blob: ceb1ff735469995b560f0cdf07227407be682235 [file] [log] [blame]
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001
2This is a brief list of all the files in ./linux/Documentation and what
3they contain. If you add a documentation file, please list it here in
4alphabetical order as well, or risk being hunted down like a rabid dog.
5Please try and keep the descriptions small enough to fit on one line.
6 Thanks -- Paul G.
7
8Following translations are available on the WWW:
9
Masanari Iida010f4562012-02-14 23:19:07 +090010 - Japanese, maintained by the JF Project (jf@listserv.linux.or.jp), at
11 http://linuxjf.sourceforge.jp/
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070012
1300-INDEX
14 - this file.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070015ABI/
16 - info on kernel <-> userspace ABI and relative interface stability.
Len Brownb4d27302007-11-14 19:53:21 -050017
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070018BUG-HUNTING
19 - brute force method of doing binary search of patches to find bug.
20Changes
21 - list of changes that break older software packages.
22CodingStyle
23 - how the boss likes the C code in the kernel to look.
Jonathan Corbet75b02142008-09-30 15:15:56 -060024development-process/
25 - An extended tutorial on how to work with the kernel development
26 process.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070027DMA-API.txt
28 - DMA API, pci_ API & extensions for non-consistent memory machines.
Rob Landley5ef43562007-10-16 23:31:25 -070029DMA-ISA-LPC.txt
30 - How to do DMA with ISA (and LPC) devices.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070031DocBook/
32 - directory with DocBook templates etc. for kernel documentation.
Greg Kroah-Hartmand36cc9d2005-11-18 09:31:11 -080033HOWTO
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070034 - the process and procedures of how to do Linux kernel development.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070035IPMI.txt
36 - info on Linux Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Driver.
37IRQ-affinity.txt
38 - how to select which CPU(s) handle which interrupt events on SMP.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070039IRQ.txt
40 - description of what an IRQ is.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070041ManagementStyle
42 - how to (attempt to) manage kernel hackers.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070043RCU/
44 - directory with info on RCU (read-copy update).
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070045SAK.txt
46 - info on Secure Attention Keys.
Rob Landley5ef43562007-10-16 23:31:25 -070047SM501.txt
48 - Silicon Motion SM501 multimedia companion chip
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070049SecurityBugs
50 - procedure for reporting security bugs found in the kernel.
51SubmitChecklist
52 - Linux kernel patch submission checklist.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070053SubmittingDrivers
54 - procedure to get a new driver source included into the kernel tree.
55SubmittingPatches
56 - procedure to get a source patch included into the kernel tree.
57VGA-softcursor.txt
58 - how to change your VGA cursor from a blinking underscore.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070059accounting/
60 - documentation on accounting and taskstats.
Len Brownb4d27302007-11-14 19:53:21 -050061acpi/
62 - info on ACPI-specific hooks in the kernel.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070063aoe/
64 - description of AoE (ATA over Ethernet) along with config examples.
Jesper Juhl754c7972005-09-09 13:10:12 -070065applying-patches.txt
66 - description of various trees and how to apply their patches.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070067arm/
68 - directory with info about Linux on the ARM architecture.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070069atomic_ops.txt
70 - semantics and behavior of atomic and bitmask operations.
71auxdisplay/
72 - misc. LCD driver documentation (cfag12864b, ks0108).
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070073basic_profiling.txt
74 - basic instructions for those who wants to profile Linux kernel.
75binfmt_misc.txt
76 - info on the kernel support for extra binary formats.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070077blackfin/
78 - directory with documentation for the Blackfin arch.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070079block/
80 - info on the Block I/O (BIO) layer.
Randy Dunlap31c00fc2008-11-13 21:33:24 +000081blockdev/
82 - info on block devices & drivers
Bing Zhao196be0c2009-06-02 14:29:38 -070083btmrvl.txt
84 - info on Marvell Bluetooth driver usage.
