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diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-docs.txt b/Documentation/kernel-docs.txt index 1dafc52167b0..7ca806184426 100644 --- a/Documentation/kernel-docs.txt +++ b/Documentation/kernel-docs.txt @@ -1,731 +1,789 @@ - - Index of Documentation for People Interested in Writing and/or - - Understanding the Linux Kernel. +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: "Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition" - Author: Alessandro Rubini and Jonathan Corbet. - URL: http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.html - Keywords: device drivers, modules, debugging, memory, hardware, - interrupt handling, char drivers, block drivers, kmod, mmap, DMA, - buses. - Description: O'Reilly's popular book, now also on-line under the - GNU Free Documentation License. - Notes: You can also buy it in paper-form from O'Reilly. See below - under BOOKS (Not on-line). - - * Title: "Conceptual Architecture of the Linux Kernel" - Author: Ivan T. Bowman. - URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/ - Keywords: conceptual software architecture, extracted design, - reverse engineering, system structure. - Description: Conceptual software architecture 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/ - Keywords: concrete architecture, extracted design, reverse - engineering, system structure, dependencies. - Description: Concrete architecture 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/ - 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.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/filesystems/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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=2391 - Keywords: RAID, MD driver. - Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its - 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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1219 - Keywords: device driver, module, loading/unloading modules, - allocating resources. - Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its - 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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1220 - 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 its - 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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1221 - Keywords: read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/non - blocking mode, interrupt handler. - Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its - 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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1222 - Keywords: interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues. - Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its - 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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1287 - 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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1312 - 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: "Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide" - Author: Michael K. Johnson. - URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html - Keywords: device drivers, files, VFS, kernel interface, character vs - block devices, hardware interrupts, scsi, DMA, access to user memory, - memory allocation, timers. - Description: A guide designed to help you get up to speed on the - concepts that are not intuitevly obvious, and to document the internal - structures of Linux. - - * 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://teaching.csse.uwa.edu.au/units/CITS2002/fs-ext2/ - 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.safe-mbox.com/~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.safe-mbox.com/~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://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.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: "I/O Event Handling Under Linux" - Author: Richard Gooch. - 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. - Location: in kernel tree, Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking.tmpl - (must be built as "make {htmldocs | psdocs | pdfdocs}) - 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: "Writing an ALSA Driver" - Author: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> - URL: http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html - Keywords: ALSA, sound, soundcard, driver, lowlevel, hardware. - Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for developers, - both at kernel and user-level sides. ALSA is the Linux kernel - sound architecture in the 2.6 kernel version. - - * 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: "Linux Kernel Mailing List Glossary" - Author: various - URL: http://kernelnewbies.org/glossary/ - 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. - Location: in kernel tree, Documentation/DocBook/kernel-locking.tmpl - (must be built as "make {htmldocs | psdocs | pdfdocs}) - 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: "Global spinlock list and usage" - Author: Rick Lindsley. - URL: http://lse.sourceforge.net/lockhier/global-spin-lock - Keywords: spinlock. - Description: This is an attempt to document both the existence and - usage of the spinlocks in the Linux 2.4.5 kernel. Comprehensive - list of spinlocks showing when they are used, which functions - access them, how each lock is acquired, under what conditions it - is held, whether interrupts can occur or not while it is held... - - * 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/id/238 - 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/id/261 - 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/id/284 - 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/id/307 - 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/id/330 - Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm. - Description: The title says it all. - - * Title: "More on Mouse Drivers" - Author: Alan Cox. - URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/356 - 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/id/381 - 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/id/406 - 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/id/429 - 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/id/452 - 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://www.cs.unh.edu/cnrg/gherrin - 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.edn.com/article/CA46968.html - 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 - URL: http://www.edn.com/article/CA46998.html - - * 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://kos.enix.org/pub/linux-vmm.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://packetstormsecurity.org/docs/hack/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. - - 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 Device Drivers, 3rd Edition" - Authors: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman - Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates. - Date: 2005. - Pages: 636. - ISBN: 0-596-00590-3 - Notes: Further information in - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/ - PDF format, URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ - - * 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: "Unix internals -- the new frontiers" - Author: Uresh Vahalia. - Publisher: Prentice Hall. - Date: 1996. - Pages: 600. - ISBN: 0-13-101908-2 - - * 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: "UNIX Systems for Modern Architectures: Symmetric - Multiprocessing and Caching for Kernel Programmers" - Author: Curt Schimmel. - Publisher: Addison Wesley. - Date: June, 1994. - Pages: 432. - ISBN: 0-201-63338-8 - - * Title: "Linux Kernel Development, 3rd Edition" - Author: Robert Love - Publisher: Addison-Wesley. - Date: July, 2010 - Pages: 440 - ISBN: 978-0672329463 - - 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 Kernel Source Reference" - Author: Thomas Graichen. - URL: http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=96446640102205&w=4 - 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.free-electrons.com/ - 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://kt.earth.li/kernel-traffic/index.html - 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://slencyclopedia.berlios.de/index.html - Keywords: linux, community, everything! - 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... This list is now hosted by developer.Berlios.de, - but seems not to have been updated since sometime in 1999. - - * 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 and Website" - URL: http://www.kernelnewbies.org - Keywords: IRC, newbies, channel, asking doubts. - Description: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net. - #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 OFTC IRC Network. - Try irc.oftc.net as your server and then /join #kernelnewbies. - The kernelnewbies website also hosts articles, documents, FAQs... - - * Name: "linux-kernel mailing list archives and search engines" - URL: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html - URL: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/index.html - URL: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel - URL: http://groups.google.com/group/mlist.linux.kernel - URL: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/linux/linux-kernel/ - URL: http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/linux-kernel/ - 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 Sat 2005-NOV-19 +.. note:: + 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: **Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition** + + :Author: Alessandro Rubini and Jonathan Corbet. + :URL: http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.html + :Keywords: device drivers, modules, debugging, memory, hardware, + interrupt handling, char drivers, block drivers, kmod, mmap, DMA, + buses. + :Description: O'Reilly's popular book, now also on-line under the + GNU Free Documentation License. + :Notes: You can also buy it in paper-form from O'Reilly. See below + under BOOKS (Not on-line). + + * Title: **Conceptual Architecture of the Linux Kernel** + + :Author: Ivan T. Bowman. + :URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/ + :Keywords: conceptual software architecture, extracted design, + reverse engineering, system structure. + :Description: Conceptual software architecture 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/ + :Keywords: concrete architecture, extracted design, reverse + engineering, system structure, dependencies. + :Description: Concrete architecture 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/ + :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.