[svlug] Code walkthrough notes

[Kristian Erik Hermansen]

On 11/7/07, Larry Colen <lrc at red4est.com> wrote:
> It occured to me that there are several related topics, that aren't
> actually in the kernel itself, that would be helpful to learn more
> about:
>    Cross compiling (the kernel)

Yeah!

>    Kernel debugging (gdb extensions?)

kdb + crash + serial console?

>    Open BIOS

Some version of OpenBIOS, like on Sparc64, are still too immature and
don't boot properly :-(

>    Bootloaders/Grub/Lilo(?)

Yeah -- explain that BIOS->init magic handshake and takeover...

>    Kernel documentation
>
> Speaking of documentation, a good reference website is
> http://lxr.linux.no

+1

> When Paul asked for discussion topics, I suggest starting with high
> level structure. He asked me to layout what I consider to be the
> primary structural elements, so here's my quick and dirty outline. I
> highly encourage people to post their suggestions as to a better list.
>
>   Scheduler
>   Memory Management
>   File System
>   Device Drivers
>   Networking
>   Boot / init
>   Interrupt handling
>   ipc
>   system calls

* Protection and security mechanisms to protect against hostile local users?
* System calls and kernel interfaces?
* Mechanisms to protect against syscall/kern proxying (interface
shims) by malicious code?
* Virtual computing and why Xen has been so intrusive (xen-patches in
mainline), while kvm is not (very few kvm patches)?
* Threading implementation and issues?
* SMP details?
* Most efficient ways to debug OOPS and AIEEEEE!!!   ??????
* 64-bit specific issues?
* Real-time kernel optimizations?
* How to slim the kernel for cell phones, mobiles devices, and embedded systems?
* Micro-kernel versus macro-kernel :-)
-- 
Kristian Erik Hermansen