Devicetree bindings
A devicetree on its own is only half the story for describing hardware, as it is a relatively unstructured format. Devicetree bindings provide the other half.
A devicetree binding declares requirements on the contents of nodes, and provides semantic information about the contents of valid nodes. Zephyr devicetree bindings are YAML files in a custom format (Zephyr does not use the dt-schema tools used by the Linux kernel).
This page introduces bindings, describes what they do, notes where they are found, and explains their data format.
Note
See the Bindings index for reference information on bindings built in to Zephyr.
Introduction
Devicetree nodes are matched to bindings using their compatible properties.
During the Configuration Phase, the build system tries to match each node in the devicetree to a binding file. When this succeeds, the build system uses the information in the binding file both when validating the node’s contents and when generating macros for the node.
A simple example
Here is an example devicetree node:
/* Node in a DTS file */
bar-device {
compatible = "foo-company,bar-device";
num-foos = <3>;
};
Here is a minimal binding file which matches the node:
# A YAML binding matching the node
compatible: "foo-company,bar-device"
properties:
num-foos:
type: int
required: true
The build system matches the bar-device node to its YAML binding because
the node’s compatible property matches the binding’s compatible: line.
What the build system does with bindings
The build system uses bindings both to validate devicetree nodes and to convert the devicetree’s contents into the generated devicetree_unfixed.h header file.
For example, the build system would use the above binding to check that the
required num-foos property is present in the bar-device node, and that
its value, <3>, has the correct type.
The build system will then generate a macro for the bar-device node’s
num-foos property, which will expand to the integer literal 3. This
macro lets you get the value of the property in C code using the API which is
discussed later in this guide in Devicetree access from C/C++.
For another example, the following node would cause a build error, because it
has no num-foos property, and this property is marked required in the
binding:
bad-node {
compatible = "foo-company,bar-device";
};
Other ways nodes are matched to bindings
If a node has more than one string in its compatible property, the build
system looks for compatible bindings in the listed order and uses the first
match.
Take this node as an example:
baz-device {
compatible = "foo-company,baz-device", "generic-baz-device";
};
The baz-device node would get matched to a binding with a compatible:
"generic-baz-device" line if the build system can’t find a binding with a
compatible: "foo-company,baz-device" line.
Nodes without compatible properties can be matched to bindings associated with their parent nodes. These are called “child bindings”. If a node describes hardware on a bus, like I2C or SPI, then the bus type is also taken into account when matching nodes to bindings. (The Bindings file syntax section below describes how to write child bindings and bus-specific bindings.)
Some special nodes without compatible properties are matched to
Inferred bindings. For these nodes, the build system generates macros
based on the properties in the final devicetree.
Where bindings are located
Binding file names usually match their compatible: lines. For example, the
above example binding would be named foo-company,bar-device.yaml by
convention.
The build system looks for bindings in dts/bindings
subdirectories of the following places:
the zephyr repository
your board directory
any directories in the DTS_ROOT CMake variable
any module that defines a
dts_rootin its Build settings
The build system will consider any YAML file in any of these, including in any
subdirectories, when matching nodes to bindings. A file is considered YAML if
its name ends with .yaml or .yml.
Warning
The binding files must be located somewhere inside the dts/bindings
subdirectory of the above places.
For example, if my-app is your application directory, then you must
place application-specific bindings inside my-app/dts/bindings. So
my-app/dts/bindings/serial/my-company,my-serial-port.yaml would be
found, but my-app/my-company,my-serial-port.yaml would be ignored.
Bindings file syntax
Zephyr bindings files are YAML files. The top-level value in the file is a mapping. A simple example is given above.
The top-level keys in the mapping look like this:
# A high level description of the device the binding applies to:
description: |
This is the Vendomatic company's foo-device.
Descriptions which span multiple lines (like this) are OK,
and are encouraged for complex bindings.
See https://yaml-multiline.info/ for formatting help.
