1.. _kernel_docs:
2
3Index of Documentation for People Interested in Writing and/or Understanding the Linux Kernel
4=============================================================================================
5
6          Juan-Mariano de Goyeneche <jmseyas@dit.upm.es>
7
8The need for a document like this one became apparent in the
9linux-kernel mailing list as the same questions, asking for pointers
10to information, appeared again and again.
11
12Fortunately, as more and more people get to GNU/Linux, more and more
13get interested in the Kernel. But reading the sources is not always
14enough. It is easy to understand the code, but miss the concepts, the
15philosophy and design decisions behind this code.
16
17Unfortunately, not many documents are available for beginners to
18start. And, even if they exist, there was no "well-known" place which
19kept track of them. These lines try to cover this lack. All documents
20available on line known by the author are listed, while some reference
21books are also mentioned.
22
23PLEASE, if you know any paper not listed here or write a new document,
24send me an e-mail, and I'll include a reference to it here. Any
25corrections, ideas or comments are also welcomed.
26
27The papers that follow are listed in no particular order. All are
28cataloged with the following fields: the document's "Title", the
29"Author"/s, the "URL" where they can be found, some "Keywords" helpful
30when searching for specific topics, and a brief "Description" of the
31Document.
32
33Enjoy!
34
35.. note::
36
37   The documents on each section of this document are ordered by its
38   published date, from the newest to the oldest.
39
40Docs at the Linux Kernel tree
41-----------------------------
42
43The Sphinx books should be built with ``make {htmldocs | pdfdocs | epubdocs}``.
44
45    * Name: **linux/Documentation**
46
47      :Author: Many.
48      :Location: Documentation/
49      :Keywords: text files, Sphinx.
50      :Description: Documentation that comes with the kernel sources,
51        inside the Documentation directory. Some pages from this document
52        (including this document itself) have been moved there, and might
53        be more up to date than the web version.
54
55On-line docs
56------------
57
58    * Title: **Linux Kernel Mailing List Glossary**
59
60      :Author: various
61      :URL: https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelGlossary
62      :Date: rolling version
63      :Keywords: glossary, terms, linux-kernel.
64      :Description: From the introduction: "This glossary is intended as
65        a brief description of some of the acronyms and terms you may hear
66        during discussion of the Linux kernel".
67
68    * Title: **Tracing the Way of Data in a TCP Connection through the Linux Kernel**
69
70      :Author: Richard Sailer
71      :URL: https://archive.org/details/linux_kernel_data_flow_short_paper
72      :Date: 2016
73      :Keywords: Linux Kernel Networking, TCP, tracing, ftrace
74      :Description: A seminar paper explaining ftrace and how to use it for
75        understanding linux kernel internals,
76        illustrated at tracing the way of a TCP packet through the kernel.
77      :Abstract: *This short paper outlines the usage of ftrace a tracing framework
78        as a tool to understand a running Linux system.
79        Having obtained a trace-log a kernel hacker can read and understand
80        source code more determined and with context.
81        In a detailed example this approach is demonstrated in tracing
82        and the way of data in a TCP Connection through the kernel.
83        Finally this trace-log is used as base for more a exact conceptual
84        exploration and description of the Linux TCP/IP implementation.*
85
86    * Title: **On submitting kernel Patches**
87
88      :Author: Andi Kleen
89      :URL: http://halobates.de/on-submitting-kernel-patches.pdf
90      :Date: 2008
91      :Keywords: patches, review process, types of submissions, basic rules, case studies
92      :Description: This paper gives several experience values on what types of patches
93        there are and how likley they get merged.
94      :Abstract:
95        [...]. This paper examines some common problems for
96        submitting larger changes and some strategies to avoid problems.
97
98    * Title: **Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition**
99
100      :Author: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
101      :URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
102      :Date: 2005
103      :Description: A 600-page book covering the (2.6.10) driver
104        programming API and kernel hacking in general.  Available under the
105        Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
106      :note: You can also :ref:`purchase a copy from O'Reilly or elsewhere  <ldd3_published>`.
107
108    * Title: **Writing an ALSA Driver**
109
110      :Author: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>
111      :URL: http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html
112      :Date: 2005
113      :Keywords: ALSA, sound, soundcard, driver, lowlevel, hardware.
114      :Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for developers,
115        both at kernel and user-level sides. ALSA is the Linux kernel
116        sound architecture in the 2.6 kernel version.
117
118    * Title: **Linux PCMCIA Programmer's Guide**
119
120      :Author: David Hinds.
