plano

   1 DAY ONE:
   2 intro
   3         linux
   4                 version history/evolution/compatibility
   5                 constant change, book is already outdated
   6                 current versioning/development model
   7                 modules
   8                 build dependencies
   9                 running new/bleeding-edge kernels
  10
  11 concepts
  12         kernel/user space
  13                 rings/levels/modes
  14                 memory protection/segmentation/pagination
  15                 library calls
  16                 allowed uses (floating point forbidden)
  17                 concurrency
  18                 small stack
  19         libc/system calls
  20         operating system functions
  21                 process management
  22                         concurrency
  23                         communication/IPC, scheduling
  24                 memory management
  25                         address space
  26                         virtual memory
  27                 filesystems
  28                 networking
  29                 device, I/O
  30         robustness/security
  31                 error checking
  32                 kernel space code
  33                 programming errors and bugs
  34                 restrict some operations to privileged users
  35                 do not send unzeored data (information leak)
  36                 do not trust received data (malformed data) (exploit)
  37                 risks for the machine/system/data
  38
  39 basics
  40         Makefile
  41         Kconfig
  42         building linux
  43         build
  44         init/exit
  45         module macros
  46         module parameters
  47         config/build time options/parameters
  48         sysfs interface for modules
  49         printk
  50         module loading/unloading/handling
  51
  52 VFS
  53         center/hub/interface
  54         char/block/procfs/sysfs: all go through VFS to device
  55         fops is the main structure in linux
  56         FS on top of block devices
  57                 block layer
  58                 exception: some on top of MTD devices
  59
  60 device driver subsystem
  61         buses
  62         device classes
  63         interfaces
  64                 dev file
  65                 sysfs
  66                 procfs
  67                 sysctl
  68                 netlink
  69
  70 C basics
  71         container_of (struct embedding)
  72         fops/*ops (function pointers)
  73         IS_ERR (pointers and error values)
  74
  75 char device
  76         MAJOR/MINOR/MKDEV
  77
  78
  79 DAY TWO:
  80 procfs
  81
  82 debugging techniques
  83         printk/procfs
  84         debugfs
  85         kgdb
  86         trace
  87         kprobe
  88
  89 data structures
  90         list_head
  91         bitmap
  92         trees rbtree
  93         idr
  94         any hash implementation
  95
  96 portability
  97         be16_to_cpu/etc
  98
  99
 100
 101 DAY THREE:
 102 contexts
 103         user context (current, copy_from_user, schedule) schedule
 104         interrupt context
 105         workqueue is user context
 106         sleep == schedule
 107
 108 concurrency
 109         SMP systems
 110         locking
 111         spinlock: disable scheduler
 112         semaphore/mutex sleeps
 113         per-cpu variables
 114         atomic
 115         RCU
 116
 117 memory allocation
 118         kobject refcount MENTION
 119         slab
 120                 multiple implementations
 121                 space efficient (tables for different object sizes)
 122                 concurrency efficient (per-cpu tables)
 123         kmalloc
 124                 uses slab
 125         vmalloc
 126                 linux memory layout
 127
 128 scheduling/timing
 129         schedule{,_timeout}
 130         timer
 131         workqueue
 132         completion/wait_head
 133         tasklets
 134
 135 DAY FOUR:
 136 I/O
 137         readl/writel/etc (portability)
 138 Interrupts
 139         {request,free}_irq
 140         interrupt context
 141         tasklet/workqueue/postpone
 142 Device Model
 143         classes: cdrom, backlight, input, misc
 144         terminal/serial device
 145         sysfs
 146         kobject (advanced)
 147                 refcounting
 148
 149 Buses
 150         PCI
 151         USB
 152         other buses: SPI, I2C, parport, etc
 153
 154 DAY FIVE:
 155 DMA/Memory Mapping
 156 Block Devices
 157         scather/gather
 158 Network Devices
 159         skb
 160 board/machine/architecture files