xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man9/intro.9 (revision 8b0f9554ff8762542c4defc4f70e1eb76fb508fa) 
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37.Dd February 17, 2007
38.Dt INTRO 9
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm intro
41.Nd introduction to kernel internals
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43This section contains information related to the internal operation of the
44system kernel.
45It describes function interfaces and variables of use to the systems and device
46driver programmer.
47.Pp
48In addition to the normal man page format, the kernel pages include an
49additional section:
50.Bl -tag -width "CODE REFERENCES"
51.It "CODE REFERENCES"
52Contains the pathname(s) of the source file(s) which contain the definition
53and/or source code of the variables or functions being documented.
54.El
55.Sh MEMORY MANAGEMENT
56Machine-dependent swap interface.
57See
58.Xr cpu_swapout 9 .
59.Pp
60Introduction to kernel memory allocators.
61See
62.Xr memoryallocators 9 .
63.Pp
64Machine-dependent portion of the virtual memory system.
65See
66.Xr pmap 9 .
67.Pp
68Virtual memory system external interface.
69See
70.Xr uvm 9 .
71.Sh I/O SUBSYSTEM
72Buffer cache interfaces.
73See
74.Xr buffercache 9 .
75.Pp
76Device buffer queues.
77See
78.Xr bufq 9 .
79.Pp
80Initiate I/O on raw devices.
81See
82.Xr physio 9 .
83.Pp
84I/O descriptor allocation interface.
85See
86.Xr getiobuf 9 .
87.Sh PROCESS CONTROL
88Machine-dependent process exit.
89See
90.Xr cpu_exit 9 .
91.Pp
92Idle CPU while waiting for work.
93See
94.Xr cpu_idle 9 .
95.Pp
96Finish a fork operation.
97See
98.Xr cpu_lwp_fork 9 .
99.Pp
100Switch to another light weight process.
101See
102.Xr ctxsw 9 .
103.Pp
104Current process and processor.
105See
106.Xr curproc 9 .
107.Pp
108Set process uid and gid.
109See
110.Xr do_setresuid 9 .
111.Pp
112New processes and kernel threads.
113See
114.Xr fork1 9 ,
115.Xr kthread 9 .
116.Pp
117Context switch notification.
118See
119.Xr cpu_need_resched 9 .
120.Pp
121Process scheduling subsystem.
122See
123.Xr scheduler 9 .
124.Pp
125Software signal facilities.
126See
127.Xr signal 9 .
128.Pp
129Suspend the scheduler.
130See
131.Xr suspendsched 9 .
132.Pp
133Return path to user-mode execution.
134See
135.Xr userret 9 .
136.Sh FILE SYSTEM
137High-level file operations.
138See
139.Xr dofileread 9 .
140.Pp
141Convert an extended attribute namespace identifier to a string and
142vice versa.
143See
144.Xr extattr 9 .
145.Pp
146Operations on file entries.
147See
148.Xr file 9 .
149.Pp
150In-kernel, file-system independent, file-meta data association.
151See
152.Xr fileassoc 9 .
153.Pp
154File descriptor tables and operations.
155See
156.Xr filedesc 9 .
157.Pp
158File descriptor owner handling functions.
159See
160.Xr fsetown 9 .
161.Pp
162File system suspension helper subsystem.
163See
164.Xr fstrans 9 .
165.Pp
166Pathname lookup, cache and management.
167See
168.Xr namei 9 ,
169.Xr namecache 9 ,
170.Xr pathname 9 .
171.Pp
172Kernel interface to file systems.
173See
174.Xr vfs 9 .
175.Pp
176Kernel representation of a file or directory and vnode attributes.
177See
178.Xr vnode 9 ,
179.Xr vattr 9 .
180.Sh NETWORKING
181Kernel interfaces for manipulating output queues on network interfaces.
182See
183.Xr altq 9 .
184.Pp
185Externally visible ARP functions.
