Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1761976Ab3DDArw (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Apr 2013 20:47:52 -0400 Received: from co1ehsobe001.messaging.microsoft.com ([216.32.180.184]:23440 "EHLO co1outboundpool.messaging.microsoft.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1758736Ab3DDArv (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Apr 2013 20:47:51 -0400 X-Forefront-Antispam-Report: CIP:160.33.194.231;KIP:(null);UIP:(null);IPV:NLI;H:usculsndmail04v.am.sony.com;RD:mail.sonyusa.com;EFVD:NLI X-SpamScore: -1 X-BigFish: VPS-1(zz4015Izz1f42h1fc6h1ee6h1de0h1fdah1202h1e76h1d1ah1d2ahzzz2fh2a8h668h839h947hd25hf0ah1288h12a5h12a9h12bdh137ah13b6h1441h1504h1537h153bh162dh1631h1758h1765h18e1h190ch1946h19b4h19c3h1b0ah1155h) Message-ID: <515CCEB3.4020309@am.sony.com> Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 17:52:03 -0700 From: Tim Bird User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130308 Thunderbird/17.0.4 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Greg KH CC: linux kernel Subject: GPS driver for Linux - kernel or user-space driver? Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginatorOrg: am.sony.com Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1304 Lines: 31 I've been approached by a developer at Sony who wants to publish an open source driver for a Sony GPS receiver module. I've looked in the kernel source, and only see one standalone GPS driver, for Garmin. It appears that most GPS support in Linux is done via user-space drivers. Many GPS hardware modules appear to be accessed via a serial line, or USB/serial port. The Sony module is pretty much the same, accepting commands and delivering data via a uart from the chip. I planning to recommend writing a user-space driver (based on gpsd and/or the Android GPS HAL specification). But I'm worried I'm missing something. Is this the correct approach, or is there an established kernel API for GPS modules - such that I should recommend that this developer writes a kernel module instead of, or in addition to, the user-space support for the hardware? Thanks, -- Tim ============================= Tim Bird Architecture Group Chair, CE Workgroup of the Linux Foundation Senior Staff Engineer, Sony Network Entertainment ============================= -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/