 9afa3195b9
			
		
	
	
	9afa3195b9
	
	
	
		
			
			Pull trivial tree from Jiri Kosina: "Assorted tiny fixes queued in trivial tree" * 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jikos/trivial: (22 commits) DocBook: update EXPORT_SYMBOL entry to point at export.h Documentation: update top level 00-INDEX file with new additions ARM: at91/ide: remove unsused at91-ide Kconfig entry percpu_counter.h: comment code for better readability x86, efi: fix comment typo in head_32.S IB: cxgb3: delay freeing mem untill entirely done with it net: mvneta: remove unneeded version.h include time: x86: report_lost_ticks doesn't exist any more pcmcia: avoid static analysis complaint about use-after-free fs/jfs: Fix typo in comment : 'how may' -> 'how many' of: add missing documentation for of_platform_populate() btrfs: remove unnecessary cur_trans set before goto loop in join_transaction sound: soc: Fix typo in sound/codecs treewide: Fix typo in various drivers btrfs: fix comment typos Update ibmvscsi module name in Kconfig. powerpc: fix typo (utilties -> utilities) of: fix spelling mistake in comment h8300: Fix home page URL in h8300/README xtensa: Fix home page URL in Kconfig ...
		
			
				
	
	
		
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			1320 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			42 KiB
			
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 | |
| <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
 | |
| 	"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" []>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <book id="lk-hacking-guide">
 | |
|  <bookinfo>
 | |
|   <title>Unreliable Guide To Hacking The Linux Kernel</title>
 | |
|   
 | |
|   <authorgroup>
 | |
|    <author>
 | |
|     <firstname>Rusty</firstname>
 | |
|     <surname>Russell</surname>
 | |
|     <affiliation>
 | |
|      <address>
 | |
|       <email>rusty@rustcorp.com.au</email>
 | |
|      </address>
 | |
|     </affiliation>
 | |
|    </author>
 | |
|   </authorgroup>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <copyright>
 | |
|    <year>2005</year>
 | |
|    <holder>Rusty Russell</holder>
 | |
|   </copyright>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <legalnotice>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     This documentation is free software; you can redistribute
 | |
|     it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
 | |
|     License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 | |
|     version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
 | |
|     version.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
 | |
|     useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
 | |
|     warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 | |
|     See the GNU General Public License for more details.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
 | |
|     License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
 | |
|     Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
 | |
|     MA 02111-1307 USA
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     For more details see the file COPYING in the source
 | |
|     distribution of Linux.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </legalnotice>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <releaseinfo>
 | |
|    This is the first release of this document as part of the kernel tarball.
 | |
|   </releaseinfo>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  </bookinfo>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <toc></toc>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="introduction">
 | |
|   <title>Introduction</title>
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Welcome, gentle reader, to Rusty's Remarkably Unreliable Guide to Linux
 | |
|    Kernel Hacking.  This document describes the common routines and
 | |
|    general requirements for kernel code: its goal is to serve as a
 | |
|    primer for Linux kernel development for experienced C
 | |
|    programmers.  I avoid implementation details: that's what the
 | |
|    code is for, and I ignore whole tracts of useful routines.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Before you read this, please understand that I never wanted to
 | |
|    write this document, being grossly under-qualified, but I always
 | |
|    wanted to read it, and this was the only way.  I hope it will
 | |
|    grow into a compendium of best practice, common starting points
 | |
|    and random information.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="basic-players">
 | |
|   <title>The Players</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    At any time each of the CPUs in a system can be:
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <itemizedlist>
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      not associated with any process, serving a hardware interrupt;
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      not associated with any process, serving a softirq or tasklet;
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      running in kernel space, associated with a process (user context);
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      running a process in user space.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
|   </itemizedlist>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    There is an ordering between these.  The bottom two can preempt
 | |
|    each other, but above that is a strict hierarchy: each can only be
 | |
|    preempted by the ones above it.  For example, while a softirq is
 | |
|    running on a CPU, no other softirq will preempt it, but a hardware
 | |
|    interrupt can.  However, any other CPUs in the system execute
 | |
|    independently.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    We'll see a number of ways that the user context can block
 | |
|    interrupts, to become truly non-preemptable.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   
 | |
|   <sect1 id="basics-usercontext">
 | |
|    <title>User Context</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     User context is when you are coming in from a system call or other
 | |
|     trap: like userspace, you can be preempted by more important tasks
 | |
|     and by interrupts.  You can sleep, by calling
 | |
|     <function>schedule()</function>.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <note>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      You are always in user context on module load and unload,
 | |
|      and on operations on the block device layer.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </note>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     In user context, the <varname>current</varname> pointer (indicating 
 | |
|     the task we are currently executing) is valid, and
 | |
|     <function>in_interrupt()</function>
 | |
|     (<filename>include/linux/interrupt.h</filename>) is <returnvalue>false
 | |
|     </returnvalue>.  