# You can include definitions from other bindings using this syntax:
include: other.yaml
# Used to match nodes to this binding as discussed above:
compatible: "manufacturer,foo-device"
properties:
# Requirements for and descriptions of the properties that this
# binding's nodes need to satisfy go here.
child-binding:
# You can constrain the children of the nodes matching this binding
# using this key.
# If the node describes bus hardware, like an SPI bus controller
# on an SoC, use 'bus:' to say which one, like this:
bus: spi
# If the node instead appears as a device on a bus, like an external
# SPI memory chip, use 'on-bus:' to say what type of bus, like this.
# Like 'compatible', this key also influences the way nodes match
# bindings.
on-bus: spi
foo-cells:
# "Specifier" cell names for the 'foo' domain go here; example 'foo'
# values are 'gpio', 'pwm', and 'dma'. See below for more information.
The following sections describe these keys in more detail:
The include: key usually appears early in the binding file, but it is
documented last here because you need to know how the other keys work before
understanding include:.
Description
A free-form description of node hardware goes here. You can put links to datasheets or example nodes or properties as well.
Compatible
This key is used to match nodes to this binding as described above. It should look like this in a binding file:
# Note the comma-separated vendor prefix and device name
compatible: "manufacturer,device"
This devicetree node would match the above binding:
device {
compatible = "manufacturer,device";
};
Assuming no binding has compatible: "manufacturer,device-v2", it would also
match this node:
device-2 {
compatible = "manufacturer,device-v2", "manufacturer,device";
};
Each node’s compatible property is tried in order. The first matching
binding is used. The on-bus: key can be used to
refine the search.
If more than one binding for a compatible is found, an error is raised.
The manufacturer prefix identifies the device vendor. See
dts/bindings/vendor-prefixes.txt for a list of accepted vendor
prefixes. The device part is usually from the datasheet.
Some bindings apply to a generic class of devices which do not have a specific
vendor. In these cases, there is no vendor prefix. One example is the
gpio-leds compatible which is commonly used to describe board
LEDs connected to GPIOs.
If more than one binding for a compatible is found, an error is raised.
Properties
The properties: key describes the properties that nodes which match the
binding can contain.
For example, a binding for a UART peripheral might look something like this:
compatible: "manufacturer,serial"
properties:
reg:
type: array
description: UART peripheral MMIO register space
required: true
current-speed:
type: int
description: current baud rate
required: true
label:
type: string
description: human-readable name
required: false
The properties in the following node would be validated by the above binding:
my-serial@deadbeef {
compatible = "manufacturer,serial";
reg = <0xdeadbeef 0x1000>;
current-speed = <115200>;
label = "UART_0";
};
This is used to check that required properties appear, and to control the format of output generated for them.
Except for some special properties, like reg, whose meaning is defined by
the devicetree specification itself, only properties listed in the
properties: key will have generated macros.
Example property definitions
Here are some more examples.
properties:
# Describes a property like 'current-speed = <115200>;'. We pretend that
# it's obligatory for the example node and set 'required: true'.
current-speed:
type: int
required: true
description: Initial baud rate for bar-device
# Describes an optional property like 'keys = "foo", "bar";'
keys:
type: string-array
required: false
description: Keys for bar-device
# Describes an optional property like 'maximum-speed = "full-speed";'
# the enum specifies known values that the string property may take
maximum-speed:
type: string
required: false
description: Configures USB controllers to work up to a specific speed.
enum:
- "low-speed"
- "full-speed"
- "high-speed"
- "super-speed"
# Describes an optional property like 'resolution = <16>;'
# the enum specifies known values that the int property may take
resolution:
type: int
required: false
enum:
- 8
- 16
- 24
- 32
# Describes a required property '#address-cells = <1>'; the const
# specifies that the value for the property is expected to be the value 1
"#address-cells":
type: int
required: true
const: 1
int-with-default:
type: int
required: false
default: 123
description: Value for int register, default is power-up configuration.
array-with-default:
type: array
required: false
default: [1, 2, 3] # Same as 'array-with-default = <1 2 3>'
string-with-default:
type: string
required: false
default: "foo"
string-array-with-default:
type: string-array
required: false
default: ["foo", "bar"] # Same as 'string-array-with-default = "foo", "bar"'
uint8-array-with-default:
type: uint8-array
required: false
default: [0x12, 0x34] # Same as 'uint8-array-with-default = [12 34]'
Property entry syntax
As shown by the above examples, each property entry in a binding looks like this:
<property name>:
required: <true | false>
type: <string | int | boolean | array | uint8-array | string-array |
phandle | phandles | phandle-array | path | compound>
deprecated: <true | false>
default: <default>
description: <description of the property>
enum:
- <item1>
- <item2>
...