121      :URL: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/doc/PCMCIA-PROG.html
122      :Date: 2003
123      :Keywords: PCMCIA.
124      :Description: "This document describes how to write kernel device
125        drivers for the Linux PCMCIA Card Services interface. It also
126        describes how to write user-mode utilities for communicating with
127        Card Services.
128
129    * Title: **Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide**
130
131      :Author: Ori Pomerantz.
132      :URL: http://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.html
133      :Date: 2001
134      :Keywords: modules, GPL book, /proc, ioctls, system calls,
135        interrupt handlers .
136      :Description: Very nice 92 pages GPL book on the topic of modules
137        programming. Lots of examples.
138
139    * Title: **Global spinlock list and usage**
140
141      :Author: Rick Lindsley.
142      :URL: http://lse.sourceforge.net/lockhier/global-spin-lock
143      :Date: 2001
144      :Keywords: spinlock.
145      :Description: This is an attempt to document both the existence and
146        usage of the spinlocks in the Linux 2.4.5 kernel. Comprehensive
147        list of spinlocks showing when they are used, which functions
148        access them, how each lock is acquired, under what conditions it
149        is held, whether interrupts can occur or not while it is held...
150
151    * Title: **A Linux vm README**
152
153      :Author: Kanoj Sarcar.
154      :URL: http://kos.enix.org/pub/linux-vmm.html
155      :Date: 2001
156      :Keywords: virtual memory, mm, pgd, vma, page, page flags, page
157        cache, swap cache, kswapd.
158      :Description: Telegraphic, short descriptions and definitions
159        relating the Linux virtual memory implementation.
160
161    * Title: **Video4linux Drivers, Part 1: Video-Capture Device**
162
163      :Author: Alan Cox.
164      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/406
165      :Date: 2000
166      :Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,
167        camera driver.
168      :Description: The title says it all.
169
170    * Title: **Video4linux Drivers, Part 2: Video-capture Devices**
171
172      :Author: Alan Cox.
173      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/429
174      :Date: 2000
175      :Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,
176        camera driver, control, query capabilities, capability, facility.
177      :Description: The title says it all.
178
179    * Title: **Linux IP Networking. A Guide to the Implementation and Modification of the Linux Protocol Stack.**
180
181      :Author: Glenn Herrin.
182      :URL: http://www.cs.unh.edu/cnrg/gherrin
183      :Date: 2000
184      :Keywords: network, networking, protocol, IP, UDP, TCP, connection,
185        socket, receiving, transmitting, forwarding, routing, packets,
186        modules, /proc, sk_buff, FIB, tags.
187      :Description: Excellent paper devoted to the Linux IP Networking,
188        explaining anything from the kernel's to the user space
189        configuration tools' code. Very good to get a general overview of
190        the kernel networking implementation and understand all steps
191        packets follow from the time they are received at the network
192        device till they are delivered to applications. The studied kernel
193        code is from 2.2.14 version. Provides code for a working packet
194        dropper example.
195
196    * Title: **How To Make Sure Your Driver Will Work On The Power Macintosh**
197
198      :Author: Paul Mackerras.
199      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/261
200      :Date: 1999
201      :Keywords: Mac, Power Macintosh, porting, drivers, compatibility.
202      :Description: The title says it all.
203
204    * Title: **An Introduction to SCSI Drivers**
205
206      :Author: Alan Cox.
207      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/284
208      :Date: 1999
209      :Keywords: SCSI, device, driver.
210      :Description: The title says it all.
211
212    * Title: **Advanced SCSI Drivers And Other Tales**
213
214      :Author: Alan Cox.
215      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/307
216      :Date: 1999
217      :Keywords: SCSI, device, driver, advanced.
218      :Description: The title says it all.
219
220    * Title: **Writing Linux Mouse Drivers**
221
222      :Author: Alan Cox.
223      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/330
224      :Date: 1999
225      :Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm.
226      :Description: The title says it all.
227
228    * Title: **More on Mouse Drivers**
229
230      :Author: Alan Cox.
231      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/356
232      :Date: 1999
233      :Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm, races, asynchronous I/O.
234      :Description: The title still says it all.
235
236    * Title: **Writing Video4linux Radio Driver**
237
238      :Author: Alan Cox.
239      :URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/381
240      :Date: 1999
241      :Keywords: video4linux, driver, radio, radio devices.
242      :Description: The title says it all.
243
244    * Title: **I/O Event Handling Under Linux**
245
246      :Author: Richard Gooch.
