Documentation/kernel-docs.txt

   1
   2     Index of Documentation for People Interested in Writing and/or
   3
   4                    Understanding the Linux Kernel.
   5
   6           Juan-Mariano de Goyeneche <jmseyas@dit.upm.es>
   7
   8 /*
   9  * The latest version of this document may be found at:
  10  *   http://www.dit.upm.es/~jmseyas/linux/kernel/hackers-docs.html
  11  */
  12
  13    The need for a document like this one became apparent in the
  14    linux-kernel mailing list as the same questions, asking for pointers
  15    to information, appeared again and again.
  16
  17    Fortunately, as more and more people get to GNU/Linux, more and more
  18    get interested in the Kernel. But reading the sources is not always
  19    enough. It is easy to understand the code, but miss the concepts, the
  20    philosophy and design decisions behind this code.
  21
  22    Unfortunately, not many documents are available for beginners to
  23    start. And, even if they exist, there was no "well-known" place which
  24    kept track of them. These lines try to cover this lack. All documents
  25    available on line known by the author are listed, while some reference
  26    books are also mentioned.
  27
  28    PLEASE, if you know any paper not listed here or write a new document,
  29    send me an e-mail, and I'll include a reference to it here. Any
  30    corrections, ideas or comments are also welcomed.
  31
  32    The papers that follow are listed in no particular order. All are
  33    cataloged with the following fields: the document's "Title", the
  34    "Author"/s, the "URL" where they can be found, some "Keywords" helpful
  35    when searching for specific topics, and a brief "Description" of the
  36    Document.
  37
  38    Enjoy!
  39
  40      ON-LINE DOCS:
  41
  42      * Title: "Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition"
  43        Author: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, Greg Kroah-Hartman
  44        URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
  45        Description: A 600-page book covering the (2.6.10) driver
  46        programming API and kernel hacking in general.  Available under the
  47        Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
  48
  49      * Title: "The Linux Kernel"
  50        Author: David A. Rusling.
  51        URL: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/tlk/tlk.html
  52        Keywords: everything!, book.
  53        Description: On line, 200 pages book describing most aspects of
  54        the Linux Kernel. Probably, the first reference for beginners.
  55        Lots of illustrations explaining data structures use and
  56        relationships in the purest Richard W. Stevens' style. Contents:
  57        "1.-Hardware Basics, 2.-Software Basics, 3.-Memory Management,
  58        4.-Processes, 5.-Interprocess Communication Mechanisms, 6.-PCI,
  59        7.-Interrupts and Interrupt Handling, 8.-Device Drivers, 9.-The
  60        File system, 10.-Networks, 11.-Kernel Mechanisms, 12.-Modules,
  61        13.-The Linux Kernel Sources, A.-Linux Data Structures, B.-The
  62        Alpha AXP Processor, C.-Useful Web and FTP Sites, D.-The GNU
  63        General Public License, Glossary". In short: a must have.
  64
  65      * Title: "Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition"
  66        Author: Alessandro Rubini and Jonathan Corbet.
  67        URL: http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.html
  68        Keywords: device drivers, modules, debugging, memory, hardware,
  69        interrupt handling, char drivers, block drivers, kmod, mmap, DMA,
  70        buses.
  71        Description: O'Reilly's popular book, now also on-line under the
  72        GNU Free Documentation License.
  73        Notes: You can also buy it in paper-form from O'Reilly. See below
  74        under BOOKS (Not on-line).
  75
  76      * Title: "Conceptual Architecture of the Linux Kernel"
  77        Author: Ivan T. Bowman.
  78        URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~itbowman/papers/CS746G-a1.html
  79        Keywords: conceptual software architecture, extracted design,
  80        reverse engineering, system structure.
  81        Description: Conceptual software architecture of the Linux kernel,
  82        automatically extracted from the source code. Very detailed. Good
  83        figures. Gives good overall kernel understanding.
  84
  85      * Title: "Concrete Architecture of the Linux Kernel"
  86        Author: Ivan T. Bowman, Saheem Siddiqi, and Meyer C. Tanuan.
  87        URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~itbowman/papers/CS746G-a2.html
  88        Keywords: concrete architecture, extracted design, reverse
  89        engineering, system structure, dependencies.
  90        Description: Concrete architecture of the Linux kernel,
  91        automatically extracted from the source code. Very detailed. Good
  92        figures. Gives good overall kernel understanding. This papers
  93        focus on lower details than its predecessor (files, variables...).
