Index of Documentation for People Interested in Writing and/or Understanding the Linux Kernel¶

Juan-Mariano de Goyeneche <jmseyas@dit.upm.es>

The need for a document like this one became apparent in thelinux-kernel mailing list as the same questions, asking for pointersto information, appeared again and again.

Fortunately, as more and more people get to GNU/Linux, more and moreget interested in the Kernel. But reading the sources is not alwaysenough. It is easy to understand the code, but miss the concepts, thephilosophy and design decisions behind this code.

Unfortunately, not many documents are available for beginners tostart. And, even if they exist, there was no “well-known” place whichkept track of them. These lines try to cover this lack. All documentsavailable on line known by the author are listed, while some referencebooks 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. Anycorrections, ideas or comments are also welcomed.

The papers that follow are listed in no particular order. All arecataloged with the following fields: the document’s “Title”, the“Author”/s, the “URL” where they can be found, some “Keywords” helpfulwhen searching for specific topics, and a brief “Description” of theDocument.

Enjoy!

Note

The documents on each section of this document are ordered by itspublished date, from the newest to the oldest.

Docs at the Linux Kernel tree¶

The Sphinx books should be built withmake{htmldocs|pdfdocs|epubdocs}.

Name:linux/Documentation
Author: Many.
Location: Documentation/
Keywords: text files, Sphinx.
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 mightbe more up to date than the web version.

Author:	Many.
Location:	Documentation/
Keywords:	text files, Sphinx.
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 mightbe more up to date than the web version.

