1 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 # Character device configuration
6 menu "Character devices"
8 source "drivers/tty/Kconfig"
11 tristate "TTY driver to output user messages via printk"
12 depends on EXPERT && TTY
15 If you say Y here, the support for writing user messages (i.e.
16 console messages) via printk is available.
18 The feature is useful to inline user messages with kernel
20 In order to use this feature, you should output user messages
21 to /dev/ttyprintk or redirect console to this TTY.
25 config TTY_PRINTK_LEVEL
27 int "ttyprintk log level (1-7)"
31 Printk log level to use for ttyprintk messages.
34 tristate "Parallel printer support"
37 If you intend to attach a printer to the parallel port of your Linux
38 box (as opposed to using a serial printer; if the connector at the
39 printer has 9 or 25 holes ["female"], then it's serial), say Y.
40 Also read the Printing-HOWTO, available from
41 <https://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>.
43 It is possible to share one parallel port among several devices
44 (e.g. printer and ZIP drive) and it is safe to compile the
45 corresponding drivers into the kernel.
47 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here and read
48 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/parport.rst>. The module will be called lp.
50 If you have several parallel ports, you can specify which ports to
51 use with the "lp" kernel command line option. (Try "man bootparam"
52 or see the documentation of your boot loader (lilo or loadlin) about
53 how to pass options to the kernel at boot time.) The syntax of the
54 "lp" command line option can be found in <file:drivers/char/lp.c>.
56 If you have more than 8 printers, you need to increase the LP_NO
57 macro in lp.c and the PARPORT_MAX macro in parport.h.
60 bool "Support for console on line printer"
63 If you want kernel messages to be printed out as they occur, you
64 can have a console on the printer. This option adds support for
65 doing that; to actually get it to happen you need to pass the
66 option "console=lp0" to the kernel at boot time.
68 If the printer is out of paper (or off, or unplugged, or too
69 busy..) the kernel will stall until the printer is ready again.
70 By defining CONSOLE_LP_STRICT to 0 (at your own risk) you
71 can make the kernel continue when this happens,
72 but it'll lose the kernel messages.
77 tristate "Support for user-space parallel port device drivers"
80 Saying Y to this adds support for /dev/parport device nodes. This
81 is needed for programs that want portable access to the parallel
82 port, for instance deviceid (which displays Plug-and-Play device
85 This is the parallel port equivalent of SCSI generic support (sg).
86 It is safe to say N to this -- it is not needed for normal printing
87 or parallel port CD-ROM/disk support.
89 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
90 module will be called ppdev.
95 tristate "Virtio console"
96 depends on VIRTIO && TTY
99 Virtio console for use with hypervisors.
101 Also serves as a general-purpose serial device for data
102 transfer between the guest and host. Character devices at
103 /dev/vportNpn will be created when corresponding ports are
104 found, where N is the device number and n is the port number
105 within that device. If specified by the host, a sysfs
106 attribute called 'name' will be populated with a name for
107 the port which can be used by udev scripts to create a
108 symlink to the device.
111 tristate "IBM POWER Barrier Synchronization Register support"
112 depends on PPC_PSERIES
114 This devices exposes a hardware mechanism for fast synchronization
115 of threads across a large system which avoids bouncing a cacheline
116 between several cores on a system
118 config POWERNV_OP_PANEL
119 tristate "IBM POWERNV Operator Panel Display support"
120 depends on PPC_POWERNV
123 If you say Y here, a special character device node, /dev/op_panel,
124 will be created which exposes the operator panel display on IBM
125 Power Systems machines with FSPs.
127 If you don't require access to the operator panel display from user
130 If unsure, say M here to build it as a module called powernv-op-panel.
132 source "drivers/char/ipmi/Kconfig"
135 tristate "NetWinder thermometer support"
136 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
138 Say Y here to include support for the thermal management hardware
139 found in the NetWinder. This driver allows the user to control the
140 temperature set points and to read the current temperature.
142 It is also possible to say M here to build it as a module (ds1620)
143 It is recommended to be used on a NetWinder, but it is not a
147 tristate "NetWinder Button"
148 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
150 If you say Y here and create a character device node /dev/nwbutton
151 with major and minor numbers 10 and 158 ("man mknod"), then every
152 time the orange button is pressed a number of times, the number of
153 times the button was pressed will be written to that device.
155 This is most useful for applications, as yet unwritten, which
156 perform actions based on how many times the button is pressed in a
159 Do not hold the button down for too long, as the driver does not
160 alter the behaviour of the hardware reset circuitry attached to the
161 button; it will still execute a hard reset if the button is held
162 down for longer than approximately five seconds.
164 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
165 module will be called nwbutton.
167 Most people will answer Y to this question and "Reboot Using Button"
168 below to be able to initiate a system shutdown from the button.
170 config NWBUTTON_REBOOT
171 bool "Reboot Using Button"
174 If you say Y here, then you will be able to initiate a system
175 shutdown and reboot by pressing the orange button a number of times.
