forked from torvalds/linux
/
kernel-docs.txt
777 lines (686 loc) · 35.7 KB
/
kernel-docs.txt
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
Index of Documentation for People Interested in Writing and/or
Understanding the Linux Kernel.
Juan-Mariano de Goyeneche <jmseyas@dit.upm.es>
/*
* The latest version of this document may be found at:
* http://www.dit.upm.es/~jmseyas/linux/kernel/hackers-docs.html
*/
The need for a document like this one became apparent in the
linux-kernel mailing list as the same questions, asking for pointers
to information, appeared again and again.
Fortunately, as more and more people get to GNU/Linux, more and more
get interested in the Kernel. But reading the sources is not always
enough. It is easy to understand the code, but miss the concepts, the
philosophy and design decisions behind this code.
Unfortunately, not many documents are available for beginners to
start. And, even if they exist, there was no "well-known" place which
kept track of them. These lines try to cover this lack. All documents
available on line known by the author are listed, while some reference
books are also mentioned.
PLEASE, if you know any paper not listed here or write a new document,
send me an e-mail, and I'll include a reference to it here. Any
corrections, ideas or comments are also welcomed.
The papers that follow are listed in no particular order. All are
cataloged with the following fields: the document's "Title", the
"Author"/s, the "URL" where they can be found, some "Keywords" helpful
when searching for specific topics, and a brief "Description" of the
Document.
Enjoy!
ON-LINE DOCS:
* Title: "Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition"
Author: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
Description: A 600-page book covering the (2.6.10) driver
programming API and kernel hacking in general. Available under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
* Title: "The Linux Kernel"
Author: David A. Rusling.
URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/tlk/tlk.html
Keywords: everything!, book.
Description: On line, 200 pages book describing most aspects of
the Linux Kernel. Probably, the first reference for beginners.
Lots of illustrations explaining data structures use and
relationships in the purest Richard W. Stevens' style. Contents:
"1.-Hardware Basics, 2.-Software Basics, 3.-Memory Management,
4.-Processes, 5.-Interprocess Communication Mechanisms, 6.-PCI,
7.-Interrupts and Interrupt Handling, 8.-Device Drivers, 9.-The
File system, 10.-Networks, 11.-Kernel Mechanisms, 12.-Modules,
13.-The Linux Kernel Sources, A.-Linux Data Structures, B.-The
Alpha AXP Processor, C.-Useful Web and FTP Sites, D.-The GNU
General Public License, Glossary". In short: a must have.
* Title: "The Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide"
Author: Michael K.Johnson and others.
URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html
Keywords: everything!
Description: No more Postscript book-like version. Only HTML now.
Many people have contributed. The interface is similar to web
available mailing lists archives. You can find some articles and
then some mails asking questions about them and/or complementing
previous contributions. A little bit anarchic in this aspect, but
with some valuable information in some cases.
* Title: "Conceptual Architecture of the Linux Kernel"
Author: Ivan T. Bowman.
URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~itbowman/papers/CS746G-a1.html
Keywords: conceptual software arquitecture, extracted design,
reverse engineering, system structure.
Description: Conceptual software arquitecture of the Linux kernel,
automatically extracted from the source code. Very detailed. Good
figures. Gives good overall kernel understanding.
* Title: "Concrete Architecture of the Linux Kernel"
Author: Ivan T. Bowman, Saheem Siddiqi, and Meyer C. Tanuan.
URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~itbowman/papers/CS746G-a2.html
Keywords: concrete arquitecture, extracted design, reverse
engineering, system structure, dependencies.
Description: Concrete arquitecture of the Linux kernel,
automatically extracted from the source code. Very detailed. Good
figures. Gives good overall kernel understanding. This papers
focus on lower details than its predecessor (files, variables...).
* Title: "Linux as a Case Study: Its Extracted Software
Architecture"
Author: Ivan T. Bowman, Richard C. Holt and Neil V. Brewster.
URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~itbowman/papers/linuxcase.html
Keywords: software architecture, architecture recovery,
redocumentation.
Description: Paper appeared at ICSE'99, Los Angeles, May 16-22,
1999. A mixture of the previous two documents from the same
author.
