3.12 Root Bridge Driver

A root bridge driver does not produce any instances of the

EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL. It is responsible for initializing and immediately creating physical controller handles for the root bridge controllers or root devices in a platform. The driver must install the Device Path Protocol onto a physical controller handle because the root bridge controllers or root devices represent physical devices. An example root bridge driver, PcAtChipsetPkg/PciHostBridgeDxe, is shown in the EDK II.

This driver also installs the PCI Root Bridge I/O Protocol―the protocol abstraction for a PCI Bus. This protocol is used by a bus driver for the PCI Bus to enumerate the PCI controllers attached to the PCI root bridge.

A driver for a root device may produce a protocol that is more directly usable as a console or boot device. For example, a Serial I/O Protocol for a serial device that is not attached to an industry standard bus type supported by the UEFI Specification, or a Block I/O Protocol for a block-oriented media device that is not attached to an industry standard bus type supported by the UEFI Specification.