Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 19:16:19 +0200 From: Stefan Sperling <stsp@stsp.in-berlin.de> To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kernel hack Message-ID: <20050925171619.GA1670@dice.bliss.lan>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
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
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20050925171619.GA1670>