186See
187.Xr arp 9 .
188.Pp
189Ethernet and FDDI driver support functions and macros.
190See
191.Xr ethersubr 9 .
192.Pp
193Core 802.11 network stack functions and rate adaptation based on
194received signal strength.
195See
196.Xr ieee80211 9 ,
197.Xr rssadapt 9 .
198.Pp
199Compute Internet checksum.
200See
201.Xr in_cksum 9 .
202.Pp
203Look up the IPv4 source address best matching an IPv4 destination.
204See
205.Xr in_getifa 9 .
206.Pp
207Functions and macros for managing memory used by networking code.
208See
209.Xr mbuf 9 .
210.Pp
211Packet filter interface.
212See
213.Xr pfil 9 .
214.Pp
215Route callout functions.
216See
217.Xr rt_timer 9 .
218.Pp
219TCP congestion control API.
220See
221.Xr tcp_congctl 9 .
222.Sh LOCKING AND INTERRUPT CONTROL
223Condition variables.
224See
225.Xr condvar 9 .
226.Pp
227Kernel lock functions.
228See
229.Xr lock 9 .
230.Pp
231Memory barriers.
232See
233.Xr mb 9 .
234.Pp
235Mutual exclusion primitives.
236See
237.Xr mutex 9 .
238.Pp
239Restartable atomic sequences.
240See
241.Xr ras 9 .
242.Pp
243Reader / writer lock primitives.
244See
245.Xr rwlock 9 .
246.Pp
247Machine-independent software interrupt framework.
248See
249.Xr softintr 9 .
250.Pp
251Functions to modify system interrupt priority level.
252See
253.Xr spl 9 .
254.Pp
255Functions ro raise the system priority level.
256See
257.Xr splraiseipl 9 .
258.Sh SECURITY
259Kernel authorization framework.
260See
261.Xr kauth 9 .
262.Pp
263API for cryptographic services in the kernel.
264See
265.Xr opencrypto 9 .
266.Pp
267Security model development guidelines.
268See
269.Xr secmodel 9 .
270.Sh SYSTEM TIME CONTROL
271Execute a function after a specified length of time.
272See
273.Xr callout 9 .
274.Pp
275Microsecond delay.
276See
277.Xr delay 9 .
278.Pp
279Real-time timer.
280See
281.Xr hardclock 9 .
282.Pp
283System clock frequency.
284See
285.Xr hz 9 .
286.Pp
287Initialization of system time and time-of-day clock support.
288See
289.Xr inittodr 9 ,
290.Xr todr 9 .
291.Pp
292Check that a timeval value is valid, and correct.
293See
294.Xr itimerfix 9 .
295.Pp
296System time variables.
297See
298.Xr timecounter 9 .
299.Pp
300Realtime system clock.
301See
302.Xr microtime 9 .
303.Pp
304Get the time elapsed since boot.
305See
306.Xr microuptime 9 .
307.Pp
308Convert milliseconds to system clock ticks.
309See
310.Xr mstohz 9 .
311.Pp
312Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
313See
314.Xr ppsratecheck 9 .
315.Pp
316Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
317See
318.Xr ratecheck 9 .
319.Pp
320Set battery-backed clock from system time.
321See
322.Xr resettodr 9 .
323.Pp
324System time variables.
325See
326.Xr time_second 9 .
327.Sh KERNEL AND USER SPACE DATA COPY FUNCTIONS
328Kernel space to/from user space copy functions.
329See
330.Xr copy 9 .
331.Pp
332Store data to user-space.
333See
334.Xr store 9 .
335.Pp
336Fetch data from user-space.
337See
338.Xr fetch 9 .
339.Pp
340Move data described by a struct uio.
341See
342.Xr uiomove 9 .
343.Sh MACHINE DEPENDENT KERNEL FUNCTIONS
344Machine-dependent clock setup interface.
345See
346.Xr cpu_initclocks 9 .