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <caution>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Beware that if you have preemption or softirqs disabled
 | |
|      (see below), <function>in_interrupt()</function> will return a 
 | |
|      false positive.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </caution>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="basics-hardirqs">
 | |
|    <title>Hardware Interrupts (Hard IRQs)</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Timer ticks, <hardware>network cards</hardware> and 
 | |
|     <hardware>keyboard</hardware> are examples of real
 | |
|     hardware which produce interrupts at any time.  The kernel runs
 | |
|     interrupt handlers, which services the hardware.  The kernel
 | |
|     guarantees that this handler is never re-entered: if the same
 | |
|     interrupt arrives, it is queued (or dropped).  Because it
 | |
|     disables interrupts, this handler has to be fast: frequently it
 | |
|     simply acknowledges the interrupt, marks a 'software interrupt'
 | |
|     for execution and exits.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     You can tell you are in a hardware interrupt, because 
 | |
|     <function>in_irq()</function> returns <returnvalue>true</returnvalue>.  
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <caution>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Beware that this will return a false positive if interrupts are disabled 
 | |
|      (see below).
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </caution>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="basics-softirqs">
 | |
|    <title>Software Interrupt Context: Softirqs and Tasklets</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Whenever a system call is about to return to userspace, or a
 | |
|     hardware interrupt handler exits, any 'software interrupts'
 | |
|     which are marked pending (usually by hardware interrupts) are
 | |
|     run (<filename>kernel/softirq.c</filename>).
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Much of the real interrupt handling work is done here.  Early in
 | |
|     the transition to <acronym>SMP</acronym>, there were only 'bottom
 | |
|     halves' (BHs), which didn't take advantage of multiple CPUs.  Shortly 
 | |
|     after we switched from wind-up computers made of match-sticks and snot,
 | |
|     we abandoned this limitation and switched to 'softirqs'.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/interrupt.h</filename> lists the
 | |
|     different softirqs.  A very important softirq is the
 | |
|     timer softirq (<filename
 | |
|     class="headerfile">include/linux/timer.h</filename>): you can
 | |
|     register to have it call functions for you in a given length of
 | |
|     time.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Softirqs are often a pain to deal with, since the same softirq
 | |
|     will run simultaneously on more than one CPU.  For this reason,
 | |
|     tasklets (<filename
 | |
|     class="headerfile">include/linux/interrupt.h</filename>) are more
 | |
|     often used: they are dynamically-registrable (meaning you can have
 | |
|     as many as you want), and they also guarantee that any tasklet
 | |
|     will only run on one CPU at any time, although different tasklets
 | |
|     can run simultaneously.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <caution>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      The name 'tasklet' is misleading: they have nothing to do with 'tasks',
 | |
|      and probably more to do with some bad vodka Alexey Kuznetsov had at the 
 | |
|      time.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </caution>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     You can tell you are in a softirq (or tasklet)
 | |
|     using the <function>in_softirq()</function> macro 
 | |
|     (<filename class="headerfile">include/linux/interrupt.h</filename>).
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <caution>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Beware that this will return a false positive if a bh lock (see below)
 | |
|      is held.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </caution>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="basic-rules">
 | |
|   <title>Some Basic Rules</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <variablelist>
 | |
|    <varlistentry>
 | |
|     <term>No memory protection</term>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       If you corrupt memory, whether in user context or
 | |
|       interrupt context, the whole machine will crash.  Are you
 | |
|       sure you can't do what you want in userspace?
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|    </varlistentry>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <varlistentry>
 | |
|     <term>No floating point or <acronym>MMX</acronym></term>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       The <acronym>FPU</acronym> context is not saved; even in user
 | |
|       context the <acronym>FPU</acronym> state probably won't
 | |
|       correspond with the current process: you would mess with some
 | |
|       user process' <acronym>FPU</acronym> state.  If you really want
 | |
|       to do this, you would have to explicitly save/restore the full
 | |
|       <acronym>FPU</acronym> state (and avoid context switches).  It
 | |
|       is generally a bad idea; use fixed point arithmetic first.
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|    </varlistentry>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <varlistentry>
 | |
|     <term>A rigid stack limit</term>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Depending on configuration options the kernel stack is about 3K to 6K for most 32-bit architectures: it's
 | |
|       about 14K on most 64-bit archs, and often shared with interrupts
 | |
|       so you can't use it all.  Avoid deep recursion and huge local
 | |
|       arrays on the stack (allocate them dynamically instead).
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|    </varlistentry>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <varlistentry>
 | |
|     <term>The Linux kernel is portable</term>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Let's keep it that way.  Your code should be 64-bit clean,
 | |
|       and endian-independent.  You should also minimize CPU
 | |
|       specific stuff, e.g. inline assembly should be cleanly
 | |
|       encapsulated and minimized to ease porting.  Generally it
 | |
|       should be restricted to the architecture-dependent part of
 | |
|       the kernel tree.
