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Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001<?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
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070052 <sect1><title>Delaying, scheduling, and timer routines</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -070053!Iinclude/linux/sched.h
54!Ekernel/sched.c
55!Ekernel/timer.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070056 </sect1>
Thomas Gleixnerdf784882006-01-09 20:52:33 -080057 <sect1><title>High-resolution timers</title>
58!Iinclude/linux/ktime.h
59!Iinclude/linux/hrtimer.h
60!Ekernel/hrtimer.c
61 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -070062 <sect1><title>Internal Functions</title>
63!Ikernel/exit.c
64!Ikernel/signal.c
Randy Dunlap9e37bd32006-06-25 05:49:19 -070065!Iinclude/linux/kthread.h
66!Ekernel/kthread.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -070067 </sect1>
68
69 <sect1><title>Kernel objects manipulation</title>
70<!--
71X!Iinclude/linux/kobject.h
72-->
73!Elib/kobject.c
74 </sect1>
75
76 <sect1><title>Kernel utility functions</title>
77!Iinclude/linux/kernel.h
Martin Waitzddad86c2005-11-13 16:08:14 -080078!Ekernel/printk.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -070079!Ekernel/panic.c
80!Ekernel/sys.c
81!Ekernel/rcupdate.c
82 </sect1>
83
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070084 </chapter>
85
86 <chapter id="adt">
87 <title>Data Types</title>
88 <sect1><title>Doubly Linked Lists</title>
89!Iinclude/linux/list.h
90 </sect1>
91 </chapter>
92
93 <chapter id="libc">
94 <title>Basic C Library Functions</title>
95
96 <para>
97 When writing drivers, you cannot in general use routines which are
98 from the C Library. Some of the functions have been found generally
99 useful and they are listed below. The behaviour of these functions
100 may vary slightly from those defined by ANSI, and these deviations
101 are noted in the text.
102 </para>
103
104 <sect1><title>String Conversions</title>
105!Ilib/vsprintf.c
106!Elib/vsprintf.c
107 </sect1>
108 <sect1><title>String Manipulation</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700109<!-- All functions are exported at now
110X!Ilib/string.c
111 -->
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700112!Elib/string.c
113 </sect1>
114 <sect1><title>Bit Operations</title>
115!Iinclude/asm-i386/bitops.h
116 </sect1>
Randy Dunlap28e83ba2006-06-25 05:48:58 -0700117 </chapter>
118
119 <chapter id="kernel-lib">
120 <title>Basic Kernel Library Functions</title>
121
122 <para>
123 The Linux kernel provides more basic utility functions.
124 </para>
125
Randy Dunlap6e1907ff2006-06-25 05:48:57 -0700126 <sect1><title>Bitmap Operations</title>
127!Elib/bitmap.c
128!Ilib/bitmap.c
129 </sect1>
Randy Dunlap28e83ba2006-06-25 05:48:58 -0700130
131 <sect1><title>Command-line Parsing</title>
132!Elib/cmdline.c
133 </sect1>
Randy Dunlap2f721002006-06-25 05:48:59 -0700134
135 <sect1><title>CRC Functions</title>
136!Elib/crc16.c
137!Elib/crc32.c
138!Elib/crc-ccitt.c
139 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700140 </chapter>
141
142 <chapter id="mm">
143 <title>Memory Management in Linux</title>
144 <sect1><title>The Slab Cache</title>
Paul Drynoff800590f2006-06-23 02:03:48 -0700145!Iinclude/linux/slab.h
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700146!Emm/slab.c
147 </sect1>
148 <sect1><title>User Space Memory Access</title>
149!Iinclude/asm-i386/uaccess.h
Randy Dunlap8f2709b2005-11-07 01:01:05 -0800150!Earch/i386/lib/usercopy.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700151 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700152 <sect1><title>More Memory Management Functions</title>
153!Iinclude/linux/rmap.h
154!Emm/readahead.c
155!Emm/filemap.c
156!Emm/memory.c
157!Emm/vmalloc.c
158!Emm/mempool.c
159!Emm/page-writeback.c
160!Emm/truncate.c
161 </sect1>
162 </chapter>
163
164
165 <chapter id="ipc">
166 <title>Kernel IPC facilities</title>
167
168 <sect1><title>IPC utilities</title>
169!Iipc/util.c
170 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700171 </chapter>
172
173 <chapter id="kfifo">
174 <title>FIFO Buffer</title>
175 <sect1><title>kfifo interface</title>
176!Iinclude/linux/kfifo.h
177!Ekernel/kfifo.c
178 </sect1>
179 </chapter>
180
181 <chapter id="proc">
182 <title>The proc filesystem</title>
183
184 <sect1><title>sysctl interface</title>
185!Ekernel/sysctl.c
186 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700187
188 <sect1><title>proc filesystem interface</title>
189!Ifs/proc/base.c
190 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700191 </chapter>
192
193 <chapter id="debugfs">
194 <title>The debugfs filesystem</title>
195
196 <sect1><title>debugfs interface</title>
197!Efs/debugfs/inode.c
