The irq in kernel function asm_do_IRQ() is different from the one I request in module

I did some experiment with a cortex-A9 development board. I used gpio_to_irq() to get an irq num and I requested the irq and wrote a small driver with it , it was 196 in syslog . And I added some printks in asm_do_IRQ. When I triggered the gpio interrupt , the driver works fine but the irq num in asm_do_IRQ was 62 .I can't understand. Why the irq number was different from the one I request? The driver is as follow:

    #include <linux/module.h>
    #include <linux/interrupt.h>
    #include <linux/irq.h>
    #include <linux/gpio.h>

    #define GPIO_N 36     //gpio number

    int flag = 0;

    static irqreturn_t handler(int irq,void *dev_id)
    {
            printk("hello world hahahahahhahahah \n\n");
            return 0;
    }

    static int __init gpio_test_init(void)
    {
            if(gpio_request_one(GPIO_N,GPIOF_DIR_IN,"some test")<0)
            {
                    printk(KERN_ERR "Oops! BAD! BAD! BAD!\n\n");
                    return 0;
            }

            int irq,irq2;
            irq = OMAP_GPIO_IRQ(TEST_GPIO);
            printk("irq : %d \n",irq,irq2);
            // ..................
            // irq : 196 in dmesg 
            //......................
            set_irq_type(irq,IRQ_TYPE_EDGE_FALLING);
            enable_irq(gpio_to_irq(GPIO_N));
            int err;
            // request the irq ...
            if((err = request_irq(irq,&handler,0,NULL,NULL))<0)
            {
                    printk("err : %d\n",err);
                    return 0;
            }
            printk("gpio test init success!\n");
            flag = 1;
            return 0;
    }
    static void __exit gpio_test_exit(void)
    {
            int irq = gpio_to_irq(TEST_GPIO);
            if(flag == 1)free_irq(irq,NULL);
            gpio_free(TEST_GPIO);
            printk("gpio test exit byebye!\n");
    }

    module_init(gpio_test_init);
    module_exit(gpio_test_exit);
    MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");

asm_do_IRQ in arch/arm/kernel/irq.c

    asmlinkage void __exception_irq_entry
    asm_do_IRQ(unsigned int irq, struct pt_regs *regs)
    {
            struct pt_regs *old_regs = set_irq_regs(regs);
            printk("the irq : %d\n",irq);  
            //............... 
            // I get 62 here
            //...............
            irq_enter();

            /*
             * Some hardware gives randomly wrong interrupts.  Rather
             * than crashing, do something sensible.
             */
            if (unlikely(irq >= nr_irqs)) {
                    if (printk_ratelimit())
                            printk(KERN_WARNING "Bad IRQ%u\n", irq);
                    ack_bad_irq(irq);
            } else {
                    generic_handle_irq(irq);
            }

            /* AT91 specific workaround */
            irq_finish(irq);

            irq_exit();

            set_irq_regs(old_regs);

    }

This observation is likely due to the mapping between physical and virtual IRQ numbers. The numbers seen in your driver are virtual IRQ numbers, valid only when using the generic linux interrupt handling subsystem. The interrupt number in asm_do_IRQ will be the physical interrupt number provided by the interrupt fabric of the core.

I believe the OMAP processors support interrupts on GPIO pins. The way this is usually implemented is to allocate a single IRQ line for a bank of GPIO inputs, say 32 bits. When an interrupt occurs on any of the GPIOs, that IRQ line will activate. This is likely the number 62 on your processor. If you look in the manual for your processor, you should see that IRQ 62 corresponds to an interrupt on a GPIO bank.

Now, the linux GPIO subsystem will allow you to allocate an interrupt handler to any of the GPIOs, providing you with a mapping from a linux irq number to a physical irq number. The linux irq number in your case is 196. The GPIO subsystem is configured to handle all GPIO interrupts (say interrupt 62), read the GPIO register to determine which of the GPIO bits in a bank could have generated an interrupt, and then calls out the interrupt handler you've assigned with request_irq.

Here's a basic flow of control for a GPIO interrupt:

A change occurs on an interrupt in a GPIO bank. IRQ 62 is raised.
asm_do_IRQ runs on IRQ 62. The GPIO subsystem has been registered to handle IRQ 62 by the platform init code.
The GPIO subsystem reads the GPIO registers and determines that GPIO bit X has caused the interrupt. It calculates the mapping from bit X to the linux virtual IRQ number, in this case 196.
The GPIO interrupt handler then calls the generic_handle_irq function with 196, which calls your interrupt handler.


There is usually a static mapping defined by the platform between virtual IRQ numbers and physical IRQ numbers.

Posted in: Embedded System