  94
  95      * Title: "Linux as a Case Study: Its Extracted Software
  96        Architecture"
  97        Author: Ivan T. Bowman, Richard C. Holt and Neil V. Brewster.
  98        URL: http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~itbowman/papers/linuxcase.html
  99        Keywords: software architecture, architecture recovery,
 100        redocumentation.
 101        Description: Paper appeared at ICSE'99, Los Angeles, May 16-22,
 102        1999. A mixture of the previous two documents from the same
 103        author.
 104
 105      * Title: "Overview of the Virtual File System"
 106        Author: Richard Gooch.
 107        URL: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/vfs.txt
 108        Keywords: VFS, File System, mounting filesystems, opening files,
 109        dentries, dcache.
 110        Description: Brief introduction to the Linux Virtual File System.
 111        What is it, how it works, operations taken when opening a file or
 112        mounting a file system and description of important data
 113        structures explaining the purpose of each of their entries.
 114
 115      * Title: "The Linux RAID-1, 4, 5 Code"
 116        Author: Ingo Molnar, Gadi Oxman and Miguel de Icaza.
 117        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=2391
 118        Keywords: RAID, MD driver.
 119        Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
 120        abstract: "A description of the implementation of the RAID-1,
 121        RAID-4 and RAID-5 personalities of the MD device driver in the
 122        Linux kernel, providing users with high performance and reliable,
 123        secondary-storage capability using software".
 124
 125      * Title: "Dynamic Kernels: Modularized Device Drivers"
 126        Author: Alessandro Rubini.
 127        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1219
 128        Keywords: device driver, module, loading/unloading modules,
 129        allocating resources.
 130        Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
 131        abstract: "This is the first of a series of four articles
 132        co-authored by Alessandro Rubini and Georg Zezchwitz which present
 133        a practical approach to writing Linux device drivers as kernel
 134        loadable modules. This installment presents an introduction to the
 135        topic, preparing the reader to understand next month's
 136        installment".
 137
 138      * Title: "Dynamic Kernels: Discovery"
 139        Author: Alessandro Rubini.
 140        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1220
 141        Keywords: character driver, init_module, clean_up module,
 142        autodetection, mayor number, minor number, file operations,
 143        open(), close().
 144        Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
 145        abstract: "This article, the second of four, introduces part of
 146        the actual code to create custom module implementing a character
 147        device driver. It describes the code for module initialization and
 148        cleanup, as well as the open() and close() system calls".
 149
 150      * Title: "The Devil's in the Details"
 151        Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz and Alessandro Rubini.
 152        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1221
 153        Keywords: read(), write(), select(), ioctl(), blocking/non
 154        blocking mode, interrupt handler.
 155        Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
 156        abstract: "This article, the third of four on writing character
 157        device drivers, introduces concepts of reading, writing, and using
 158        ioctl-calls".
 159
 160      * Title: "Dissecting Interrupts and Browsing DMA"
 161        Author: Alessandro Rubini and Georg v. Zezschwitz.
 162        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1222
 163        Keywords: interrupts, irqs, DMA, bottom halves, task queues.
 164        Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner article. Here is it's
 165        abstract: "This is the fourth in a series of articles about
 166        writing character device drivers as loadable kernel modules. This
 167        month, we further investigate the field of interrupt handling.
 168        Though it is conceptually simple, practical limitations and
 169        constraints make this an ``interesting'' part of device driver
 170        writing, and several different facilities have been provided for
 171        different situations. We also investigate the complex topic of
 172        DMA".
 173
 174      * Title: "Device Drivers Concluded"
 175        Author: Georg v. Zezschwitz.
 176        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1287
 177        Keywords: address spaces, pages, pagination, page management,
 178        demand loading, swapping, memory protection, memory mapping, mmap,
 179        virtual memory areas (VMAs), vremap, PCI.
 180        Description: Finally, the above turned out into a five articles
 181        series. This latest one's introduction reads: "This is the last of
 182        five articles about character device drivers. In this final
 183        section, Georg deals with memory mapping devices, beginning with
 184        an overall description of the Linux memory management concepts".
 185
 186      * Title: "Network Buffers And Memory Management"
 187        Author: Alan Cox.
 188        URL: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=1312
 189        Keywords: sk_buffs, network devices, protocol/link layer
 190        variables, network devices flags, transmit, receive,
 191        configuration, multicast.