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|    </varlistentry>
 | |
|   </variablelist>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="ioctls">
 | |
|   <title>ioctls: Not writing a new system call</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    A system call generally looks like this
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| asmlinkage long sys_mycall(int arg)
 | |
| {
 | |
|         return 0; 
 | |
| }
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    First, in most cases you don't want to create a new system call.
 | |
|    You create a character device and implement an appropriate ioctl
 | |
|    for it.  This is much more flexible than system calls, doesn't have
 | |
|    to be entered in every architecture's
 | |
|    <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/unistd.h</filename> and
 | |
|    <filename>arch/kernel/entry.S</filename> file, and is much more
 | |
|    likely to be accepted by Linus.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    If all your routine does is read or write some parameter, consider
 | |
|    implementing a <function>sysfs</function> interface instead.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Inside the ioctl you're in user context to a process.  When a
 | |
|    error occurs you return a negated errno (see
 | |
|    <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/errno.h</filename>),
 | |
|    otherwise you return <returnvalue>0</returnvalue>.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    After you slept you should check if a signal occurred: the
 | |
|    Unix/Linux way of handling signals is to temporarily exit the
 | |
|    system call with the <constant>-ERESTARTSYS</constant> error.  The
 | |
|    system call entry code will switch back to user context, process
 | |
|    the signal handler and then your system call will be restarted
 | |
|    (unless the user disabled that).  So you should be prepared to
 | |
|    process the restart, e.g. if you're in the middle of manipulating
 | |
|    some data structure.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| if (signal_pending(current))
 | |
|         return -ERESTARTSYS;
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    If you're doing longer computations: first think userspace. If you
 | |
|    <emphasis>really</emphasis> want to do it in kernel you should
 | |
|    regularly check if you need to give up the CPU (remember there is
 | |
|    cooperative multitasking per CPU).  Idiom:
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| cond_resched(); /* Will sleep */ 
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    A short note on interface design: the UNIX system call motto is
 | |
|    "Provide mechanism not policy".
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="deadlock-recipes">
 | |
|   <title>Recipes for Deadlock</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    You cannot call any routines which may sleep, unless:
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   <itemizedlist>
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      You are in user context.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      You do not own any spinlocks.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      You have interrupts enabled (actually, Andi Kleen says
 | |
|      that the scheduling code will enable them for you, but
 | |
|      that's probably not what you wanted).
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
|   </itemizedlist>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Note that some functions may sleep implicitly: common ones are
 | |
|    the user space access functions (*_user) and memory allocation
 | |
|    functions without <symbol>GFP_ATOMIC</symbol>.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    You should always compile your kernel
 | |
|    <symbol>CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP</symbol> on, and it will warn
 | |
|    you if you break these rules.  If you <emphasis>do</emphasis> break
 | |
|    the rules, you will eventually lock up your box.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Really.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="common-routines">
 | |
|   <title>Common Routines</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-printk">
 | |
|    <title>
 | |
|     <function>printk()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/kernel.h</filename>
 | |
|    </title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <function>printk()</function> feeds kernel messages to the
 | |
|     console, dmesg, and the syslog daemon.  It is useful for debugging
 | |
|     and reporting errors, and can be used inside interrupt context,
 | |
|     but use with caution: a machine which has its console flooded with
 | |
|     printk messages is unusable.  It uses a format string mostly
 | |
|     compatible with ANSI C printf, and C string concatenation to give
 | |
|     it a first "priority" argument:
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <programlisting>
 | |
| printk(KERN_INFO "i = %u\n", i);
 | |
|    </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     See <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/kernel.h</filename>;
 | |
|     for other KERN_ values; these are interpreted by syslog as the
 | |
|     level.  Special case: for printing an IP address use
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <programlisting>
 | |
| __be32 ipaddress;
 | |
| printk(KERN_INFO "my ip: %pI4\n", &ipaddress);
 | |
|    </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <function>printk()</function> internally uses a 1K buffer and does
 | |
|     not catch overruns.  Make sure that will be enough.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <note>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      You will know when you are a real kernel hacker
 | |
|      when you start typoing printf as printk in your user programs :)
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </note>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <!--- From the Lions book reader department --> 
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <note>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Another sidenote: the original Unix Version 6 sources had a
 | |
|      comment on top of its printf function: "Printf should not be
 | |
|      used for chit-chat".  You should follow that advice.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </note>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-copy">
 | |
|    <title>
 | |
|     <function>copy_[to/from]_user()</function>
 | |
|     /
 | |
|     <function>get_user()</function>
 | |
|     /
 | |
|     <function>put_user()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/uaccess.h</filename>
 | |
|    </title>  
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <emphasis>[SLEEPS]</emphasis>
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <function>put_user()</function> and <function>get_user()</function>
 | |
|     are used to get and put single values (such as an int, char, or
 | |
|     long) from and to userspace.  A pointer into userspace should
 | |
|     never be simply dereferenced: data should be copied using these
 | |
|     routines.  Both return <constant>-EFAULT</constant> or 0.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <function>copy_to_user()</function> and
 | |
|     <function>copy_from_user()</function> are more general: they copy
 | |
|     an arbitrary amount of data to and from userspace.
 | |
|     <caution>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Unlike <function>put_user()</function> and
 | |
|       <function>get_user()</function>, they return the amount of
 | |
|       uncopied data (ie. <returnvalue>0</returnvalue> still means
 | |
|       success).
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </caution>
 | |
|     [Yes, this moronic interface makes me cringe.  The flamewar comes up every year or so. --RR.]