* Title: "Overview of the Virtual File System"
Author: Richard Gooch.
URL: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/vfs.txt
Keywords: VFS, File System, mounting filesystems, opening files,
dentries, dcache.
Description: Brief introduction to the Linux Virtual File System.
What is it, how it works, operations taken when opening a file or
mounting a file system and description of important data
structures explaining the purpose of each of their entries.
* Title: "The Linux RAID-1, 4, 5 Code"
Author: Ingo Molnar, Gadi Oxman and Miguel de Icaza.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue44/2391.html
Keywords: RAID, MD driver.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
abstract: "A description of the implementation of the RAID-1,
RAID-4 and RAID-5 personalities of the MD device driver in the
Linux kernel, providing users with high performance and reliable,
secondary-storage capability using software".
* Title: "Dynamic Kernels: Modularized Device Drivers"
Author: Alessandro Rubini.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue23/1219.html
Keywords: device driver, module, loading/unloading modules,
allocating resources.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
abstract: "This is the first of a series of four articles
co-authored by Alessandro Rubini and Georg Zezchwitz which present
a practical approach to writing Linux device drivers as kernel
loadable modules. This installment presents an introduction to the
topic, preparing the reader to understand next month's
installment".
* Title: "Dynamic Kernels: Discovery"
Author: Alessandro Rubini.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue24/1220.html
Keywords: character driver, init_module, clean_up module,
autodetection, mayor number, minor number, file operations,
open(), close().
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
abstract: "This article, the second of four, introduces part of
the actual code to create custom module implementing a character
device driver. It describes the code for module initialization and
cleanup, as well as the open() and close() system calls".
* Title: "The Devil's in the Details"
Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz and Alessandro Rubini.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue25/1221.html
Keywords: read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/non
blocking mode, interrupt handler.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
abstract: "This article, the third of four on writing character
device drivers, introduces concepts of reading, writing, and using
ioctl-calls".
* Title: "Dissecting Interrupts and Browsing DMA"
Author: Alessandro Rubini and Georg v. Zezschwitz.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue26/1222.html
Keywords: interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
abstract: "This is the fourth in a series of articles about
writing character device drivers as loadable kernel modules. This
month, we further investigate the field of interrupt handling.
Though it is conceptually simple, practical limitations and
constraints make this an ``interesting'' part of device driver
writing, and several different facilities have been provided for
different situations. We also investigate the complex topic of
DMA".
* Title: "Device Drivers Concluded"
Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue28/1287.html
Keywords: address spaces, pages, pagination, page management,
demand loading, swapping, memory protection, memory mapping, mmap,
virtual memory areas (VMAs), vremap, PCI.
Description: Finally, the above turned out into a five articles
series. This latest one's introduction reads: "This is the last of
five articles about character device drivers. In this final
section, Georg deals with memory mapping devices, beginning with
an overall description of the Linux memory management concepts".
* Title: "Network Buffers And Memory Management"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue30/1312.html
Keywords: sk_buffs, network devices, protocol/link layer
variables, network devices flags, transmit, receive,
configuration, multicast.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner. Here is the abstract:
"Writing a network device driver for Linux is fundamentally
simple---most of the complexity (other than talking to the
hardware) involves managing network packets in memory".
* Title: "Writing Linux Device Drivers"
Author: Michael K. Johnson.
URL: http://people.redhat.com/johnsonm/devices.html
Keywords: files, VFS, file operations, kernel interface, character
vs block devices, I/O access, hardware interrupts, DMA, access to
user memory, memory allocation, timers.
Description: Introductory 50-minutes (sic) tutorial on writing
device drivers. 12 pages written by the same author of the "Kernel
Hackers' Guide" which give a very good overview of the topic.
* Title: "The Venus kernel interface"
Author: Peter J. Braam.
URL:
http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/html/kernel-venus-protocol.html
Keywords: coda, filesystem, venus, cache manager.
Description: "This document describes the communication between
Venus and kernel level file system code needed for the operation
of the Coda filesystem. This version document is meant to describe
the current interface (version 1.0) as well as improvements we
envisage".
