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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/networking/timestamping.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/timestamping.txt | 200 |
1 files changed, 200 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/timestamping.txt b/Documentation/networking/timestamping.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..98097d8c --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/timestamping.txt @@ -0,0 +1,200 @@ +The existing interfaces for getting network packages time stamped are: + +* SO_TIMESTAMP + Generate time stamp for each incoming packet using the (not necessarily + monotonous!) system time. Result is returned via recv_msg() in a + control message as timeval (usec resolution). + +* SO_TIMESTAMPNS + Same time stamping mechanism as SO_TIMESTAMP, but returns result as + timespec (nsec resolution). + +* IP_MULTICAST_LOOP + SO_TIMESTAMP[NS] + Only for multicasts: approximate send time stamp by receiving the looped + packet and using its receive time stamp. + +The following interface complements the existing ones: receive time +stamps can be generated and returned for arbitrary packets and much +closer to the point where the packet is really sent. Time stamps can +be generated in software (as before) or in hardware (if the hardware +has such a feature). + +SO_TIMESTAMPING: + +Instructs the socket layer which kind of information is wanted. The +parameter is an integer with some of the following bits set. Setting +other bits is an error and doesn't change the current state. + +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_HARDWARE: try to obtain send time stamp in hardware +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_SOFTWARE: if SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_HARDWARE is off or + fails, then do it in software +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RX_HARDWARE: return the original, unmodified time stamp + as generated by the hardware +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RX_SOFTWARE: if SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RX_HARDWARE is off or + fails, then do it in software +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RAW_HARDWARE: return original raw hardware time stamp +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_SYS_HARDWARE: return hardware time stamp transformed to + the system time base +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_SOFTWARE: return system time stamp generated in + software + +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX/RX determine how time stamps are generated. +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RAW/SYS determine how they are reported in the +following control message: + +struct scm_timestamping { + struct timespec systime; + struct timespec hwtimetrans; + struct timespec hwtimeraw; +}; + +recvmsg() can be used to get this control message for regular incoming +packets. For send time stamps the outgoing packet is looped back to +the socket's error queue with the send time stamp(s) attached. It can +be received with recvmsg(flags=MSG_ERRQUEUE). The call returns the +original outgoing packet data including all headers preprended down to +and including the link layer, the scm_timestamping control message and +a sock_extended_err control message with ee_errno==ENOMSG and +ee_origin==SO_EE_ORIGIN_TIMESTAMPING. A socket with such a pending +bounced packet is ready for reading as far as select() is concerned. +If the outgoing packet has to be fragmented, then only the first +fragment is time stamped and returned to the sending socket. + +All three values correspond to the same event in time, but were +generated in different ways. Each of these values may be empty (= all +zero), in which case no such value was available. If the application +is not interested in some of these values, they can be left blank to +avoid the potential overhead of calculating them. + +systime is the value of the system time at that moment. This +corresponds to the value also returned via SO_TIMESTAMP[NS]. If the +time stamp was generated by hardware, then this field is +empty. Otherwise it is filled in if SOF_TIMESTAMPING_SOFTWARE is +set. + +hwtimeraw is the original hardware time stamp. Filled in if +SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RAW_HARDWARE is set. No assumptions about its +relation to system time should be made. + +hwtimetrans is the hardware time stamp transformed so that it +corresponds as good as possible to system time. This correlation is +not perfect; as a consequence, sorting packets received via different +NICs by their hwtimetrans may differ from the order in which they were +received. hwtimetrans