247      :URL: http://web.mit.edu/~yandros/doc/io-events.html
248      :Date: 1999
249      :Keywords: IO, I/O, select(2), poll(2), FDs, aio_read(2), readiness
250        event queues.
251      :Description: From the Introduction: "I/O Event handling is about
252        how your Operating System allows you to manage a large number of
253        open files (file descriptors in UNIX/POSIX, or FDs) in your
254        application. You want the OS to notify you when FDs become active
255        (have data ready to be read or are ready for writing). Ideally you
256        want a mechanism that is scalable. This means a large number of
257        inactive FDs cost very little in memory and CPU time to manage".
258
259    * Title: **(nearly) Complete Linux Loadable Kernel Modules. The definitive guide for hackers, virus coders and system administrators.**
260
261      :Author: pragmatic/THC.
262      :URL: http://packetstormsecurity.org/docs/hack/LKM_HACKING.html
263      :Date: 1999
264      :Keywords: syscalls, intercept, hide, abuse, symbol table.
265      :Description: Interesting paper on how to abuse the Linux kernel in
266        order to intercept and modify syscalls, make
267        files/directories/processes invisible, become root, hijack ttys,
268        write kernel modules based virus... and solutions for admins to
269        avoid all those abuses.
270      :Notes: For 2.0.x kernels. Gives guidances to port it to 2.2.x
271        kernels.
272
273    * Name: **Linux Virtual File System**
274
275      :Author: Peter J. Braam.
276      :URL: http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/talks/linuxvfs/
277      :Date: 1998
278      :Keywords: slides, VFS, inode, superblock, dentry, dcache.
279      :Description: Set of slides, presumably from a presentation on the
280        Linux VFS layer. Covers version 2.1.x, with dentries and the
281        dcache.
282
283    * Title: **The Venus kernel interface**
284
285      :Author: Peter J. Braam.
286      :URL: http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/html/kernel-venus-protocol.html
287      :Date: 1998
288      :Keywords: coda, filesystem, venus, cache manager.
289      :Description: "This document describes the communication between
290        Venus and kernel level file system code needed for the operation
291        of the Coda filesystem. This version document is meant to describe
292        the current interface (version 1.0) as well as improvements we
293        envisage".
294
295    * Title: **Design and Implementation of the Second Extended Filesystem**
296
297      :Author: Rémy Card, Theodore Ts'o, Stephen Tweedie.
298      :URL: http://web.mit.edu/tytso/www/linux/ext2intro.html
299      :Date: 1998
300      :Keywords: ext2, linux fs history, inode, directory, link, devices,
301        VFS, physical structure, performance, benchmarks, ext2fs library,
302        ext2fs tools, e2fsck.
303      :Description: Paper written by three of the top ext2 hackers.
304        Covers Linux filesystems history, ext2 motivation, ext2 features,
305        design, physical structure on disk, performance, benchmarks,
306        e2fsck's passes description... A must read!
307      :Notes: This paper was first published in the Proceedings of the
308        First Dutch International Symposium on Linux, ISBN 90-367-0385-9.
309
310    * Title: **The Linux RAID-1, 4, 5 Code**
311
312      :Author: Ingo Molnar, Gadi Oxman and Miguel de Icaza.
313      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=2391
314      :Date: 1997
315      :Keywords: RAID, MD driver.
316      :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
317      :Abstract: *A description of the implementation of the RAID-1,
318        RAID-4 and RAID-5 personalities of the MD device driver in the
319        Linux kernel, providing users with high performance and reliable,
320        secondary-storage capability using software*.
321
322    * Title: **Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide**
323
324      :Author: Michael K. Johnson.
325      :URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html
326      :Date: 1997
327      :Keywords: device drivers, files, VFS, kernel interface, character vs
328        block devices, hardware interrupts, scsi, DMA, access to user memory,
329        memory allocation, timers.
330      :Description: A guide designed to help you get up to speed on the
331        concepts that are not intuitevly obvious, and to document the internal
332        structures of Linux.
333
334    * Title: **Dynamic Kernels: Modularized Device Drivers**
335
336      :Author: Alessandro Rubini.
337      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1219
338      :Date: 1996
339      :Keywords: device driver, module, loading/unloading modules,
340        allocating resources.
341      :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
342      :Abstract: *This is the first of a series of four articles
343        co-authored by Alessandro Rubini and Georg Zezchwitz which present
344        a practical approach to writing Linux device drivers as kernel
345        loadable modules. This installment presents an introduction to the
346        topic, preparing the reader to understand next month's
347        installment*.