* Title: "Programming PCI-Devices under Linux"
Author: Claus Schroeter.
URL:
ftp://ftp.llp.fu-berlin.de/pub/linux/LINUX-LAB/whitepapers/pcip.ps
.gz
Keywords: PCI, device, busmastering.
Description: 6 pages tutorial on PCI programming under Linux.
Gives the basic concepts on the architecture of the PCI subsystem,
as long as basic functions and macros to read/write the devices
and perform busmastering.
* Title: "Writing Character Device Driver for Linux"
Author: R. Baruch and C. Schroeter.
URL:
ftp://ftp.llp.fu-berlin.de/pub/linux/LINUX-LAB/whitepapers/drivers
.ps.gz
Keywords: character device drivers, I/O, signals, DMA, accessing
ports in user space, kernel environment.
Description: 68 pages paper on writing character drivers. A little
bit old (1.993, 1.994) although still useful.
* Title: "Design and Implementation of the Second Extended
Filesystem"
Author: Rémy Card, Theodore Ts'o, Stephen Tweedie.
URL: http://web.mit.edu/tytso/www/linux/ext2intro.html
Keywords: ext2, linux fs history, inode, directory, link, devices,
VFS, physical structure, performance, benchmarks, ext2fs library,
ext2fs tools, e2fsck.
Description: Paper written by three of the top ext2 hackers.
Covers Linux filesystems history, ext2 motivation, ext2 features,
design, physical structure on disk, performance, benchmarks,
e2fsck's passes description... A must read!
Notes: This paper was first published in the Proceedings of the
First Dutch International Symposium on Linux, ISBN 90-367-0385-9.
* Title: "Analysis of the Ext2fs structure"
Author: Louis-Dominique Dubeau.
URL: http://step.polymtl.ca/~ldd/ext2fs/ext2fs_toc.html
Keywords: ext2, filesystem, ext2fs.
Description: Description of ext2's blocks, directories, inodes,
bitmaps, invariants...
* Title: "Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem"
Author: Stephen C. Tweedie.
URL:
ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/sct/fs/jfs/journal-design.ps.gz
Keywords: ext3, journaling.
Description: Excellent 8-pages paper explaining the journaling
capabilities added to ext2 by the author, showing different
problems faced and the alternatives chosen.
* Title: "Kernel API changes from 2.0 to 2.2"
Author: Richard Gooch.
URL:
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/porting-to-2.2.html
Keywords: 2.2, changes.
Description: Kernel functions/structures/variables which changed
from 2.0.x to 2.2.x.
* Title: "Kernel API changes from 2.2 to 2.4"
Author: Richard Gooch.
URL:
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/porting-to-2.4.html
Keywords: 2.4, changes.
Description: Kernel functions/structures/variables which changed
from 2.2.x to 2.4.x.
* Title: "Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide"
Author: Ori Pomerantz.
URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/mpg.html
Keywords: modules, GPL book, /proc, ioctls, system calls,
interrupt handlers .
Description: Very nice 92 pages GPL book on the topic of modules
programming. Lots of examples.
* Title: "Device File System (devfs) Overview"
Author: Richard Gooch.
URL: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/devfs.txt
Keywords: filesystem, /dev, devfs, dynamic devices, major/minor
allocation, device management.
Description: Document describing Richard Gooch's controversial
devfs, which allows for dynamic devices, only shows present
devices in /dev, gets rid of major/minor numbers allocation
problems, and allows for hundreds of identical devices (which some
USB systems might demand soon).
* Title: "I/O Event Handling Under Linux"
Author: Richard Gooch.
URL: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/io-events.html
Keywords: IO, I/O, select(2), poll(2), FDs, aio_read(2), readiness
event queues.
Description: From the Introduction: "I/O Event handling is about
how your Operating System allows you to manage a large number of
open files (file descriptors in UNIX/POSIX, or FDs) in your
application. You want the OS to notify you when FDs become active
(have data ready to be read or are ready for writing). Ideally you
want a mechanism that is scalable. This means a large number of
inactive FDs cost very little in memory and CPU time to manage".
* Title: "The Kernel Hacking HOWTO"
Author: Various Talented People, and Rusty.