may be non-monotonic even for the same NIC. +Filled in if SOF_TIMESTAMPING_SYS_HARDWARE is set. Requires support +by the network device and will be empty without that support. + + +SIOCSHWTSTAMP: + +Hardware time stamping must also be initialized for each device driver +that is expected to do hardware time stamping. The parameter is defined in +/include/linux/net_tstamp.h as: + +struct hwtstamp_config { + int flags; /* no flags defined right now, must be zero */ + int tx_type; /* HWTSTAMP_TX_* */ + int rx_filter; /* HWTSTAMP_FILTER_* */ +}; + +Desired behavior is passed into the kernel and to a specific device by +calling ioctl(SIOCSHWTSTAMP) with a pointer to a struct ifreq whose +ifr_data points to a struct hwtstamp_config. The tx_type and +rx_filter are hints to the driver what it is expected to do. If +the requested fine-grained filtering for incoming packets is not +supported, the driver may time stamp more than just the requested types +of packets. + +A driver which supports hardware time stamping shall update the struct +with the actual, possibly more permissive configuration. If the +requested packets cannot be time stamped, then nothing should be +changed and ERANGE shall be returned (in contrast to EINVAL, which +indicates that SIOCSHWTSTAMP is not supported at all). + +Only a processes with admin rights may change the configuration. User +space is responsible to ensure that multiple processes don't interfere +with each other and that the settings are reset. + +/* possible values for hwtstamp_config->tx_type */ +enum { + /* + * no outgoing packet will need hardware time stamping; + * should a packet arrive which asks for it, no hardware + * time stamping will be done + */ + HWTSTAMP_TX_OFF, + + /* + * enables hardware time stamping for outgoing packets; + * the sender of the packet decides which are to be + * time stamped by setting SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_SOFTWARE + * before sending the packet + */ + HWTSTAMP_TX_ON, +}; + +/* possible values for hwtstamp_config->rx_filter */ +enum { + /* time stamp no incoming packet at all */ + HWTSTAMP_FILTER_NONE, + + /* time stamp any incoming packet */ + HWTSTAMP_FILTER_ALL, + + /* return value: time stamp all packets requested plus some others */ + HWTSTAMP_FILTER_SOME, + + /* PTP v1, UDP, any kind of event packet */ + HWTSTAMP_FILTER_PTP_V1_L4_EVENT, + + /* for the complete list of values, please check + * the include file /include/linux/net_tstamp.h + */ +}; + + +DEVICE IMPLEMENTATION + +A driver which supports hardware time stamping must support the +SIOCSHWTSTAMP ioctl and update the supplied struct hwtstamp_config with +the actual values as described in the section on SIOCSHWTSTAMP. + +Time stamps for received packets must be stored in the skb. To get a pointer +to the shared time stamp structure of the skb call skb_hwtstamps(). Then +set the time stamps in the structure: + +struct skb_shared_hwtstamps { + /* hardware time stamp transformed into duration + * since arbitrary point in time + */ + ktime_t hwtstamp; + ktime_t syststamp; /* hwtstamp transformed to system time base */ +}; + +Time stamps for outgoing packets are to be generated as follows: +- In hard_start_xmit(), check if (skb_shinfo(skb)->tx_flags & SKBTX_HW_TSTAMP) + is set no-zero. If yes, then the driver is expected to do hardware time + stamping. +- If this is possible for the skb and requested, then declare + that the driver is doing the time stamping by setting the flag + SKBTX_IN_PROGRESS in skb_shinfo(skb)->tx_flags , e.g. with + + skb_shinfo(skb)->tx_flags |= SKBTX_IN_PROGRESS; + + You might want to keep a pointer to the associated skb for the next step + and not free the skb. A driver not supporting hardware time stamping doesn't + do that. A driver must never touch sk_buff::tstamp! It is used to store + software generated time stamps by the network subsystem. +- As soon as the driver has sent the packet and/or obtained a + hardware time stamp for it, it passes the time stamp back by + calling skb_hwtstamp_tx() with the original skb, the raw + hardware time stamp. skb_hwtstamp_tx() clones the original skb and + adds the timestamps, therefore the original skb has to be freed now. + If obtaining the hardware time stamp somehow fails, then the driver + should not fall back to software time stamping. The rationale is that + this would occur at a later time in the processing pipeline than other + software time stamping and therefore could lead to unexpected deltas + between time stamps. +- If the driver did not set the SKBTX_IN_PROGRESS flag (see above), then + dev_hard_start_xmit() checks whether software time stamping + is wanted as fallback and potentially generates the time stamp. |