"
225 depends on X86 || HAVE_ARCH_NVRAM_OPS
228 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/nvram
229 with major number 10 and minor number 144 using mknod ("man mknod"),
230 you get read and write access to the non-volatile memory.
232 /dev/nvram may be used to view settings in NVRAM or to change them
233 (with some utility). It could also be used to frequently
234 save a few bits of very important data that may not be lost over
235 power-off and for which writing to disk is too insecure. Note
236 however that most NVRAM space in a PC belongs to the BIOS and you
237 should NEVER idly tamper with it. See Ralf Brown's interrupt list
238 for a guide to the use of CMOS bytes by your BIOS.
240 This memory is conventionally called "NVRAM" on PowerPC machines,
241 "CMOS RAM" on PCs, "NVRAM" on Ataris and "PRAM" on Macintoshes.
243 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
244 module will be called nvram.
247 # These legacy RTC drivers just cause too many conflicts with the generic
248 # RTC framework ... let's not even try to coexist any more.
253 tristate "Enhanced Real Time Clock Support (legacy PC RTC driver)"
256 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/rtc with
257 major number 10 and minor number 135 using mknod ("man mknod"), you
258 will get access to the real time clock (or hardware clock) built
261 Every PC has such a clock built in. It can be used to generate
262 signals from as low as 1Hz up to 8192Hz, and can also be used
263 as a 24 hour alarm. It reports status information via the file
264 /proc/driver/rtc and its behaviour is set by various ioctls on
267 If you run Linux on a multiprocessor machine and said Y to
268 "Symmetric Multi Processing" above, you should say Y here to read
269 and set the RTC in an SMP compatible fashion.
271 If you think you have a use for such a device (such as periodic data
272 sampling), then say Y here, and read <file:Documentation/admin-guide/rtc.rst>
275 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
276 module will be called rtc.
279 tristate "Enhanced Real Time Clock Support"
280 depends on SPARC32 && PCI
282 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/rtc with
283 major number 10 and minor number 135 using mknod ("man mknod"), you
284 will get access to the real time clock (or hardware clock) built
287 Every PC has such a clock built in. It can be used to generate
288 signals from as low as 1Hz up to 8192Hz, and can also be used
289 as a 24 hour alarm. It reports status information via the file
290 /proc/driver/rtc and its behaviour is set by various ioctls on
293 If you think you have a use for such a device (such as periodic data
294 sampling), then say Y here, and read <file:Documentation/admin-guide/rtc.rst>
297 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
298 module will be called js-rtc.
301 bool "EFI Real Time Clock Services"
307 tristate "Double Talk PC internal speech card support"
310 This driver is for the DoubleTalk PC, a speech synthesizer
311 manufactured by RC Systems (<http://www.rcsys.com/>). It is also
312 called the `internal DoubleTalk'.
314 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
315 module will be called dtlk.
318 tristate "Xilinx HWICAP Support"
319 depends on XILINX_VIRTEX || MICROBLAZE
321 This option enables support for Xilinx Internal Configuration
322 Access Port (ICAP) driver. The ICAP is used on Xilinx Virtex
323 FPGA platforms to partially reconfigure the FPGA at runtime.
328 tristate "Siemens R3964 line discipline"
329 depends on TTY && BROKEN
331 This driver allows synchronous communication with devices using the
332 Siemens R3964 packet protocol. Unless you are dealing with special
333 hardware like PLCs, you are unlikely to need this.
335 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
336 module will be called n_r3964.
341 tristate "Applicom intelligent fieldbus card support"
344 This driver provides the kernel-side support for the intelligent
345 fieldbus cards made by Applicom International. More information
346 about these cards can be found on the WWW at the address
347 <http://www.applicom-int.com/>, or by email from David Woodhouse
350 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
351 module will be called applicom.
356 tristate "Sony Vaio Programmable I/O Control Device support"
357 depends on X86_32 && PCI && INPUT
359 This driver enables access to the Sony Programmable I/O Control
360 Device which can be found in many (all ?) Sony Vaio laptops.
362 If you have one of those laptops, read
363 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/laptops/sonypi.rst>, and say Y or M here.
365 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
366 module will be called sonypi.
369 tristate "TANBAC TB0219 GPIO support"
370 depends on TANBAC_TB022X
373 source "drivers/char/pcmcia/Kconfig"
376 tristate "ACP Modem (Mwave) support"
377 depends on X86 && TTY
380 The ACP modem (Mwave) for Linux is a WinModem. It is composed of a
381 kernel driver and a user level application. Together these components
382 support direct attachment to public switched telephone networks (PSTNs)
383 and support selected world wide countries.
385 This version of the ACP Modem driver supports the IBM Thinkpad 600E,
386 600, and 770 that include on board ACP modem hardware.
388 The modem also supports the standard communications port interface
389 (ttySx) and is compatible with the Hayes AT Command Set.
391 The user level application needed to use this driver can be found at
392 the IBM Linux Technology Center (LTC) web site:
393 <http://www.ibm.com/linux/ltc/>.
