Device drivers literally drive everything you're interested in--disks, monitors, keyboards, modems--everything outside the computer chip and memory. And writing device drivers is one of the few areas of programming for the Linux operating system that calls for unique, Linux-specific knowledge. For years now, programmers have relied on the classic Linux Device Drivers from O'Reilly to master this critical subject. Now in its third edition, this bestselling guide provides all the information you'll need to write drivers for a wide range of devices. Over the years the book has helped countless programmers learn:
how to support computer peripherals under the Linux operating system
how to develop and write software for new hardware under Linux
the basics of Linux operation even if they are not expecting to write a driver
The new edition of Linux Device Drivers is better than ever. The book covers all the significant changes to Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel, which simplifies many activities, and contains subtle new features that can make a driver both more efficient and more flexible. Readers will find new chapters on important types of drivers not covered previously, such as consoles, USB drivers, and more.
Best of all, you don't have to be a kernel hacker to understand and enjoy this book. All you need is an understanding of the C programming language and some background in Unix system calls. And for maximum ease-of-use, the book uses full-featured examples that you can compile and run without special hardware.
Today Linux holds fast as the most rapidly growing segment of the computer market and continues to win over enthusiastic adherents in many application areas. With this increasing support, Linux is now absolutely mainstream, and viewed as a solid platform for embedded systems. If you're writing device drivers, you'll want this book. In fact, you'll wonder how drivers are ever written without it.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. An Introduction to Device Drivers
The Role of the Device Driver
Splitting the Kernel
Classes of Devices and Modules
Security Issues
Version Numbering
License Terms
Joining the Kernel Development Community
Overview of the Book
2. Building and Running Modules
Setting Up Your Test System
The Hello World Module
Kernel Modules Versus Applications
Compiling and Loading
The Kernel Symbol Table
Preliminaries
Initialization and Shutdown
Module Parameters
Doing It in User Space
Quick Reference
3. Char Drivers
The Design of scull
Major and Minor Numbers
Some Important Data Structures
Char Device Registration
open and release
scull's Memory Usage
read and write
Playing with the New Devices
Quick Reference
4. Debugging Techniques
Debugging Support in the Kernel
Debugging by Printing
Debugging by Querying
Debugging by Watching
Debugging System Faults
Debuggers and Related Tools
5. Concurrency and Race Conditions
Pitfalls in scull
Concurrency and Its Management
Semaphores and Mutexes
Completions
Spinlocks
Locking Traps
Alternatives to Locking
Quick Reference
6. Advanced Char Driver Operations
ioctl
Blocking I/O
poll and select
Asynchronous Notification
Seeking a Device
Access Control on a Device File
Quick Reference
7. Time, Delays, and Deferred Work
Measuring Time Lapses
Knowing the Current Time
Delaying Execution
Kernel Timers
Tasklets
Workqueues
Quick Reference
8. Allocating Memory
The Real Story of kmalloc
Lookaside Caches
get--free--page and Friends
vmalloc and Friends
Per-CPU Variables
Obtaining Large Buffers
Quick Reference
9. Communicating with Hardware
I/O Ports and I/O Memory
Using I/O Ports
An I/O Port Example
Using I/O Memory
Quick Reference
10. Interrupt Handling
Preparing the Parallel Port
Installing an Interrupt Handler
Implementing a Handler
Top and Bottom Halves
Interrupt Sharing
Interrupt-Driven I/O
Quick Reference
11. Data Types in the Kernel
Use of Standard C Types
Assigning an Explicit Size to Data Items
Interface-Specific Types
Other Portability Issues
Linked Lists
Quick Reference
12. PCI Drivers
The PCI Interface
A Look Back: ISA
PC/104 and PC/104+
Other PC Buses
SBus
NuBus
External Buses
Quick Reference
13. USB Drivers
USB Device Basics
USB and Sysfs
USB Urbs
Writing a USB Driver
USB Transfers Without Urbs
Quick Reference
14. The Linux Device Model
Kobjects, Ksets, and Subsystems
Low-Level Sysfs Operations
Hotplug Event Generation
Buses, Devices, and Drivers
Classes
Putting It All Together
Hotplug
Dealing with Firmware
Quick Reference
15. Memory Mapping and DMA
Memory Management in Linux
The mmap Device Operation
Performing Direct I/O
Direct Memory Access
Quick Reference
16. Block Drivers
Registration
The Block Device Operations
Request Processing
Some Other Details
Quick Reference
17. Network Drivers
How snull Is Designed
Connecting to the Kernel
The net--device Structure in Detail
Opening and Closing
Packet Transmission
Packet Reception
The Interrupt Handler
Receive Interrupt Mitigation
Changes in Link State
The Socket Buffers
MAC Address Resolution
Custom ioctl Commands
Statistical Information
Multicast
A Few Other Details
Quick Reference
18. TTY Drivers
A Small TTY Driver
tty--driver Function Pointers
TTY Line Settings
ioctls
proc and sysfs Handling of TTY Devices
The tty--driver Structure in Detail
The tty--operations Structure in Detail
The tty--struct Structure in Detail
Quick Reference
Bibliography
Index
