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DART-MX8M GPIO

GPIO state

The current state of the system's GPIOs can be obtained in user-mode, as shown in the following example:

# cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio
gpiochip0: GPIOs 0-31, parent: platform/30200000.gpio, 30200000.gpio:
 gpio-8   (                    |eth_phy_pwr         ) out hi    
 gpio-9   (                    |phy-reset           ) out hi    
 gpio-10  (                    |connect             ) in  hi IRQ

gpiochip1: GPIOs 32-63, parent: platform/30210000.gpio, 30210000.gpio:
 gpio-44  (                    |cd                  ) in  lo IRQ
 gpio-51  (                    |VSD_3V3             ) out hi    

gpiochip2: GPIOs 64-95, parent: platform/30220000.gpio, 30220000.gpio:

gpiochip3: GPIOs 96-127, parent: platform/30230000.gpio, 30230000.gpio:
 gpio-102 (                    |Back                ) in  hi IRQ
 gpio-109 (                    |Home                ) in  hi IRQ
 gpio-111 (                    |Down                ) in  hi IRQ
 gpio-113 (                    |?                   ) out lo    
 gpio-114 (                    |Up                  ) in  hi IRQ

Each GPIO is defined as in or out and the state is shown as lo or hi.
For example pin 44 is the SD card card-detect. When an SD card is plugged in, the state will be:

gpio-44  (                    |cd                  ) in  lo IRQ

When the SD card is removed, the state will be:

gpio-44  (                    |cd                  ) in  hi IRQ

Manipulating GPIO using libgpiod

The Linux GPIO sysfs interface is being deprecated. Moving forward, user space should use the character device /dev/gpiochip* instead. libgpiod provides bindings and utilities for for manipulating GPIO via user space.

libgpiod via command line

libgpiod provides command line utilities for GPIO:

gpiodetect	List all gpiochips present on the system, their names, labels and number of GPIO lines
gpioinfo	List all lines of specified gpiochips, their names, consumers, direction, active state and additional flags
gpioget	Read values of specified GPIO lines
gpioset	Set values of specified GPIO lines, potentially keep the lines exported and wait until timeout, user input or signal
gpiofind	Find the gpiochip name and line offset given the line name
gpiomon	Wait for events on GPIO lines, specify which events to watch, how many events to process before exiting or if the events should be reported to the console

i.MX GPIOs are organized in banks of 32 pins. Each bank corresponds to a character device /dev/gpiochip<bank index>. The gpiodetect utility can be used to inspect the available gpiochip character devices:

# gpiodetect
gpiochip0 [30200000.gpio] (32 lines)
gpiochip1 [30210000.gpio] (32 lines)
...

The gpioinfo utility can be used to inspect the lines for a given gpiochip:

# gpioinfo gpiochip0
gpiochip0 - 32 lines:
        line   0:      unnamed    "spi_imx"  output  active-high [used]
        line   1:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        line   2:      unnamed       unused   input  active-high
        ...

The gpioset and gpioget utilities can be used to manipulate GPIO from the command line.

For example, assuming GPIO4_21 is configured as a GPIO in your device tree:

Set GPIO4_21 high:

gpioset gpiochip3 21=1

Set GPIO4_21 low:

gpioset gpiochip3 21=0

Read GPIO4_21:

gpioget gpiochip3 21

libgpiod C Application

libgpiod provides bindings for C/C++ applications. C++ examples are available in the libgpiod /tree/bindings/cxx/examples directory.

Below is a simple C application demonstrating how to use the bindings with GPIO4_IO21:

Makefile:

all: main.cpp
	$(CC) $(CCFLAGS) -Og -lgpiod main.c -g -o hello.bin
clean:
	rm -f hello.bin

main.c

#include <gpiod.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

#define    CONSUMER    "Variscite Demo"

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    unsigned int i, ret, val;
    struct gpiod_chip *chip;
    struct gpiod_line *line;
    const char * chipname = "gpiochip3";
    const unsigned int line_num = 21;

    chip = gpiod_chip_open_by_name(chipname);
    if (!chip) {
        perror("Open chip failed\n");
        goto end;
    }

    line = gpiod_chip_get_line(chip, line_num);
    if (!line) {
        perror("Get line failed\n");
        goto close_chip;
    }

    ret = gpiod_line_request_output(line, CONSUMER, 0);
    if (ret < 0) {
        perror("Request line as output failed\n");
        goto release_line;
    }

    /* Blink 5 times */
    val = 0;
    for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        ret = gpiod_line_set_value(line, val);
        if (ret < 0) {
            perror("Set line output failed\n");
            goto release_line;
        }
        printf("Output %u on line #%u\n", val, line_num);
        sleep(1);
        val = !val;
    }

release_line:
    gpiod_line_release(line);
close_chip:
    gpiod_chip_close(chip);
end:
    return 0;
}

libgpiod Python Application

libgpiod provides bindings for python applications:

# pip3 install gpiod

Python examples are available in the libgpiod /tree/bindings/python/examples directory.

Kernel Device Tree GPIO configuration

Device Tree GPIO files

Pin Func files

In the directory arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale of the Linux kernel source you will find the pin functions definition files.
The relevant file is imx8mq-pinfunc.h.
If you search it for GPIO4_IO2, for example, you will see a group of definitions with same prefix (pad name), "MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0".

#define MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0_SAI1_RX_DATA0                                0x164 0x3CC 0x000 0x0 0x0
#define MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0_SAI5_RX_DATA0                                0x164 0x3CC 0x4D4 0x1 0x1
#define MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0_CORESIGHT_TRACE0                             0x164 0x3CC 0x000 0x4 0x0
#define MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0_GPIO4_IO2                                    0x164 0x3CC 0x000 0x5 0x0
#define MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0_CCMSRCGPCMIX_BOOT_CFG0                       0x164 0x3CC 0x000 0x6 0x0
#define MX8MQ_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXD0_SIM_M_HADDR17                                0x164 0x3CC 0x000 0x7 0x0

Adding only the one with the GPIO4_IO2 suffix (function) to your dts file will let you use the pin as GPIO.

Define a pin as GPIO in the kernel Device Tree

You need to add the relevant definitions to your device tree, as explained in the Pin Func files section above.
Edit arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/fsl-imx8mq-var-dart-common.dtsi and add the definition for the GPIO you need in the iomuxc node.

&iomuxc {
	pinctrl-names = "default";
	pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_hog>;

	imx8m-var-dart {
		pinctrl_hog: hoggrp {
			fsl,pins = <
				/* Add your GPIO definitions here */ 
			>;
		};
	};
…
};

Device Tree GPIO attribute

If you look at the pin control definitions in arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/fsl-imx8mq-var-dart-common.dtsi in the Linux kernel source tree, the number to the right of the pin mux macro can be used for additional attributes like pull-up, slew rate, open drain, drive strength, etc.
This value is written to the IOMUXC_SW_PAD_CTRL_ register of the relevant pin.
Please consult the SOC reference manual for details about the relevant register.