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Tree [54c9ef] v1.4 / History
Miroslav Lichvar
Geoff Salmon
Jiri Benc
Delio Brignoli
Read Me
* Introduction
This software is an implementation of the Precision Time Protocol
(PTP) according to IEEE standard 1588 for Linux. The dual design
goals are to provide a robust implementation of the standard and to
use the most relevant and modern Application Programming Interfaces
(API) offered by the Linux kernel. Supporting legacy APIs and other
platforms is not a goal.
* License
The software is copyrighted by the authors and is licensed under the
GNU General Public License. See the file, COPYING, for details of
the license terms.
* Features
- Supports hardware and software time stamping via the Linux
SO_TIMESTAMPING socket option.
- Supports the Linux PTP Hardware Clock (PHC) subsystem by using the
clock_gettime family of calls, including the new clock_adjtimex
system call.
- Implements Boundary Clock (BC) and Ordinary Clock (OC).
- Transport over UDP/IPv4, UDP/IPv6, and raw Ethernet (Layer 2).
- Supports IEEE 802.1AS-2011 in the role of end station.
- Modular design allowing painless addition of new transports and
clock servos.
* Getting the Code
You can download the latest released version at Source Forge.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxptp/files/latest/download
The source code is managed using the git version control system. To
get your own copy of the project sources, use the following command.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/linuxptp/code linuxptp
#+END_EXAMPLE
If the git protocol is blocked by your local area network, then you
can use the alternative HTTP protocol instead.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
git clone http://git.code.sf.net/p/linuxptp/code linuxptp
#+END_EXAMPLE
* System Requirements
In order to run this software, you need Linux kernel
version 3.0 or newer, and the kernel header files must available at
compile time.
In addition, you will also need to have either:
1. A supported Ethernet MAC device.
2. A supported PHY device paired with a MAC that allows time
stamping in the PHY (indicated by PHY=Y in the table below).
** Linux Kernel Support
In order to support PTP, the operating system needs to provide two
services: network packet time stamping and clock control. In 2009,
Patrick Ohly added a new socket option called SO_TIMESTAMPING for
packet time stamping, especially for PTP. This work appeared in
Linux version 2.6.30.
In July of 2011, the PTP Hardware Clock (PHC) subsystem was merged
into Linux version 3.0. The PHC code provides a driver framework and
the user space API for clock control.
** Ethtool Support
Starting with version 3.5 of the Linux kernel, you can query the
time stamping capabilities of a network interface using the
ETHTOOL_GET_TS_INFO ioctl. Using ethtool version 3.4 or later, you
can check your system's time stamping support as shown in the
following example.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
ethtool -T eth0
#+END_EXAMPLE
If the ethtool ioctl is available, then the ptp4l program will use
it in order to discover the proper PHC device.
** Driver Support Matrix
The following two tables list the drivers that support the PHC
subsystem and the Linux kernel version when they first appeared.
These drivers will create a PHC device for controlling the hardware
clock.
*** Hardware Timestamping - PHY
|---------+-------------------------------+---------|
| Driver | Hardware | Version |
|---------+-------------------------------+---------|
| dp83640 | National Semiconductor PHYTER | 3.0 |
|---------+-------------------------------+---------|
*** Hardware Timestamping - MAC
|------------+--------------------------+---------|
| Driver | Hardware | Version |
|------------+--------------------------+---------|
| bfin_mac | Analog Blackfin | 3.8 |
| cpts | Texas Instruments am335x | 3.8 |
| e1000e | Intel 82574, 82583 | 3.9 |
| fec | Freescale i.mx6 | 3.8 |
| gianfar | Freescale eTSEC PowerPC | 3.0 |
| igb | Intel 82576, 82580 | 3.5 |
| ixgbe | Intel 82599 | 3.5 |
| ptp_ixp46x | Intel IXP465 | 3.0 |
| ptp_phc | Lapis EG20T PCH | 3.5 |
| sfc | Solarflare SFC9000 | 3.7 |
|------------+--------------------------+---------|
*** Software Timestamping
The table below shows the Linux drivers that support software time
stamping. In addition, the 'PHY' column indicates whether the
Ethernet MAC driver can support a PTP Hardware Clock in an
external PHY. The letter 'Y' in this column means that if you
design a mother board that combines such a MAC with a PTP capable
PHY, then it will work with the Linux PHC subsystem.
