plano

   1 intro
   2         linux
   3                 version history/evolution DO?
   4                 modules
   5                 constant change, book is already outdated
   6                 current versioning/development model
   7                 build dependencies
   8                 running new/bleeding-edge kernels
   9         kernel/user space
  10         libc/system calls
  11
  12 concepts
  13         operating system functions
  14                 process management
  15                         concurrency
  16                         communication/IPC, scheduling
  17                 memory management
  18                         address space
  19                         virtual memory
  20                 filesystems
  21                 networking
  22                 device, I/O
  23         robustness/security
  24                 error checking
  25                 kernel space code
  26                 programming errors and bugs
  27                 restrict some operations to privileged users
  28                 do not send unzeored data (information leak)
  29                 do not trust received data (malformed data) (exploit)
  30
  31 basics
  32         Makefile
  33         Kconfig DO?
  34         build
  35         init/exit
  36         module macros
  37         module parameters
  38         config/build time options/parameters
  39         sysfs interface for modules DO?
  40         printk
  41
  42 VFS
  43         center/hub/interface
  44         char/block/procfs/sysfs: all go through VFS to device
  45         FS on top of block devices
  46                 block layer
  47                 exception: some on top of MTD devices
  48
  49 device driver subsystem
  50         buses
  51         device classes
  52         interfaces
  53                 dev file
  54                 sysfs
  55                 procfs
  56                 sysctl DO?
  57                 netlink DO?
  58
  59 char device
  60 procfs
  61 sysfs
  62 block device DO? STUDY
  63 network device DO? STUDY
  64 terminal/serial device DO? STUDY
  65
  66 debugging techniques
  67         printk/procfs
  68         debugfs DO? STUDY
  69         kgdb DO?
  70         trace DO?
  71         kprobe DO?
  72
  73 C basics
  74         container_of (struct embedding)
  75         fops/*ops (function pointers)
  76         IS_ERR (pointers and error values)
  77
  78 data structures
  79         list_head
  80         bitmap
  81         trees DO? STUDY rbtree
  82         idr DO?
  83         any hash implementation DO? STUDY
  84
  85 contexts
  86         user context (current, copy_from_user, schedule) STUDY schedule
  87         interrupt context
  88         workqueue is user context
  89         sleep == schedule
  90
  91 concurrency
  92         SMP systems
  93         locking
  94         spinlock: disable scheduler
  95         semaphore/mutex sleeps
  96         per-cpu variables STUDY
  97         atomic
  98         RCU DO?
  99
 100 memory allocation
 101         kobject refcount MENTION
 102         slab STUDY
 103                 multiple implementations
 104                 space efficient (tables for different object sizes)
 105                 concurrency efficient (per-cpu tables)
 106         kmalloc
 107                 uses slab STUDY
 108         vmalloc
 109                 linux memory layout
 110
 111 scheduling/timing
 112         schedule{,_timeout}
 113         timer
 114         workqueue
 115         completion/wait_head
 116         tasklets DO? STUDY
 117
 118 portability
 119         readl/writel/etc
 120         be16_to_cpu/etc
 121
 122 interrupt
 123         {request,free}_irq
 124         interrupt context
 125         tasklet/workqueue/postpone
 126
 127 buses
 128         PCI bus DO?
 129         USB bus DO?
 130         some bus: SPI, I2C, parport DO?
 131
 132 device classes
 133         some class: cdrom, backlight, input, misc DO?
 134
 135 kobject DO? advanced
 136         refcounting
 137
 138 STUDY:
 139         module owner, concurrency, reference counting