 192        Description: Linux Journal Kernel Korner. Here is the abstract:
 193        "Writing a network device driver for Linux is fundamentally
 194        simple---most of the complexity (other than talking to the
 195        hardware) involves managing network packets in memory".
 196
 197      * Title: "Writing Linux Device Drivers"
 198        Author: Michael K. Johnson.
 199        URL: http://users.evitech.fi/~tk/rtos/writing_linux_device_d.html
 200        Keywords: files, VFS, file operations, kernel interface, character
 201        vs block devices, I/O access, hardware interrupts, DMA, access to
 202        user memory, memory allocation, timers.
 203        Description: Introductory 50-minutes (sic) tutorial on writing
 204        device drivers. 12 pages written by the same author of the "Kernel
 205        Hackers' Guide" which give a very good overview of the topic.
 206
 207      * Title: "The Venus kernel interface"
 208        Author: Peter J. Braam.
 209        URL:
 210        http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/html/kernel-venus-protocol.html
 211        Keywords: coda, filesystem, venus, cache manager.
 212        Description: "This document describes the communication between
 213        Venus and kernel level file system code needed for the operation
 214        of the Coda filesystem. This version document is meant to describe
 215        the current interface (version 1.0) as well as improvements we
 216        envisage".
 217
 218      * Title: "Programming PCI-Devices under Linux"
 219        Author: Claus Schroeter.
 220        URL:
 221        ftp://ftp.llp.fu-berlin.de/pub/linux/LINUX-LAB/whitepapers/pcip.ps.gz
 222        Keywords: PCI, device, busmastering.
 223        Description: 6 pages tutorial on PCI programming under Linux.
 224        Gives the basic concepts on the architecture of the PCI subsystem,
 225        as long as basic functions and macros to read/write the devices
 226        and perform busmastering.
 227
 228      * Title: "Writing Character Device Driver for Linux"
 229        Author: R. Baruch and C. Schroeter.
 230        URL:
 231        ftp://ftp.llp.fu-berlin.de/pub/linux/LINUX-LAB/whitepapers/drivers.ps.gz
 232        Keywords: character device drivers, I/O, signals, DMA, accessing
 233        ports in user space, kernel environment.
 234        Description: 68 pages paper on writing character drivers. A little
 235        bit old (1.993, 1.994) although still useful.
 236
 237      * Title: "Design and Implementation of the Second Extended
 238        Filesystem"
 239        Author: Rémy Card, Theodore Ts'o, Stephen Tweedie.
 240        URL: http://web.mit.edu/tytso/www/linux/ext2intro.html
 241        Keywords: ext2, linux fs history, inode, directory, link, devices,
 242        VFS, physical structure, performance, benchmarks, ext2fs library,
 243        ext2fs tools, e2fsck.
 244        Description: Paper written by three of the top ext2 hackers.
 245        Covers Linux filesystems history, ext2 motivation, ext2 features,
 246        design, physical structure on disk, performance, benchmarks,
 247        e2fsck's passes description... A must read!
 248        Notes: This paper was first published in the Proceedings of the
 249        First Dutch International Symposium on Linux, ISBN 90-367-0385-9.
 250
 251      * Title: "Analysis of the Ext2fs structure"
 252        Author: Louis-Dominique Dubeau.
 253        URL: http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/FileSystems/ext2fs/
 254        Keywords: ext2, filesystem, ext2fs.
 255        Description: Description of ext2's blocks, directories, inodes,
 256        bitmaps, invariants...
 257
 258      * Title: "Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem"
 259        Author: Stephen C. Tweedie.
 260        URL:
 261        ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/sct/fs/jfs/journal-design.ps.gz
 262        Keywords: ext3, journaling.
 263        Description: Excellent 8-pages paper explaining the journaling
 264        capabilities added to ext2 by the author, showing different
 265        problems faced and the alternatives chosen.
 266
 267      * Title: "Kernel API changes from 2.0 to 2.2"
 268        Author: Richard Gooch.
 269        URL:
 270        http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/porting-to-2.2.html
 271        Keywords: 2.2, changes.
 272        Description: Kernel functions/structures/variables which changed
 273        from 2.0.x to 2.2.x.