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     The functions may sleep implicitly. This should never be called
 | |
|     outside user context (it makes no sense), with interrupts
 | |
|     disabled, or a spinlock held.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-kmalloc">
 | |
|    <title><function>kmalloc()</function>/<function>kfree()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/slab.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <emphasis>[MAY SLEEP: SEE BELOW]</emphasis>
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     These routines are used to dynamically request pointer-aligned
 | |
|     chunks of memory, like malloc and free do in userspace, but
 | |
|     <function>kmalloc()</function> takes an extra flag word.
 | |
|     Important values:
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <variablelist>
 | |
|     <varlistentry>
 | |
|      <term>
 | |
|       <constant>
 | |
|        GFP_KERNEL
 | |
|       </constant>
 | |
|      </term>
 | |
|      <listitem>
 | |
|       <para>
 | |
|        May sleep and swap to free memory. Only allowed in user
 | |
|        context, but is the most reliable way to allocate memory.
 | |
|       </para>
 | |
|      </listitem>
 | |
|     </varlistentry>
 | |
|     
 | |
|     <varlistentry>
 | |
|      <term>
 | |
|       <constant>
 | |
|        GFP_ATOMIC
 | |
|       </constant>
 | |
|      </term>
 | |
|      <listitem>
 | |
|       <para>
 | |
|        Don't sleep. Less reliable than <constant>GFP_KERNEL</constant>,
 | |
|        but may be called from interrupt context. You should
 | |
|        <emphasis>really</emphasis> have a good out-of-memory
 | |
|        error-handling strategy.
 | |
|       </para>
 | |
|      </listitem>
 | |
|     </varlistentry>
 | |
|     
 | |
|     <varlistentry>
 | |
|      <term>
 | |
|       <constant>
 | |
|        GFP_DMA
 | |
|       </constant>
 | |
|      </term>
 | |
|      <listitem>
 | |
|       <para>
 | |
|        Allocate ISA DMA lower than 16MB. If you don't know what that
 | |
|        is you don't need it.  Very unreliable.
 | |
|       </para>
 | |
|      </listitem>
 | |
|     </varlistentry>
 | |
|    </variablelist>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     If you see a <errorname>sleeping function called from invalid
 | |
|     context</errorname> warning message, then maybe you called a
 | |
|     sleeping allocation function from interrupt context without
 | |
|     <constant>GFP_ATOMIC</constant>.  You should really fix that.
 | |
|     Run, don't walk.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     If you are allocating at least <constant>PAGE_SIZE</constant>
 | |
|     (<filename class="headerfile">include/asm/page.h</filename>) bytes,
 | |
|     consider using <function>__get_free_pages()</function>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     (<filename class="headerfile">include/linux/mm.h</filename>).  It
 | |
|     takes an order argument (0 for page sized, 1 for double page, 2
 | |
|     for four pages etc.) and the same memory priority flag word as
 | |
|     above.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     If you are allocating more than a page worth of bytes you can use
 | |
|     <function>vmalloc()</function>.  It'll allocate virtual memory in
 | |
|     the kernel map.  This block is not contiguous in physical memory,
 | |
|     but the <acronym>MMU</acronym> makes it look like it is for you
 | |
|     (so it'll only look contiguous to the CPUs, not to external device
 | |
|     drivers).  If you really need large physically contiguous memory
 | |
|     for some weird device, you have a problem: it is poorly supported
 | |
|     in Linux because after some time memory fragmentation in a running
 | |
|     kernel makes it hard.  The best way is to allocate the block early
 | |
|     in the boot process via the <function>alloc_bootmem()</function>
 | |
|     routine.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Before inventing your own cache of often-used objects consider
 | |
|     using a slab cache in
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/slab.h</filename>
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-current">
 | |
|    <title><function>current</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/current.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     This global variable (really a macro) contains a pointer to
 | |
|     the current task structure, so is only valid in user context.
 | |
|     For example, when a process makes a system call, this will
 | |
|     point to the task structure of the calling process.  It is
 | |
|     <emphasis>not NULL</emphasis> in interrupt context.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-udelay">
 | |
|    <title><function>mdelay()</function>/<function>udelay()</function>
 | |
|      <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/delay.h</filename>
 | |
|      <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/delay.h</filename>
 | |
|    </title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     The <function>udelay()</function> and <function>ndelay()</function> functions can be used for small pauses.
 | |
|     Do not use large values with them as you risk
 | |
|     overflow - the helper function <function>mdelay()</function> is useful
 | |
|     here, or consider <function>msleep()</function>.
 | |
|    </para> 
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|  
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-endian">
 | |
|    <title><function>cpu_to_be32()</function>/<function>be32_to_cpu()</function>/<function>cpu_to_le32()</function>/<function>le32_to_cpu()</function>
 | |
|      <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/byteorder.h</filename>
 | |
|    </title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     The <function>cpu_to_be32()</function> family (where the "32" can
 | |
|     be replaced by 64 or 16, and the "be" can be replaced by "le") are
 | |
|     the general way to do endian conversions in the kernel: they
 | |
|     return the converted value.  All variations supply the reverse as
 | |
|     well: <function>be32_to_cpu()</function>, etc.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     There are two major variations of these functions: the pointer
 | |
|     variation, such as <function>cpu_to_be32p()</function>, which take
 | |
|     a pointer to the given type, and return the converted value.  The
 | |
|     other variation is the "in-situ" family, such as
 | |
|     <function>cpu_to_be32s()</function>, which convert value referred
 | |
|     to by the pointer, and return void.
