The Linux Kernel API
This documentation is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
MA 02111-1307 USA
For more details see the file COPYING in the source
distribution of Linux.
Driver Basics
Driver Entry and Exit points
!Iinclude/linux/init.h
Atomic and pointer manipulation
!Iinclude/asm-i386/atomic.h
!Iinclude/asm-i386/unaligned.h
Data Types
Doubly Linked Lists
!Iinclude/linux/list.h
Basic C Library Functions
When writing drivers, you cannot in general use routines which are
from the C Library. Some of the functions have been found generally
useful and they are listed below. The behaviour of these functions
may vary slightly from those defined by ANSI, and these deviations
are noted in the text.
String Conversions
!Ilib/vsprintf.c
!Elib/vsprintf.c
String Manipulation
!Ilib/string.c
!Elib/string.c
Bit Operations
!Iinclude/asm-i386/bitops.h
Memory Management in Linux
The Slab Cache
!Emm/slab.c
User Space Memory Access
!Iinclude/asm-i386/uaccess.h
!Iarch/i386/lib/usercopy.c
FIFO Buffer
kfifo interface
!Iinclude/linux/kfifo.h
!Ekernel/kfifo.c
The proc filesystem
sysctl interface
!Ekernel/sysctl.c
The debugfs filesystem
debugfs interface
!Efs/debugfs/inode.c
!Efs/debugfs/file.c
The Linux VFS
The Directory Cache
!Efs/dcache.c
!Iinclude/linux/dcache.h
Inode Handling
!Efs/inode.c
!Efs/bad_inode.c
Registration and Superblocks
!Efs/super.c
File Locks
!Efs/locks.c
!Ifs/locks.c
Linux Networking
Socket Buffer Functions
!Iinclude/linux/skbuff.h
!Enet/core/skbuff.c
Socket Filter
!Enet/core/filter.c
Generic Network Statistics
!Iinclude/linux/gen_stats.h
!Enet/core/gen_stats.c
!Enet/core/gen_estimator.c
Network device support
Driver Support
!Enet/core/dev.c
8390 Based Network Cards
!Edrivers/net/8390.c
Synchronous PPP
!Edrivers/net/wan/syncppp.c
Module Support
Module Loading
!Ekernel/kmod.c
Inter Module support
Refer to the file kernel/module.c for more information.
Hardware Interfaces
Interrupt Handling
!Iarch/i386/kernel/irq.c
MTRR Handling
!Earch/i386/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c
PCI Support Library
!Edrivers/pci/pci.c
PCI Hotplug Support Library
!Edrivers/pci/hotplug/pci_hotplug_core.c
MCA Architecture
MCA Device Functions
Refer to the file arch/i386/kernel/mca.c for more information.
MCA Bus DMA
!Iinclude/asm-i386/mca_dma.h
The Device File System
!Efs/devfs/base.c
Security Framework
!Esecurity/security.c
Power Management
!Ekernel/power/pm.c
Block Devices
!Edrivers/block/ll_rw_blk.c
Miscellaneous Devices
!Edrivers/char/misc.c
Video4Linux
!Edrivers/media/video/videodev.c
Sound Devices
!Esound/sound_core.c
16x50 UART Driver
!Edrivers/serial/serial_core.c
!Edrivers/serial/8250.c
Z85230 Support Library
!Edrivers/net/wan/z85230.c
Frame Buffer Library
The frame buffer drivers depend heavily on four data structures.
These structures are declared in include/linux/fb.h. They are
fb_info, fb_var_screeninfo, fb_fix_screeninfo and fb_monospecs.
The last three can be made available to and from userland.
fb_info defines the current state of a particular video card.
Inside fb_info, there exists a fb_ops structure which is a
collection of needed functions to make fbdev and fbcon work.
fb_info is only visible to the kernel.
fb_var_screeninfo is used to describe the features of a video card
that are user defined. With fb_var_screeninfo, things such as
depth and the resolution may be defined.
The next structure is fb_fix_screeninfo. This defines the
properties of a card that are created when a mode is set and can't
be changed otherwise. A good example of this is the start of the
frame buffer memory. This "locks" the address of the frame buffer
memory, so that it cannot be changed or moved.
The last structure is fb_monospecs. In the old API, there was
little importance for fb_monospecs. This allowed for forbidden things
such as setting a mode of 800x600 on a fix frequency monitor. With
the new API, fb_monospecs prevents such things, and if used
correctly, can prevent a monitor from being cooked. fb_monospecs
will not be useful until kernels 2.5.x.
Frame Buffer Memory
!Edrivers/video/fbmem.c
Frame Buffer Console
!Edrivers/video/console/fbcon.c
Frame Buffer Colormap
!Edrivers/video/fbcmap.c
Frame Buffer Video Mode Database
!Idrivers/video/modedb.c
!Edrivers/video/modedb.c
Frame Buffer Macintosh Video Mode Database
!Idrivers/video/macmodes.c
Frame Buffer Fonts
Refer to the file drivers/video/console/fonts.c for more information.