198!Efs/debugfs/file.c
199 </sect1>
200 </chapter>
201
202 <chapter id="vfs">
203 <title>The Linux VFS</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700204 <sect1><title>The Filesystem types</title>
205!Iinclude/linux/fs.h
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700206 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700207 <sect1><title>The Directory Cache</title>
208!Efs/dcache.c
209!Iinclude/linux/dcache.h
210 </sect1>
211 <sect1><title>Inode Handling</title>
212!Efs/inode.c
213!Efs/bad_inode.c
214 </sect1>
215 <sect1><title>Registration and Superblocks</title>
216!Efs/super.c
217 </sect1>
218 <sect1><title>File Locks</title>
219!Efs/locks.c
220!Ifs/locks.c
221 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700222 <sect1><title>Other Functions</title>
223!Efs/mpage.c
224!Efs/namei.c
225!Efs/buffer.c
226!Efs/bio.c
227!Efs/seq_file.c
228!Efs/filesystems.c
229!Efs/fs-writeback.c
230!Efs/block_dev.c
231 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700232 </chapter>
233
234 <chapter id="netcore">
235 <title>Linux Networking</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700236 <sect1><title>Networking Base Types</title>
237!Iinclude/linux/net.h
238 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700239 <sect1><title>Socket Buffer Functions</title>
240!Iinclude/linux/skbuff.h
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700241!Iinclude/net/sock.h
242!Enet/socket.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700243!Enet/core/skbuff.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700244!Enet/core/sock.c
245!Enet/core/datagram.c
246!Enet/core/stream.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700247 </sect1>
248 <sect1><title>Socket Filter</title>
249!Enet/core/filter.c
250 </sect1>
251 <sect1><title>Generic Network Statistics</title>
252!Iinclude/linux/gen_stats.h
253!Enet/core/gen_stats.c
254!Enet/core/gen_estimator.c
255 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700256 <sect1><title>SUN RPC subsystem</title>
257<!-- The !D functionality is not perfect, garbage has to be protected by comments
258!Dnet/sunrpc/sunrpc_syms.c
259-->
260!Enet/sunrpc/xdr.c
261!Enet/sunrpc/svcsock.c
262!Enet/sunrpc/sched.c
263 </sect1>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700264 </chapter>
265
266 <chapter id="netdev">
267 <title>Network device support</title>
268 <sect1><title>Driver Support</title>
269!Enet/core/dev.c
Stephen Hemmingerc2da8ac2005-11-01 17:05:09 -0800270!Enet/ethernet/eth.c
Randy Dunlap461ddf32005-11-20 21:25:15 -0800271!Iinclude/linux/etherdevice.h
272<!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source
273X!Enet/core/wireless.c
274-->
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700275 </sect1>
276 <sect1><title>Synchronous PPP</title>
277!Edrivers/net/wan/syncppp.c
278 </sect1>
279 </chapter>
280
281 <chapter id="modload">
282 <title>Module Support</title>
283 <sect1><title>Module Loading</title>
284!Ekernel/kmod.c
285 </sect1>
286 <sect1><title>Inter Module support</title>
287 <para>
288 Refer to the file kernel/module.c for more information.
289 </para>
290<!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source
291X!Ekernel/module.c
292-->
293 </sect1>
294 </chapter>
295
296 <chapter id="hardware">
297 <title>Hardware Interfaces</title>
298 <sect1><title>Interrupt Handling</title>
Randy Dunlap8f2709b2005-11-07 01:01:05 -0800299!Ekernel/irq/manage.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700300 </sect1>
301
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700302 <sect1><title>Resources Management</title>
Randy Dunlap2b549602006-07-30 03:03:40 -0700303!Ikernel/resource.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700304 </sect1>
305
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700306 <sect1><title>MTRR Handling</title>
307!Earch/i386/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c
308 </sect1>
Randy Dunlapb0ef3712006-06-25 05:49:18 -0700309
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700310 <sect1><title>PCI Support Library</title>
311!Edrivers/pci/pci.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700312!Edrivers/pci/pci-driver.c
313!Edrivers/pci/remove.c
314!Edrivers/pci/pci-acpi.c
Randy Dunlapb0ef3712006-06-25 05:49:18 -0700315<!-- kerneldoc does not understand __devinit
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700316X!Edrivers/pci/search.c
317 -->
318!Edrivers/pci/msi.c
319!Edrivers/pci/bus.c
Randy Dunlapf05aab82005-10-23 11:58:19 -0700320<!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source
321X!Edrivers/pci/hotplug.c
322-->
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700323!Edrivers/pci/probe.c
324!Edrivers/pci/rom.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700325 </sect1>