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/filesystems/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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=2391 + :Keywords: RAID, MD driver. + :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its + :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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1219 + :Keywords: device driver, module, loading/unloading modules, + allocating resources. + :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its + :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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1220 + :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 its + :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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1221 + :Keywords: read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/non + blocking mode, interrupt handler. + :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its + :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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1222 + :Keywords: interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues. + :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is its + :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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1287 + :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://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1312 + :Keywords: sk_buffs, network devices, protocol/link layer + variables, network devices flags, transmit, receive, + configuration, multicast. + :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner. + :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: **Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide** + + :Author: Michael K. Johnson. + :URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html + :Keywords: device drivers, files, VFS, kernel interface, character vs + block devices, hardware interrupts, scsi, DMA, access to user memory, + memory allocation, timers. + :Description: A guide designed to help you get up to speed on the + concepts that are not intuitevly obvious, and to document the internal + structures of Linux. + + * 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://teaching.csse.uwa.edu.au/units/CITS2002/fs-ext2/ + :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.safe-mbox.com/~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.safe-mbox.com/~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://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.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: **I/O Event Handling Under Linux** + + :Author: Richard Gooch. + :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. + :Location: in kernel tree, Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking.tmpl + (must be built as "make {htmldocs | psdocs | pdfdocs}) + :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: **Writing an ALSA Driver** + + :Author: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> + :URL: http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html + :Keywords: ALSA, sound, soundcard, driver, lowlevel, hardware. + :Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for developers, + both at kernel and user-level sides. ALSA is the Linux kernel + sound architecture in the 2.6 kernel version. + + * 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: **Linux Kernel Mailing List Glossary** + + :Author: various + :URL: http://kernelnewbies.org/glossary/ + :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. + :Location: in kernel tree, Documentation/DocBook/kernel-locking.tmpl + (must be built as "make {htmldocs | psdocs | pdfdocs}) + :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: **Global spinlock list and usage** + + :Author: Rick Lindsley. + :URL: http://lse.sourceforge.net/lockhier/global-spin-lock + :Keywords: spinlock. + :Description: This is an attempt to document both the existence and + usage of the spinlocks in the Linux 2.4.5 kernel. Comprehensive + list of spinlocks showing when they are used, which functions + access them, how each lock is acquired, under what conditions it + is held, whether interrupts can occur or not while it is held... + + * 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/id/238 + :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/id/261 + :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/id/284 + :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/id/307 + :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/id/330 + :Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm. + :Description: The title says it all. + + * Title: **More on Mouse Drivers** + + :Author: Alan Cox. + :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/356 + :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/id/381 + :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/id/406 + :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/id/429 + :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/id/452 + :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://www.cs.unh.edu/cnrg/gherrin + :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.edn.com/article/CA46968.html + :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 + :URL: http://www.edn.com/article/CA46998.html + + * 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://kos.enix.org/pub/linux-vmm.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://packetstormsecurity.org/docs/hack/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. + +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 Device Drivers, 3rd Edition** + + :Authors: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman + :Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates. + :Date: 2005. + :Pages: 636. + :ISBN: 0-596-00590-3 + :Notes: Further information in + http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/ + PDF format, URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ + + * 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: **Unix internals -- the new frontiers** + + :Author: Uresh Vahalia. + :Publisher: Prentice Hall. + :Date: 1996. + :Pages: 600. + :ISBN: 0-13-101908-2 + + * 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: **UNIX Systems for Modern Architectures: Symmetric Multiprocessing and Caching for Kernel Programmers** + + :Author: Curt Schimmel. + :Publisher: Addison Wesley. + :Date: June, 1994. + :Pages: 432. + :ISBN: 0-201-63338-8 + + * Title: **Linux Kernel Development, 3rd Edition** + + :Author: Robert Love + :Publisher: Addison-Wesley. + :Date: July, 2010 + :Pages: 440 + :ISBN: 978-0672329463 + +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 Kernel Source Reference** + + :Author: Thomas Graichen. + :URL: http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=96446640102205&w=4 + :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.free-electrons.com/ + :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://kt.earth.li/kernel-traffic/index.html + :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://slencyclopedia.berlios.de/index.html + :Keywords: linux, community, everything! + :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... This list is now hosted by developer.Berlios.de, + but seems not to have been updated since sometime in 1999. + + * 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 and Website** + + :URL: http://www.kernelnewbies.org + :Keywords: IRC, newbies, channel, asking doubts. + :Description: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net. + #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 OFTC IRC Network. + Try irc.oftc.net as your server and then /join #kernelnewbies. + The kernelnewbies website also hosts articles, documents, FAQs... + + * Name: **linux-kernel mailing list archives and search engines** + + :URL: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html + :URL: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/index.html + :URL: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel + :URL: http://groups.google.com/group/mlist.linux.kernel + :URL: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/linux/linux-kernel/ + :URL: http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/linux-kernel/ + :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 Sat 2005-NOV-19 |