On-line docs¶

Title:Linux Kernel Mailing List Glossary
Author: various
URL: https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelGlossary
Date: rolling version
Keywords: glossary, terms, linux-kernel.
Description: From the introduction: “This glossary is intended asa brief description of some of the acronyms and terms you may hearduring discussion of the Linux kernel”.
Title:Tracing the Way of Data in a TCP Connection through the Linux Kernel
Author: Richard Sailer
URL: https://archive.org/details/linux_kernel_data_flow_short_paper
Date: 2016
Keywords: Linux Kernel Networking, TCP, tracing, ftrace
Description: A seminar paper explaining ftrace and how to use it forunderstanding linux kernel internals,illustrated at tracing the way of a TCP packet through the kernel.
Abstract: This short paper outlines the usage of ftrace a tracing frameworkas a tool to understand a running Linux system.Having obtained a trace-log a kernel hacker can read and understandsource code more determined and with context.In a detailed example this approach is demonstrated in tracingand the way of data in a TCP Connection through the kernel.Finally this trace-log is used as base for more a exact conceptualexploration and description of the Linux TCP/IP implementation.
Title:On submitting kernel Patches
Author: Andi Kleen
URL: http://halobates.de/on-submitting-kernel-patches.pdf
Date: 2008
Keywords: patches, review process, types of submissions, basic rules, case studies
Description: This paper gives several experience values on what types of patchesthere are and how likley they get merged.
Abstract: […]. This paper examines some common problems forsubmitting larger changes and some strategies to avoid problems.
Title:Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition
Author: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
URL: https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
Date: 2005
Description: A 600-page book covering the (2.6.10) driverprogramming API and kernel hacking in general. Available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
note: You can alsopurchase a copy from O’Reilly or elsewhere.
Title:Writing an ALSA Driver
Author: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>
URL: http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html
Date: 2005
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 kernelsound architecture in the 2.6 kernel version.
Title:Linux PCMCIA Programmer’s Guide
Author: David Hinds.
URL: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/doc/PCMCIA-PROG.html
Date: 2003
Keywords: PCMCIA.
Description: “This document describes how to write kernel devicedrivers for the Linux PCMCIA Card Services interface. It alsodescribes how to write user-mode utilities for communicating withCard Services.
Title:Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide
Author: Ori Pomerantz.
URL: https://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.html
Date: 2001
Keywords: modules, GPL book, /proc, ioctls, system calls,interrupt handlers .
Description: Very nice 92 pages GPL book on the topic of modulesprogramming. Lots of examples.
Title:Global spinlock list and usage
Author: Rick Lindsley.
URL: http://lse.sourceforge.net/lockhier/global-spin-lock
Date: 2001
Keywords: spinlock.
Description: This is an attempt to document both the existence andusage of the spinlocks in the Linux 2.4.5 kernel. Comprehensivelist of spinlocks showing when they are used, which functionsaccess them, how each lock is acquired, under what conditions itis held, whether interrupts can occur or not while it is held…
Title:A Linux vm README
Author: Kanoj Sarcar.
URL: http://kos.enix.org/pub/linux-vmm.html
Date: 2001
Keywords: virtual memory, mm, pgd, vma, page, page flags, pagecache, swap cache, kswapd.
Description: Telegraphic, short descriptions and definitionsrelating the Linux virtual memory implementation.
Title:Video4linux Drivers, Part 1: Video-Capture Device
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/406
Date: 2000
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
Date: 2000
Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,camera driver, control, query capabilities, capability, facility.
Description: The title says it all.
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
Date: 2000
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 spaceconfiguration tools’ code. Very good to get a general overview ofthe kernel networking implementation and understand all stepspackets follow from the time they are received at the networkdevice till they are delivered to applications. The studied kernelcode is from 2.2.14 version. Provides code for a working packetdropper example.
Title:How To Make Sure Your Driver Will Work On The Power Macintosh
Author: Paul Mackerras.
URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/id/261
Date: 1999
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
Date: 1999
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
Date: 1999
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
Date: 1999
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
Date: 1999
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
Date: 1999
Keywords: video4linux, driver, radio, radio devices.
Description: The title says it all.
Title:I/O Event Handling Under Linux
Author: Richard Gooch.
URL: https://web.mit.edu/~yandros/doc/io-events.html
Date: 1999
Keywords: IO, I/O, select(2), poll(2), FDs, aio_read(2), readinessevent queues.
Description: From the Introduction: “I/O Event handling is abouthow your Operating System allows you to manage a large number ofopen files (file descriptors in UNIX/POSIX, or FDs) in yourapplication. You want the OS to notify you when FDs become active(have data ready to be read or are ready for writing). Ideally youwant a mechanism that is scalable. This means a large number ofinactive FDs cost very little in memory and CPU time to manage”.
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
Date: 1999
Keywords: syscalls, intercept, hide, abuse, symbol table.
Description: Interesting paper on how to abuse the Linux kernel inorder to intercept and modify syscalls, makefiles/directories/processes invisible, become root, hijack ttys,write kernel modules based virus… and solutions for admins toavoid all those abuses.
Notes: For 2.0.x kernels. Gives guidances to port it to 2.2.xkernels.
Name:Linux Virtual File System
Author: Peter J. Braam.
URL: http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/talks/linuxvfs/
Date: 1998
Keywords: slides, VFS, inode, superblock, dentry, dcache.
Description: Set of slides, presumably from a presentation on theLinux VFS layer. Covers version 2.1.x, with dentries and thedcache.
Title:The Venus kernel interface
Author: Peter J. Braam.
URL: http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/html/kernel-venus-protocol.html
Date: 1998
Keywords: coda, filesystem, venus, cache manager.
Description: “This document describes the communication betweenVenus and kernel level file system code needed for the operationof the Coda filesystem. This version document is meant to describethe current interface (version 1.0) as well as improvements weenvisage”.
Title:Design and Implementation of the Second Extended Filesystem
Author: Rémy Card, Theodore Ts’o, Stephen Tweedie.
URL: https://web.mit.edu/tytso/www/linux/ext2intro.html
Date: 1998
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 theFirst Dutch International Symposium on Linux, ISBN 90-367-0385-9.
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
Date: 1997
Keywords: RAID, MD driver.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract: A description of the implementation of the RAID-1,RAID-4 and RAID-5 personalities of the MD device driver in theLinux kernel, providing users with high performance and reliable,secondary-storage capability using software.
Title:Linux Kernel Hackers’ Guide
Author: Michael K. Johnson.
URL: https://www.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html
Date: 1997
Keywords: device drivers, files, VFS, kernel interface, character vsblock devices, hardware interrupts, scsi, DMA, access to user memory,memory allocation, timers.
Description: A guide designed to help you get up to speed on theconcepts that are not intuitevly obvious, and to document the internalstructures of Linux.
Title:Dynamic Kernels: Modularized Device Drivers
Author: Alessandro Rubini.
URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1219
Date: 1996
Keywords: device driver, module, loading/unloading modules,allocating resources.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract: This is the first of a series of four articlesco-authored by Alessandro Rubini and Georg Zezchwitz which presenta practical approach to writing Linux device drivers as kernelloadable modules. This installment presents an introduction to thetopic, preparing the reader to understand next month’sinstallment.
Title:Dynamic Kernels: Discovery
Author: Alessandro Rubini.
URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1220
Date: 1996
Keywords: character driver, init_module, clean_up module,autodetection, mayor number, minor number, file operations,open(), close().
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract: This article, the second of four, introduces part ofthe actual code to create custom module implementing a characterdevice driver. It describes the code for module initialization andcleanup, 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
Date: 1996
Keywords: read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/nonblocking mode, interrupt handler.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract: This article, the third of four on writing characterdevice drivers, introduces concepts of reading, writing, and usingioctl-calls.
Title:Dissecting Interrupts and Browsing DMA
Author: Alessandro Rubini and Georg v. Zezschwitz.
URL: https://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1222
Date: 1996
Keywords: interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract: This is the fourth in a series of articles aboutwriting character device drivers as loadable kernel modules. Thismonth, we further investigate the field of interrupt handling.Though it is conceptually simple, practical limitations andconstraints make this an ‘’interesting’’ part of device driverwriting, and several different facilities have been provided fordifferent situations. We also investigate the complex topic ofDMA.
Title:Device Drivers Concluded
Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz.
URL: https://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1287
Date: 1996
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 articlesseries. This latest one’s introduction reads: “This is the last offive articles about character device drivers. In this finalsection, Georg deals with memory mapping devices, beginning withan overall description of the Linux memory management concepts”.
Title:Network Buffers And Memory Management
Author: Alan Cox.
URL: https://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1312
Date: 1996
Keywords: sk_buffs, network devices, protocol/link layervariables, network devices flags, transmit, receive,configuration, multicast.
Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner.
Abstract: Writing a network device driver for Linux is fundamentallysimple—most of the complexity (other than talking to thehardware) involves managing network packets in memory.
Title:Analysis of the Ext2fs structure
Author: Louis-Dominique Dubeau.
URL: https://teaching.csse.uwa.edu.au/units/CITS2002/fs-ext2/
Date: 1994
Keywords: ext2, filesystem, ext2fs.
Description: Description of ext2’s blocks, directories, inodes,bitmaps, invariants…