348
349    * Title: **Dynamic Kernels: Discovery**
350
351      :Author: Alessandro Rubini.
352      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1220
353      :Date: 1996
354      :Keywords: character driver, init_module, clean_up module,
355        autodetection, mayor number, minor number, file operations,
356        open(), close().
357      :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
358      :Abstract: *This article, the second of four, introduces part of
359        the actual code to create custom module implementing a character
360        device driver. It describes the code for module initialization and
361        cleanup, as well as the open() and close() system calls*.
362
363    * Title: **The Devil's in the Details**
364
365      :Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz and Alessandro Rubini.
366      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1221
367      :Date: 1996
368      :Keywords: read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/non
369        blocking mode, interrupt handler.
370      :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
371      :Abstract: *This article, the third of four on writing character
372        device drivers, introduces concepts of reading, writing, and using
373        ioctl-calls*.
374
375    * Title: **Dissecting Interrupts and Browsing DMA**
376
377      :Author: Alessandro Rubini and Georg v. Zezschwitz.
378      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1222
379      :Date: 1996
380      :Keywords: interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues.
381      :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
382      :Abstract: *This is the fourth in a series of articles about
383        writing character device drivers as loadable kernel modules. This
384        month, we further investigate the field of interrupt handling.
385        Though it is conceptually simple, practical limitations and
386        constraints make this an ''interesting'' part of device driver
387        writing, and several different facilities have been provided for
388        different situations. We also investigate the complex topic of
389        DMA*.
390
391    * Title: **Device Drivers Concluded**
392
393      :Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz.
394      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1287
395      :Date: 1996
396      :Keywords: address spaces, pages, pagination, page management,
397        demand loading, swapping, memory protection, memory mapping, mmap,
398        virtual memory areas (VMAs), vremap, PCI.
399      :Description: Finally, the above turned out into a five articles
400        series. This latest one's introduction reads: "This is the last of
401        five articles about character device drivers. In this final
402        section, Georg deals with memory mapping devices, beginning with
403        an overall description of the Linux memory management concepts".
404
405    * Title: **Network Buffers And Memory Management**
406
407      :Author: Alan Cox.
408      :URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1312
409      :Date: 1996
410      :Keywords: sk_buffs, network devices, protocol/link layer
411        variables, network devices flags, transmit, receive,
412        configuration, multicast.
413      :Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner.
414      :Abstract: *Writing a network device driver for Linux is fundamentally
415        simple---most of the complexity (other than talking to the
416        hardware) involves managing network packets in memory*.
417
418    * Title: **Analysis of the Ext2fs structure**
419
420      :Author: Louis-Dominique Dubeau.
421      :URL: http://teaching.csse.uwa.edu.au/units/CITS2002/fs-ext2/
422      :Date: 1994
423      :Keywords: ext2, filesystem, ext2fs.
424      :Description: Description of ext2's blocks, directories, inodes,
425        bitmaps, invariants...
426
427Published books
428---------------
429
430    * Title: **Linux Treiber entwickeln**
431
432      :Author: Jürgen Quade, Eva-Katharina Kunst
433      :Publisher: dpunkt.verlag
434      :Date: Oct 2015 (4th edition)
435      :Pages: 688
436      :ISBN: 978-3-86490-288-8
437      :Note: German. The third edition from 2011 is
438         much cheaper and still quite up-to-date.
