From: Martin Mares Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 22:10:26 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Rewritten the README file. X-Git-Tag: v3.0.0~198 X-Git-Url: http://mj.ucw.cz/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=0715991356af83ccc70475ba5abce2d456fb72a8;p=pciutils.git Rewritten the README file. --- diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog index 0f1be5c..a0a00cc 100644 --- a/ChangeLog +++ b/ChangeLog @@ -1,5 +1,7 @@ 2002-03-26 Martin Mares + * README: Rewritten. + * Makefile: When the currently installed pci.ids file is newer than the version to be installed, don't overwrite it. Suggested by Jean Delvare . diff --git a/README b/README index 02e7e93..cedd409 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ This package contains the PCI Utilities, version 2.1.9. -Copyright (c) 1997--2001 Martin Mares +Copyright (c) 1997--2002 Martin Mares All files in this package can be freely distributed and used according to the terms of the GNU General Public License, either version 2 or @@ -9,46 +9,90 @@ policy as for the Linux kernel itself -- see /usr/src/linux/COPYING for details. - The PCI Utilities package contains a library for portable access to PCI bus -configuration space and several utilities based on this library. Current -version works only on Linux and also has an experimental support for FreeBSD, -but it can be easily extended to work on other systems as well. +1. What's that? +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The PCI Utilities package contains a library for portable access to PCI bus +configuration registers and several utilities based on this library. - The utilities include: (See manual pages for more details) +Currently, pciutils work on all versions of Linux and they also have somewhat +experimental support for FreeBSD and AIX. It should be very easy to add support +for other systems as well (volunteers wanted; if you want to try that, please +send the patches to me, so that I can include them in the next version). - - lspci: displays detailed information about all PCI busses and devices - in the system, replacing the original /proc/pci interface. +The utilities include: (See manual pages for more details) - - setpci: allows to read from and write to PCI device configuration - registers. For example, you can adjust the latency timers with it. + - lspci: displays detailed information about all PCI busses and devices. - The library (and therefore all the utilities) can access PCI registers -either via the /proc/bus/pci interface present since Linux 2.1.82 or -via direct hardware access (to be used with older kernels and also for -hardware diagnostics). It's also capable of reading and interpreting -register dumps printed by `lspci -x'. Unfortunately, there is no documentation -on how to use the library yet, so if you want to play with it, just ask -me for whatever you want. + - setpci: allows to read from and write to PCI device configuration + registers. For example, you can adjust the latency timers with it. + CAUTION: There is a couple of dangerous points and caveats, please read + the manual page first! - To compile the package, just run "make". To install it, "make install". - If you have any bug reports or suggestions, send them to the author. +2. Compiling and (un)installing +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Just run "make" to compile the package and then "make install" to install it. - If you want, subscribe to linux-pci@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz (send +If you want to change the default installation location, please override +the ROOT and PREFIX variables specified in the Makefile -- e.g., you can +use "make PREFIX=/opt/pciutils ROOT=/opt/pciutils install" to create +a separate installation not interfering with the rest of your system. + +When you are bored of dumping PCI registers, just use "make uninstall". + + +3. Getting new ID's +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The database of PCI ID's (the pci.ids file) gets out of date much faster +than I release new versions of this package. + +If you are missing names for any of your devices or you just want to stay +on the bleeding edge, download the most recent pci.ids file from +http://pciids.sf.net/. If your devices still appear as unknown, please +send us their ID's and names, the detailed instructions for submissions +are listed on the sf.net web page. + + +4. Available access methods +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The library (and therefore all the utilities) know a variety of methods for +accessing the PCI registers. Here is a list of them: + + /proc/bus/pci on all Linux systems since kernel 2.1.82. + direct port access on all Linux systems with i386, to be used when + /proc/bus/pci is unavailable or you want to scan + the bus manually when hunting kernel bugs. + dumps reading of dumps produced by `lspci -x'. + lsdev + odmget used on AIX + /dev/pci used on FreeBSD + + +5. Using the library +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +There is still no documentation for the library, if you want to use it +in your programs, please follow the comments in lib/pci.h and in the +example program lib/example.c. + + +6. Feedback +~~~~~~~~~~~ +If you have any bug reports or suggestions, send them to the author. + +If you have any new ID's, I'll be very glad to add them to the database, but +please take a look at http://pciids.sf.net/ first and follow the instructions. + +If you want, subscribe to linux-pci@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz (send "subscribe linux-pci" to majordomo@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz). Release notes about new versions will be send to the list and problems with the Linux PCI support will be probably discussed there, too. - You also might want to look at the pciutils web page containing release -notes and other news: http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mj/pciutils.html . - If you're missing any PCI ID's, please look at the home page of the Linux -PCI ID Repository at http://pciids.sourceforge.net/ and download an updated -pci.ids file first. If the current version doesn't contain your devices, -please send us an update either using the Web interface of the Repository -or just mail a unified diff against the latest pci.ids to pci-ids@ucw.cz. +7. Miscellanea +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +You also might want to look at the pciutils web page containing release +notes and other news: http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mj/pciutils.html . - There also exists a utility called PowerTweak which is able to fine tune +There also exists a utility called PowerTweak which is able to fine tune parameters of many chipsets much better than the Bridge Optimization code in Linux kernel (already removed in 2.3.x). See http://powertweak.sf.net/ for more information.