Where can I find information on Linux device driver parameters?

Question

I want to work on Linux module programming (Device Drivers). And as a my college project I have to do profiling or benchmarking of a kernel modules based on various parameters. Everywhere I looked, I found info on how to write device drivers, whereas I want info on what parameters affect the performance of any specific driver/module. I also want to know how can I change them to test their various values.

Answer 1

If you are looking for the driver-specific parameters, there's several places you can find information.

1. Hopefully there is some information in the kernel documentation. This is great for some stuff, sparse for others, and totally not there for most drivers.
2. Run modinfo (maybe with -F param or -F parm), which hopefully will give helpful one-line descriptions of parameters.
3. Find the source code for the driver and look for helpful inline documentation.
4. Search for a possible web site organizing development of that driver (for example alsa project for sound).

And, of course, where things are vague, there's always empirical testing — try it and see.