- <itemN>
const: <string | int>
Required properties
If a node matches a binding but is missing any property which the binding
defines with required: true, the build fails.
Property types
The type of a property constrains its values. The following types are available. See Writing property values for more details about writing values of each type in a DTS file.
Type |
Description |
Example in DTS |
|---|---|---|
|
exactly one string |
|
|
exactly one 32-bit value (cell) |
|
|
flags that don’t take a value when true, and are absent if false |
|
|
zero or more 32-bit values (cells) |
|
|
zero or more bytes, in hex (‘bytestring’ in the Devicetree specification) |
|
|
zero or more strings |
|
|
exactly one phandle |
|
|
zero or more phandles |
|
|
a list of phandles and 32-bit cells (usually specifiers) |
|
|
a path to a node as a phandle path reference or path string |
|
|
a catch-all for more complex types (no macros will be generated) |
|
Deprecated properties
A property with deprecated: true indicates to both the user and the tooling
that the property is meant to be phased out.
The tooling will report a warning if the devicetree includes the property that is flagged as deprecated. (This warning is upgraded to an error in the Test Runner (Twister) for upstream pull requests.)
Default values for properties
The optional default: setting gives a value that will be used if the
property is missing from the devicetree node.
For example, with this binding fragment:
properties:
foo:
type: int
default: 3
If property foo is missing in a matching node, then the output will be as
if foo = <3>; had appeared in the DTS (except YAML data types are used for
the default value).
Note that it only makes sense to combine default: with required: false.
Combining it with required: true will raise an error.
There is a risk in using default: when the value in the binding may be
incorrect for a particular board or hardware configuration. For example,
defaulting the capacity of the connected power cell in a charging IC binding
is likely to be incorrect. For such properties it’s better to make the
property required: true, forcing the devicetree maintainer into an explicit
and witting choice.
Driver developers should use their best judgment as to whether a value can be safely defaulted. Candidates for default values include:
delays that would be different only under unusual conditions (such as intervening hardware)
configuration for devices that have a standard initial configuration (such as a USB audio headset)
defaults which match the vendor-specified power-on reset value (as long as they are independent from other properties)
Power-on reset values may be used for defaults as long as they’re independent. If changing one property would require changing another to create a consistent configuration, then those properties should be made required.
In any case where default: is used, the property documentation should
explain why the value was selected and any conditions that would make it
necessary to provide a different value. (This is mandatory for built-in
bindings.)
See Example property definitions for examples. Putting default: on
any property type besides those used in the examples will raise an error.
Enum values
The enum: line is followed by a list of values the property may contain. If
a property value in DTS is not in the enum: list in the binding, an error
is raised. See Example property definitions for examples.
Const
This specifies a constant value the property must take. It is mainly useful for constraining the values of common properties for a particular piece of hardware.
Child-binding
child-binding can be used when a node has children that all share the same
properties. Each child gets the contents of child-binding as its binding,
though an explicit compatible = ... on the child node takes precedence, if
a binding is found for it.
Consider a binding for a PWM LED node like this one, where the child nodes are
required to have a pwms property:
pwmleds {
compatible = "pwm-leds";
red_pwm_led {
pwms = <&pwm3 4 15625000>;
};
green_pwm_led {
pwms = <&pwm3 0 15625000>;
};
/* ... */
};
The binding would look like this:
compatible: "pwm-leds"
child-binding:
description: LED that uses PWM
properties:
pwms:
type: phandle-array
required: true
child-binding also works recursively. For example, this binding:
compatible: foo
child-binding:
child-binding:
properties:
my-property:
type: int
required: true
will apply to the grandchild node in this DTS:
parent {
compatible = "foo";
child {
grandchild {
my-property = <123>;
};
};
};
Bus
If the node is a bus controller, use bus: in the binding to say what type
of bus. For example, a binding for a SPI peripheral on an SoC would look like
this:
compatible: "manufacturer,spi-peripheral"
bus: spi
# ...
The presence of this key in the binding informs the build system that the children of any node matching this binding appear on this type of bus.