Randy Dunlap9fe41e42010-07-19 22:20:27 +000085bus-virt-phys-mapping.txt
86 - how to access I/O mapped memory from within device drivers.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070087cachetlb.txt
88 - describes the cache/TLB flushing interfaces Linux uses.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070089cdrom/
90 - directory with information on the CD-ROM drivers that Linux has.
Thadeu Lima de Souza Cascardo21acb9c2009-02-04 10:12:08 +010091cgroups/
92 - cgroups features, including cpusets and memory controller.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070093connector/
94 - docs on the netlink based userspace<->kernel space communication mod.
95console/
96 - documentation on Linux console drivers.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070097cpu-freq/
98 - info on CPU frequency and voltage scaling.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -070099cpu-hotplug.txt
100 - document describing CPU hotplug support in the Linux kernel.
101cpu-load.txt
102 - document describing how CPU load statistics are collected.
Venkatesh Pallipadife8e2882008-02-14 00:16:13 -0500103cpuidle/
104 - info on CPU_IDLE, CPU idle state management subsystem.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700105cputopology.txt
106 - documentation on how CPU topology info is exported via sysfs.
Bob Pearsonfbedceb2012-03-23 15:02:22 -0700107crc32.txt
108 - brief tutorial on CRC computation
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700109cris/
110 - directory with info about Linux on CRIS architecture.
111crypto/
112 - directory with info on the Crypto API.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700113dcdbas.txt
114 - information on the Dell Systems Management Base Driver.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700115debugging-modules.txt
116 - some notes on debugging modules after Linux 2.6.3.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700117dell_rbu.txt
118 - document demonstrating the use of the Dell Remote BIOS Update driver.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700119device-mapper/
120 - directory with info on Device Mapper.
121devices.txt
122 - plain ASCII listing of all the nodes in /dev/ with major minor #'s.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700123dontdiff
124 - file containing a list of files that should never be diff'ed.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700125driver-model/
126 - directory with info about Linux driver model.
127dvb/
128 - info on Linux Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) subsystem.
129early-userspace/
130 - info about initramfs, klibc, and userspace early during boot.
Adrian Bunk4a6b88c2008-02-07 00:13:33 -0800131edac.txt
132 - information on EDAC - Error Detection And Correction
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700133eisa.txt
134 - info on EISA bus support.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700135fault-injection/
136 - dir with docs about the fault injection capabilities infrastructure.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700137fb/
138 - directory with info on the frame buffer graphics abstraction layer.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700139feature-removal-schedule.txt
140 - list of files and features that are going to be removed.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700141filesystems/
J. Bruce Fields4f3b19c2007-09-24 18:52:09 -0400142 - info on the vfs and the various filesystems that Linux supports.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700143firmware_class/
144 - request_firmware() hotplug interface info.
Adrian Bunk0868ff72008-02-03 15:54:28 +0200145frv/
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700146 - Fujitsu FR-V Linux documentation.
147gpio.txt
148 - overview of GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) access conventions.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700149highuid.txt
150 - notes on the change from 16 bit to 32 bit user/group IDs.
Thomas Gleixner3833eec2008-03-05 18:28:15 +0100151timers/
152 - info on the timer related topics
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700153hw_random.txt
154 - info on Linux support for random number generator in i8xx chipsets.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700155hwmon/
156 - directory with docs on various hardware monitoring drivers.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700157i2c/
158 - directory with info about the I2C bus/protocol (2 wire, kHz speed).
159i2o/
160 - directory with info about the Linux I2O subsystem.
Uwe Hermann71cced62008-10-20 09:32:21 -0700161x86/i386/
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700162 - directory with info about Linux on Intel 32 bit architecture.
163ia64/
164 - directory with info about Linux on Intel 64 bit architecture.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700165infiniband/
166 - directory with documents concerning Linux InfiniBand support.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700167initrd.txt
168 - how to use the RAM disk as an initial/temporary root filesystem.
169input/
170 - info on Linux input device support.