URL:
http://www.lisoleg.net/doc/Kernel-Hacking-HOWTO/kernel-hacking-HOW
TO.html
Keywords: HOWTO, kernel contexts, deadlock, locking, modules,
symbols, return conventions.
Description: From the Introduction: "Please understand that I
never wanted to write this document, being grossly underqualified,
but I always wanted to read it, and this was the only way. I
simply explain some best practices, and give reading entry-points
into the kernel sources. I avoid implementation details: that's
what the code is for, and I ignore whole tracts of useful
routines. This document assumes familiarity with C, and an
understanding of what the kernel is, and how it is used. It was
originally written for the 2.3 kernels, but nearly all of it
applies to 2.2 too; 2.0 is slightly different".
* Title: "ALSA 0.5.0 Developer documentation"
Author: Stephan 'Jumpy' Bartels .
URL: http://www.math.TU-Berlin.de/~sbartels/alsa/
Keywords: ALSA, sound, soundcard, driver, lowlevel, hardware.
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for developers,
both at kernel and user-level sides. Work in progress. ALSA is
supposed to be Linux's next generation sound architecture.
* Title: "Programming Guide for Linux USB Device Drivers"
Author: Detlef Fliegl.
URL: http://usb.in.tum.de/usbdoc/
Keywords: USB, universal serial bus.
Description: A must-read. From the Preface: "This document should
give detailed information about the current state of the USB
subsystem and its API for USB device drivers. The first section
will deal with the basics of USB devices. You will learn about
different types of devices and their properties. Going into detail
you will see how USB devices communicate on the bus. The second
section gives an overview of the Linux USB subsystem [2] and the
device driver framework. Then the API and its data structures will
be explained step by step. The last section of this document
contains a reference of all API calls and their return codes".
Notes: Beware: the main page states: "This document may not be
published, printed or used in excerpts without explicit permission
of the author". Fortunately, it may still be read...
* Title: "Tour Of the Linux Kernel Source"
Author: Vijo Cherian.
URL: http://www.geocities.com/vijoc/tolks/tolks.html
Keywords: .
Description: A classic of this page! Was lost for a while and is
back again. Thanks Vijo! TOLKS: the name says it all. A tour of
the sources, describing directories, files, variables, data
structures... It covers general stuff, device drivers,
filesystems, IPC and Networking Code.
* Title: "Linux Kernel Mailing List Glossary"
Author: John Levon.
URL: http://www.movement.uklinux.net/glossary.html
Keywords: glossary, terms, linux-kernel.
Description: From the introduction: "This glossary is intended as
a brief description of some of the acronyms and terms you may hear
during discussion of the Linux kernel".
* Title: "Linux Kernel Locking HOWTO"
Author: Various Talented People, and Rusty.
URL:
http://netfilter.kernelnotes.org/unreliable-guides/kernel-locking-
HOWTO.html
Keywords: locks, locking, spinlock, semaphore, atomic, race
condition, bottom halves, tasklets, softirqs.
Description: The title says it all: document describing the
locking system in the Linux Kernel either in uniprocessor or SMP
systems.
Notes: "It was originally written for the later (>2.3.47) 2.3
kernels, but most of it applies to 2.2 too; 2.0 is slightly
different". Freely redistributable under the conditions of the GNU
General Public License.
* Title: "Porting Linux 2.0 Drivers To Linux 2.2: Changes and New
Features "
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-05/gear_01.html
Keywords: ports, porting.
Description: Article from Linux Magazine on porting from 2.0 to
2.2 kernels.
* Title: "Porting Device Drivers To Linux 2.2: part II"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-06/gear_01.html
Keywords: ports, porting.
Description: Second part on porting from 2.0 to 2.2 kernels.
* Title: "How To Make Sure Your Driver Will Work On The Power
Macintosh"
Author: Paul Mackerras.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-07/gear_01.html
Keywords: Mac, Power Macintosh, porting, drivers, compatibility.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "An Introduction to SCSI Drivers"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-08/gear_01.html
Keywords: SCSI, device, driver.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "Advanced SCSI Drivers And Other Tales"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-09/gear_01.html
Keywords: SCSI, device, driver, advanced.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "Writing Linux Mouse Drivers"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-10/gear_01.html
Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "More on Mouse Drivers"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-11/gear_01.html
Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm, races, asynchronous I/O.