|--------------+--------------------------+---------+-----|
| Driver | Hardware | Version | PHY |
|--------------+--------------------------+---------+-----|
| bna | Brocade 1010/1020 10Gb | 3.14 | N |
| bnx2x | Broadcom Everest | 3.5 | N |
| davinci_emac | TI DaVinci, Sitara | 3.1 | Y |
| dnet | Dave Ethernet MAC | 3.1 | Y |
| e100 | Intel PRO/100 | 3.5 | N |
| e1000 | Intel PRO/1000 PCI/PCI-X | 3.5 | N |
| e1000e | Intel PRO/1000 PCIe | 3.5 | N |
| emaclite | Xilinx Ethernet Lite | 3.1 | Y |
| ethoc | OpenCores 10/100 MAC | 3.1 | Y |
| fec | Freescale Coldfire | 3.1 | Y |
| fec_mpc52xx | Freescale MPC5200 | 3.1 | Y |
| forcedeth | NVIDIA nForce | 3.5 | N |
| fs_enet | Freescale MPC512x | 3.1 | Y |
| ixp4xx_eth | Intel IXP4xx | 3.0 | Y |
| lib8390 | Asix AX88796 | 3.1 | Y |
| lib8390 | Various 8390 based HW | 3.1 | N |
| ll_temac | Xilinx LL TEMAC | 3.1 | Y |
| macb | Atmel AT32, AT91 | 3.1 | Y |
| mv643xx_eth | Marvell Discovery, Orion | 3.1 | Y |
| pxa168_eth | Marvell pxa168 | 3.1 | Y |
| r6040 | RDC Ethernet MAC | 3.1 | Y |
| r8169 | Realtek 8169/8168/8101 | 3.4 | N |
| smsc911x | SMSC LAN911x, LAN921x | 3.1 | Y |
| smsc9420 | SMSC LAN9420 PCI | 3.1 | Y |
| stmmac | STM Synopsys IP Core | 3.1 | Y |
| tg3 | Broadcom Tigon3 PCI | 3.1 | Y |
| ucc_geth | Freescale QE Gigabit | 3.1 | Y |
| usbnet | USB network devices | 3.2 | Y/N |
|--------------+--------------------------+---------+-----|
* Installation
** Linux kernel
There are many ways of getting a precompiled Linux kernel or
compiling your own, so this section is only meant as an example. It
is important to have the kernel headers available when compiling
the Linux PTP stack.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
export ARCH=x86
export CROSS_COMPILE=
export KBUILD_OUTPUT=/home/richard/kernel/ptp_debian
mkdir -p $KBUILD_OUTPUT
cp /boot/config-2.6.38-bpo.2-686 $KBUILD_OUTPUT/.config
make oldnoconfig
make menuconfig
time make -j4
make headers_install
#+END_EXAMPLE
Here is a table of kernel configuration options needed for PTP
support. In addtion to these, you should enable the specific
Ethernet MAC and PHY drivers for your hardware.
|---------------------------------+-----------------------------|
| Option | Description |
|---------------------------------+-----------------------------|
| CONFIG_PPS | Required |
| CONFIG_NETWORK_PHY_TIMESTAMPING | Timestamping in PHY devices |
| PTP_1588_CLOCK | PTP clock support |
|---------------------------------+-----------------------------|
** PTP stack
1. Just type 'make'
2. If you compiled your own kernel (and the headers are not
installed into the system path), then you should set the
KBUILD_OUTPUT environment variable as in the example, above.
3. In order to install the programs and man pages into /usr/local,
run the 'make install' target. You can change the installation
directories by setttings the variables prefix, sbindir, mandir,
and man8dir on the make command line.
* Getting Involved
The software development is hosted at Source Forge.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxptp/
** Reporting Bugs
Please report any bugs or other issues with the software to the
linuxptp-users mailing list.
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxptp-users
** Development
If you would like to get involved in improving the software, please
join the linuxptp-devel mailing list.
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxptp-devel
* Thanks
Thanks to AudioScience Inc for sponsoring the 8021.AS support.
- http://www.audioscience.com
Thanks to Intel Corporation for donating four NICs, the 82574,
82580, 82599, and the i210.
- http://www.intel.com
- http://e1000.sourceforge.net
For testing I use an OTMC 100 grandmaster clock donated by OMICRON Lab.
- http://www.omicron-lab.com/ptp
