Using ddi_log_sysevent() to Log Events

Device drivers use the ddi_log_sysevent(9F) interface to generate and log events with the system.

ddi_log_sysevent() Syntax

ddi_log_sysevent() uses the following syntax:

int ddi_log_sysevent(dev_info_t *dip, char *vendor, char *class, 
    char *subclass, nvlist_t *attr-list, sysevent_id_t *eidp, int sleep-flag);

where:

dip

A pointer to the dev_info node for this driver.

vendor

A pointer to a string that defines the driver's vendor. Third-party drivers should use their company's stock symbol or a similarly enduring identifier. Sun-supplied drivers use DDI_VENDOR_SUNW.

class

A pointer to a string defining the event's class. class is a driver-specific value. An example of a class might be a string that represents a set of environmental conditions that affect a device. This value must be understood by the event consumer.

subclass

A driver-specific string that represents a subset of the class argument. For example, within a class that represents environmental conditions, an event subclass might refer to the device's temperature. This value must be intelligible to the event consumer.

attr-list

A pointer to an nvlist_t structure that lists name-value attributes associated with the event. Name-value attributes are driver-defined and can refer to a specific attribute or condition of the device.

For example, consider a device that reads both CD-ROMs and DVDs. That device could have an attribute with the name disc_type and the value equal to either cd_rom or dvd.

As with class and subclass, an event consumer must be able to interpret the name-value pairs.

For more information on name-value pairs and the nvlist_t structure, see Defining Event Attributes, as well as the nvlist_alloc(9F) man page.

If the event has no attributes, then this argument should be set to NULL.

eidp

The address of a sysevent_id_t structure. The sysevent_id_t structure is used to provide a unique identification for the event. ddi_log_sysevent(9F) returns this structure with a system-provided event sequence number and time stamp. See the ddi_log_sysevent(9F) man page for more information on the sysevent_id_t structure.

sleep-flag

A flag that indicates how the caller wants to handle the possibility of resources not being available. If sleep-flag is set to DDI_SLEEP, the driver blocks until the resources become available. With DDI_NOSLEEP, an allocation will not sleep and cannot be guaranteed to succeed. If DDI_ENOMEM is returned, the driver would need to retry the operation at a later time.

Even with DDI_SLEEP, other error returns are possible with this interface, such as system busy, the syseventd daemon not responding, or trying to log an event in interrupt context.

Sample Code for Logging Events

A device driver performs the following tasks to log events:

• Allocate memory for the attribute list using nvlist_alloc(9F)

• Add name-value pairs to the attribute list

• Use the ddi_log_sysevent(9F) function to log the event in the sysevent queue

• Call nvlist_free(9F) when the attribute list is no longer needed

The following example demonstrates how to use ddi_log_sysevent().

Example 5–1 Calling ddi_log_sysevent()

char *vendor_name = "DDI_VENDOR_JGJG"
char *my_class = "JGJG_event";
char *my_subclass = "JGJG_alert";
nvlist_t *nvl;
/* ... */
nvlist_alloc(&nvl, nvflag, kmflag);
/* ... */
(void) nvlist_add_byte_array(nvl, propname, (uchar_t *)propval, proplen + 1); 
/* ... */
if (ddi_log_sysevent(dip, vendor_name, my_class, 
    my_subclass, nvl, NULL, DDI_SLEEP)!= DDI_SUCCESS)
    cmn_err(CE_WARN, "error logging system event"); 
nvlist_free(nvl);