documentation: Add documentation on setting up mainboard GPIOs

The new documentation describes typical ways that mainboards will
set up their GPIOs, as well as the distinction between "early"
and "normal" GPIOs.  It also describes the typical properties
that GPIO configuration will cover.

Change-Id: I279eec4ed2bb0248a2bdb363fb73b40b8272267f
Signed-off-by: Tim Wawrzynczak <twawrzynczak@chromium.org>
Reviewed-on: https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/37802
Tested-by: build bot (Jenkins) <no-reply@coreboot.org>
Reviewed-by: Justin TerAvest <teravest@chromium.org>

2 files changed, 137 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/getting_started/gpio.md b/Documentation/getting_started/gpio.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..26939ce7cfcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/getting_started/gpio.md
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+# Configuring a mainboard's GPIOs in coreboot
+
+## Introduction
+
+Every mainboard needs to appropriately configure its General Purpose Inputs /
+Outputs (GPIOs). There are many facets of this issue, including which boot
+stage a GPIO might need to be configured.
+
+## Boot stages
+
+Typically, coreboot does most of its non-memory related initialization work in
+ramstage, when DRAM is available for use. Hence, the bulk of a mainboard's GPIOs
+are configured in this stage. However, some boards might need a few GPIOs
+configured before that; think of memory strapping pins which indicate what kind
+of DRAM is installed. These pins might need to be read before initializing the
+memory, so these GPIOs are then typically configured in bootblock or romstage.
+
+## Configuration
+
+Most mainboards will have a ``gpio.c`` file in their mainboard directory. This
+file typically contains tables which describe the configuration of the GPIO
+registers. Since these registers could be different on a per-SoC or per
+SoC-family basis, you may need to consult the datasheet for your SoC to find out
+how to appropriately set these registers. In addition, some mainboards are
+based on a baseboard/variant model, where several variant mainboards may share a
+lot of their circuitry and ICs and the commonality between the boards is
+collected into a virtual ``baseboard.`` In that case, the GPIOs which are shared
+between multiple boards are placed in the baseboard's ``gpio.c` file, while the
+ones that are board-specific go into each variant's ``gpio.c`` file.
+
+## Intel SoCs
+
+Many newer Intel SoCs share a common IP block for GPIOs, and that commonality
+has been taken advantage of in coreboot, which has a large set of macros that
+can be used to describe the configuration of each GPIO pad. This file lives in
+``src/soc/intel/common/block/include/intelblocks/gpio_defs.h``.
+
+### Older Intel SoCs
+
+Baytrail and Braswell, for example, simply expect the mainboard to supply a
+callback, `mainboard_get_gpios` which returns an array of `struct soc_gpio`
+objects, defining the configuration of each pin.
+
+### AMD SoCs
+
+Some AMD SoCs use a list of `struct soc_amd_gpio` objects to define the
+register values configuring each pin, similar to Intel.
+
+### Register details
+
+GPIO configuration registers typically control properties such as:
+1. Input / Output
+2. Pullups / Pulldowns
+3. Termination
+4. Tx / Rx Disable
+5. Which reset signal to use
+6. Native Function / IO
+7. Interrupts
+    * IRQ routing (e.g. on x86, APIC, SCI, SMI)
+    * Edge or Level Triggered
+    * Active High or Active Low
+8. Debouncing
+
+## Configuring GPIOs for pre-ramstage
+
+coreboot provides for several SoC-specific and mainboard-specific callbacks at
+specific points in time, such as bootblock-early, bootblock, romstage entry,
+pre-silicon init, pre-RAM init, or post-RAM init. The GPIOs that are
+configured in either bootblock or romstage, depending on when they are needed,
+are denoted the "early" GPIOs. Some mainboard will use
+``bootblock_mainboard_init()`` to configure their early GPIOs, and this is
+probably a good place to start. Many mainboards will declare their GPIO
+configuration as structs, i.e. (Intel),
+
+```C
+struct pad_config {
+    /* offset of pad within community */
+        int             pad;
+    /* Pad config data corresponding to DW0, DW1,.... */
+        uint32_t        pad_config[GPIO_NUM_PAD_CFG_REGS];
+};
+```
+
+and will usually place these in an array, one for each pad to be configured.
+Mainboards using Intel SoCs can use a library which combines common
+configurations together into a set of macros, e.g.,
+
+```C
+    /* Native function configuration */
+    #define PAD_CFG_NF(pad, pull, rst, func)
+    /*
+     * Set native function with RX Level/Edge configuration and disable
+     * input/output buffer if necessary
+     */
+    #define PAD_CFG_NF_BUF_TRIG(pad, pull, rst, func, bufdis, trig)
+    /* General purpose output, no pullup/down. */
+    #define PAD_CFG_GPO(pad, val, rst)
+    /* General purpose output, with termination specified */
+    #define PAD_CFG_TERM_GPO(pad, val, pull, rst)
+    /* General purpose output, no pullup/down. */
+    #define PAD_CFG_GPO_GPIO_DRIVER(pad, val, rst, pull)
+    /* General purpose input */
+    #define PAD_CFG_GPI(pad, pull, rst)
+```
+etc.
+
+## Configuring GPIOs for ramstage and beyond...
+
+In ramstage, most mainboards will configure the rest of their GPIOs for the
+function they will be performing while the device is active. The goal is the
+same as above in bootblock; another ``static const`` array is created, and the
+rest of the GPIO registers are programmed.
+
+In the baseboard/variant model described above, the baseboard will provide the
+configuration for the GPIOs which are configured identically between variants,
+and will provide a mechanism for a variant to override the baseboard's
+configuration. This is usually done via two tables: the baseboard table and the
+variant's override table.
+
+This configuration is often hooked into the mainboard's `enable_dev` callback,
+defined in its `struct chip_operations`.
+
+## Potential issues (gotchas!)
+
+There are a couple of configurations that you need to especially careful about,
+as they can have a large impact on your mainboard.
+
+The first is configuring a pin as an output, when it was designed to be an
+input. There is a real risk in this case of short-circuiting a component which
+could cause catastrophic failures, up to and including your mainboard!
+
+The other configuration option to watch out for deals with unconnected GPIOs.
+If no pullup or pulldown is declared with these, they may end up "floating",
+i.e., not at logical high or logical low. This can cause problems such as
+unwanted power consumption or not reading the pin correctly, if it was intended
+to be strapped.
diff --git a/Documentation/getting_started/index.md b/Documentation/getting_started/index.md
index 52d873ece2bf..9b9ac7f9e37d 100644
--- a/Documentation/getting_started/index.md
+++ b/Documentation/getting_started/index.md
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@
 * [Gerrit Guidelines](gerrit_guidelines.md)
 * [Documentation License](license.md)
 * [Writing Documentation](writing_documentation.md)
+* [Setting up GPIOs](gpio.md)