347.Pp
348Machine-dependent process core dump interface.
349See
350.Xr cpu_coredump 9 .
351.Pp
352Machine-dependent kernel core dumps.
353See
354.Xr cpu_dumpconf 9 .
355.Pp
356Unique CPU identification number
357See
358.Xr cpu_number 9 .
359.Pp
360Halt or reboot the system
361See
362.Xr cpu_reboot 9 .
363.Pp
364Machine-dependent root file system setup
365See
366.Xr cpu_rootconf 9 .
367.Pp
368Machine-dependent CPU startup
369See
370.Xr cpu_startup 9 .
371.Pp
372Disk label management routines.
373See
374.Xr disklabel 9 .
375.Sh DEVICE CONFIGURATION
376Autoconfiguration frame-work.
377See
378.Xr autoconf 9 .
379.Pp
380Description of a device driver.
381See
382.Xr driver 9 .
383.Pp
384The autoconfiguration framework ``device definition'' language.
385See
386.Xr config 9 .
387.Pp
388Machine-dependent device autoconfiguration.
389See
390.Xr cpu_configure 9 .
391.Sh MI DEVICE DRIVER API
392Bus and Machine Independent DMA Mapping Interface.
393See
394.Xr bus_dma 9 .
395.Pp
396Bus space manipulation functions.
397See
398.Xr bus_space 9 .
399.Pp
400Generic disk framework.
401See
402.Xr disk 9 .
403.Pp
404Hardware-assisted data mover interface.
405See
406.Xr dmover 9 .
407Generic event counter framework.
408See
409.Xr evcnt 9 .
410.Pp
411Firmware loader API for device drivers.
412See
413.Xr firmload 9 .
414.Pp
415How to implement a new ioctl call to access device drivers.
416See
417.Xr ioctl 9 .
418.Pp
419Extensible line discipline framework.
420See
421.Xr linedisc 9 .
422.Sh CONSOLE DEVICES
423Console magic key sequence management.
424See
425.Xr cnmagic 9 .
426.Pp
427Console access interface.
428See
429.Xr cons 9 .
430.Pp
431Raster display operations.
432See
433.Xr rasops 9 .
434.Pp
435Generic virtual console framework.
436See
437.Xr vcons 9 .
438.Pp
439Machine-independent console support.
440See
441.Xr wscons 9 .
442.Sh DEVICE SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION
443Interface between low and high level audio drivers.
444See
445.Xr audio 9 .
446.Pp
447Bluetooth Device/Protocol API.
448See
449.Xr bluetooth 9 .
450.Pp
451Support for CardBus PC-Card devices.
452See
453.Xr cardbus 9 .
454.Pp
455VESA Display Data Channel V2.
456See
457.Xr ddc 9 .
458.Pp
459VESA Extended Display Identification Data.
460See
461.Xr edid 9 .
462.Pp
463Inter IC (I2C) bus.
464See
465.Xr iic 9 .
466.Pp
467Baseboard I/O control ASIC for DEC TURBOchannel systems.
468See
469.Xr ioasic 9 .
470.Pp
471Industry-standard Architecture.
472See
473.Xr isa 9 .
474.Pp
475Introduction to ISA Plug-and-Play support.
476See
477.Xr isapnp 9 .
478.Pp
479MicroChannel Architecture bus.
480See
481.Xr mca 9 .
482.Pp
483PPBUS microseqencer developer's guide.
484See
485.Xr microseq 9 .
486.Pp
487Peripheral Component Interconnect.
488See
489.Xr pci 9 .
490.Pp
491Perform PCI bus configuration.
492See
493.Xr pci_configure_bus 9 .
494.Pp
495PCI bus interrupt manipulation functions.
496See
497.Xr pci_intr 9 .
498.Pp
499PC keyboard port interface.
500See
501.Xr pckbport 9 .