Author:	various
URL:	https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelGlossary
Date:	rolling version
Keywords:	glossary, terms, linux-kernel.
Description:	From the introduction: “This glossary is intended asa brief description of some of the acronyms and terms you may hearduring discussion of the Linux kernel”.

Author:	Richard Sailer
URL:	https://archive.org/details/linux_kernel_data_flow_short_paper
Date:	2016
Keywords:	Linux Kernel Networking, TCP, tracing, ftrace
Description:	A seminar paper explaining ftrace and how to use it forunderstanding linux kernel internals,illustrated at tracing the way of a TCP packet through the kernel.
Abstract:	This short paper outlines the usage of ftrace a tracing frameworkas a tool to understand a running Linux system.Having obtained a trace-log a kernel hacker can read and understandsource code more determined and with context.In a detailed example this approach is demonstrated in tracingand the way of data in a TCP Connection through the kernel.Finally this trace-log is used as base for more a exact conceptualexploration and description of the Linux TCP/IP implementation.

Author:	Andi Kleen
URL:	http://halobates.de/on-submitting-kernel-patches.pdf
Date:	2008
Keywords:	patches, review process, types of submissions, basic rules, case studies
Description:	This paper gives several experience values on what types of patchesthere are and how likley they get merged.
Abstract:	[…]. This paper examines some common problems forsubmitting larger changes and some strategies to avoid problems.

Author:	Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
URL:	https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
Date:	2005
Description:	A 600-page book covering the (2.6.10) driverprogramming API and kernel hacking in general. Available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
note:	You can alsopurchase a copy from O’Reilly or elsewhere.

Author:	Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>
URL:	http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html
Date:	2005
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 kernelsound architecture in the 2.6 kernel version.

Author:	David Hinds.
URL:	http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/doc/PCMCIA-PROG.html
Date:	2003
Keywords:	PCMCIA.
Description:	“This document describes how to write kernel devicedrivers for the Linux PCMCIA Card Services interface. It alsodescribes how to write user-mode utilities for communicating withCard Services.

Author:	Ori Pomerantz.
URL:	https://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.html
Date:	2001
Keywords:	modules, GPL book, /proc, ioctls, system calls,interrupt handlers .
Description:	Very nice 92 pages GPL book on the topic of modulesprogramming. Lots of examples.

