i2c: Drop probe, ignore and force module parameters

The legacy probe and force module parameters are obsolete now, the
same can be achieved using the new_device sysfs interface, which is
both more flexible and cheaper (it is implemented by i2c-core rather
than replicated in every driver module.)

The legacy ignore module parameters can be dropped as well. Ignoring
can be done by instantiating a "dummy" device at the problematic
address.

This is the first step of a huge cleanup to i2c-core's i2c_detect
function, i2c.h's I2C_CLIENT_INSMOD* macros, and all drivers that made
use of them.

Signed-off-by: Jean Delvare <khali@linux-fr.org>

1 files changed, 44 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/i2c/old-module-parameters b/Documentation/i2c/old-module-parameters
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e2b629
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/i2c/old-module-parameters
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+I2C device driver binding control from user-space
+=================================================
+
+Up to kernel 2.6.32, many i2c drivers used helper macros provided by
+<linux/i2c.h> which created standard module parameters to let the user
+control how the driver would probe i2c buses and attach to devices. These
+parameters were known as "probe" (to let the driver probe for an extra
+address), "force" (to forcibly attach the driver to a given device) and
+"ignore" (to prevent a driver from probing a given address).
+
+With the conversion of the i2c subsystem to the standard device driver
+binding model, it became clear that these per-module parameters were no
+longer needed, and that a centralized implementation was possible. The new,
+sysfs-based interface is described in the documentation file
+"instantiating-devices", section "Method 4: Instantiate from user-space".
+
+Below is a mapping from the old module parameters to the new interface.
+
+Attaching a driver to an I2C device
+-----------------------------------
+
+Old method (module parameters):
+# modprobe <driver> probe=1,0x2d
+# modprobe <driver> force=1,0x2d
+# modprobe <driver> force_<device>=1,0x2d
+
+New method (sysfs interface):
+# echo <device> 0x2d > /sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-1/new_device
+
+Preventing a driver from attaching to an I2C device
+---------------------------------------------------
+
+Old method (module parameters):
+# modprobe <driver> ignore=1,0x2f
+
+New method (sysfs interface):
+# echo dummy 0x2f > /sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-1/new_device
+# modprobe <driver>
+
+Of course, it is important to instantiate the "dummy" device before loading
+the driver. The dummy device will be handled by i2c-core itself, preventing
+other drivers from binding to it later on. If there is a real device at the
+problematic address, and you want another driver to bind to it, then simply
+pass the name of the device in question instead of "dummy".