 | |
|    </para> 
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-local-irqs">
 | |
|    <title><function>local_irq_save()</function>/<function>local_irq_restore()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/system.h</filename>
 | |
|    </title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     These routines disable hard interrupts on the local CPU, and
 | |
|     restore them.  They are reentrant; saving the previous state in
 | |
|     their one <varname>unsigned long flags</varname> argument.  If you
 | |
|     know that interrupts are enabled, you can simply use
 | |
|     <function>local_irq_disable()</function> and
 | |
|     <function>local_irq_enable()</function>.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-softirqs">
 | |
|    <title><function>local_bh_disable()</function>/<function>local_bh_enable()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/interrupt.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     These routines disable soft interrupts on the local CPU, and
 | |
|     restore them.  They are reentrant; if soft interrupts were
 | |
|     disabled before, they will still be disabled after this pair
 | |
|     of functions has been called.  They prevent softirqs and tasklets
 | |
|     from running on the current CPU.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-processorids">
 | |
|    <title><function>smp_processor_id</function>()
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/smp.h</filename></title>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     <function>get_cpu()</function> disables preemption (so you won't
 | |
|     suddenly get moved to another CPU) and returns the current
 | |
|     processor number, between 0 and <symbol>NR_CPUS</symbol>.  Note
 | |
|     that the CPU numbers are not necessarily continuous.  You return
 | |
|     it again with <function>put_cpu()</function> when you are done.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     If you know you cannot be preempted by another task (ie. you are
 | |
|     in interrupt context, or have preemption disabled) you can use
 | |
|     smp_processor_id().
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-init">
 | |
|    <title><type>__init</type>/<type>__exit</type>/<type>__initdata</type>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/init.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     After boot, the kernel frees up a special section; functions
 | |
|     marked with <type>__init</type> and data structures marked with
 | |
|     <type>__initdata</type> are dropped after boot is complete: similarly
 | |
|     modules discard this memory after initialization.  <type>__exit</type>
 | |
|     is used to declare a function which is only required on exit: the
 | |
|     function will be dropped if this file is not compiled as a module.
 | |
|     See the header file for use. Note that it makes no sense for a function
 | |
|     marked with <type>__init</type> to be exported to modules with 
 | |
|     <function>EXPORT_SYMBOL()</function> - this will break.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-init-again">
 | |
|    <title><function>__initcall()</function>/<function>module_init()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/init.h</filename></title>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Many parts of the kernel are well served as a module
 | |
|     (dynamically-loadable parts of the kernel).  Using the
 | |
|     <function>module_init()</function> and
 | |
|     <function>module_exit()</function> macros it is easy to write code
 | |
|     without #ifdefs which can operate both as a module or built into
 | |
|     the kernel.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     The <function>module_init()</function> macro defines which
 | |
|     function is to be called at module insertion time (if the file is
 | |
|     compiled as a module), or at boot time: if the file is not
 | |
|     compiled as a module the <function>module_init()</function> macro
 | |
|     becomes equivalent to <function>__initcall()</function>, which
 | |
|     through linker magic ensures that the function is called on boot.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     The function can return a negative error number to cause
 | |
|     module loading to fail (unfortunately, this has no effect if
 | |
|     the module is compiled into the kernel).  This function is
 | |
|     called in user context with interrupts enabled, so it can sleep.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|   
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-moduleexit">
 | |
|    <title> <function>module_exit()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/init.h</filename> </title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     This macro defines the function to be called at module removal
 | |
|     time (or never, in the case of the file compiled into the
 | |
|     kernel).  It will only be called if the module usage count has
 | |
|     reached zero.  This function can also sleep, but cannot fail:
 | |
|     everything must be cleaned up by the time it returns.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Note that this macro is optional: if it is not present, your
 | |
|     module will not be removable (except for 'rmmod -f').
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="routines-module-use-counters">
 | |
|    <title> <function>try_module_get()</function>/<function>module_put()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/module.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     These manipulate the module usage count, to protect against
 | |
|     removal (a module also can't be removed if another module uses one
 | |
|     of its exported symbols: see below).  Before calling into module
 | |
|     code, you should call <function>try_module_get()</function> on
 | |
|     that module: if it fails, then the module is being removed and you
 | |
|     should act as if it wasn't there.  Otherwise, you can safely enter
 | |
|     the module, and call <function>module_put()</function> when you're
 | |
|     finished.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|    Most registerable structures have an
 | |
|    <structfield>owner</structfield> field, such as in the
 | |
|    <structname>file_operations</structname> structure. Set this field
 | |
|    to the macro <symbol>THIS_MODULE</symbol>.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <!-- add info on new-style module refcounting here -->
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="queues">
 | |
|   <title>Wait Queues
 | |
|    <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/wait.h</filename>
 | |
|   </title>
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    <emphasis>[SLEEPS]</emphasis>
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    A wait queue is used to wait for someone to wake you up when a
 | |
|    certain condition is true.  They must be used carefully to ensure
 | |
|    there is no race condition.  You declare a
 | |
|    <type>wait_queue_head_t</type>, and then processes which want to
 | |
|    wait for that condition declare a <type>wait_queue_t</type>
 | |
|    referring to themselves, and place that in the queue.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="queue-declaring">
 | |
|    <title>Declaring</title>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     You declare a <type>wait_queue_head_t</type> using the
 | |
|     <function>DECLARE_WAIT_QUEUE_HEAD()</function> macro, or using the
 | |
|     <function>init_waitqueue_head()</function> routine in your
 | |
|     initialization code.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|   
 | |
|   <sect1 id="queue-waitqueue">
 | |
|    <title>Queuing</title>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Placing yourself in the waitqueue is fairly complex, because you
 | |
|     must put yourself in the queue before checking the condition.