176 The number of presses to initiate the shutdown is two by default,
177 but this can be altered by modifying the value of NUM_PRESSES_REBOOT
178 in nwbutton.h and recompiling the driver or, if you compile the
179 driver as a module, you can specify the number of presses at load
180 time with "insmod button reboot_count=<something>".
183 tristate "NetWinder flash support"
184 depends on ARCH_NETWINDER
186 If you say Y here and create a character device /dev/flash with
187 major 10 and minor 160 you can manipulate the flash ROM containing
188 the NetWinder firmware. Be careful as accidentally overwriting the
189 flash contents can render your computer unbootable. On no account
190 allow random users access to this device. :-)
192 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
193 module will be called nwflash.
195 If you're not sure, say N.
197 source "drivers/char/hw_random/Kconfig"
200 tristate "Double Talk PC internal speech card support"
203 This driver is for the DoubleTalk PC, a speech synthesizer
204 manufactured by RC Systems (<https://www.rcsys.com/>). It is also
205 called the `internal DoubleTalk'.
207 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
208 module will be called dtlk.
211 tristate "Xilinx HWICAP Support"
212 depends on MICROBLAZE
214 This option enables support for Xilinx Internal Configuration
215 Access Port (ICAP) driver. The ICAP is used on Xilinx Virtex
216 FPGA platforms to partially reconfigure the FPGA at runtime.
221 tristate "Siemens R3964 line discipline"
222 depends on TTY && BROKEN
224 This driver allows synchronous communication with devices using the
225 Siemens R3964 packet protocol. Unless you are dealing with special
226 hardware like PLCs, you are unlikely to need this.
228 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
229 module will be called n_r3964.
234 tristate "Applicom intelligent fieldbus card support"
237 This driver provides the kernel-side support for the intelligent
238 fieldbus cards made by Applicom International. More information
239 about these cards can be found on the WWW at the address
240 <https://www.applicom-int.com/>, or by email from David Woodhouse
241 <dwmw2@infradead.org>.
243 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
244 module will be called applicom.
249 tristate "Sony Vaio Programmable I/O Control Device support"
250 depends on X86_32 && PCI && INPUT
252 This driver enables access to the Sony Programmable I/O Control
253 Device which can be found in many (all ?) Sony Vaio laptops.
255 If you have one of those laptops, read
256 <file:Documentation/admin-guide/laptops/sonypi.rst>, and say Y or M here.
258 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
259 module will be called sonypi.
262 tristate "TANBAC TB0219 GPIO support"
263 depends on TANBAC_TB022X
266 source "drivers/char/pcmcia/Kconfig"
269 tristate "ACP Modem (Mwave) support"
270 depends on X86 && TTY
273 The ACP modem (Mwave) for Linux is a WinModem. It is composed of a
274 kernel driver and a user level application. Together these components
275 support direct attachment to public switched telephone networks (PSTNs)
276 and support selected world wide countries.
278 This version of the ACP Modem driver supports the IBM Thinkpad 600E,
279 600, and 770 that include on board ACP modem hardware.
281 The modem also supports the standard communications port interface
282 (ttySx) and is compatible with the Hayes AT Command Set.
284 The user level application needed to use this driver can be found at
285 the IBM Linux Technology Center (LTC) web site:
286 <http://www.ibm.com/linux/ltc/>.
288 If you own one of the above IBM Thinkpads which has the Mwave chipset
291 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
292 module will be called mwave.
295 tristate "NatSemi SCx200 GPIO Support"
299 Give userspace access to the GPIO pins on the National
300 Semiconductor SCx200 processors.
302 If compiled as a module, it will be called scx200_gpio.
305 tristate "NatSemi PC8736x GPIO Support"
306 depends on X86_32 && !UML
307 default SCx200_GPIO # mostly N
308 select NSC_GPIO # needed for support routines
310 Give userspace access to the GPIO pins on the National
311 Semiconductor PC-8736x (x=[03456]) SuperIO chip. The chip
312 has multiple functional units, inc several managed by
313 hwmon/pc87360 driver. Tested with PC-87366
315 If compiled as a module, it will be called pc8736x_gpio.
318 tristate "NatSemi Base GPIO Support"
320 # selected by SCx200_GPIO and PC8736x_GPIO
321 # what about 2 selectors differing: m != y
323 Common support used (and needed) by scx200_gpio and
324 pc8736x_gpio drivers. If those drivers are built as
325 modules, this one will be too, named nsc_gpio
328 bool "/dev/mem virtual device support"
331 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/mem device.
332 The /dev/mem device is used to access areas of physical
334 When in doubt, say "Y".
337 bool "/dev/kmem virtual device support"
338 # On arm64, VMALLOC_START < PAGE_OFFSET, which confuses kmem read/write
341 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/kmem device. The
342 /dev/kmem device is rarely used, but can be used for certain
343 kind of kernel debugging operations.