This in turn influences the way on-bus: is used to match bindings for the
child nodes.
On-bus
If the node appears as a device on a bus, use on-bus: in the binding to say
what type of bus.
For example, a binding for an external SPI memory chip should include this line:
on-bus: spi
And a binding for an I2C based temperature sensor should include this line:
on-bus: i2c
When looking for a binding for a node, the build system checks if the binding
for the parent node contains bus: <bus type>. If it does, then only
bindings with a matching on-bus: <bus type> and bindings without an
explicit on-bus are considered. Bindings with an explicit on-bus: <bus
type> are searched for first, before bindings without an explicit on-bus.
The search repeats for each item in the node’s compatible property, in
order.
This feature allows the same device to have different bindings depending on
what bus it appears on. For example, consider a sensor device with compatible
manufacturer,sensor which can be used via either I2C or SPI.
The sensor node may therefore appear in the devicetree as a child node of either an SPI or an I2C controller, like this:
spi-bus@0 {
/* ... some compatible with 'bus: spi', etc. ... */
sensor@0 {
compatible = "manufacturer,sensor";
reg = <0>;
/* ... */
};
};
i2c-bus@0 {
/* ... some compatible with 'bus: i2c', etc. ... */
sensor@79 {
compatible = "manufacturer,sensor";
reg = <79>;
/* ... */
};
};
You can write two separate binding files which match these individual sensor nodes, even though they have the same compatible:
# manufacturer,sensor-spi.yaml, which matches sensor@0 on the SPI bus:
compatible: "manufacturer,sensor"
on-bus: spi
# manufacturer,sensor-i2c.yaml, which matches sensor@79 on the I2C bus:
compatible: "manufacturer,sensor"
properties:
uses-clock-stretching:
type: boolean
required: false
on-bus: i2c
Only sensor@79 can have a use-clock-stretching property. The
bus-sensitive logic ignores manufacturer,sensor-i2c.yaml when searching
for a binding for sensor@0.
Specifier cell names (*-cells)
Specifier cells are usually used with phandle-array type properties briefly
introduced above.
To understand the purpose of *-cells, assume that some node has the
following pwms property with type phandle-array:
my-device {
pwms = <&pwm0 1 2>, <&pwm3 4>;
};
The tooling strips the final s from the property name of such properties,
resulting in pwm. Then the value of the #pwm-cells property is
looked up in each of the PWM controller nodes pwm0 and pwm3, like so:
pwm0: pwm@0 {
compatible = "foo,pwm";
#pwm-cells = <2>;
};
pwm3: pwm@3 {
compatible = "bar,pwm";
#pwm-cells = <1>;
};
The &pwm0 1 2 part of the property value has two cells, 1 and 2,
which matches #pwm-cells = <2>;, so these cells are considered the
specifier associated with pwm0 in the phandle array.
Similarly, the cell 4 is the specifier associated with pwm3.
The number of PWM cells in the specifiers in pwms must match the
#pwm-cells values, as shown above. If there is a mismatch, an error is
raised. For example, this node would result in an error:
my-bad-device {
/* wrong: 2 cells given in the specifier, but #pwm-cells is 1 in pwm3. */
pwms = <&pwm3 5 6>;
};
The binding for each PWM controller must also have a *-cells key, in this
case pwm-cells, giving names to the cells in each specifier:
# foo,pwm.yaml
compatible: "foo,pwm"
...
pwm-cells:
- channel
- period
# bar,pwm.yaml
compatible: "bar,pwm"
...
pwm-cells:
- period
A *-names (e.g. pwm-names) property can appear on the node as well,
giving a name to each entry.
This allows the cells in the specifiers to be accessed by name, e.g. using APIs
like DT_PWMS_CHANNEL_BY_NAME.
Because other property names are derived from the name of the property by
removing the final s, the property name must end in s. An error is
raised if it doesn’t.
An alternative is using a specifier-space property to indicate the base
property name for *-names and *-cells.