 | |
|     There is a macro to do this:
 | |
|     <function>wait_event_interruptible()</function>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/wait.h</filename> The
 | |
|     first argument is the wait queue head, and the second is an
 | |
|     expression which is evaluated; the macro returns
 | |
|     <returnvalue>0</returnvalue> when this expression is true, or
 | |
|     <returnvalue>-ERESTARTSYS</returnvalue> if a signal is received.
 | |
|     The <function>wait_event()</function> version ignores signals.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|    Do not use the <function>sleep_on()</function> function family -
 | |
|    it is very easy to accidentally introduce races; almost certainly
 | |
|    one of the <function>wait_event()</function> family will do, or a
 | |
|    loop around <function>schedule_timeout()</function>. If you choose
 | |
|    to loop around <function>schedule_timeout()</function> remember
 | |
|    you must set the task state (with 
 | |
|    <function>set_current_state()</function>) on each iteration to avoid
 | |
|    busy-looping.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|  
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="queue-waking">
 | |
|    <title>Waking Up Queued Tasks</title>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Call <function>wake_up()</function>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/wait.h</filename>;,
 | |
|     which will wake up every process in the queue.  The exception is
 | |
|     if one has <constant>TASK_EXCLUSIVE</constant> set, in which case
 | |
|     the remainder of the queue will not be woken.  There are other variants
 | |
|     of this basic function available in the same header.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="atomic-ops">
 | |
|   <title>Atomic Operations</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Certain operations are guaranteed atomic on all platforms.  The
 | |
|    first class of operations work on <type>atomic_t</type>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <filename class="headerfile">include/asm/atomic.h</filename>; this
 | |
|    contains a signed integer (at least 32 bits long), and you must use
 | |
|    these functions to manipulate or read atomic_t variables.
 | |
|    <function>atomic_read()</function> and
 | |
|    <function>atomic_set()</function> get and set the counter,
 | |
|    <function>atomic_add()</function>,
 | |
|    <function>atomic_sub()</function>,
 | |
|    <function>atomic_inc()</function>,
 | |
|    <function>atomic_dec()</function>, and
 | |
|    <function>atomic_dec_and_test()</function> (returns
 | |
|    <returnvalue>true</returnvalue> if it was decremented to zero).
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Yes.  It returns <returnvalue>true</returnvalue> (i.e. != 0) if the
 | |
|    atomic variable is zero.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Note that these functions are slower than normal arithmetic, and
 | |
|    so should not be used unnecessarily.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    The second class of atomic operations is atomic bit operations on an
 | |
|    <type>unsigned long</type>, defined in
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/bitops.h</filename>.  These
 | |
|    operations generally take a pointer to the bit pattern, and a bit
 | |
|    number: 0 is the least significant bit.
 | |
|    <function>set_bit()</function>, <function>clear_bit()</function>
 | |
|    and <function>change_bit()</function> set, clear, and flip the
 | |
|    given bit.  <function>test_and_set_bit()</function>,
 | |
|    <function>test_and_clear_bit()</function> and
 | |
|    <function>test_and_change_bit()</function> do the same thing,
 | |
|    except return true if the bit was previously set; these are
 | |
|    particularly useful for atomically setting flags.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    It is possible to call these operations with bit indices greater
 | |
|    than BITS_PER_LONG.  The resulting behavior is strange on big-endian
 | |
|    platforms though so it is a good idea not to do this.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="symbols">
 | |
|   <title>Symbols</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Within the kernel proper, the normal linking rules apply
 | |
|    (ie. unless a symbol is declared to be file scope with the
 | |
|    <type>static</type> keyword, it can be used anywhere in the
 | |
|    kernel).  However, for modules, a special exported symbol table is
 | |
|    kept which limits the entry points to the kernel proper.  Modules
 | |
|    can also export symbols.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="sym-exportsymbols">
 | |
|    <title><function>EXPORT_SYMBOL()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/export.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     This is the classic method of exporting a symbol: dynamically
 | |
|     loaded modules will be able to use the symbol as normal.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="sym-exportsymbols-gpl">
 | |
|    <title><function>EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()</function>
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/export.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Similar to <function>EXPORT_SYMBOL()</function> except that the
 | |
|     symbols exported by <function>EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()</function> can
 | |
|     only be seen by modules with a
 | |
|     <function>MODULE_LICENSE()</function> that specifies a GPL
 | |
|     compatible license.  It implies that the function is considered
 | |
|     an internal implementation issue, and not really an interface.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="conventions">
 | |
|   <title>Routines and Conventions</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="conventions-doublelinkedlist">
 | |
|    <title>Double-linked lists
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/list.h</filename></title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     There used to be three sets of linked-list routines in the kernel
 | |
|     headers, but this one is the winner.  If you don't have some
 | |
|     particular pressing need for a single list, it's a good choice.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     In particular, <function>list_for_each_entry</function> is useful.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="convention-returns">
 | |
|    <title>Return Conventions</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     For code called in user context, it's very common to defy C
