Understanding the Linux Kernel

by Bovet, Daniel P.; Cesati, Marco

• ISBN13: 9780596000028
• ISBN10: 0596000022
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

Why is Linux so efficient? Is it the right operating system for a particular application? What can be learned from looking at the kernel source code? These are the kinds of questions that "Understanding the Linux Kernel takes in stride in this guided tour of the code that forms the core of all Linux operating systems.Linux is presented too often as a casual hacker experiment. It has increasingly become not only a mission-critical part of many organizations, but a sophisticated display of programming skill. It incorporates many advanced operating system concepts and has proven itself extremely robust and efficient for a wide range of uses."Understanding the Linux Kernel helps readers understand how Linux performs best and how it meets the challenge of different environments. The authors introduce each topic by explaining its importance, and show how kernel operations relate to the utilities that are familiar to Unix programmers and users.Major topics include:Memory management, including file buffering, process swapping, and Direct Memory Access (DMA)The Virtual File System and the Second Extended File SystemProcess creation and schedulingSignals, interrupts, and the essential interfaces to device driversTimingSynchronization in the kernelInter-Process Communication (IPC)Program execution

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(4)
Linux Versus Other Unix-Like Kernels	2	(3)
Hardware Dependency	5	(30)
Linux Versions	6	(1)
Basic Operating System Concepts	7	(5)
An Overview of the Unix Filesystem	12	(7)
An Overview of Unix Kernels	19	(16)
Memory Addressing	35	(30)
Memory Addresses	35	(1)
Segmentation in Hardware	36	(4)
Segmentation in Linux	40	(5)
Paging in Hardware	45	(8)
Paging in Linux	53	(11)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	64	(1)
Processes	65	(35)
Process Descriptor	65	(15)
Process Switching	80	(9)
Creating Processes	89	(8)
Destroying Processes	97	(2)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	99	(1)
Interrupts and Exceptions	100	(38)
The Role of Interrupt Signals	101	(1)
Interrupts and Exceptions	102	(9)
Nested Execution of Exception and Interrupt Handlers	111	(1)
Initializing the Interrupt Descriptor Table	112	(3)
Exception Handling	115	(3)
Interrupt Handling	118	(15)
Returning from Interrupts and Exceptions	133	(3)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	136	(2)
Timing Measurements	138	(20)
Hardware Clocks	139	(2)
The Timer Interrupt Handler	141	(1)
PIT's Interrupt Service Routine	142	(2)
The TIMER_BH Bottom Half Functions	144	(10)
System Calls Related to Timing Measurements	154	(3)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	157	(1)
Memory Management	158	(37)
Page Frame Management	158	(13)
Memory Area Management	171	(17)
Noncontiguous Memory Area Management	188	(5)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	193	(2)
Process Address Space	195	(38)
The Process's Address Space	196	(2)
The Memory Descriptor	198	(1)
Memory Regions	199	(17)
Page Fault Exception Handler	216	(12)
Creating and Deleting a Process Address Space	228	(2)
Managing the Heap	230	(2)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	232	(1)
System Calls	233	(16)
POSIX APIs and System Calls	233	(1)
System Call Handler and Service Routines	234	(12)
Wrapper Routines	246	(2)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	248	(1)
Signals	249	(28)
The Role of Signals	249	(8)
Sending a Signal	257	(3)
Receiving a Signal	260	(11)
Real-Time Signals	271	(1)
System Calls Related to Signal Handling	271	(5)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	276	(1)
Process Scheduling	277	(22)
Scheduling Policy	277	(4)
The Scheduling Algorithm	281	(12)
System Calls Related to Scheduling	293	(5)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	298	(1)
Kernel Synchronization	299	(29)
Kernel Control Paths	299	(1)
Synchronization Techniques	300	(10)
The SMP Architecture	310	(4)
The Linux/SMP Kernel	314	(13)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	327	(1)
The Virtual Filesystem	328	(44)
The Role of the VFS	328	(6)
VFS Data Structures	334	(16)
Filesystem Mounting	350	(7)
Pathname Lookup	357	(5)
Implementations of VFS System Calls	362	(4)
File Locking	366	(5)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	371	(1)
Managing I/O Devices	372	(43)
I/O Architecture	372	(6)
Associating Files with I/O Devices	378	(5)
Device Drivers	383	(8)
Character Device Handling	391	(2)
Block Device Handling	393	(18)
Page I/O Operations	411	(3)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	414	(1)
Disk Caches	415	(21)
The Buffer Cache	416	(15)
The Page Cache	431	(3)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	434	(2)
Accessing Regular Files	436	(20)
Reading and Writing a Regular File	436	(9)
Memory Mapping	445	(10)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	455	(1)
Swapping: Methods for Freeing Memory	456	(39)
What Is Swapping?	457	(2)
Swap Area	459	(12)
The Swap Cache	471	(3)
Transferring Swap Pages	474	(5)
Page Swap-Out	479	(7)
Page Swap-In	486	(2)
Freeing Page Frames	488	(6)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	494	(1)
The Ext2 Filesystem	495	(29)
General Characteristics	495	(2)
Disk Data Structures	497	(8)
Memory Data Structures	505	(4)
Creating the Filesystem	509	(2)
Ext2 Methods	511	(2)
Managing Disk Space	513	(8)
Reading and Writing an Ext2 Regular File	521	(2)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	523	(1)
Process Communication	524	(28)
Pipes	525	(8)
FIFOs	533	(3)
System V IPC	536	(15)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	551	(1)
Program Execution	552	(23)
Executable Files	553	(13)
Executable Formats	566	(2)
Execution Domains	568	(1)
The exec-like Functions	569	(5)
Anticipating Linux 2.4	574	(1)
Appendix A System Startup	575	(7)
Appendix B Modules	582	(9)
Appendix C Source Code Structure	591	(4)
Bibliography	595	(4)
Source Code Index	599	(28)
Index	627