Imagine you're writing software for a multicore system (well, nowadays, it's typical that you will work on multicore systems, even on most embedded projects). As we mentioned in the introduction, running multiple code paths in parallel is not only safe, it's desirable (why spend those dollars otherwise, right?). On the other hand, concurrent (parallel and simultaneous) code paths within which shared writeable data (also known as shared state) is accessed in any manner is where you are required to guarantee that, at any given point in time, only one thread can work on that data at a time! This is really key; why? Think about it: if you allow multiple concurrent code paths to work in parallel on shared writeable data, you're literally asking for trouble: data corruption (a "race") can occur as a result.
Linux Kernel Programming Part 2 - Char Device Drivers and Kernel Synchronization
By :
Linux Kernel Programming Part 2 - Char Device Drivers and Kernel Synchronization
By:
Overview of this book
Linux Kernel Programming Part 2 - Char Device Drivers and Kernel Synchronization is an ideal companion guide to the Linux Kernel Programming book. This book provides a comprehensive introduction for those new to Linux device driver development and will have you up and running with writing misc class character device driver code (on the 5.4 LTS Linux kernel) in next to no time.
You'll begin by learning how to write a simple and complete misc class character driver before interfacing your driver with user-mode processes via procfs, sysfs, debugfs, netlink sockets, and ioctl. You'll then find out how to work with hardware I/O memory. The book covers working with hardware interrupts in depth and helps you understand interrupt request (IRQ) allocation, threaded IRQ handlers, tasklets, and softirqs. You'll also explore the practical usage of useful kernel mechanisms, setting up delays, timers, kernel threads, and workqueues. Finally, you'll discover how to deal with the complexity of kernel synchronization with locking technologies (mutexes, spinlocks, and atomic/refcount operators), including more advanced topics such as cache effects, a primer on lock-free techniques, deadlock avoidance (with lockdep), and kernel lock debugging techniques.
By the end of this Linux kernel book, you'll have learned the fundamentals of writing Linux character device driver code for real-world projects and products.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)
Preface
Section 1: Character Device Driver Basics
Free Chapter
Writing a Simple misc Character Device Driver
User-Kernel Communication Pathways
Working with Hardware I/O Memory
Handling Hardware Interrupts
Working with Kernel Timers, Threads, and Workqueues
Section 2: Delving Deeper
Kernel Synchronization - Part 1
Kernel Synchronization - Part 2
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