Re: kernel hack

From: Stefan Sperling (stsp_at_stsp.in-berlin.de)
Date: 09/25/05

  • Next message: Giorgos Keramidas: "Re: Oddity in libufs." 
    Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 19:16:19 +0200
To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org

    Sorry, this went to -current by accident, but should have gone here...

    ----- Forwarded message from Stefan Sperling <stsp@stsp.in-berlin.de> -----

    Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 18:35:53 +0200
    From: Stefan Sperling <stsp@stsp.in-berlin.de>
    To: kamal kc <kamal_ckk@yahoo.com>
    Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org
    Subject: Re: kernel hack

    On Sun, Sep 25, 2005 at 03:31:51AM -0700, kamal kc wrote:
    > does anybody know what is the best way
    > to start kernel hack.

    IMHO, the best way to start kernel hacking is to invest
    an awful lot of time into reading books.

    I presume you know C _really_ well already :)
    And by really well I also mean you know what is wrong about C!

    Any modern book on writing device drivers should be a good starting point.
    It does not really matter which UNIX-derivative the book is about.
    Hint: There are a lot of these books about Linux.

    Read programmer's datasheets, preferably for devices you own,
    and learn how to talk to registers from C.
    ftp.alsa-project.org has datasheets for sound cards, for example.

    Make sure you also learn about multi-threading (mutexes, semaphores etc).
    A lot of kernels are multi-threaded these days.

    A very good overview of the FreeBSD kernel is given in "The Design
    and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System", by Mr. McKusick
    and Mr. Neville-Neil. Read all of it. Having learned about drivers
    and multi-threading beforehand helps a lot.

    > Any references to any web page would
    > be appreciated

    Get books, it's worth it! You really don't want to read this much
    material on your monitor! (Unless you have a 28" TFT of course ;).
    Plus books are often much better written, easier to understand,
    and a lot more detailed than tutorials on the web.

    http://www.NetBSD.org/Documentation also has an interesting kernel
    section to get you started before your books arrive :) 

    -- 
stefan
http://stsp.in-berlin.de                                 PGP Key: 0xF59D25F0
----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
stefan
http://stsp.in-berlin.de                                 PGP Key: 0xF59D25F0
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