Description: The title still says it all.
* Title: "Writing Video4linux Radio Driver"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-12/gear_01.html
Keywords: video4linux, driver, radio, radio devices.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "Video4linux Drivers, Part 1: Video-Capture Device"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-01/gear_01.html
Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,
camera driver.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "Video4linux Drivers, Part 2: Video-capture Devices"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-02/gear_01.html
Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,
camera driver, control, query capabilities, capability, facility.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "PCI Management in Linux 2.2"
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-03/gear_01.html
Keywords: PCI, bus, bus-mastering.
Description: The title says it all.
* Title: "Linux 2.4 Kernel Internals"
Author: Tigran Aivazian and Christoph Hellwig.
URL: http://www.moses.uklinux.net/patches/lki.html
Keywords: Linux, kernel, booting, SMB boot, VFS, page cache.
Description: A little book used for a short training course.
Covers building the kernel image, booting (including SMP bootup),
process management, VFS and more.
* Title: "Linux IP Networking. A Guide to the Implementation and
Modification of the Linux Protocol Stack."
Author: Glenn Herrin.
URL:
http://kernelnewbies.org/documents/ipnetworking/linuxipnetworking.
html
Keywords: network, networking, protocol, IP, UDP, TCP, connection,
socket, receiving, transmitting, forwarding, routing, packets,
modules, /proc, sk_buff, FIB, tags.
Description: Excellent paper devoted to the Linux IP Networking,
explaining anything from the kernel's to the user space
configuration tools' code. Very good to get a general overview of
the kernel networking implementation and understand all steps
packets follow from the time they are received at the network
device till they are delivered to applications. The studied kernel
code is from 2.2.14 version. Provides code for a working packet
dropper example.
* Title: "Get those boards talking under Linux."
Author: Alex Ivchenko.
URL: http://www.ednmag.com/ednmag/reg/2000/06222000/13df2.htm
Keywords: data-acquisition boards, drivers, modules, interrupts,
memory allocation.
Description: Article written for people wishing to make their data
acquisition boards work on their GNU/Linux machines. Gives a basic
overview on writing drivers, from the naming of functions to
interrupt handling.
Notes: Two-parts article. Part II is at
http://www.ednmag.com/ednmag/reg/2000/07062000/14df.htm
* Title: "Linux PCMCIA Programmer's Guide"
Author: David Hinds.
URL: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/doc/PCMCIA-PROG.html
Keywords: PCMCIA.
Description: "This document describes how to write kernel device
drivers for the Linux PCMCIA Card Services interface. It also
describes how to write user-mode utilities for communicating with
Card Services.
* Title: "The Linux Kernel NFSD Implementation"
Author: Neil Brown.
URL:
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~neilb/oss/linux-commentary/nfsd.html
Keywords: knfsd, nfsd, NFS, RPC, lockd, mountd, statd.
Description: The title says it all.
Notes: Covers knfsd's version 1.4.7 (patch against 2.2.7 kernel).
* Title: "A Linux vm README"
Author: Kanoj Sarcar.
URL: http://reality.sgi.com/kanoj_engr/vm229.html
Keywords: virtual memory, mm, pgd, vma, page, page flags, page
cache, swap cache, kswapd.
Description: Telegraphic, short descriptions and definitions
relating the Linux virtual memory implementation.
* Title: "(nearly) Complete Linux Loadable Kernel Modules. The
definitive guide for hackers, virus coders and system
administrators."
Author: pragmatic/THC.
URL: http://packetstorm.securify.com/groups/thc/LKM_HACKING.html
Keywords: syscalls, intercept, hide, abuse, symbol table.
Description: Interesting paper on how to abuse the Linux kernel in
order to intercept and modify syscalls, make
files/directories/processes invisible, become root, hijack ttys,
write kernel modules based virus... and solutions for admins to
avoid all those abuses.