 | |
|     convention, and return <returnvalue>0</returnvalue> for success,
 | |
|     and a negative error number
 | |
|     (eg. <returnvalue>-EFAULT</returnvalue>) for failure.  This can be
 | |
|     unintuitive at first, but it's fairly widespread in the kernel.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Using <function>ERR_PTR()</function>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <filename class="headerfile">include/linux/err.h</filename>; to
 | |
|     encode a negative error number into a pointer, and
 | |
|     <function>IS_ERR()</function> and <function>PTR_ERR()</function>
 | |
|     to get it back out again: avoids a separate pointer parameter for
 | |
|     the error number.  Icky, but in a good way.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="conventions-borkedcompile">
 | |
|    <title>Breaking Compilation</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Linus and the other developers sometimes change function or
 | |
|     structure names in development kernels; this is not done just to
 | |
|     keep everyone on their toes: it reflects a fundamental change
 | |
|     (eg. can no longer be called with interrupts on, or does extra
 | |
|     checks, or doesn't do checks which were caught before).  Usually
 | |
|     this is accompanied by a fairly complete note to the linux-kernel
 | |
|     mailing list; search the archive.  Simply doing a global replace
 | |
|     on the file usually makes things <emphasis>worse</emphasis>.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="conventions-initialising">
 | |
|    <title>Initializing structure members</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     The preferred method of initializing structures is to use
 | |
|     designated initialisers, as defined by ISO C99, eg:
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <programlisting>
 | |
| static struct block_device_operations opt_fops = {
 | |
|         .open               = opt_open,
 | |
|         .release            = opt_release,
 | |
|         .ioctl              = opt_ioctl,
 | |
|         .check_media_change = opt_media_change,
 | |
| };
 | |
|    </programlisting>
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     This makes it easy to grep for, and makes it clear which
 | |
|     structure fields are set.  You should do this because it looks
 | |
|     cool.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="conventions-gnu-extns">
 | |
|    <title>GNU Extensions</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     GNU Extensions are explicitly allowed in the Linux kernel.
 | |
|     Note that some of the more complex ones are not very well
 | |
|     supported, due to lack of general use, but the following are
 | |
|     considered standard (see the GCC info page section "C
 | |
|     Extensions" for more details - Yes, really the info page, the
 | |
|     man page is only a short summary of the stuff in info).
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|    <itemizedlist>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Inline functions
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Statement expressions (ie. the ({ and }) constructs).
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Declaring attributes of a function / variable / type
 | |
|       (__attribute__)
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       typeof
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Zero length arrays
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Macro varargs
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Arithmetic on void pointers
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Non-Constant initializers
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Assembler Instructions (not outside arch/ and include/asm/)
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       Function names as strings (__func__).
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|     <listitem>
 | |
|      <para>
 | |
|       __builtin_constant_p()
 | |
|      </para>
 | |
|     </listitem>
 | |
|    </itemizedlist>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Be wary when using long long in the kernel, the code gcc generates for
 | |
|     it is horrible and worse: division and multiplication does not work
 | |
|     on i386 because the GCC runtime functions for it are missing from
 | |
|     the kernel environment.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <!-- FIXME: add a note about ANSI aliasing cleanness -->
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="conventions-cplusplus">
 | |
|    <title>C++</title>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     Using C++ in the kernel is usually a bad idea, because the
 | |
|     kernel does not provide the necessary runtime environment
 | |
|     and the include files are not tested for it.  It is still
 | |
|     possible, but not recommended.  If you really want to do
 | |
|     this, forget about exceptions at least.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <sect1 id="conventions-ifdef">
 | |
|    <title>#if</title>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <para>
 | |
|     It is generally considered cleaner to use macros in header files
 | |
|     (or at the top of .c files) to abstract away functions rather than
 | |
|     using `#if' pre-processor statements throughout the source code.
 | |
|    </para>
 | |
|   </sect1>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="submitting">
 | |
|   <title>Putting Your Stuff in the Kernel</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    In order to get your stuff into shape for official inclusion, or
 | |
|    even to make a neat patch, there's administrative work to be
 | |
|    done:
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   <itemizedlist>
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Figure out whose pond you've been pissing in.  Look at the top of
 | |
|      the source files, inside the <filename>MAINTAINERS</filename>
 | |
|      file, and last of all in the <filename>CREDITS</filename> file.
 | |
|      You should coordinate with this person to make sure you're not
 | |
|      duplicating effort, or trying something that's already been
 | |
|      rejected.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Make sure you put your name and EMail address at the top of
 | |
|      any files you create or mangle significantly.  This is the
 | |
|      first place people will look when they find a bug, or when
 | |
|      <emphasis>they</emphasis> want to make a change.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Usually you want a configuration option for your kernel hack.
