Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> |
| 2 | <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" |
| 3 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" []> |
| 4 | |
| 5 | <book id="LinuxKernelAPI"> |
| 6 | <bookinfo> |
| 7 | <title>The Linux Kernel API</title> |
| 8 | |
| 9 | <legalnotice> |
| 10 | <para> |
| 11 | This documentation is free software; you can redistribute |
| 12 | it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public |
| 13 | License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either |
| 14 | version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later |
| 15 | version. |
| 16 | </para> |
| 17 | |
| 18 | <para> |
| 19 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be |
| 20 | useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied |
| 21 | warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. |
| 22 | See the GNU General Public License for more details. |
| 23 | </para> |
| 24 | |
| 25 | <para> |
| 26 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public |
| 27 | License along with this program; if not, write to the Free |
| 28 | Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, |
| 29 | MA 02111-1307 USA |
| 30 | </para> |
| 31 | |
| 32 | <para> |
| 33 | For more details see the file COPYING in the source |
| 34 | distribution of Linux. |
| 35 | </para> |
| 36 | </legalnotice> |
| 37 | </bookinfo> |
| 38 | |
| 39 | <toc></toc> |
| 40 | |
| 41 | <chapter id="Basics"> |
| 42 | <title>Driver Basics</title> |
| 43 | <sect1><title>Driver Entry and Exit points</title> |
| 44 | !Iinclude/linux/init.h |
| 45 | </sect1> |
| 46 | |
| 47 | <sect1><title>Atomic and pointer manipulation</title> |
| 48 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/atomic.h |
| 49 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/unaligned.h |
| 50 | </sect1> |
| 51 | |
| 52 | <!-- FIXME: |
| 53 | kernel/sched.c has no docs, which stuffs up the sgml. Comment |
| 54 | out until somebody adds docs. KAO |
| 55 | <sect1><title>Delaying, scheduling, and timer routines</title> |
| 56 | X!Ekernel/sched.c |
| 57 | </sect1> |
| 58 | KAO --> |
| 59 | </chapter> |
| 60 | |
| 61 | <chapter id="adt"> |
| 62 | <title>Data Types</title> |
| 63 | <sect1><title>Doubly Linked Lists</title> |
| 64 | !Iinclude/linux/list.h |
| 65 | </sect1> |
| 66 | </chapter> |
| 67 | |
| 68 | <chapter id="libc"> |
| 69 | <title>Basic C Library Functions</title> |
| 70 | |
| 71 | <para> |
| 72 | When writing drivers, you cannot in general use routines which are |
| 73 | from the C Library. Some of the functions have been found generally |
| 74 | useful and they are listed below. The behaviour of these functions |
| 75 | may vary slightly from those defined by ANSI, and these deviations |
| 76 | are noted in the text. |
| 77 | </para> |
| 78 | |
| 79 | <sect1><title>String Conversions</title> |
| 80 | !Ilib/vsprintf.c |
| 81 | !Elib/vsprintf.c |
| 82 | </sect1> |
| 83 | <sect1><title>String Manipulation</title> |
| 84 | !Ilib/string.c |
| 85 | !Elib/string.c |
| 86 | </sect1> |
| 87 | <sect1><title>Bit Operations</title> |
| 88 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/bitops.h |
| 89 | </sect1> |
| 90 | </chapter> |
| 91 | |
| 92 | <chapter id="mm"> |
| 93 | <title>Memory Management in Linux</title> |
| 94 | <sect1><title>The Slab Cache</title> |
| 95 | !Emm/slab.c |
| 96 | </sect1> |
| 97 | <sect1><title>User Space Memory Access</title> |
| 98 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/uaccess.h |
| 99 | !Iarch/i386/lib/usercopy.c |
| 100 | </sect1> |
| 101 | </chapter> |
| 102 | |
| 103 | <chapter id="kfifo"> |
| 104 | <title>FIFO Buffer</title> |
| 105 | <sect1><title>kfifo interface</title> |
| 106 | !Iinclude/linux/kfifo.h |
| 107 | !Ekernel/kfifo.c |
| 108 | </sect1> |
| 109 | </chapter> |
| 110 | |
| 111 | <chapter id="proc"> |
| 112 | <title>The proc filesystem</title> |
| 113 | |
| 114 | <sect1><title>sysctl interface</title> |
| 115 | !Ekernel/sysctl.c |
| 116 | </sect1> |