Randy Dunlap9fe41e42010-07-19 22:20:27 +0000171io-mapping.txt
172 - description of io_mapping functions in linux/io-mapping.h
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700173io_ordering.txt
174 - info on ordering I/O writes to memory-mapped addresses.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700175ioctl/
176 - directory with documents describing various IOCTL calls.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700177iostats.txt
178 - info on I/O statistics Linux kernel provides.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700179irqflags-tracing.txt
180 - how to use the irq-flags tracing feature.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700181isapnp.txt
182 - info on Linux ISA Plug & Play support.
183isdn/
184 - directory with info on the Linux ISDN support, and supported cards.
185java.txt
186 - info on the in-kernel binary support for Java(tm).
187kbuild/
188 - directory with info about the kernel build process.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700189kdump/
190 - directory with mini HowTo on getting the crash dump code to work.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700191kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
192 - mini HowTo on generation and location of kernel documentation files.
193kernel-docs.txt
194 - listing of various WWW + books that document kernel internals.
195kernel-parameters.txt
196 - summary listing of command line / boot prompt args for the kernel.
197kobject.txt
198 - info of the kobject infrastructure of the Linux kernel.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700199kprobes.txt
200 - documents the kernel probes debugging feature.
201kref.txt
202 - docs on adding reference counters (krefs) to kernel objects.
Carlos Corbachod6ff3652008-02-09 01:32:03 +0000203laptops/
204 - directory with laptop related info and laptop driver documentation.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700205ldm.txt
206 - a brief description of LDM (Windows Dynamic Disks).
Antonio Ospite9a684e12011-04-04 15:08:46 -0700207leds/
208 - directory with info about LED handling under Linux.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700209local_ops.txt
210 - semantics and behavior of local atomic operations.
211lockdep-design.txt
212 - documentation on the runtime locking correctness validator.
Jean Delvarefd058732012-10-21 12:05:51 +0200213lockup-watchdogs.txt
214 - info on soft and hard lockup detectors (aka nmi_watchdog).
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700215logo.gif
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700216 - full colour GIF image of Linux logo (penguin - Tux).
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700217logo.txt
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700218 - info on creator of above logo & site to get additional images from.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700219m68k/
220 - directory with info about Linux on Motorola 68k architecture.
221magic-number.txt
222 - list of magic numbers used to mark/protect kernel data structures.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700223md.txt
224 - info on boot arguments for the multiple devices driver.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700225memory-barriers.txt
226 - info on Linux kernel memory barriers.
Rob Landley5ef43562007-10-16 23:31:25 -0700227memory-hotplug.txt
228 - Hotpluggable memory support, how to use and current status.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700229memory.txt
230 - info on typical Linux memory problems.
231mips/
232 - directory with info about Linux on MIPS architecture.
Adrian Hunterdfe86cb2010-08-11 14:17:46 -0700233mmc/
234 - directory with info about the MMC subsystem
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700235mono.txt
236 - how to execute Mono-based .NET binaries with the help of BINFMT_MISC.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700237mutex-design.txt
238 - info on the generic mutex subsystem.
Pavel Emelyanov2868f892007-11-28 16:21:39 -0800239namespaces/
240 - directory with various information about namespaces
Paul Moore8802f612006-08-03 16:45:49 -0700241netlabel/
242 - directory with information on the NetLabel subsystem.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700243networking/
244 - directory with info on various aspects of networking with Linux.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700245nommu-mmap.txt
246 - documentation about no-mmu memory mapping support.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700247numastat.txt
248 - info on how to read Numa policy hit/miss statistics in sysfs.
249oops-tracing.txt
250 - how to decode those nasty internal kernel error dump messages.
Jonathan Corbet4047f8b2010-05-12 14:23:48 -0600251padata.txt
252 - An introduction to the "padata" parallel execution API
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700253parisc/
254 - directory with info on using Linux on PA-RISC architecture.
255parport.txt
256 - how to use the parallel-port driver.
257parport-lowlevel.txt
258 - description and usage of the low level parallel port functions.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700259pcmcia/
260 - info on the Linux PCMCIA driver.
