The Linux kernel, at boot, organizes and partitions physical RAM into a tree-like hierarchy consisting of nodes, zones, and page frames (page frames are physical pages of RAM) (see Figure 7.19 and Figure 7.20). Nodes are divided into zones, and zones consist of page frames. A node abstracts a physical "bank" of RAM, which will be associated with one or more processor (CPU) cores. At the hardware level, the microprocessors are connected to the RAM controller chip(s); any memory controller chip, and thus any RAM, can be reached from any CPU as well, across an interconnect. Now, obviously, being able to reach the RAM physically nearest the core on which a thread is allocating (kernel) memory will lead to performance enhancement. This very idea is leveraged by hardware and OSes that support the so-called NUMA model (the meaning is explained shortly).
Linux Kernel Programming
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Linux Kernel Programming
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Overview of this book
Linux Kernel Programming is a comprehensive introduction for those new to Linux kernel and module development. This easy-to-follow guide will have you up and running with writing kernel code in next-to-no time. This book uses the latest 5.4 Long-Term Support (LTS) Linux kernel, which will be maintained from November 2019 through to December 2025. By working with the 5.4 LTS kernel throughout the book, you can be confident that your knowledge will continue to be valid for years to come.
You’ll start the journey by learning how to build the kernel from the source. Next, you’ll write your first kernel module using the powerful Loadable Kernel Module (LKM) framework. The following chapters will cover key kernel internals topics including Linux kernel architecture, memory management, and CPU scheduling.
During the course of this book, you’ll delve into the fairly complex topic of concurrency within the kernel, understand the issues it can cause, and learn how they can be addressed with various locking technologies (mutexes, spinlocks, atomic, and refcount operators). You’ll also benefit from more advanced material on cache effects, a primer on lock-free techniques within the kernel, deadlock avoidance (with lockdep), and kernel lock debugging techniques.
By the end of this kernel book, you’ll have a detailed understanding of the fundamentals of writing Linux kernel module code for real-world projects and products.
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Current Title:
Linux Kernel Programming
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Preface
Section 1: The Basics
Free Chapter
Kernel Workspace Setup
Building the 5.x Linux Kernel from Source - Part 1
Building the 5.x Linux Kernel from Source - Part 2
Writing Your First Kernel Module - LKMs Part 1
Writing Your First Kernel Module - LKMs Part 2
Section 2: Understanding and Working with the Kernel
Kernel Internals Essentials - Processes and Threads
Memory Management Internals - Essentials
Kernel Memory Allocation for Module Authors - Part 1
Kernel Memory Allocation for Module Authors - Part 2
The CPU Scheduler - Part 1
The CPU Scheduler - Part 2
Section 3: Delving Deeper
Kernel Synchronization - Part 1
Kernel Synchronization - Part 2
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