Kernel Hacking HOWTO< attributation> Alan Cox on advice for new hackers, in an interview on http: //www. Jeremy Andrews< /attributation> Ignore everyone who tells you kernel hacking is hard, special or different. It's a large program, and bug fixing or driver tweaking can be a best starting point. It is however not magic, nor written in a secret language that only deep initiates with beards can read. Kernel hacking may not be hard, but it certainly could not be described as easy. The lack of up to date, organised and comprehensive documentation hampers the efforts of even the most determined.
Hi all, I am considering putting together a new, more in depth kernel hacking HOWTO. The existing HOWTO (by Rusty), although an excellent source of technical. 5. Locking. The kernel is a highly multithreaded environment. Unless some data structure is private to a single thread of context you have to do appropiate locking. Kernelhacking.org is for sale. Get it today. Home; Transfer; Renew; Domain Pricing; Email; About Us; Help.
KernelHacking. Background on kernel development. So you want to be a Linux kernel Hacker? New Kernel Hacking HOWTO (right now under-development on kernelnewbies). Where to begin? I frequently get asked how I managed to end up working on the Fedora kernel for living by people hoping to one day get into kernel hacking themselves. The layout proposed by Suman Adak is below. Please create a new subpage (eg /Introduction) for each section, since this document could end up really large.
Linux netfilter Hacking HOWTO Rusty Russell and Harald Welte, mailing list [email protected] $Revision: 521 $ $Date: 2002-07-02 06:07:19 +0200 (mar, 02 jul.
Although there is actually quite a lot of information out there in books, web pages, newsgroups, mailing lists and the source itself, it is all very disparate, disorganised and on occasion contradictory. This document aims to address this issue. Hopefully it will attract bright new talent to the Linux Kernel Community. One day, someone will have to take over from Linus!
Who this document is for. This document is aimed at: Those who are confident compiling the Linux kernel, would like to contribute to it's development, but feel intimidated by the 2 million lines of kernel source code. Those who want to find out if kernel programming is of interest. Those who would like to get involved in kernel development but don't have time to figure everything out for themselves. Those who want to improve their kernel programming productivity.
It aims to accelerate the learning process by: Bringing together into one place as much key information as possible. Providing "the basics" in key areas. Supplying pointers to more in- depth information. Why hack the kernel? Some reasons why people get into kernel programming: They find the current kernel inadequate in some way and want to help fix the problem, perhaps by writing a new device driver or by working on improving the performance of one of the kernel's subsystems. They want to learn how a real operating system works, as opposed to the vague, high level concepts taught on most computer architecture courses. They like Linux and want to contribute to its development.
They find application programming too easy or boring and are looking for something more challenging! Prerequisites. What should I know before I start working through this document?
A fair amount of Linux experience from a user/developer perspective. If you are happy to use the console rather than X- windows to do most of your development work, you are probably ready. The ability to compile you own kernel. If this does not include you then read, understand, follow and commit to memory the steps given in the Kernel- HOWTO. A good, working knowledge of the C programming language. If this does not include you, why not start learning now? There are many good books on C, some of which are well suited to home/self learning e.
SAMS Publishing "Teach Yourself in 2. Days/2. 4 Hours" series.
Alternatively you can find good C tutorials online at google groups. Some background knowledge of computer hardware and operating systems is useful but not essential.
Copyright. Copyright (c) 2. Andrew Ebling. Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in any format. It's requested that corrections and/or comments be forwarded to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute it provided that you: Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as SGML) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for posting on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let the LDP know where it is available. License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL.
Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license used. Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors. If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation, it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer. Disclaimer. Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk.
All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements. You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before modifying the kernel and make backups at regular intervals.
If you would miss it if you lost it, back it up! News. The latest version of this document will be available at the web site in a number of formats: The SGML source gets updated most frequently (i. I have five minutes to spend on the document), the other formats only get updated for major new releases or when I feel the changes warrant the hassle. Credits. I have the pleasure of acknowledging contributions from the following people: Adam Keys for his emacs contribution. Bruce Blinn for his CVS contribution.
Rik van Riel for technical corrections. Jason Copenhaver, Guillaume Morin, Tero Kuusela, Tom Bradley for typos and grammar corrections. Igor Gilitschenski, Bohdan Vlasyuk, Tero Kuusela, Florian Zimmermann for general feedback, encouragement and suggestions. If you contributed a typo or grammar correction and your name is not in this list, it probably means that the error had already been reported and fixed.
If you reported a problem that has not been fixed in the current version of this document, please re- send your bug report adding REPEAT to the subject line. I do my best to attend to all the reports I get sent, but occasionally something slips through the net. Translations. As yet there are no translations of this document.
Translations are welcome, but please contact me first. Translation volunteers to date: Paulo Andre has offered to translate the document into Portuguese. Contacting the Author. Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to me. Please note that I am likely to be changing ISPs soon, so be sure to check the latest version of this document to get a "live" email address. Please use these subject line conventions (in addition to your own short and concise subject) to help me handle queries efficiently and filter SPAM: I ruthlessly filter on subject, so any emails not following these conventions may silently/automatically get deleted. Subject lines like "Hi!", "hello", "your website" etc.
Thank you for understanding and co- operation.
HOWTOFrom: Andrew Ebling (kernelhacker@lineone. Date: Thu Aug 2. 3 2.
EST. I am considering putting together a new, more in depth kernel hacking. The existing HOWTO (by Rusty), although an excellent source of technical. Therefore I would like to propose the following structure (for your.
Who is this document for etc. Prerequisites. - Key Kernel Concepts. IO management. - process/scheduling.
IPC. - boot sequence. Kernel source tour.
What goes where in the source tree. RCS/CVS). - How do I.. Print messages to kernel logs. Add a system call.
Add a /proc entry. Write a driver for a new device.
Add an option to the kernel configuation. Kernel Debugging. A word on debugging. Different approaches. I have already write a sort of mini HOWTO. Preparing the source.
Example debugging session. Troublshooting. - Kernel Profiling. How to find bottlenecks. Avoiding deadlock. I'm interested in hearing from seasoned kernel hackers (on what.
HOWTO) and newbies (what is particularly. I do not have all the know how/experience required to write this. I am also looking for willing volunteers to. My website (http: //www. PS. Please post general discussion back to the list(s) as appropriate. Thanks : ). To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux- kernel" in. More majordomo info at http: //vger.
Please read the FAQ at http: //www. This archive was generated by hypermail 2b. Thu Aug 2. 3 2. 00.