 274
 275      * Title: "Kernel API changes from 2.2 to 2.4"
 276        Author: Richard Gooch.
 277        URL:
 278        http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/porting-to-2.4.html
 279        Keywords: 2.4, changes.
 280        Description: Kernel functions/structures/variables which changed
 281        from 2.2.x to 2.4.x.
 282
 283      * Title: "Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide"
 284        Author: Ori Pomerantz.
 285        URL: http://tldp.org/LDP/lkmpg/2.6/html/index.html
 286        Keywords: modules, GPL book, /proc, ioctls, system calls,
 287        interrupt handlers .
 288        Description: Very nice 92 pages GPL book on the topic of modules
 289        programming. Lots of examples.
 290
 291      * Title: "I/O Event Handling Under Linux"
 292        Author: Richard Gooch.
 293        URL: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/io-events.html
 294        Keywords: IO, I/O, select(2), poll(2), FDs, aio_read(2), readiness
 295        event queues.
 296        Description: From the Introduction: "I/O Event handling is about
 297        how your Operating System allows you to manage a large number of
 298        open files (file descriptors in UNIX/POSIX, or FDs) in your
 299        application. You want the OS to notify you when FDs become active
 300        (have data ready to be read or are ready for writing). Ideally you
 301        want a mechanism that is scalable. This means a large number of
 302        inactive FDs cost very little in memory and CPU time to manage".
 303
 304      * Title: "The Kernel Hacking HOWTO"
 305        Author: Various Talented People, and Rusty.
 306        Location: in kernel tree, Documentation/DocBook/kernel-hacking/
 307        (must be built as "make {htmldocs | psdocs | pdfdocs})
 308        Keywords: HOWTO, kernel contexts, deadlock, locking, modules,
 309        symbols, return conventions.
 310        Description: From the Introduction: "Please understand that I
 311        never wanted to write this document, being grossly underqualified,
 312        but I always wanted to read it, and this was the only way. I
 313        simply explain some best practices, and give reading entry-points
 314        into the kernel sources. I avoid implementation details: that's
 315        what the code is for, and I ignore whole tracts of useful
 316        routines. This document assumes familiarity with C, and an
 317        understanding of what the kernel is, and how it is used. It was
 318        originally written for the 2.3 kernels, but nearly all of it
 319        applies to 2.2 too; 2.0 is slightly different".
 320
 321      * Title: "Writing an ALSA Driver"
 322        Author: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>
 323        URL: http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html
 324        Keywords: ALSA, sound, soundcard, driver, lowlevel, hardware.
 325        Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for developers,
 326        both at kernel and user-level sides. ALSA is the Linux kernel
 327        sound architecture in the 2.6 kernel version.
 328
 329      * Title: "Programming Guide for Linux USB Device Drivers"
 330        Author: Detlef Fliegl.
 331        URL: http://usb.in.tum.de/usbdoc/
 332        Keywords: USB, universal serial bus.
 333        Description: A must-read. From the Preface: "This document should
 334        give detailed information about the current state of the USB
 335        subsystem and its API for USB device drivers. The first section
 336        will deal with the basics of USB devices. You will learn about
 337        different types of devices and their properties. Going into detail
 338        you will see how USB devices communicate on the bus. The second
 339        section gives an overview of the Linux USB subsystem [2] and the
 340        device driver framework. Then the API and its data structures will
 341        be explained step by step. The last section of this document
 342        contains a reference of all API calls and their return codes".
 343        Notes: Beware: the main page states: "This document may not be
 344        published, printed or used in excerpts without explicit permission
 345        of the author". Fortunately, it may still be read...
 346
 347      * Title: "Linux Kernel Mailing List Glossary"
 348        Author: various
 349        URL: http://kernelnewbies.org/glossary/
 350        Keywords: glossary, terms, linux-kernel.
 351        Description: From the introduction: "This glossary is intended as
 352        a brief description of some of the acronyms and terms you may hear
 353        during discussion of the Linux kernel".
 354
 355      * Title: "Linux Kernel Locking HOWTO"
 356        Author: Various Talented People, and Rusty.
 357        Location: in kernel tree, Documentation/DocBook/kernel-locking/
 358        (must be built as "make {htmldocs | psdocs | pdfdocs})
 359        Keywords: locks, locking, spinlock, semaphore, atomic, race
 360        condition, bottom halves, tasklets, softirqs.