Author:	Rick Lindsley.
URL:	http://lse.sourceforge.net/lockhier/global-spin-lock
Date:	2001
Keywords:	spinlock.
Description:	This is an attempt to document both the existence andusage of the spinlocks in the Linux 2.4.5 kernel. Comprehensivelist of spinlocks showing when they are used, which functionsaccess them, how each lock is acquired, under what conditions itis held, whether interrupts can occur or not while it is held…

Author:	Kanoj Sarcar.
URL:	http://kos.enix.org/pub/linux-vmm.html
Date:	2001
Keywords:	virtual memory, mm, pgd, vma, page, page flags, pagecache, swap cache, kswapd.
Description:	Telegraphic, short descriptions and definitionsrelating the Linux virtual memory implementation.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/406
Date:	2000
Keywords:	video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,camera driver.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/429
Date:	2000
Keywords:	video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,camera driver, control, query capabilities, capability, facility.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Glenn Herrin.
URL:	http://www.cs.unh.edu/cnrg/gherrin
Date:	2000
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 spaceconfiguration tools’ code. Very good to get a general overview ofthe kernel networking implementation and understand all stepspackets follow from the time they are received at the networkdevice till they are delivered to applications. The studied kernelcode is from 2.2.14 version. Provides code for a working packetdropper example.

Author:	Paul Mackerras.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/261
Date:	1999
Keywords:	Mac, Power Macintosh, porting, drivers, compatibility.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/284
Date:	1999
Keywords:	SCSI, device, driver.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/307
Date:	1999
Keywords:	SCSI, device, driver, advanced.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/330
Date:	1999
Keywords:	mouse, driver, gpm.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/356
Date:	1999
Keywords:	mouse, driver, gpm, races, asynchronous I/O.
Description:	The title still says it all.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	http://www.linux-mag.com/id/381
Date:	1999
Keywords:	video4linux, driver, radio, radio devices.
Description:	The title says it all.

Author:	Richard Gooch.
URL:	https://web.mit.edu/~yandros/doc/io-events.html
Date:	1999
Keywords:	IO, I/O, select(2), poll(2), FDs, aio_read(2), readinessevent queues.
Description:	From the Introduction: “I/O Event handling is abouthow your Operating System allows you to manage a large number ofopen files (file descriptors in UNIX/POSIX, or FDs) in yourapplication. You want the OS to notify you when FDs become active(have data ready to be read or are ready for writing). Ideally youwant a mechanism that is scalable. This means a large number ofinactive FDs cost very little in memory and CPU time to manage”.

Author:	pragmatic/THC.
URL:	http://packetstormsecurity.org/docs/hack/LKM_HACKING.html
Date:	1999
Keywords:	syscalls, intercept, hide, abuse, symbol table.
Description:	Interesting paper on how to abuse the Linux kernel inorder to intercept and modify syscalls, makefiles/directories/processes invisible, become root, hijack ttys,write kernel modules based virus… and solutions for admins toavoid all those abuses.
Notes:	For 2.0.x kernels. Gives guidances to port it to 2.2.xkernels.

Author:	Peter J. Braam.
URL:	http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/talks/linuxvfs/
Date:	1998
Keywords:	slides, VFS, inode, superblock, dentry, dcache.
Description:	Set of slides, presumably from a presentation on theLinux VFS layer. Covers version 2.1.x, with dentries and thedcache.

Author:	Peter J. Braam.
URL:	http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/html/kernel-venus-protocol.html
Date:	1998
Keywords:	coda, filesystem, venus, cache manager.
Description:	“This document describes the communication betweenVenus and kernel level file system code needed for the operationof the Coda filesystem. This version document is meant to describethe current interface (version 1.0) as well as improvements weenvisage”.

Author:	Rémy Card, Theodore Ts’o, Stephen Tweedie.
URL:	https://web.mit.edu/tytso/www/linux/ext2intro.html
Date:	1998
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 theFirst Dutch International Symposium on Linux, ISBN 90-367-0385-9.

Author:	Ingo Molnar, Gadi Oxman and Miguel de Icaza.
URL:	http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=2391
Date:	1997
Keywords:	RAID, MD driver.
Description:	Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract:	A description of the implementation of the RAID-1,RAID-4 and RAID-5 personalities of the MD device driver in theLinux kernel, providing users with high performance and reliable,secondary-storage capability using software.

Author:	Michael K. Johnson.
URL:	https://www.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html
Date:	1997
Keywords:	device drivers, files, VFS, kernel interface, character vsblock devices, hardware interrupts, scsi, DMA, access to user memory,memory allocation, timers.
Description:	A guide designed to help you get up to speed on theconcepts that are not intuitevly obvious, and to document the internalstructures of Linux.

