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Linux Device Drivers

Release Date: February 1998

Pages: 439

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This book is for anyone who wants to support computer peripherals under the Linux operating system or who wants to develop new hardware and run it under Linux. Linux is the fastest-growing segment of the UNIX market and is winning over enthusiastic adherents in many application areas. This book reveals information that heretofore has been passed by word-of-mouth or in cryptic source code comments, showing how to write a driver for a wide range of devices. You don't have to be a kernel hacker to understand and enjoy this book; all you need is an understanding of C and some background in UNIX system calls. Drivers for character devices, block devices, and network interfaces are all described in step-by-step form and are illustrated with full-featured examples that show driver design issues, which can be executed without special hardware. For those who are curious about how an operating system does its job, this book provides insights into address spaces, asynchronous events, and I/O. Portability is a major concern in the text. The book is centered on version 2.0, but also covers 1.2.13 and experimental versions up to 2.1.43. You are also told how to maximize portability among hardware platforms. Contents include:

Building a driver and loading modules
Complete character, block, and network drivers
Debugging a driver
Timing
Memory management and DMA
Interrupts
Portability issues
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
A tour of kernel internals

Chapter 1 An Introduction to the Linux Kernel
1. The Role of the Driver Writer
2. Splitting the Kernel
3. Classes of Devices and Modules
4. Security Issues
5. Version Numbering
6. License Terms
7. Overview of the Book
Chapter 2 Building and Running Modules
1. Modules Versus Applications
2. Compiling and Loading
3. The Kernel Symbol Table
4. Initialization and Shutdown
5. Using Resources
6. Automatic and Manual Configuration
7. Doing It in User Space
8. Quick Reference
Chapter 3 Char Drivers
1. The Design of scull
2. Major and Minor Numbers
3. File Operations
4. The file Structure
5. Open and Release
6. Scull’s Memory Usage
7. Read and Write
8. Playing with the New Devices
9. Quick Reference
Chapter 4 Debugging Techniques
1. Debugging by Printing
2. Debugging by Querying
3. Debugging by Watching
4. Debugging System Faults
5. Using a Debugger
Chapter 5 Enhanced Char Driver Operations
1. ioctl
2. Blocking I/O
3. Select
4. Asynchronous Notification
5. Seeking a Device
6. Access Control on a Device File
7. Quick Reference
Chapter 6 Flow of Time
1. Time Intervals in the Kernel
2. Knowing the Current Time
3. Delaying Execution
4. Task Queues
5. Kernel Timers
6. Quick Reference
Chapter 7 Getting Hold of Memory
1. The Real Story of kmalloc
2. get_free_page and Friends
3. vmalloc and Friends
4. Playing Dirty
5. Quick Reference
Chapter 8 Hardware Management
1. Using I/O Ports
2. Using the Parallel Port
3. Accessing Memory on Device Boards
4. Accessing the Text-Mode Video Buffer
5. Quick Reference
Chapter 9 Interrupt Handling
1. Preparing the Parallel Port
2. Installing an Interrupt Handler
3. Implementing a Handler
4. Bottom Halves
5. Interrupt Sharing
6. Interrupt-Driven I/O
7. Race Conditions
8. Version Dependencies of IRQ Handling
9. Quick Reference
Chapter 10 Judicious Use of Data Types
1. Use of Standard C Types
2. Assigning an Explicit Size to Data Items
3. Interface-Specific Types
4. Other Portability Issues
5. Quick Reference
Chapter 11 Kerneld and Advanced Modularization
1. Loading Modules on Demand
2. Version Control in Modules
3. Persistent Storage Across Unload/Load
4. Quick Reference
Chapter 12 Loading Block Drivers
1. Registering the Driver
2. The Header File blk.h
3. Handling Requests
4. How Mounting Works
5. The ioctl Method
6. Removable Devices
7. Partitionable Devices
8. Interrupt-Driven Block Drivers
9. Quick Reference
Chapter 13 Mmap and DMA
1. Memory Management in Linux
2. The mmap Device Operation
3. Direct Memory Access
4. Quick Reference
Chapter 14 Network Drivers
1. How snull Is Designed
2. Connecting to the Kernel
3. The device Structure in Detail
4. Opening and Closing
5. Packet Transmission
6. Packet Reception
7. Interrupt-Driven Operation
8. The Socket Buffers
9. Address Resolution
10. Load-Time Configuration
11. Run-Time Configuration
12. Custom ioctl Commands
13. Statistical Information
14. Multicasting
15. Quick Reference
Chapter 15 Overview of Peripheral Buses
1. The PCI Interface
2. A Look Back: ISA
3. Other PC Buses
4. Sbus
5. Quick Reference
Chapter 16 Physical Layout of the Kernel Source
1. Booting the Kernel
2. Before Booting
3. The Init Process
4. The kernel Directory
5. The mm Directory
6. The fs Directory
7. Networking
8. IPC and lib Functions
9. Drivers
10. Architecture Dependencies
Chapter 17 Recent Developments
1. Modularization
2. File Operations
3. Accessing User Space
4. Task Queues
5. Interrupt Management
6. Bit Operations
7. Conversion Functions
8. vremap
9. Virtual Memory
10. Handling Kernel-Space Faults
11. Other Changes

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Books & Videos

Linux Device Drivers

Read on Safari with a 10-day trial

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 An Introduction to the Linux Kernel

The Role of the Driver Writer

Splitting the Kernel

Classes of Devices and Modules

Security Issues

Version Numbering

License Terms

Overview of the Book

Chapter 2 Building and Running Modules

Modules Versus Applications

Compiling and Loading

The Kernel Symbol Table

Initialization and Shutdown

Using Resources

Automatic and Manual Configuration

Doing It in User Space

Quick Reference

Chapter 3 Char Drivers

The Design of scull

Major and Minor Numbers

File Operations

The file Structure

Open and Release

Scull’s Memory Usage

Read and Write

Playing with the New Devices

Quick Reference

Chapter 4 Debugging Techniques

Debugging by Printing

Debugging by Querying

Debugging by Watching

Debugging System Faults

Using a Debugger

Chapter 5 Enhanced Char Driver Operations

ioctl

Blocking I/O

Select

Asynchronous Notification

Seeking a Device

Access Control on a Device File

Quick Reference

Chapter 6 Flow of Time

Time Intervals in the Kernel

Knowing the Current Time

Delaying Execution

Task Queues

Kernel Timers

Quick Reference

Chapter 7 Getting Hold of Memory

The Real Story of kmalloc

get_free_page and Friends

vmalloc and Friends

Playing Dirty

Quick Reference

Chapter 8 Hardware Management

Using I/O Ports

Using the Parallel Port

Accessing Memory on Device Boards

Accessing the Text-Mode Video Buffer

Quick Reference

Chapter 9 Interrupt Handling

Preparing the Parallel Port

Installing an Interrupt Handler

Implementing a Handler

Bottom Halves

Interrupt Sharing

Interrupt-Driven I/O

Race Conditions

Version Dependencies of IRQ Handling

Quick Reference

Chapter 10 Judicious Use of Data Types

Use of Standard C Types

Assigning an Explicit Size to Data Items

Interface-Specific Types

Other Portability Issues

Quick Reference