 361        Description: The title says it all: document describing the
 362        locking system in the Linux Kernel either in uniprocessor or SMP
 363        systems.
 364        Notes: "It was originally written for the later (>2.3.47) 2.3
 365        kernels, but most of it applies to 2.2 too; 2.0 is slightly
 366        different". Freely redistributable under the conditions of the GNU
 367        General Public License.
 368
 369      * Title: "Global spinlock list and usage"
 370        Author: Rick Lindsley.
 371        URL: http://lse.sourceforge.net/lockhier/global-spin-lock
 372        Keywords: spinlock.
 373        Description: This is an attempt to document both the existence and
 374        usage of the spinlocks in the Linux 2.4.5 kernel. Comprehensive
 375        list of spinlocks showing when they are used, which functions
 376        access them, how each lock is acquired, under what conditions it
 377        is held, whether interrupts can occur or not while it is held...
 378
 379      * Title: "Porting Linux 2.0 Drivers To Linux 2.2: Changes and New
 380        Features "
 381        Author: Alan Cox.
 382        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-05/gear_01.html
 383        Keywords: ports, porting.
 384        Description: Article from Linux Magazine on porting from 2.0 to
 385        2.2 kernels.
 386
 387      * Title: "Porting Device Drivers To Linux 2.2: part II"
 388        Author: Alan Cox.
 389        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-06/gear_01.html
 390        Keywords: ports, porting.
 391        Description: Second part on porting from 2.0 to 2.2 kernels.
 392
 393      * Title: "How To Make Sure Your Driver Will Work On The Power
 394        Macintosh"
 395        Author: Paul Mackerras.
 396        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-07/gear_01.html
 397        Keywords: Mac, Power Macintosh, porting, drivers, compatibility.
 398        Description: The title says it all.
 399
 400      * Title: "An Introduction to SCSI Drivers"
 401        Author: Alan Cox.
 402        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-08/gear_01.html
 403        Keywords: SCSI, device, driver.
 404        Description: The title says it all.
 405
 406      * Title: "Advanced SCSI Drivers And Other Tales"
 407        Author: Alan Cox.
 408        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-09/gear_01.html
 409        Keywords: SCSI, device, driver, advanced.
 410        Description: The title says it all.
 411
 412      * Title: "Writing Linux Mouse Drivers"
 413        Author: Alan Cox.
 414        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-10/gear_01.html
 415        Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm.
 416        Description: The title says it all.
 417
 418      * Title: "More on Mouse Drivers"
 419        Author: Alan Cox.
 420        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-11/gear_01.html
 421        Keywords: mouse, driver, gpm, races, asynchronous I/O.
 422        Description: The title still says it all.
 423
 424      * Title: "Writing Video4linux Radio Driver"
 425        Author: Alan Cox.
 426        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-12/gear_01.html
 427        Keywords: video4linux, driver, radio, radio devices.
 428        Description: The title says it all.
 429
 430      * Title: "Video4linux Drivers, Part 1: Video-Capture Device"
 431        Author: Alan Cox.
 432        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-01/gear_01.html
 433        Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,
 434        camera driver.
 435        Description: The title says it all.
 436
 437      * Title: "Video4linux Drivers, Part 2: Video-capture Devices"
 438        Author: Alan Cox.
 439        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-02/gear_01.html
 440        Keywords: video4linux, driver, video capture, capture devices,
 441        camera driver, control, query capabilities, capability, facility.
 442        Description: The title says it all.
 443
 444      * Title: "PCI Management in Linux 2.2"
 445        Author: Alan Cox.
 446        URL: http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-03/gear_01.html
 447        Keywords: PCI, bus, bus-mastering.
 448        Description: The title says it all.
 449
 450      * Title: "Linux 2.4 Kernel Internals"
 451        Author: Tigran Aivazian and Christoph Hellwig.
 452        URL: http://www.moses.uklinux.net/patches/lki.html
 453        Keywords: Linux, kernel, booting, SMB boot, VFS, page cache.
 454        Description: A little book used for a short training course.
 455        Covers building the kernel image, booting (including SMP bootup),
 456        process management, VFS and more.
 457
 458      * Title: "Linux IP Networking. A Guide to the Implementation and
 459        Modification of the Linux Protocol Stack."
 460        Author: Glenn Herrin.
 461        URL: http://www.cs.unh.edu/cnrg/gherrin
 462        Keywords: network, networking, protocol, IP, UDP, TCP, connection,
 463        socket, receiving, transmitting, forwarding, routing, packets,
 464        modules, /proc, sk_buff, FIB, tags.