395 If you own one of the above IBM Thinkpads which has the Mwave chipset
398 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
399 module will be called mwave.
402 tristate "NatSemi SCx200 GPIO Support"
406 Give userspace access to the GPIO pins on the National
407 Semiconductor SCx200 processors.
409 If compiled as a module, it will be called scx200_gpio.
412 tristate "NatSemi PC8736x GPIO Support"
413 depends on X86_32 && !UML
414 default SCx200_GPIO # mostly N
415 select NSC_GPIO # needed for support routines
417 Give userspace access to the GPIO pins on the National
418 Semiconductor PC-8736x (x=[03456]) SuperIO chip. The chip
419 has multiple functional units, inc several managed by
420 hwmon/pc87360 driver. Tested with PC-87366
422 If compiled as a module, it will be called pc8736x_gpio.
425 tristate "NatSemi Base GPIO Support"
427 # selected by SCx200_GPIO and PC8736x_GPIO
428 # what about 2 selectors differing: m != y
430 Common support used (and needed) by scx200_gpio and
431 pc8736x_gpio drivers. If those drivers are built as
432 modules, this one will be too, named nsc_gpio
435 tristate "RAW driver (/dev/raw/rawN)"
438 The raw driver permits block devices to be bound to /dev/raw/rawN.
439 Once bound, I/O against /dev/raw/rawN uses efficient zero-copy I/O.
440 See the raw(8) manpage for more details.
442 Applications should preferably open the device (eg /dev/hda1)
443 with the O_DIRECT flag.
446 int "Maximum number of RAW devices to support (1-65536)"
447 depends on RAW_DRIVER
451 The maximum number of RAW devices that are supported.
452 Default is 256. Increase this number in case you need lots of
456 bool "HPET - High Precision Event Timer" if (X86 || IA64)
460 If you say Y here, you will have a miscdevice named "/dev/hpet/". Each
461 open selects one of the timers supported by the HPET. The timers are
462 non-periodic and/or periodic.
465 bool "Allow mmap of HPET"
469 If you say Y here, user applications will be able to mmap
472 config HPET_MMAP_DEFAULT
473 bool "Enable HPET MMAP access by default"
477 In some hardware implementations, the page containing HPET
478 registers may also contain other things that shouldn't be
479 exposed to the user. This option selects the default (if
480 kernel parameter hpet_mmap is not set) user access to the
481 registers for applications that require it.
483 config HANGCHECK_TIMER
484 tristate "Hangcheck timer"
485 depends on X86 || IA64 || PPC64 || S390
487 The hangcheck-timer module detects when the system has gone
488 out to lunch past a certain margin. It can reboot the system
489 or merely print a warning.
492 tristate "UV_MMTIMER Memory mapped RTC for SGI UV"
496 The uv_mmtimer device allows direct userspace access to the
499 source "drivers/char/tpm/Kconfig"
502 tristate "Telecom clock driver for ATCA SBC"
506 The telecom clock device is specific to the MPCBL0010 and MPCBL0050
507 ATCA computers and allows direct userspace access to the
508 configuration of the telecom clock configuration settings. This
509 device is used for hardware synchronization across the ATCA backplane
510 fabric. Upon loading, the driver exports a sysfs directory,
511 /sys/devices/platform/telco_clock, with a number of files for
512 controlling the behavior of this hardware.
515 bool "/dev/port character device"
516 depends on ISA || PCI
519 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/port device. The /dev/port
520 device is similar to /dev/mem, but for I/O ports.
522 source "drivers/s390/char/Kconfig"
524 source "drivers/char/xillybus/Kconfig"
527 tristate "SPARC Privileged ADI driver"
531 SPARC M7 and newer processors utilize ADI (Application Data
532 Integrity) to version and protect memory. This driver provides
533 read/write access to the ADI versions for privileged processes.
534 This feature is also known as MCD (Memory Corruption Detection)
535 and SSM (Silicon Secured Memory). Intended consumers of this
536 driver include crash and makedumpfile.
540 config RANDOM_TRUST_CPU
541 bool "Trust the CPU manufacturer to initialize Linux's CRNG"
542 depends on X86 || S390 || PPC
545 Assume that CPU manufacturer (e.g., Intel or AMD for RDSEED or
546 RDRAND, IBM for the S390 and Power PC architectures) is trustworthy
547 for the purposes of initializing Linux's CRNG. Since this is not
548 something that can be independently audited, this amounts to trusting
549 that CPU manufacturer (perhaps with the insistence or mandate
550 of a Nation State's intelligence or law enforcement agencies)
551 has not installed a hidden back door to compromise the CPU's
552 random number generation facilities. This can also be configured
553 at boot with "random.trust_cpu=on/off".
555 config RANDOM_TRUST_BOOTLOADER
556 bool "Trust the bootloader to initialize Linux's CRNG"
558 Some bootloaders can provide entropy to increase the kernel's initial
559 device randomness. Say Y here to assume the entropy provided by the
560 booloader is trustworthy so it will be added to the kernel's entropy
561 pool. Otherwise, say N here so it will be regarded as device input that
562 only mixes the entropy pool.