Understanding the Linux kernel / Daniel P. Bovet and Marco Cesati.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bovet, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierre)

Contributor:

Cesati, Marco.

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Linux.

Operating systems (Computers).

Physical Description:

xv, 765 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly, [2003]

Summary:

In order to thoroughly understand what makes GNU/Linux tick, and why it works so well on a wide variety of systems, you need to delve deep into the heart of the operating system -- that is, into the Linux kernel itself. The kernel handles all the requests or completed I/O operations and determines which programs will share its processing time, and in what order. Responsible for the sophisticated management of the whole system, the Linux kernel is the force behind the legendary Linux efficiency. The new edition of Understanding the Linux Kernel takes you on a guided tour of the most significant data structures, algorithms, and programming tricks used in the kernel. Important Intel-specific features are discussed. But the book covers more than just the functioning of the code; it explains the theoretical underpinnings for why Linux does things the way it does. Understanding the Linux Kernel will acquaint you with all the inner workings of Linux, but it's not just an academic exercise. You'll learn what conditions bring out Linux's best performance, and you'll see how it meets the challenge of providing good system response during process scheduling, file access, and memory management in a wide variety of environments. Knowledge is power, and this book will help you make the most of your Linux system.

Contents:

Linux Versus Other Unix-Like Kernels 2

Hardware Dependency 6

Linux Versions 7

Basic Operating System Concepts 8

An Overview of the Unix Filesystem 12

An Overview of Unix Kernels 18

2. Memory Addressing 34

Memory Addresses 34

Segmentation in Hardware 35

Segmentation in Linux 40

Paging in Hardware 44

Paging in Linux 54

3. Processes 72

Processes, Lightweight Processes, and Threads 72

Process Descriptor 74

Process Switch 89

Creating Processes 99

Destroying Processes 106

4. Interrupts and Exceptions 109

The Role of Interrupt Signals 110

Interrupts and Exceptions 111

Nested Execution of Exception and Interrupt Handlers 121

Initializing the Interrupt Descriptor Table 122

Exception Handling 125

Interrupt Handling 128

Softirqs, Tasklets, and Bottom Halves 145

Returning from Interrupts and Exceptions 156

5. Kernel Synchronization 161

Kernel Control Paths 161

When Synchronization Is Not Necessary 162

Synchronization Primitives 163

Synchronizing Accesses to Kernel Data Structures 184

Examples of Race Condition Prevention 189

6. Timing Measurements 193

Hardware Clocks 194

The Linux Timekeeping Architecture 197

CPU's Time Sharing 202

Updating the Time and Date 203

Updating System Statistics 204

Software Timers 206

System Calls Related to Timing Measurements 213

7. Memory Management 217

Page Frame Management 217

Memory Area Management 239

Noncontiguous Memory Area Management 256

8. Process Address Space 263

The Process's Address Space 264

The Memory Descriptor 265

Memory Regions 268

Page Fault Exception Handler 285

Creating and Deleting a Process Address Space 298

Managing the Heap 300

9. System Calls 303

POSIX APIs and System Calls 303

System Call Handler and Service Routines 304

Kernel Wrapper Routines 316

10. Signals 318

The Role of Signals 318

Generating a Signal 327

Delivering a Signal 332

System Calls Related to Signal Handling 343

11. Process Scheduling 348

Scheduling Policy 348

The Scheduling Algorithm 352

System Calls Related to Scheduling 367

12. The Virtual Filesystem 372

The Role of the Virtual Filesystem (VFS) 372

VFS Data Structures 378

Filesystem Types 394

Filesystem Mounting 397

Pathname Lookup 407

Implementations of VFS System Calls 416

File Locking 420

13. Managing I/O Devices 427

I/O Architecture 427

Device Files 437

Device Drivers 441

Block Device Drivers 449

Character Device Drivers 471

14. Disk Caches 474

The Page Cache 476

The Buffer Cache 481

15. Accessing Files 497

Reading and Writing a File 497

Memory Mapping 513

Direct I/O Transfers 523

16. Swapping: Methods for Freeing Memory 528

Swap Area 531

The Swap Cache 545

Transferring Swap Pages 548

Swapping Out Pages 551

Swapping in Pages 556

Reclaiming Page Frame 559

17. The Ext2 and Ext3 Filesystems 574

General Characteristics of Ext2 574

Ext2 Disk Data Structures 577

Ext2 Memory Data Structures 584

Creating the Ext2 Filesystem 588

Ext2 Methods 590

Managing Ext2 Disk Space 592

The Ext3 Filesystem 600

18. Networking 608

Main Networking Data Structures 609

System Calls Related to Networking 618

Sending Packets to the Network Card 627

Receiving Packets from the Network Card 629

19. Process Communication 632

Pipes 633

FIFOs 642

System V IPC 644

20. Program Execution 661

Executable Files 662

Executable Formats 674

Execution Domains 676

The exec Functions 678

A. System Startup 685

B. Modules 692

C. Source Code Structure 702.

Notes:

"From I/O ports to process management"--Cover.

"Covers Linux Kernel version 2.4"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 707-709) and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0596002130

OCLC:

51324795