Author:	Alessandro Rubini.
URL:	http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1219
Date:	1996
Keywords:	device driver, module, loading/unloading modules,allocating resources.
Description:	Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract:	This is the first of a series of four articlesco-authored by Alessandro Rubini and Georg Zezchwitz which presenta practical approach to writing Linux device drivers as kernelloadable modules. This installment presents an introduction to thetopic, preparing the reader to understand next month’sinstallment.

Author:	Alessandro Rubini.
URL:	http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1220
Date:	1996
Keywords:	character driver, init_module, clean_up module,autodetection, mayor number, minor number, file operations,open(), close().
Description:	Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract:	This article, the second of four, introduces part ofthe actual code to create custom module implementing a characterdevice driver. It describes the code for module initialization andcleanup, as well as the open() and close() system calls.

Author:	Georg v. Zezschwitz and Alessandro Rubini.
URL:	http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1221
Date:	1996
Keywords:	read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/nonblocking mode, interrupt handler.
Description:	Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract:	This article, the third of four on writing characterdevice drivers, introduces concepts of reading, writing, and usingioctl-calls.

Author:	Alessandro Rubini and Georg v. Zezschwitz.
URL:	https://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1222
Date:	1996
Keywords:	interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues.
Description:	Linux Journal Kernel Korner article.
Abstract:	This is the fourth in a series of articles aboutwriting character device drivers as loadable kernel modules. Thismonth, we further investigate the field of interrupt handling.Though it is conceptually simple, practical limitations andconstraints make this an ‘’interesting’’ part of device driverwriting, and several different facilities have been provided fordifferent situations. We also investigate the complex topic ofDMA.

Author:	Georg v. Zezschwitz.
URL:	https://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1287
Date:	1996
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 articlesseries. This latest one’s introduction reads: “This is the last offive articles about character device drivers. In this finalsection, Georg deals with memory mapping devices, beginning withan overall description of the Linux memory management concepts”.

Author:	Alan Cox.
URL:	https://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1312
Date:	1996
Keywords:	sk_buffs, network devices, protocol/link layervariables, network devices flags, transmit, receive,configuration, multicast.
Description:	Linux Journal Kernel Korner.
Abstract:	Writing a network device driver for Linux is fundamentallysimple—most of the complexity (other than talking to thehardware) involves managing network packets in memory.

Author:	Louis-Dominique Dubeau.
URL:	https://teaching.csse.uwa.edu.au/units/CITS2002/fs-ext2/
Date:	1994
Keywords:	ext2, filesystem, ext2fs.
Description:	Description of ext2’s blocks, directories, inodes,bitmaps, invariants…

Published books¶

Title:Linux Treiber entwickeln
Author: Jürgen Quade, Eva-Katharina Kunst
Publisher: dpunkt.verlag
Date: Oct 2015 (4th edition)
Pages: 688
ISBN: 978-3-86490-288-8
Note: German. The third edition from 2011 ismuch cheaper and still quite up-to-date.
Title:Linux Kernel Networking: Implementation and Theory
Author: Rami Rosen
Publisher: Apress
Date: December 22, 2013
Pages: 648
ISBN: 978-1430261964
Title:Embedded Linux Primer: A practical Real-World Approach, 2nd Edition
Author: Christopher Hallinan
Publisher: Pearson
Date: November, 2010
Pages: 656
ISBN: 978-0137017836
Title:Linux Kernel Development, 3rd Edition
Author: Robert Love
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Date: July, 2010
Pages: 440
ISBN: 978-0672329463
Title:Essential Linux Device Drivers
Author: Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran
Published: Prentice Hall
Date: April, 2008
Pages: 744
ISBN: 978-0132396554

Author:	Jürgen Quade, Eva-Katharina Kunst
Publisher:	dpunkt.verlag
Date:	Oct 2015 (4th edition)
Pages:	688
ISBN:	978-3-86490-288-8
Note:	German. The third edition from 2011 ismuch cheaper and still quite up-to-date.