| 117 | </chapter> |
| 118 | |
| 119 | <chapter id="debugfs"> |
| 120 | <title>The debugfs filesystem</title> |
| 121 | |
| 122 | <sect1><title>debugfs interface</title> |
| 123 | !Efs/debugfs/inode.c |
| 124 | !Efs/debugfs/file.c |
| 125 | </sect1> |
| 126 | </chapter> |
| 127 | |
| 128 | <chapter id="vfs"> |
| 129 | <title>The Linux VFS</title> |
| 130 | <sect1><title>The Directory Cache</title> |
| 131 | !Efs/dcache.c |
| 132 | !Iinclude/linux/dcache.h |
| 133 | </sect1> |
| 134 | <sect1><title>Inode Handling</title> |
| 135 | !Efs/inode.c |
| 136 | !Efs/bad_inode.c |
| 137 | </sect1> |
| 138 | <sect1><title>Registration and Superblocks</title> |
| 139 | !Efs/super.c |
| 140 | </sect1> |
| 141 | <sect1><title>File Locks</title> |
| 142 | !Efs/locks.c |
| 143 | !Ifs/locks.c |
| 144 | </sect1> |
| 145 | </chapter> |
| 146 | |
| 147 | <chapter id="netcore"> |
| 148 | <title>Linux Networking</title> |
| 149 | <sect1><title>Socket Buffer Functions</title> |
| 150 | !Iinclude/linux/skbuff.h |
| 151 | !Enet/core/skbuff.c |
| 152 | </sect1> |
| 153 | <sect1><title>Socket Filter</title> |
| 154 | !Enet/core/filter.c |
| 155 | </sect1> |
| 156 | <sect1><title>Generic Network Statistics</title> |
| 157 | !Iinclude/linux/gen_stats.h |
| 158 | !Enet/core/gen_stats.c |
| 159 | !Enet/core/gen_estimator.c |
| 160 | </sect1> |
| 161 | </chapter> |
| 162 | |
| 163 | <chapter id="netdev"> |
| 164 | <title>Network device support</title> |
| 165 | <sect1><title>Driver Support</title> |
| 166 | !Enet/core/dev.c |
| 167 | </sect1> |
| 168 | <sect1><title>8390 Based Network Cards</title> |
| 169 | !Edrivers/net/8390.c |
| 170 | </sect1> |
| 171 | <sect1><title>Synchronous PPP</title> |
| 172 | !Edrivers/net/wan/syncppp.c |
| 173 | </sect1> |
| 174 | </chapter> |
| 175 | |
| 176 | <chapter id="modload"> |
| 177 | <title>Module Support</title> |
| 178 | <sect1><title>Module Loading</title> |
| 179 | !Ekernel/kmod.c |
| 180 | </sect1> |
| 181 | <sect1><title>Inter Module support</title> |
| 182 | <para> |
| 183 | Refer to the file kernel/module.c for more information. |
| 184 | </para> |
| 185 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source |
| 186 | X!Ekernel/module.c |
| 187 | --> |
| 188 | </sect1> |
| 189 | </chapter> |
| 190 | |
| 191 | <chapter id="hardware"> |
| 192 | <title>Hardware Interfaces</title> |
| 193 | <sect1><title>Interrupt Handling</title> |
| 194 | !Iarch/i386/kernel/irq.c |
| 195 | </sect1> |
| 196 | |
| 197 | <sect1><title>MTRR Handling</title> |
| 198 | !Earch/i386/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c |
| 199 | </sect1> |
| 200 | <sect1><title>PCI Support Library</title> |
| 201 | !Edrivers/pci/pci.c |
| 202 | </sect1> |
| 203 | <sect1><title>PCI Hotplug Support Library</title> |
| 204 | !Edrivers/pci/hotplug/pci_hotplug_core.c |
| 205 | </sect1> |
| 206 | <sect1><title>MCA Architecture</title> |
| 207 | <sect2><title>MCA Device Functions</title> |
| 208 | <para> |
| 209 | Refer to the file arch/i386/kernel/mca.c for more information. |
| 210 | </para> |
| 211 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source |
| 212 | X!Earch/i386/kernel/mca.c |
| 213 | --> |
| 214 | </sect2> |
| 215 | <sect2><title>MCA Bus DMA</title> |
| 216 | !Iinclude/asm-i386/mca_dma.h |
| 217 | </sect2> |
| 218 | </sect1> |
| 219 | </chapter> |
| 220 | |
| 221 | <chapter id="devfs"> |
| 222 | <title>The Device File System</title> |
| 223 | !Efs/devfs/base.c |
| 224 | </chapter> |
| 225 | |
| 226 | <chapter id="security"> |
| 227 | <title>Security Framework</title> |
| 228 | !Esecurity/security.c |
| 229 | </chapter> |
| 230 | |
| 231 | <chapter id="pmfuncs"> |
| 232 | <title>Power Management</title> |
| 233 | !Ekernel/power/pm.c |
| 234 | </chapter> |
| 235 | |
| 236 | <chapter id="blkdev"> |
| 237 | <title>Block Devices</title> |
| 238 | !Edrivers/block/ll_rw_blk.c |
| 239 | </chapter> |
| 240 | |
| 241 | <chapter id="miscdev"> |
| 242 | <title>Miscellaneous Devices</title> |
| 243 | !Edrivers/char/misc.c |