*-gpios properties are special-cased so that e.g. foo-gpios resolves to
#gpio-cells rather than #foo-gpio-cells.
If the specifier is empty (e.g. #clock-cells = <0>), then *-cells can
either be omitted (recommended) or set to an empty array. Note that an empty
array is specified as e.g. clock-cells: [] in YAML.
All phandle-array type properties support mapping through *-map
properties, e.g. gpio-map, as defined by the Devicetree specification.
Include
Bindings can include other files, which can be used to share common property
definitions between bindings. Use the include: key for this. Its value is
either a string or a list.
In the simplest case, you can include another file by giving its name as a string, like this:
include: foo.yaml
If any file named foo.yaml is found (see
Where bindings are located for the search process), it will be
included into this binding.
Included files are merged into bindings with a simple recursive dictionary merge. The build system will check that the resulting merged binding is well-formed.
It is an error if a key appears with a different value in a binding and in a
file it includes, with one exception: a binding can have required: true for
a property definition for which the included
file has required: false. The required: true takes precedence, allowing
bindings to strengthen requirements from included files.
Note that weakening requirements by having required: false where the
included file has required: true is an error. This is meant to keep the
organization clean.
The file base.yaml contains
definitions for many common properties. When writing a new binding, it is a
good idea to check if base.yaml already defines some of the needed
properties, and include it if it does.
Note that you can make a property defined in base.yaml obligatory like this, taking reg as an example:
reg:
required: true
This relies on the dictionary merge to fill in the other keys for reg, like
type.
To include multiple files, you can use a list of strings:
include:
- foo.yaml
- bar.yaml
This includes the files foo.yaml and bar.yaml. (You can
write this list in a single line of YAML as include: [foo.yaml, bar.yaml].)
When including multiple files, any overlapping required keys on properties
in the included files are ORed together. This makes sure that a required:
true is always respected.
In some cases, you may want to include some property definitions from a file,
but not all of them. In this case, include: should be a list, and you can
filter out just the definitions you want by putting a mapping in the list, like
this:
include:
- name: foo.yaml
property-allowlist:
- i-want-this-one
- and-this-one
- name: bar.yaml
property-blocklist:
- do-not-include-this-one
- or-this-one
Each map element must have a name key which is the filename to include, and
may have property-allowlist and property-blocklist keys that filter
which properties are included.
You cannot have a single map element with both property-allowlist and
property-blocklist keys. A map element with neither property-allowlist
nor property-blocklist is valid; no additional filtering is done.
You can freely intermix strings and mappings in a single include: list:
include:
- foo.yaml
- name: bar.yaml
property-blocklist:
- do-not-include-this-one
- or-this-one
Finally, you can filter from a child binding like this:
include:
- name: bar.yaml
child-binding:
property-allowlist:
- child-prop-to-allow
Rules for mainline bindings
This section includes general rules for writing bindings that you want to submit to the mainline Zephyr Project. (You don’t need to follow these rules for bindings you don’t intend to contribute to the Zephyr Project, but it’s a good idea.)
Decisions made by the Zephyr devicetree maintainer override the contents of this section. If that happens, though, please let them know so they can update this page, or you can send a patch yourself.
Check for existing bindings
Zephyr aims for devicetree Source compatibility with other operating systems. Therefore, if there is an existing binding for your device in an authoritative location, you should try to replicate its properties when writing a Zephyr binding, and you must justify any Zephyr-specific divergences.
In particular, this rule applies if:
There is an existing binding in the mainline Linux kernel. See
Documentation/devicetree/bindingsin Linus’s tree for existing bindings and the Linux devicetree documentation for more information.Your hardware vendor provides an official binding outside of the Linux kernel.
General rules
Bindings which match a compatible must have file names based on the compatible.
For example, a binding for compatible
vnd,foomust be namedvnd,foo.yaml.If the binding is bus-specific, you can append the bus to the file name; for example, if the binding YAML has
on-bus: bar, you may name the filevnd,foo-bar.yaml.
All recommendations in Default values for properties are requirements when submitting the binding.
In particular, if you use the
default:feature, you must justify the value in the property’s description.There are two ways to write property
description:strings that are always OK.If your description is short, it’s fine to use this style:
description: my short string
If your description is long or spans multiple lines, you must use this style:
description: | My very long string goes here. Look at all these lines!