 465        Description: Excellent paper devoted to the Linux IP Networking,
 466        explaining anything from the kernel's to the user space
 467        configuration tools' code. Very good to get a general overview of
 468        the kernel networking implementation and understand all steps
 469        packets follow from the time they are received at the network
 470        device till they are delivered to applications. The studied kernel
 471        code is from 2.2.14 version. Provides code for a working packet
 472        dropper example.
 473
 474      * Title: "Get those boards talking under Linux."
 475        Author: Alex Ivchenko.
 476        URL: http://www.edn.com/article/CA46968.html
 477        Keywords: data-acquisition boards, drivers, modules, interrupts,
 478        memory allocation.
 479        Description: Article written for people wishing to make their data
 480        acquisition boards work on their GNU/Linux machines. Gives a basic
 481        overview on writing drivers, from the naming of functions to
 482        interrupt handling.
 483        Notes: Two-parts article. Part II is at
 484        URL: http://www.edn.com/article/CA46998.html
 485
 486      * Title: "Linux PCMCIA Programmer's Guide"
 487        Author: David Hinds.
 488        URL: http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/doc/PCMCIA-PROG.html
 489        Keywords: PCMCIA.
 490        Description: "This document describes how to write kernel device
 491        drivers for the Linux PCMCIA Card Services interface. It also
 492        describes how to write user-mode utilities for communicating with
 493        Card Services.
 494
 495      * Title: "The Linux Kernel NFSD Implementation"
 496        Author: Neil Brown.
 497        URL:
 498        http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~neilb/oss/linux-commentary/nfsd.html
 499        Keywords: knfsd, nfsd, NFS, RPC, lockd, mountd, statd.
 500        Description: The title says it all.
 501        Notes: Covers knfsd's version 1.4.7 (patch against 2.2.7 kernel).
 502
 503      * Title: "A Linux vm README"
 504        Author: Kanoj Sarcar.
 505        URL: http://reality.sgi.com/kanoj_engr/vm229.html
 506        Keywords: virtual memory, mm, pgd, vma, page, page flags, page
 507        cache, swap cache, kswapd.
 508        Description: Telegraphic, short descriptions and definitions
 509        relating the Linux virtual memory implementation.
 510
 511      * Title: "(nearly) Complete Linux Loadable Kernel Modules. The
 512        definitive guide for hackers, virus coders and system
 513        administrators."
 514        Author: pragmatic/THC.
 515        URL: http://packetstormsecurity.org/docs/hack/LKM_HACKING.html
 516        Keywords: syscalls, intercept, hide, abuse, symbol table.
 517        Description: Interesting paper on how to abuse the Linux kernel in
 518        order to intercept and modify syscalls, make
 519        files/directories/processes invisible, become root, hijack ttys,
 520        write kernel modules based virus... and solutions for admins to
 521        avoid all those abuses.
 522        Notes: For 2.0.x kernels. Gives guidances to port it to 2.2.x
 523        kernels.
 524
 525      BOOKS: (Not on-line)
 526
 527      * Title: "Linux Device Drivers"
 528        Author: Alessandro Rubini.
 529        Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates.
 530        Date: 1998.
 531        Pages: 439.
 532        ISBN: 1-56592-292-1
 533
 534      * Title: "Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition"
 535        Author: Alessandro Rubini and Jonathan Corbet.
 536        Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates.
 537        Date: 2001.
 538        Pages: 586.
 539        ISBN: 0-59600-008-1
 540        Notes: Further information in
 541        http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive2/
 542
 543      * Title: "Linux Device Drivers, 3nd Edition"
 544        Authors: Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman
 545        Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates.