326 <sect1><title>PCI Hotplug Support Library</title>
327!Edrivers/pci/hotplug/pci_hotplug_core.c
328 </sect1>
329 <sect1><title>MCA Architecture</title>
330 <sect2><title>MCA Device Functions</title>
331 <para>
332 Refer to the file arch/i386/kernel/mca.c for more information.
333 </para>
334<!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source
335X!Earch/i386/kernel/mca.c
336-->
337 </sect2>
338 <sect2><title>MCA Bus DMA</title>
339!Iinclude/asm-i386/mca_dma.h
340 </sect2>
341 </sect1>
342 </chapter>
343
Randy Dunlapb0ef3712006-06-25 05:49:18 -0700344 <chapter id="firmware">
345 <title>Firmware Interfaces</title>
346 <sect1><title>DMI Interfaces</title>
347!Edrivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c
348 </sect1>
349 </chapter>
350
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700351 <chapter id="sysfs">
352 <title>The Filesystem for Exporting Kernel Objects</title>
353!Efs/sysfs/file.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700354!Efs/sysfs/symlink.c
355!Efs/sysfs/bin.c
356 </chapter>
357
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700358 <chapter id="security">
359 <title>Security Framework</title>
360!Esecurity/security.c
361 </chapter>
362
Randy Dunlap862f5f02006-06-23 02:05:52 -0700363 <chapter id="audit">
364 <title>Audit Interfaces</title>
365!Ekernel/audit.c
366!Ikernel/auditsc.c
367!Ikernel/auditfilter.c
368 </chapter>
369
370 <chapter id="accounting">
371 <title>Accounting Framework</title>
372!Ikernel/acct.c
373 </chapter>
374
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700375 <chapter id="pmfuncs">
376 <title>Power Management</title>
377!Ekernel/power/pm.c
378 </chapter>
379
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700380 <chapter id="devdrivers">
381 <title>Device drivers infrastructure</title>
382 <sect1><title>Device Drivers Base</title>
383<!--
384X!Iinclude/linux/device.h
385-->
386!Edrivers/base/driver.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700387!Edrivers/base/core.c
388!Edrivers/base/firmware_class.c
389!Edrivers/base/transport_class.c
390!Edrivers/base/dmapool.c
391<!-- Cannot be included, because
392 attribute_container_add_class_device_adapter
393 and attribute_container_classdev_to_container
394 exceed allowed 44 characters maximum
395X!Edrivers/base/attribute_container.c
396-->
397!Edrivers/base/sys.c
398<!--
399X!Edrivers/base/interface.c
400-->
401!Edrivers/base/platform.c
402!Edrivers/base/bus.c
403 </sect1>
404 <sect1><title>Device Drivers Power Management</title>
405!Edrivers/base/power/main.c
406!Edrivers/base/power/resume.c
407!Edrivers/base/power/suspend.c
408 </sect1>
409 <sect1><title>Device Drivers ACPI Support</title>
410<!-- Internal functions only
411X!Edrivers/acpi/sleep/main.c
412X!Edrivers/acpi/sleep/wakeup.c
413X!Edrivers/acpi/motherboard.c
414X!Edrivers/acpi/bus.c
415-->
416!Edrivers/acpi/scan.c
Randy Dunlapd758a8f2006-01-06 01:31:00 -0500417!Idrivers/acpi/scan.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700418<!-- No correct structured comments
419X!Edrivers/acpi/pci_bind.c
420-->
421 </sect1>
422 <sect1><title>Device drivers PnP support</title>
423!Edrivers/pnp/core.c
424<!-- No correct structured comments
425X!Edrivers/pnp/system.c
426 -->
427!Edrivers/pnp/card.c
428!Edrivers/pnp/driver.c
429!Edrivers/pnp/manager.c
430!Edrivers/pnp/support.c
431 </sect1>
432 </chapter>
433
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700434 <chapter id="blkdev">
435 <title>Block Devices</title>
Ben Collins1d193f42005-11-15 00:09:21 -0800436!Eblock/ll_rw_blk.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700437 </chapter>
438
439 <chapter id="miscdev">
440 <title>Miscellaneous Devices</title>
441!Edrivers/char/misc.c
442 </chapter>
443
Randy Dunlap7d469722006-06-25 05:49:29 -0700444 <chapter id="parportdev">
445 <title>Parallel Port Devices</title>
446!Iinclude/linux/parport.h
447!Edrivers/parport/ieee1284.c
448!Edrivers/parport/share.c
449!Idrivers/parport/daisy.c
450 </chapter>
451
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700452 <chapter id="viddev">
453 <title>Video4Linux</title>
454!Edrivers/media/video/videodev.c
455 </chapter>
456
457 <chapter id="snddev">
458 <title>Sound Devices</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700459!Iinclude/sound/core.h