344 When in doubt, say "N".
347 tristate "/dev/nvram support"
348 depends on X86 || HAVE_ARCH_NVRAM_OPS
351 If you say Y here and create a character special file /dev/nvram
352 with major number 10 and minor number 144 using mknod ("man mknod"),
353 you get read and write access to the non-volatile memory.
355 /dev/nvram may be used to view settings in NVRAM or to change them
356 (with some utility). It could also be used to frequently
357 save a few bits of very important data that may not be lost over
358 power-off and for which writing to disk is too insecure. Note
359 however that most NVRAM space in a PC belongs to the BIOS and you
360 should NEVER idly tamper with it. See Ralf Brown's interrupt list
361 for a guide to the use of CMOS bytes by your BIOS.
363 This memory is conventionally called "NVRAM" on PowerPC machines,
364 "CMOS RAM" on PCs, "NVRAM" on Ataris and "PRAM" on Macintoshes.
366 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
367 module will be called nvram.
370 tristate "RAW driver (/dev/raw/rawN)"
373 The raw driver permits block devices to be bound to /dev/raw/rawN.
374 Once bound, I/O against /dev/raw/rawN uses efficient zero-copy I/O.
375 See the raw(8) manpage for more details.
377 Applications should preferably open the device (eg /dev/hda1)
378 with the O_DIRECT flag.
381 int "Maximum number of RAW devices to support (1-65536)"
382 depends on RAW_DRIVER
386 The maximum number of RAW devices that are supported.
387 Default is 256. Increase this number in case you need lots of
391 bool "/dev/port character device"
392 depends on ISA || PCI
395 Say Y here if you want to support the /dev/port device. The /dev/port
396 device is similar to /dev/mem, but for I/O ports.
399 bool "HPET - High Precision Event Timer" if (X86 || IA64)
403 If you say Y here, you will have a miscdevice named "/dev/hpet/". Each
404 open selects one of the timers supported by the HPET. The timers are
405 non-periodic and/or periodic.
408 bool "Allow mmap of HPET"
412 If you say Y here, user applications will be able to mmap
415 config HPET_MMAP_DEFAULT
416 bool "Enable HPET MMAP access by default"
420 In some hardware implementations, the page containing HPET
421 registers may also contain other things that shouldn't be
422 exposed to the user. This option selects the default (if
423 kernel parameter hpet_mmap is not set) user access to the
424 registers for applications that require it.
426 config HANGCHECK_TIMER
427 tristate "Hangcheck timer"
428 depends on X86 || IA64 || PPC64 || S390
430 The hangcheck-timer module detects when the system has gone
431 out to lunch past a certain margin. It can reboot the system
432 or merely print a warning.
435 tristate "UV_MMTIMER Memory mapped RTC for SGI UV"
439 The uv_mmtimer device allows direct userspace access to the
442 source "drivers/char/tpm/Kconfig"
445 tristate "Telecom clock driver for ATCA SBC"
449 The telecom clock device is specific to the MPCBL0010 and MPCBL0050
450 ATCA computers and allows direct userspace access to the
451 configuration of the telecom clock configuration settings. This
452 device is used for hardware synchronization across the ATCA backplane
453 fabric. Upon loading, the driver exports a sysfs directory,
454 /sys/devices/platform/telco_clock, with a number of files for
455 controlling the behavior of this hardware.
457 source "drivers/s390/char/Kconfig"
459 source "drivers/char/xillybus/Kconfig"
462 tristate "SPARC Privileged ADI driver"
466 SPARC M7 and newer processors utilize ADI (Application Data
467 Integrity) to version and protect memory. This driver provides
468 read/write access to the ADI versions for privileged processes.
469 This feature is also known as MCD (Memory Corruption Detection)
470 and SSM (Silicon Secured Memory). Intended consumers of this
471 driver include crash and makedumpfile.
475 config RANDOM_TRUST_CPU
476 bool "Trust the CPU manufacturer to initialize Linux's CRNG"
477 depends on ARCH_RANDOM
480 Assume that CPU manufacturer (e.g., Intel or AMD for RDSEED or
481 RDRAND, IBM for the S390 and Power PC architectures) is trustworthy
482 for the purposes of initializing Linux's CRNG. Since this is not
483 something that can be independently audited, this amounts to trusting
484 that CPU manufacturer (perhaps with the insistence or mandate
485 of a Nation State's intelligence or law enforcement agencies)
486 has not installed a hidden back door to compromise the CPU's
487 random number generation facilities. This can also be configured
488 at boot with "random.trust_cpu=on/off".
490 config RANDOM_TRUST_BOOTLOADER
491 bool "Trust the bootloader to initialize Linux's CRNG"
493 Some bootloaders can provide entropy to increase the kernel's initial
494 device randomness. Say Y here to assume the entropy provided by the
495 booloader is trustworthy so it will be added to the kernel's entropy
496 pool. Otherwise, say N here so it will be regarded as device input that
497 only mixes the entropy pool.