 546        Date: 2005.
 547        Pages: 636.
 548        ISBN: 0-596-00590-3
 549        Notes: Further information in
 550        http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive3/
 551        PDF format, URL: http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
 552
 553      * Title: "Linux Kernel Internals"
 554        Author: Michael Beck.
 555        Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
 556        Date: 1997.
 557        ISBN: 0-201-33143-8 (second edition)
 558
 559      * Title: "The Design of the UNIX Operating System"
 560        Author: Maurice J. Bach.
 561        Publisher: Prentice Hall.
 562        Date: 1986.
 563        Pages: 471.
 564        ISBN: 0-13-201757-1
 565
 566      * Title: "The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX
 567        Operating System"
 568        Author: Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J.
 569        Karels, John S. Quarterman.
 570        Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
 571        Date: 1989 (reprinted with corrections on October, 1990).
 572        ISBN: 0-201-06196-1
 573
 574      * Title: "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD UNIX
 575        Operating System"
 576        Author: Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels,
 577        John S. Quarterman.
 578        Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
 579        Date: 1996.
 580        ISBN: 0-201-54979-4
 581
 582      * Title: "Programmation Linux 2.0 API systeme et fonctionnement du
 583        noyau"
 584        Author: Remy Card, Eric Dumas, Franck Mevel.
 585        Publisher: Eyrolles.
 586        Date: 1997.
 587        Pages: 520.
 588        ISBN: 2-212-08932-5
 589        Notes: French.
 590
 591      * Title: "Unix internals -- the new frontiers"
 592        Author: Uresh Vahalia.
 593        Publisher: Prentice Hall.
 594        Date: 1996.
 595        Pages: 600.
 596        ISBN: 0-13-101908-2
 597
 598      * Title:  "The  Design  and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD UNIX
 599        Operating System"
 600        Author: Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels,
 601        John S. Quarterman.
 602        Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
 603        Date: 1996.
 604        ISBN: 0-201-54979-4
 605
 606      * Title: "Programming for the real world - POSIX.4"
 607        Author: Bill O. Gallmeister.
 608        Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc..
 609        Date: 1995.
 610        Pages: ???.
 611        ISBN: I-56592-074-0
 612        Notes: Though not being directly about Linux, Linux aims to be
 613        POSIX. Good reference.
 614
 615      * Title:  "UNIX  Systems  for  Modern Architectures: Symmetric
 616        Multiprocesssing and Caching for Kernel Programmers"
 617        Author: Curt Schimmel.
 618        Publisher: Addison Wesley.
 619        Date: June, 1994.
 620        Pages: 432.
 621        ISBN: 0-201-63338-8
 622
 623      * Title:  "The  Design  and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD UNIX
 624        Operating System"
 625        Author: Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J.
 626        Karels, John S. Quarterman.
 627        Publisher: Addison-Wesley.
 628        Date: 1989 (reprinted with corrections on October, 1990).
 629        ISBN: 0-201-06196-1
 630
 631      * Title: "The Design of the UNIX Operating System"
 632        Author: Maurice J. Bach.
 633        Publisher: Prentice Hall.
 634        Date: 1986.
 635        Pages: 471.
 636        ISBN: 0-13-201757-1
 637
 638      MISCELLANEOUS:
 639
 640      * Name: linux/Documentation
 641        Author: Many.
 642        URL: Just look inside your kernel sources.
 643        Keywords: anything, DocBook.
 644        Description: Documentation that comes with the kernel sources,
 645        inside the Documentation directory. Some pages from this document
 646        (including this document itself) have been moved there, and might
 647        be more up to date than the web version.
 648
 649      * Name: "Linux Source Driver"
 650        URL: http://lsd.linux.cz
 651        Keywords: Browsing source code.
 652        Description: "Linux Source Driver (LSD) is an application, which
 653        can make browsing source codes of Linux kernel easier than you can
 654        imagine. You can select between multiple versions of kernel (e.g.
 655        0.01, 1.0.0, 2.0.33, 2.0.34pre13, 2.0.0, 2.1.101 etc.). With LSD
 656        you can search Linux kernel (fulltext, macros, types, functions
 657        and variables) and LSD can generate patches for you on the fly
 658        (files, directories or kernel)".
 659
 660      * Name: "Linux Kernel Source Reference"
 661        Author: Thomas Graichen.
 662        URL: http://innominate.org/~graichen/projects/lksr/
 663        Keywords: CVS, web, cvsweb, browsing source code.
 664        Description: Web interface to a CVS server with the kernel
 665        sources. "Here you can have a look at any file of the Linux kernel
 666        sources of any version starting from 1.0 up to the (daily updated)
 667        current version available. Also you can check the differences
 668        between two versions of a file".
 669
 670      * Name: "Cross-Referencing Linux"
 671        URL: http://lxr.linux.no/source/
 672        Keywords: Browsing source code.
 673        Description: Another web-based Linux kernel source code browser.
 674        Lots of cross references to variables and functions. You can see
 675        where they are defined and where they are used.