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700460!Esound/sound_core.c
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700461!Iinclude/sound/pcm.h
462!Esound/core/pcm.c
463!Esound/core/device.c
464!Esound/core/info.c
465!Esound/core/rawmidi.c
466!Esound/core/sound.c
467!Esound/core/memory.c
468!Esound/core/pcm_memory.c
469!Esound/core/init.c
470!Esound/core/isadma.c
471!Esound/core/control.c
472!Esound/core/pcm_lib.c
473!Esound/core/hwdep.c
474!Esound/core/pcm_native.c
475!Esound/core/memalloc.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700476<!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source
477X!Isound/sound_firmware.c
478-->
479 </chapter>
480
481 <chapter id="uart16x50">
482 <title>16x50 UART Driver</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700483!Iinclude/linux/serial_core.h
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700484!Edrivers/serial/serial_core.c
485!Edrivers/serial/8250.c
486 </chapter>
487
488 <chapter id="z85230">
489 <title>Z85230 Support Library</title>
490!Edrivers/net/wan/z85230.c
491 </chapter>
492
493 <chapter id="fbdev">
494 <title>Frame Buffer Library</title>
495
496 <para>
497 The frame buffer drivers depend heavily on four data structures.
498 These structures are declared in include/linux/fb.h. They are
499 fb_info, fb_var_screeninfo, fb_fix_screeninfo and fb_monospecs.
500 The last three can be made available to and from userland.
501 </para>
502
503 <para>
504 fb_info defines the current state of a particular video card.
505 Inside fb_info, there exists a fb_ops structure which is a
506 collection of needed functions to make fbdev and fbcon work.
507 fb_info is only visible to the kernel.
508 </para>
509
510 <para>
511 fb_var_screeninfo is used to describe the features of a video card
512 that are user defined. With fb_var_screeninfo, things such as
513 depth and the resolution may be defined.
514 </para>
515
516 <para>
517 The next structure is fb_fix_screeninfo. This defines the
518 properties of a card that are created when a mode is set and can't
519 be changed otherwise. A good example of this is the start of the
520 frame buffer memory. This "locks" the address of the frame buffer
521 memory, so that it cannot be changed or moved.
522 </para>
523
524 <para>
525 The last structure is fb_monospecs. In the old API, there was
526 little importance for fb_monospecs. This allowed for forbidden things
527 such as setting a mode of 800x600 on a fix frequency monitor. With
528 the new API, fb_monospecs prevents such things, and if used
529 correctly, can prevent a monitor from being cooked. fb_monospecs
530 will not be useful until kernels 2.5.x.
531 </para>
532
533 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Memory</title>
534!Edrivers/video/fbmem.c
535 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700536<!--
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700537 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Console</title>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700538X!Edrivers/video/console/fbcon.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700539 </sect1>
Pavel Pisa4dc3b162005-05-01 08:59:25 -0700540-->
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700541 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Colormap</title>
542!Edrivers/video/fbcmap.c
543 </sect1>
544<!-- FIXME:
545 drivers/video/fbgen.c has no docs, which stuffs up the sgml. Comment
546 out until somebody adds docs. KAO
547 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Generic Functions</title>
548X!Idrivers/video/fbgen.c
549 </sect1>
550KAO -->
551 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Video Mode Database</title>
552!Idrivers/video/modedb.c
553!Edrivers/video/modedb.c
554 </sect1>
555 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Macintosh Video Mode Database</title>
Randy Dunlap8f2709b2005-11-07 01:01:05 -0800556!Edrivers/video/macmodes.c
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700557 </sect1>
558 <sect1><title>Frame Buffer Fonts</title>
559 <para>
560 Refer to the file drivers/video/console/fonts.c for more information.
561 </para>
562<!-- FIXME: Removed for now since no structured comments in source
563X!Idrivers/video/console/fonts.c
564-->
565 </sect1>
566 </chapter>
567</book>