Author:	Rami Rosen
Publisher:	Apress
Date:	December 22, 2013
Pages:	648
ISBN:	978-1430261964

Author:	Christopher Hallinan
Publisher:	Pearson
Date:	November, 2010
Pages:	656
ISBN:	978-0137017836

Author:	Robert Love
Publisher:	Addison-Wesley
Date:	July, 2010
Pages:	440
ISBN:	978-0672329463

Author:	Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran
Published:	Prentice Hall
Date:	April, 2008
Pages:	744
ISBN:	978-0132396554

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 inhttp://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/PDF format, URL:https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
Title:Linux Kernel Internals
Author: Michael Beck
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Date: 1997
ISBN: 0-201-33143-8 (second edition)
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: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: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: 552
ISBN: I-56592-074-0
Notes: Though not being directly about Linux, Linux aims to bePOSIX. 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:The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX Operating System
Author: Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael JKarels, John S. Quarterman
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Date: 1989 (reprinted with corrections on October, 1990)
ISBN: 0-201-06196-1
Title:The Design of the UNIX Operating System
Author: Maurice J. Bach
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Date: 1986
Pages: 471
ISBN: 0-13-201757-1

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 inhttp://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/PDF format, URL:https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/

Author:	Michael Beck
Publisher:	Addison-Wesley
Date:	1997
ISBN:	0-201-33143-8 (second edition)

Author:	Remy Card, Eric Dumas, Franck Mevel
Publisher:	Eyrolles
Date:	1997
Pages:	520
ISBN:	2-212-08932-5
Notes:	French

Author:	Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels,John S. Quarterman
Publisher:	Addison-Wesley
Date:	1996
ISBN:	0-201-54979-4

Author:	Uresh Vahalia
Publisher:	Prentice Hall
Date:	1996
Pages:	600
ISBN:	0-13-101908-2

Author:	Bill O. Gallmeister
Publisher:	O’Reilly & Associates, Inc
Date:	1995
Pages:	552
ISBN:	I-56592-074-0
Notes:	Though not being directly about Linux, Linux aims to bePOSIX. Good reference.

Author:	Curt Schimmel
Publisher:	Addison Wesley
Date:	June, 1994
Pages:	432
ISBN:	0-201-63338-8

Author:	Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael JKarels, John S. Quarterman
Publisher:	Addison-Wesley
Date:	1989 (reprinted with corrections on October, 1990)
ISBN:	0-201-06196-1

Author:	Maurice J. Bach
Publisher:	Prentice Hall
Date:	1986
Pages:	471
ISBN:	0-13-201757-1

Miscellaneous¶

Name:Cross-Referencing Linux
URL: https://elixir.bootlin.com/
Keywords: Browsing source code.
Description: Another web-based Linux kernel source code browser.Lots of cross references to variables and functions. You can seewhere they are defined and where they are used.
Name:Linux Weekly News
URL: https://lwn.net
Keywords: latest kernel news.
Description: The title says it all. There’s a fixed kernel sectionsummarizing developers’ work, bug fixes, new features and versionsproduced during the week. Published every Thursday.
Name:The home page of Linux-MM
Author: The Linux-MM team.
URL: https://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 missit if you are interested in memory management development!
Name:Kernel Newbies IRC Channel and Website
URL: https://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 arelearning about the kernel, working on kernel projects orprofessional kernel hackers that want to help less seasoned kernelpeople.#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://groups.google.com/group/mlist.linux.kernel
Keywords: linux-kernel, archives, search.
Description: Some of the linux-kernel mailing list archivers. Ifyou have a better/another one, please let me know.

URL:	https://elixir.bootlin.com/
Keywords:	Browsing source code.
Description:	Another web-based Linux kernel source code browser.Lots of cross references to variables and functions. You can seewhere they are defined and where they are used.

URL:	https://lwn.net
Keywords:	latest kernel news.
Description:	The title says it all. There’s a fixed kernel sectionsummarizing developers’ work, bug fixes, new features and versionsproduced during the week. Published every Thursday.

Author:	The Linux-MM team.
URL:	https://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 missit if you are interested in memory management development!

Document last updated on Tue 2016-Sep-20

This document is based on:: https://www.dit.upm.es/~jmseyas/linux/kernel/hackers-docs.html

URL:	https://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 arelearning about the kernel, working on kernel projects orprofessional kernel hackers that want to help less seasoned kernelpeople.#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…

URL:	http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html
URL:	http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/index.html
URL:	http://groups.google.com/group/mlist.linux.kernel
Keywords:	linux-kernel, archives, search.
Description:	Some of the linux-kernel mailing list archivers. Ifyou have a better/another one, please let me know.

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Index of Documentation for People Interested in Writing and/or Understanding the Linux Kernel¶

Docs at the Linux Kernel tree¶

On-line docs¶

Published books¶

Miscellaneous¶