Notes: For 2.0.x kernels. Gives guidances to port it to 2.2.x
kernels. Also available in txt format at
http://www.blacknemesis.org/hacking/txt/cllkm.txt
BOOKS: (Not on-line)
* Title: "Linux Device Drivers"
Author: Alessandro Rubini.
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates.
Date: 1998.
Pages: 439.
ISBN: 1-56592-292-1
* Title: "Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition"
Author: Alessandro Rubini and Jonathan Corbet.
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates.
Date: 2001.
Pages: 586.
ISBN: 0-59600-008-1
Notes: Further information in
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive2/
* Title: "Linux Kernel Internals"
Author: Michael Beck.
Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
Date: 1997.
ISBN: 0-201-33143-8 (second edition)
* Title: "The Design of the UNIX Operating System"
Author: Maurice J. Bach.
Publisher: Prentice Hall.
Date: 1986.
Pages: 471.
ISBN: 0-13-201757-1
* Title: "The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX
Operating System"
Author: Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J.
Karels, John S. Quarterman.
Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
Date: 1989 (reprinted with corrections on October, 1990).
ISBN: 0-201-06196-1
* Title: "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD UNIX
Operating System"
Author: Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels,
John S. Quarterman.
Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
Date: 1996.
ISBN: 0-201-54979-4
* Title: "Programmation Linux 2.0 API systeme et fonctionnement du
noyau"
Author: Remy Card, Eric Dumas, Franck Mevel.
Publisher: Eyrolles.
Date: 1997.
Pages: 520.
ISBN: 2-212-08932-5
Notes: French.
* Title: "The Linux Kernel Book"
Author: Remy Card, Eric Dumas, Franck Mevel.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons.
Date: 1998.
ISBN: 0-471-98141-9
Notes: English translation.
* Title: "Linux 2.0"
Author: Remy Card, Eric Dumas, Franck Mevel.
Publisher: Gestión 2000.
Date: 1997.
Pages: 501.
ISBN: 8-480-88208-5
Notes: Spanish translation.
* Title: "Unix internals -- the new frontiers"
Author: Uresh Vahalia.
Publisher: Prentice Hall.
Date: 1996.
Pages: 600.
ISBN: 0-13-101908-2
* Title: "Linux Core Kernel Commentary. Guide to Insider's Knowledge
on the Core Kernel of the Linux Code"
Author: Scott Maxwell.
Publisher: Coriolis.
Date: 1999.
Pages: 592.
ISBN: 1-57610-469-9
Notes: CD-ROM included. Line by line commentary of the kernel
code.
* Title: "Linux IP Stacks Commentary"
Author: Stephen Satchell and HBJ Clifford.
Publisher: Coriolis.
Date: 2000.
Pages: ???.
ISBN: 1-57610-470-2
Notes: Line by line source code commentary book.
* Title: "Programming for the real world - POSIX.4"
Author: Bill O. Gallmeister.
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc..
Date: 1995.
Pages: ???.
ISBN: I-56592-074-0
Notes: Though not being directly about Linux, Linux aims to be
POSIX. Good reference.
* Title: "Understanding the Linux Kernel"
Author: Daniel P. Bovet and Marco Cesati.
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc..
Date: 2000.
Pages: 702.
ISBN: 0-596-00002-2
Notes: Further information in
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxkernel/
MISCELLANEOUS:
* Name: linux/Documentation
Author: Many.
URL: Just look inside your kernel sources.
Keywords: anything, DocBook.
Description: Documentation that comes with the kernel sources,
inside the Documentation directory. Some pages from this document
(including this document itself) have been moved there, and might
be more up to date than the web version.
* Name: "Linux Source Driver"
URL: http://lsd.linux.cz
Keywords: Browsing source code.
Description: "Linux Source Driver (LSD) is an application, which
can make browsing source codes of Linux kernel easier than you can
imagine. You can select between multiple versions of kernel (e.g.
0.01, 1.0.0, 2.0.33, 2.0.34pre13, 2.0.0, 2.1.101 etc.). With LSD
you can search Linux kernel (fulltext, macros, types, functions
and variables) and LSD can generate patches for you on the fly
(files, directories or kernel)".