 676
 677      * Name: "Linux Weekly News"
 678        URL: http://lwn.net
 679        Keywords: latest kernel news.
 680        Description: The title says it all. There's a fixed kernel section
 681        summarizing developers' work, bug fixes, new features and versions
 682        produced during the week. Published every Thursday.
 683
 684      * Name: "Kernel Traffic"
 685        URL: http://kt.zork.net/kernel-traffic/
 686        Keywords: linux-kernel mailing list, weekly kernel news.
 687        Description: Weekly newsletter covering the most relevant
 688        discussions of the linux-kernel mailing list.
 689
 690      * Name: "CuTTiNG.eDGe.LiNuX"
 691        URL: http://edge.kernelnotes.org
 692        Keywords: changelist.
 693        Description: Site which provides the changelist for every kernel
 694        release. What's new, what's better, what's changed. Myrdraal reads
 695        the patches and describes them. Pointers to the patches are there,
 696        too.
 697
 698      * Name: "New linux-kernel Mailing List FAQ"
 699        URL: http://www.tux.org/lkml/
 700        Keywords: linux-kernel mailing list FAQ.
 701        Description: linux-kernel is a mailing list for developers to
 702        communicate. This FAQ builds on the previous linux-kernel mailing
 703        list FAQ maintained by Frohwalt Egerer, who no longer maintains
 704        it. Read it to see how to join the mailing list. Dozens of
 705        interesting questions regarding the list, Linux, developers (who
 706        is ...?), terms (what is...?) are answered here too. Just read it.
 707
 708      * Name: "Linux Virtual File System"
 709        Author: Peter J. Braam.
 710        URL: http://www.coda.cs.cmu.edu/doc/talks/linuxvfs/
 711        Keywords: slides, VFS, inode, superblock, dentry, dcache.
 712        Description: Set of slides, presumably from a presentation on the
 713        Linux VFS layer. Covers version 2.1.x, with dentries and the
 714        dcache.
 715
 716      * Name: "Gary's Encyclopedia - The Linux Kernel"
 717        Author: Gary (I suppose...).
 718        URL: http://slencyclopedia.berlios.de/index.html
 719        Keywords: linux, community, everything!
 720        Description: Gary's Encyclopedia exists to allow the rapid finding
 721        of documentation and other information of interest to GNU/Linux
 722        users. It has about 4000 links to external pages in 150 major
 723        categories. This link is for kernel-specific links, documents,
 724        sites...  This list is now hosted by developer.Berlios.de,
 725        but seems not to have been updated since sometime in 1999.
 726
 727      * Name: "The home page of Linux-MM"
 728        Author: The Linux-MM team.
 729        URL: http://linux-mm.org/
 730        Keywords: memory management, Linux-MM, mm patches, TODO, docs,
 731        mailing list.
 732        Description: Site devoted to Linux Memory Management development.
 733        Memory related patches, HOWTOs, links, mm developers... Don't miss
 734        it if you are interested in memory management development!
 735
 736      * Name: "Kernel Newbies IRC Channel"
 737        URL: http://www.kernelnewbies.org
 738        Keywords: IRC, newbies, channel, asking doubts.
 739        Description: #kernelnewbies on irc.openprojects.net. From the web
 740        page: "#kernelnewbies is an IRC network dedicated to the 'newbie'
 741        kernel hacker. The audience mostly consists of people who are
 742        learning about the kernel, working on kernel projects or
 743        professional kernel hackers that want to help less seasoned kernel
 744        people. [...] #kernelnewbies is on the Open Projects IRC Network,
 745        try irc.openprojects.net or irc.<country>.openprojects.net as your
 746        server and then /join #kernelnewbies". It also hosts articles,
 747        documents, FAQs...
 748
 749      * Name: "linux-kernel mailing list archives and search engines"
 750        URL: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html
 751        URL: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/index.html
 752        URL: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel
 753        URL: http://groups.google.com/group/mlist.linux.kernel
 754        URL: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/linux/linux-kernel/
 755        URL: http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/linux-kernel/
 756        Keywords: linux-kernel, archives, search.
 757        Description: Some of the linux-kernel mailing list archivers. If
 758        you have a better/another one, please let me know.
 759      _________________________________________________________________
 760
 761    Document last updated on Sat 2005-NOV-19