xref: /linux/Documentation/leds/uleds.rst (revision 2da68a77)
1==============
2Userspace LEDs
3==============
4
5The uleds driver supports userspace LEDs. This can be useful for testing
6triggers and can also be used to implement virtual LEDs.
7
8
9Usage
10=====
11
12When the driver is loaded, a character device is created at /dev/uleds. To
13create a new LED class device, open /dev/uleds and write a uleds_user_dev
14structure to it (found in kernel public header file linux/uleds.h)::
15
16    #define LED_MAX_NAME_SIZE 64
17
18    struct uleds_user_dev {
19	char name[LED_MAX_NAME_SIZE];
20    };
21
22A new LED class device will be created with the name given. The name can be
23any valid sysfs device node name, but consider using the LED class naming
24convention of "devicename:color:function".
25
26The current brightness is found by reading a single byte from the character
27device. Values are unsigned: 0 to 255. Reading will block until the brightness
28changes. The device node can also be polled to notify when the brightness value
29changes.
30
31The LED class device will be removed when the open file handle to /dev/uleds
32is closed.
33
34Multiple LED class devices are created by opening additional file handles to
35/dev/uleds.
36
37See tools/leds/uledmon.c for an example userspace program.
38