This
|style prevents YAML parsers from removing the newlines in multi-line descriptions. This in turn makes these long strings display propertly in the Bindings index.Do not use any other style for long or multi-line strings.
Vendor prefixes
The following general rules apply to vendor prefixes in compatible properties.
If your device is manufactured by a specific vendor, then its compatible should have a vendor prefix.
If your binding describes hardware with a well known vendor from the list in dts/bindings/vendor-prefixes.txt, you must use that vendor prefix.
If your device is not manufactured by a specific hardware vendor, do not invent a vendor prefix. Vendor prefixes are not mandatory parts of compatible properties, and compatibles should not include them unless they refer to an actual vendor. There are some exceptions to this rule, but the practice is strongly discouraged.
Do not submit additions to Zephyr’s
dts/bindings/vendor-prefixes.txtfile unless you also include users of the new prefix. This means at least a binding and a devicetree using the vendor prefix, and should ideally include a device driver handling that compatible.For custom bindings, you can add a custom
dts/bindings/vendor-prefixes.txtfile to any directory in your DTS_ROOT. The devicetree tooling will respect these prefixes, and will not generate warnings or errors if you use them in your own bindings or devicetrees.We sometimes synchronize Zephyr’s vendor-prefixes.txt file with the Linux kernel’s equivalent file; this process is exempt from the previous rule.
If your binding is describing an abstract class of hardware with Zephyr specific drivers handling the nodes, it’s usually best to use
zephyras the vendor prefix. See Zephyr-specific binding (zephyr) for examples.
Inferred bindings
Zephyr’s devicetree scripts can “infer” a binding for the special
/zephyr,user node based on the values observed in its properties.
This node matches a binding which is dynamically created by the build system
based on the values of its properties in the final devicetree. It does not have
a compatible property.
This node is meant for sample code and applications. The devicetree API provides it as a convenient container when only a few simple properties are needed, such as storing a hardware-dependent value, phandle(s), or GPIO pin.
For example, with this DTS fragment:
#include <dt-bindings/gpio/gpio.h>
/ {
zephyr,user {
boolean;
bytes = [81 82 83];
number = <23>;
numbers = <1>, <2>, <3>;
string = "text";
strings = "a", "b", "c";
handle = <&gpio0>;
handles = <&gpio0>, <&gpio1>;
signal-gpios = <&gpio0 1 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
};
};
You can get the simple values like this:
#define ZEPHYR_USER_NODE DT_PATH(zephyr_user)
DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, boolean) // 1
DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, bytes) // {0x81, 0x82, 0x83}
DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, number) // 23
DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, numbers) // {1, 2, 3}
DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, string) // "text"
DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, strings) // {"a", "b", "c"}
You can convert the phandles in the handle and handles properties to
device pointers like this:
/*
* Same thing as:
*
* ... my_dev = DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_NODELABEL(gpio0));
*/
const struct device *my_device =
DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_PROP(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, handle));
#define PHANDLE_TO_DEVICE(node_id, prop, idx) \
DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_PHANDLE_BY_IDX(node_id, prop, idx)),
/*
* Same thing as:
*
* ... *my_devices[] = {
* DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_NODELABEL(gpio0)),
* DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_NODELABEL(gpio1)),
* };
*/
const struct device *my_devices[] = {
DT_FOREACH_PROP_ELEM(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, handles, PHANDLE_TO_DEVICE)
};
And you can convert the pin defined in signal-gpios to a struct
gpio_dt_spec, then use it like this:
#include <drivers/gpio.h>
#define ZEPHYR_USER_NODE DT_PATH(zephyr_user)
const struct gpio_dt_spec signal =
GPIO_DT_SPEC_GET(ZEPHYR_USER_NODE, signal_gpios);
/* Configure the pin */
gpio_pin_configure_dt(&signal, GPIO_OUTPUT_INACTIVE);
/* Set the pin to its active level */
gpio_pin_set(signal.port, signal.pin, 1);
(See gpio_dt_spec, GPIO_DT_SPEC_GET, and
gpio_pin_configure_dt() for details on these APIs.)