 | |
|      Edit <filename>Kconfig</filename> in the appropriate directory.
 | |
|      The Config language is simple to use by cut and paste, and there's
 | |
|      complete documentation in
 | |
|      <filename>Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt</filename>.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      In your description of the option, make sure you address both the
 | |
|      expert user and the user who knows nothing about your feature.  Mention
 | |
|      incompatibilities and issues here.  <emphasis> Definitely
 | |
|      </emphasis> end your description with <quote> if in doubt, say N
 | |
|      </quote> (or, occasionally, `Y'); this is for people who have no
 | |
|      idea what you are talking about.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Edit the <filename>Makefile</filename>: the CONFIG variables are
 | |
|      exported here so you can usually just add a "obj-$(CONFIG_xxx) +=
 | |
|      xxx.o" line.  The syntax is documented in
 | |
|      <filename>Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.txt</filename>.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
| 
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Put yourself in <filename>CREDITS</filename> if you've done
 | |
|      something noteworthy, usually beyond a single file (your name
 | |
|      should be at the top of the source files anyway).
 | |
|      <filename>MAINTAINERS</filename> means you want to be consulted
 | |
|      when changes are made to a subsystem, and hear about bugs; it
 | |
|      implies a more-than-passing commitment to some part of the code.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
|    
 | |
|    <listitem>
 | |
|     <para>
 | |
|      Finally, don't forget to read <filename>Documentation/SubmittingPatches</filename>
 | |
|      and possibly <filename>Documentation/SubmittingDrivers</filename>.
 | |
|     </para>
 | |
|    </listitem>
 | |
|   </itemizedlist>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="cantrips">
 | |
|   <title>Kernel Cantrips</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Some favorites from browsing the source.  Feel free to add to this
 | |
|    list.
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    <filename>arch/x86/include/asm/delay.h:</filename>
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| #define ndelay(n) (__builtin_constant_p(n) ? \
 | |
|         ((n) > 20000 ? __bad_ndelay() : __const_udelay((n) * 5ul)) : \
 | |
|         __ndelay(n))
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    <filename>include/linux/fs.h</filename>:
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| /*
 | |
|  * Kernel pointers have redundant information, so we can use a
 | |
|  * scheme where we can return either an error code or a dentry
 | |
|  * pointer with the same return value.
 | |
|  *
 | |
|  * This should be a per-architecture thing, to allow different
 | |
|  * error and pointer decisions.
 | |
|  */
 | |
|  #define ERR_PTR(err)    ((void *)((long)(err)))
 | |
|  #define PTR_ERR(ptr)    ((long)(ptr))
 | |
|  #define IS_ERR(ptr)     ((unsigned long)(ptr) > (unsigned long)(-1000))
 | |
| </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    <filename>arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess_32.h:</filename>
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| #define copy_to_user(to,from,n)                         \
 | |
|         (__builtin_constant_p(n) ?                      \
 | |
|          __constant_copy_to_user((to),(from),(n)) :     \
 | |
|          __generic_copy_to_user((to),(from),(n)))
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    <filename>arch/sparc/kernel/head.S:</filename>
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
| /*
 | |
|  * Sun people can't spell worth damn. "compatability" indeed.
 | |
|  * At least we *know* we can't spell, and use a spell-checker.
 | |
|  */
 | |
| 
 | |
| /* Uh, actually Linus it is I who cannot spell. Too much murky
 | |
|  * Sparc assembly will do this to ya.
 | |
|  */
 | |
| C_LABEL(cputypvar):
 | |
|         .asciz "compatibility"
 | |
| 
 | |
| /* Tested on SS-5, SS-10. Probably someone at Sun applied a spell-checker. */
 | |
|         .align 4
 | |
| C_LABEL(cputypvar_sun4m):
 | |
|         .asciz "compatible"
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    <filename>arch/sparc/lib/checksum.S:</filename>
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <programlisting>
 | |
|         /* Sun, you just can't beat me, you just can't.  Stop trying,
 | |
|          * give up.  I'm serious, I am going to kick the living shit
 | |
|          * out of you, game over, lights out.
 | |
|          */
 | |
|   </programlisting>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| 
 | |
|  <chapter id="credits">
 | |
|   <title>Thanks</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>
 | |
|    Thanks to Andi Kleen for the idea, answering my questions, fixing
 | |
|    my mistakes, filling content, etc.  Philipp Rumpf for more spelling
 | |
|    and clarity fixes, and some excellent non-obvious points.  Werner
 | |
|    Almesberger for giving me a great summary of
 | |
|    <function>disable_irq()</function>, and Jes Sorensen and Andrea
 | |
|    Arcangeli added caveats. Michael Elizabeth Chastain for checking
 | |
|    and adding to the Configure section. <!-- Rusty insisted on this
 | |
|    bit; I didn't do it! --> Telsa Gwynne for teaching me DocBook. 
 | |
|   </para>
 | |
|  </chapter>
 | |
| </book>
 | |
| 
 |