| 244 | </chapter> |
| 245 | |
| 246 | <chapter id="viddev"> |
| 247 | <title>Video4Linux</title> |
| 248 | !Edrivers/media/video/videodev.c |
| 249 | </chapter> |
| 250 | |
| 251 | <chapter id="snddev"> |
| 252 | <title>Sound Devices</title> |
| 253 | !Esound/sound_core.c |
| 254 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source |
| 255 | X!Isound/sound_firmware.c |
| 256 | --> |
| 257 | </chapter> |
| 258 | |
| 259 | <chapter id="uart16x50"> |
| 260 | <title>16x50 UART Driver</title> |
| 261 | !Edrivers/serial/serial_core.c |
| 262 | !Edrivers/serial/8250.c |
| 263 | </chapter> |
| 264 | |
| 265 | <chapter id="z85230"> |
| 266 | <title>Z85230 Support Library</title> |
| 267 | !Edrivers/net/wan/z85230.c |
| 268 | </chapter> |
| 269 | |
| 270 | <chapter id="fbdev"> |
| 271 | <title>Frame Buffer Library</title> |
| 272 | |
| 273 | <para> |
| 274 | The frame buffer drivers depend heavily on four data structures. |
| 275 | These structures are declared in include/linux/fb.h. They are |
| 276 | fb_info, fb_var_screeninfo, fb_fix_screeninfo and fb_monospecs. |
| 277 | The last three can be made available to and from userland. |
| 278 | </para> |
| 279 | |
| 280 | <para> |
| 281 | fb_info defines the current state of a particular video card. |
| 282 | Inside fb_info, there exists a fb_ops structure which is a |
| 283 | collection of needed functions to make fbdev and fbcon work. |
| 284 | fb_info is only visible to the kernel. |
| 285 | </para> |
| 286 | |
| 287 | <para> |
| 288 | fb_var_screeninfo is used to describe the features of a video card |
| 289 | that are user defined. With fb_var_screeninfo, things such as |
| 290 | depth and the resolution may be defined. |
| 291 | </para> |
| 292 | |
| 293 | <para> |
| 294 | The next structure is fb_fix_screeninfo. This defines the |
| 295 | properties of a card that are created when a mode is set and can't |
| 296 | be changed otherwise. A good example of this is the start of the |
| 297 | frame buffer memory. This "locks" the address of the frame buffer |
| 298 | memory, so that it cannot be changed or moved. |
| 299 | </para> |
| 300 | |
| 301 | <para> |
| 302 | The last structure is fb_monospecs. In the old API, there was |
| 303 | little importance for fb_monospecs. This allowed for forbidden things |
| 304 | such as setting a mode of 800x600 on a fix frequency monitor. With |
| 305 | the new API, fb_monospecs prevents such things, and if used |
| 306 | correctly, can prevent a monitor from being cooked. fb_monospecs |
| 307 | will not be useful until kernels 2.5.x. |
| 308 | </para> |
| 309 | |
| 310 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Memory</title> |
| 311 | !Edrivers/video/fbmem.c |
| 312 | </sect1> |
| 313 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Console</title> |
| 314 | !Edrivers/video/console/fbcon.c |
| 315 | </sect1> |
| 316 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Colormap</title> |
| 317 | !Edrivers/video/fbcmap.c |
| 318 | </sect1> |
| 319 | <!-- FIXME: |
| 320 | drivers/video/fbgen.c has no docs, which stuffs up the sgml. Comment |
| 321 | out until somebody adds docs. KAO |
| 322 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Generic Functions</title> |
| 323 | X!Idrivers/video/fbgen.c |
| 324 | </sect1> |
| 325 | KAO --> |
| 326 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Video Mode Database</title> |
| 327 | !Idrivers/video/modedb.c |
| 328 | !Edrivers/video/modedb.c |
| 329 | </sect1> |
| 330 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Macintosh Video Mode Database</title> |
| 331 | !Idrivers/video/macmodes.c |
| 332 | </sect1> |
| 333 | <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Fonts</title> |
| 334 | <para> |
| 335 | Refer to the file drivers/video/console/fonts.c for more information. |
| 336 | </para> |
| 337 | <!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source |
| 338 | X!Idrivers/video/console/fonts.c |
| 339 | --> |
| 340 | </sect1> |
| 341 | </chapter> |
| 342 | </book> |