new file mode 100644
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+===================================
+High-speed DMABUF interface for IIO
+===================================
+
+1. Overview
+===========
+
+The Industrial I/O subsystem supports access to buffers through a
+file-based interface, with read() and write() access calls through the
+IIO device's dev node.
+
+It additionally supports a DMABUF based interface, where the userspace
+can attach DMABUF objects (externally created) to an IIO buffer, and
+subsequently use them for data transfers.
+
+A userspace application can then use this interface to share DMABUF
+objects between several interfaces, allowing it to transfer data in a
+zero-copy fashion, for instance between IIO and the USB stack.
+
+The userspace application can also memory-map the DMABUF objects, and
+access the sample data directly. The advantage of doing this vs. the
+read() interface is that it avoids an extra copy of the data between the
+kernel and userspace. This is particularly useful for high-speed devices
+which produce several megabytes or even gigabytes of data per second.
+It does however increase the userspace-kernelspace synchronization
+overhead, as the DMA_BUF_SYNC_START and DMA_BUF_SYNC_END IOCTLs have to
+be used for data integrity.
+
+2. User API
+===========
+
+As part of this interface, three new IOCTLs have been added. These three
+IOCTLs have to be performed on the IIO buffer's file descriptor, which
+can be obtained using the IIO_BUFFER_GET_FD_IOCTL() ioctl.
+
+ ``IIO_BUFFER_DMABUF_ATTACH_IOCTL(int fd)``
+ Attach the DMABUF object, identified by its file descriptor, to the
+ IIO buffer. Returns zero on success, and a negative errno value on
+ error.
+
+ ``IIO_BUFFER_DMABUF_DETACH_IOCTL(int fd)``
+ Detach the given DMABUF object, identified by its file descriptor,
+ from the IIO buffer. Returns zero on success, and a negative errno
+ value on error.
+
+ Note that closing the IIO buffer's file descriptor will
+ automatically detach all previously attached DMABUF objects.
+
+ ``IIO_BUFFER_DMABUF_ENQUEUE_IOCTL(struct iio_dmabuf *iio_dmabuf)``
+ Enqueue a previously attached DMABUF object to the buffer queue.
+ Enqueued DMABUFs will be read from (if output buffer) or written to
+ (if input buffer) as long as the buffer is enabled.
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ Industrial I/O
iio_configfs
iio_devbuf
+ iio_dmabuf_api
iio_tools
Industrial I/O Kernel Drivers