1 files changed, 54 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/pwm.txt b/Documentation/pwm.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..03e39d145911
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/pwm.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) interface
+
+This provides an overview about the Linux PWM interface
+
+PWMs are commonly used for controlling LEDs, fans or vibrators in
+cell phones. PWMs with a fixed purpose have no need implementing
+the Linux PWM API (although they could). However, PWMs are often
+found as discrete devices on SoCs which have no fixed purpose. It's
+up to the board designer to connect them to LEDs or fans. To provide
+this kind of flexibility the generic PWM API exists.
+
+Identifying PWMs
+----------------
+
+Users of the legacy PWM API use unique IDs to refer to PWM devices. One
+goal of the new PWM framework is to get rid of this global namespace.
+
+Using PWMs
+----------
+
+A PWM can be requested using pwm_request() and freed after usage with
+pwm_free(). After being requested a PWM has to be configured using
+
+int pwm_config(struct pwm_device *pwm, int duty_ns, int period_ns);
+
+To start/stop toggling the PWM output use pwm_enable()/pwm_disable().
+
+Implementing a PWM driver
+-------------------------
+
+Currently there are two ways to implement pwm drivers. Traditionally
+there only has been the barebone API meaning that each driver has
+to implement the pwm_*() functions itself. This means that it's impossible
+to have multiple PWM drivers in the system. For this reason it's mandatory
+for new drivers to use the generic PWM framework.
+A new PWM device can be added using pwmchip_add() and removed again with
+pwmchip_remove(). pwmchip_add() takes a filled in struct pwm_chip as
+argument which provides the ops and the pwm id to the framework.
+
+Locking
+-------
+
+The PWM core list manipulations are protected by a mutex, so pwm_request()
+and pwm_free() may not be called from an atomic context. Currently the
+PWM core does not enforce any locking to pwm_enable(), pwm_disable() and
+pwm_config(), so the calling context is currently driver specific. This
+is an issue derived from the former barebone API and should be fixed soon.
+
+Helpers
+-------
+
+Currently a PWM can only be configured with period_ns and duty_ns. For several
+use cases freq_hz and duty_percent might be better. Instead of calculating
+this in your driver please consider adding appropriate helpers to the framework.