261pi-futex.txt
262 - documentation on lightweight PI-futexes.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700263pnp.txt
264 - Linux Plug and Play documentation.
265power/
266 - directory with info on Linux PCI power management.
267powerpc/
268 - directory with info on using Linux with the PowerPC.
269preempt-locking.txt
270 - info on locking under a preemptive kernel.
Randy Dunlapb67ad182008-11-12 13:26:55 -0800271printk-formats.txt
272 - how to get printk format specifiers right
Sergiu Iordache4126dac2011-08-13 12:34:56 -0700273ramoops.txt
274 - documentation of the ramoops oops/panic logging module.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700275rbtree.txt
276 - info on what red-black trees are and what they are for.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700277robust-futex-ABI.txt
278 - documentation of the robust futex ABI.
279robust-futexes.txt
280 - a description of what robust futexes are.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700281rt-mutex-design.txt
282 - description of the RealTime mutex implementation design.
283rt-mutex.txt
284 - desc. of RT-mutex subsystem with PI (Priority Inheritance) support.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700285rtc.txt
286 - notes on how to use the Real Time Clock (aka CMOS clock) driver.
287s390/
288 - directory with info on using Linux on the IBM S390.
J. Bruce Fields9b8eae72008-02-07 00:13:37 -0800289scheduler/
290 - directory with info on the scheduler.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700291scsi/
292 - directory with info on Linux scsi support.
Randy Dunlapd410fa42011-05-19 15:59:38 -0700293security/
294 - directory that contains security-related info
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700295serial/
296 - directory with info on the low level serial API.
297serial-console.txt
298 - how to set up Linux with a serial line console as the default.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700299sgi-ioc4.txt
300 - description of the SGI IOC4 PCI (multi function) device.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700301sgi-visws.txt
302 - short blurb on the SGI Visual Workstations.
303sh/
304 - directory with info on porting Linux to a new architecture.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700305sound/
306 - directory with info on sound card support.
307sparc/
308 - directory with info on using Linux on Sparc architecture.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700309sparse.txt
310 - info on how to obtain and use the sparse tool for typechecking.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700311spi/
312 - overview of Linux kernel Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) support.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700313spinlocks.txt
314 - info on using spinlocks to provide exclusive access in kernel.
Greg Kroah-Hartman8907e942005-11-18 09:31:15 -0800315stable_api_nonsense.txt
316 - info on why the kernel does not have a stable in-kernel api or abi.
317stable_kernel_rules.txt
318 - rules and procedures for the -stable kernel releases.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700319svga.txt
320 - short guide on selecting video modes at boot via VGA BIOS.
Rob Landley5ef43562007-10-16 23:31:25 -0700321sysfs-rules.txt
322 - How not to use sysfs.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700323sysctl/
324 - directory with info on the /proc/sys/* files.
325sysrq.txt
326 - info on the magic SysRq key.
327telephony/
328 - directory with info on telephony (e.g. voice over IP) support.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700329unicode.txt
330 - info on the Unicode character/font mapping used in Linux.
331unshare.txt
332 - description of the Linux unshare system call.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700333usb/
334 - directory with info regarding the Universal Serial Bus.
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700335video-output.txt
336 - sysfs class driver interface to enable/disable a video output device.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700337video4linux/
338 - directory with info regarding video/TV/radio cards and linux.
339vm/
340 - directory with info on the Linux vm code.
Rob Landley5ef43562007-10-16 23:31:25 -0700341volatile-considered-harmful.txt
342 - Why the "volatile" type class should not be used
Jesper Juhlf6b07d32007-07-15 23:41:41 -0700343w1/
344 - directory with documents regarding the 1-wire (w1) subsystem.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700345watchdog/
346 - how to auto-reboot Linux if it has "fallen and can't get up". ;-)
Uwe Hermann71cced62008-10-20 09:32:21 -0700347x86/x86_64/
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700348 - directory with info on Linux support for AMD x86-64 (Hammer) machines.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700349zorro.txt
350 - info on writing drivers for Zorro bus devices found on Amigas.