* Name: "Linux Kernel Source Reference"
Author: Thomas Graichen.
URL: http://innominate.org/~graichen/projects/lksr/
Keywords: CVS, web, cvsweb, browsing source code.
Description: Web interface to a CVS server with the kernel
sources. "Here you can have a look at any file of the Linux kernel
sources of any version starting from 1.0 up to the (daily updated)
current version available. Also you can check the differences
between two versions of a file".
* Name: "Cross-Referencing Linux"
URL: http://lxr.linux.no/source/
Keywords: Browsing source code.
Description: Another web-based Linux kernel source code browser.
Lots of cross references to variables and functions. You can see
where they are defined and where they are used.
* Name: "Linux Weekly News"
URL: http://lwn.net
Keywords: latest kernel news.
Description: The title says it all. There's a fixed kernel section
summarizing developers' work, bug fixes, new features and versions
produced during the week. Published every Thursday.
* Name: "Kernel Traffic"
URL: http://www.kerneltraffic.org/kernel-traffic/
Keywords: linux-kernel mailing list, weekly kernel news.
Description: Weekly newsletter covering the most relevant
discussions of the linux-kernel mailing list.
* Name: "CuTTiNG.eDGe.LiNuX"
URL: http://edge.kernelnotes.org
Keywords: changelist.
Description: Site which provides the changelist for every kernel
release. What's new, what's better, what's changed. Myrdraal reads
the patches and describes them. Pointers to the patches are there,
too.
* Name: "New linux-kernel Mailing List FAQ"
URL: http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Keywords: linux-kernel mailing list FAQ.
Description: linux-kernel is a mailing list for developers to
communicate. This FAQ builds on the previous linux-kernel mailing
list FAQ maintained by Frohwalt Egerer, who no longer maintains
it. Read it to see how to join the mailing list. Dozens of
interesting questions regarding the list, Linux, developers (who
is ...?), terms (what is...?) are answered here too. Just read it.
* Name: "Linux Virtual File System"
Author: Peter J. Braam.
URL: http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/talks/linuxvfs/
Keywords: slides, VFS, inode, superblock, dentry, dcache.
Description: Set of slides, presumably from a presentation on the
Linux VFS layer. Covers version 2.1.x, with dentries and the
dcache.
* Name: "Gary's Encyclopedia - The Linux Kernel"
Author: Gary (I suppose...).
URL: http://members.aa.net/~swear/pedia/kernel.html
Keywords: links, not found here?.
Description: Gary's Encyclopedia exists to allow the rapid finding
of documentation and other information of interest to GNU/Linux
users. It has about 4000 links to external pages in 150 major
categories. This link is for kernel-specific links, documents,
sites... Look there if you could not find here what you were
looking for.
* Name: "The home page of Linux-MM"
Author: The Linux-MM team.
URL: http://linux-mm.org/
Keywords: memory management, Linux-MM, mm patches, TODO, docs,
mailing list.
Description: Site devoted to Linux Memory Management development.
Memory related patches, HOWTOs, links, mm developers... Don't miss
it if you are interested in memory management development!
* Name: "Kernel Newbies IRC Channel"
URL: http://www.kernelnewbies.org
Keywords: IRC, newbies, channel, asking doubts.
Description: #kernelnewbies on irc.openprojects.net. From the web
page: "#kernelnewbies is an IRC network dedicated to the 'newbie'
kernel hacker. The audience mostly consists of people who are
learning about the kernel, working on kernel projects or
professional kernel hackers that want to help less seasoned kernel
people. [...] #kernelnewbies is on the Open Projects IRC Network,
try irc.openprojects.net or irc.<country>.openprojects.net as your
server and then /join #kernelnewbies". It also hosts articles,
documents, FAQs...
* Name: "linux-kernel mailing list archives and search engines"
URL: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/index.html
URL: http://www.kernelnotes.org/lnxlists/linux-kernel/
URL: http://www.geocrawler.com
Keywords: linux-kernel, archives, search.
Description: Some of the linux-kernel mailing list archivers. If
you have a better/another one, please let me know.
_________________________________________________________________
Document last updated on Thu Jun 28 15:09:39 CEST 2001