1<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968"><title>Chapter&#160;1.&#160;Introduction</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.78.1"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="Linux generic IRQ handling"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="Linux generic IRQ handling"><link rel="prev" href="index.html" title="Linux generic IRQ handling"><link rel="next" href="rationale.html" title="Chapter&#160;2.&#160;Rationale"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter&#160;1.&#160;Introduction</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a>&#160;</td><th width="60%" align="center">&#160;</th><td width="20%" align="right">&#160;<a accesskey="n" href="rationale.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h1 class="title"><a name="intro"></a>Chapter&#160;1.&#160;Introduction</h1></div></div></div><p>
2	The generic interrupt handling layer is designed to provide a
3	complete abstraction of interrupt handling for device drivers.
4	It is able to handle all the different types of interrupt controller
5	hardware. Device drivers use generic API functions to request, enable,
6	disable and free interrupts. The drivers do not have to know anything
7	about interrupt hardware details, so they can be used on different
8	platforms without code changes.
9    </p><p>
10  	This documentation is provided to developers who want to implement
11	an interrupt subsystem based for their architecture, with the help
12	of the generic IRQ handling layer.
13    </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a>&#160;</td><td width="20%" align="center">&#160;</td><td width="40%" align="right">&#160;<a accesskey="n" href="rationale.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Linux generic IRQ handling&#160;</td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top">&#160;Chapter&#160;2.&#160;Rationale</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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