502.Pp
503Support for PCMCIA PC-Card devices.
504See
505.Xr pcmcia 9 .
506.Pp
507User-space interface to ppbus parallel port.
508See
509.Xr ppi 9 .
510.Pp
511Interface between low and high level radio drivers.
512See
513.Xr radio 9 .
514.Pp
515Functions to make a device available for entropy collection.
516See
517.Xr rnd 9 .
518.Pp
519SCSI/ATAPI middle-layer interface.
520See
521.Xr scsipi 9 .
522.Pp
523TURBOchannel bus.
524See
525.Xr tc 9 .
526.Pp
527USB tty support.
528See
529.Xr ucom 9 .
530.Pp
531USB device drivers interface.
532See
533.Xr usbdi 9 .
534.Pp
535Versa Module Euroboard bus.
536See
537.Xr vme 9 .
538.Pp
539Machine-independent IDE/ATAPI driver.
540See
541.Xr wdc 9 .
542.Sh KERNEL EVENT
543Functions to add or remove kernel event filters.
544See
545.Xr kfilter_register 9 .
546.Pp
547Functions to raise kernel event.
548See
549.Xr knote 9 .
550.Pp
551Record and wakeup select requests.
552See
553.Xr selrecord 9 .
554.Pp
555Simple do-it-in-thread-context framework.
556See
557.Xr workqueue 9 .
558.Sh KERNEL HELPER FUNCTIONS
559Kernel expression verification macros.
560See
561.Xr KASSERT 9 .
562.Pp
563Convert a single byte between (unsigned) packed bcd and binary.
564See
565.Xr bcdtobin 9 .
566.Pp
567Bitmask output conversion.
568See
569.Xr bitmask_snprintf 9 .
570.Pp
571General purpose extent manager.
572See
573.Xr extent 9 .
574.Pp
575Compare integers.
576See
577.Xr imax 9 .
578.Pp
579Kernel formatted output conversion.
580See
581.Xr kprintf 9 .
582.Pp
583Data comparing, moving, copying, setting and cleaning.
584See
585.Xr memcmp 9 ,
586.Xr memmove 9 ,
587.Xr memcpy 9 ,
588.Xr memset 9 ,
589.Xr bcmp 9 ,
590.Xr bcopy 9 ,
591.Xr bzero 9 ,
592.Xr kcopy 9 .
593.Pp
594Log a message from the kernel through the /dev/klog device.
595See
596.Xr log 9 .
597.Pp
598Bring down system on fatal error.
599See
600.Xr panic 9 .
601.Sh MISC
602Run all power hooks.
603See
604.Xr dopowerhooks 9 .
605.Pp
606Run all shutdown hooks.
607See
608.Xr doshutdownhooks 9 .
609.Pp
610Kernel internal error numbers.
611See
612.Xr errno 9 .
613.Pp
614Kernel hash functions, hash table construction and destruction.
615See
616.Xr hash 9 ,
617.Xr hashinit 9 .
618.Pp
619Format a number into a human readable form.
620See
621.Xr humanize_number 9 .
622.Pp
623Machine-dependent interface to ipkdb.
624See
625.Xr ipkdb 9 .
626.Pp
627Options string management.
628See
629.Xr optstr 9 .
630.Pp
631Performs pattern matching on strings.
632See
633.Xr pmatch 9 .
634.Pp
635Hardware Performance Monitoring Interface.
636See
637.Xr pmc 9 .
638.Pp
639Add or remove a power change hook.
640See
641.Xr powerhook_establish 9 .
642.Pp
643Add or remove a shutdown hook.
644See
645.Xr shutdownhook_establish 9 .
646.Pp
647Non-local jumps.
648See
649.Xr setjmp 9 .
650.Pp
651System variable control interfaces.
652See
653.Xr sysctl 9 .
654.Sh HISTORY
655The
656.Nx
657kernel internals section first appeared in
658.Nx 1.2 .
659