439
440    * Title: **Linux Kernel Networking: Implementation and Theory**
441
442      :Author: Rami Rosen
443      :Publisher: Apress
444      :Date: December 22, 2013
445      :Pages: 648
446      :ISBN: 978-1430261964
447
448    * Title: **Embedded Linux Primer: A practical Real-World Approach, 2nd Edition**
449
450      :Author: Christopher Hallinan
451      :Publisher: Pearson
452      :Date: November, 2010
453      :Pages: 656
454      :ISBN: 978-0137017836
455
456    * Title: **Linux Kernel Development, 3rd Edition**
457
458      :Author: Robert Love
459      :Publisher: Addison-Wesley
460      :Date: July, 2010
461      :Pages: 440
462      :ISBN: 978-0672329463
463
464    * Title: **Essential Linux Device Drivers**
465
466      :Author: Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran
467      :Published: Prentice Hall
468      :Date: April, 2008
469      :Pages: 744
470      :ISBN: 978-0132396554
471
472.. _ldd3_published:
473
474    * Title: **Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition**
475
476      :Authors: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman
477      :Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates
478      :Date: 2005
479      :Pages: 636
480      :ISBN: 0-596-00590-3
481      :Notes: Further information in
482        http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/
483        PDF format, URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
484
485    * Title: **Linux Kernel Internals**
486
487      :Author: Michael Beck
488      :Publisher: Addison-Wesley
489      :Date: 1997
490      :ISBN: 0-201-33143-8 (second edition)
491
492    * Title: **Programmation Linux 2.0 API systeme et fonctionnement du noyau**
493
494      :Author: Remy Card, Eric Dumas, Franck Mevel
495      :Publisher: Eyrolles
496      :Date: 1997
497      :Pages: 520
498      :ISBN: 2-212-08932-5
499      :Notes: French
500
501    * Title: **The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD UNIX Operating System**
502
503      :Author: Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels,
504        John S. Quarterman
505      :Publisher: Addison-Wesley
506      :Date: 1996
507      :ISBN: 0-201-54979-4
508
509    * Title: **Unix internals -- the new frontiers**
510
511      :Author: Uresh Vahalia
512      :Publisher: Prentice Hall
513      :Date: 1996
514      :Pages: 600
515      :ISBN: 0-13-101908-2
516
517    * Title: **Programming for the real world - POSIX.4**
518
519      :Author: Bill O. Gallmeister
520      :Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc
521      :Date: 1995
522      :Pages: 552
523      :ISBN: I-56592-074-0
524      :Notes: Though not being directly about Linux, Linux aims to be
525        POSIX. Good reference.
526
527    * Title:  **UNIX  Systems  for  Modern Architectures: Symmetric Multiprocessing and Caching for Kernel Programmers**
528
529      :Author: Curt Schimmel
530      :Publisher: Addison Wesley
531      :Date: June, 1994
532      :Pages: 432
533      :ISBN: 0-201-63338-8
534
535    * Title: **The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX Operating System**
536
537      :Author: Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J
538        Karels, John S. Quarterman
539      :Publisher: Addison-Wesley
540      :Date: 1989 (reprinted with corrections on October, 1990)
541      :ISBN: 0-201-06196-1
542
543    * Title: **The Design of the UNIX Operating System**
544
545      :Author: Maurice J. Bach
546      :Publisher: Prentice Hall
547      :Date: 1986
548      :Pages: 471
549      :ISBN: 0-13-201757-1
550
551Miscellaneous
552-------------
553
554    * Name: **Cross-Referencing Linux**
555
556      :URL: https://elixir.bootlin.com/
557      :Keywords: Browsing source code.
558      :Description: Another web-based Linux kernel source code browser.
559        Lots of cross references to variables and functions. You can see
560        where they are defined and where they are used.
561
562    * Name: **Linux Weekly News**
563
564      :URL: http://lwn.net
565      :Keywords: latest kernel news.
566      :Description: The title says it all. There's a fixed kernel section
567        summarizing developers' work, bug fixes, new features and versions
568        produced during the week. Published every Thursday.
569
570    * Name: **The home page of Linux-MM**
571
572      :Author: The Linux-MM team.
573      :URL: http://linux-mm.org/
574      :Keywords: memory management, Linux-MM, mm patches, TODO, docs,
575        mailing list.
576      :Description: Site devoted to Linux Memory Management development.
577        Memory related patches, HOWTOs, links, mm developers... Don't miss
578        it if you are interested in memory management development!
579
580    * Name: **Kernel Newbies IRC Channel and Website**
581
582      :URL: http://www.kernelnewbies.org
583      :Keywords: IRC, newbies, channel, asking doubts.
584      :Description: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net.
585        #kernelnewbies is an IRC network dedicated to the 'newbie'
586        kernel hacker. The audience mostly consists of people who are
587        learning about the kernel, working on kernel projects or
588        professional kernel hackers that want to help less seasoned kernel
589        people.
590        #kernelnewbies is on the OFTC IRC Network.
591        Try irc.oftc.net as your server and then /join #kernelnewbies.
592        The kernelnewbies website also hosts articles, documents, FAQs...
593
594    * Name: **linux-kernel mailing list archives and search engines**
595
596      :URL: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html
597      :URL: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/index.html
598      :URL: http://groups.google.com/group/mlist.linux.kernel
599      :Keywords: linux-kernel, archives, search.
600      :Description: Some of the linux-kernel mailing list archivers. If
601        you have a better/another one, please let me know.
602
603-------
604
605Document last updated on Tue 2016-Sep-20
606
607This document is based on:
608 http://www.dit.upm.es/~jmseyas/linux/kernel/hackers-docs.html
609