Device Polling

The poll(2) system call enables application programs to monitor or poll a set of file descriptors for certain conditions or events. poll(2) can be used to find out whether data are available to be read from the file descriptors or whether data may be written to the file descriptors without delay. Drivers referred to by these file descriptors must provide support for the poll(2) system call by implementing a chpoll(9E) entry point.

Drivers for communication devices such as serial ports should support polling, as they are used by applications that require synchronous notification of changes in read and write status. Many communications devices, however, are better implemented as STREAMS drivers.