xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man9/intro.9 (revision 88a08a05ec8c5ba828fd2259171984c198f85add) 
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30.Dd May 30, 2017
31.Dt INTRO 9
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm intro
35.Nd introduction to kernel internals
36.Sh DESCRIPTION
37This section contains information related to the internal operation of the
38system kernel.
39It describes function interfaces and variables of use to the systems and device
40driver programmer.
41.Pp
42In addition to the normal man page format, the kernel pages include an
43additional section:
44.Bl -tag -width "CODE REFERENCES"
45.It "CODE REFERENCES"
46Contains the pathname(s) of the source file(s) which contain the definition
47and/or source code of the variables or functions being documented.
48Any paths are relative to the top level of the source tree (traditionally
49.Pa /usr/src ) .
50.El
51.Sh MEMORY MANAGEMENT
52Introduction to kernel memory allocators.
53See
54.Xr memoryallocators 9 .
55.Pp
56Machine-dependent portion of the virtual memory system.
57See
58.Xr pmap 9 .
59.Pp
60Virtual memory system external interface.
61See
62.Xr uvm 9 .
63.Sh I/O SUBSYSTEM
64Buffer cache interfaces.
65See
66.Xr buffercache 9 .
67.Pp
68Device buffer queues.
69See
70.Xr bufq 9 .
71.Pp
72Initiate I/O on raw devices.
73See
74.Xr physio 9 .
75.Pp
76I/O descriptor allocation interface.
77See
78.Xr getiobuf 9 .
79.Sh PROCESS CONTROL
80Idle CPU while waiting for work.
81See
82.Xr cpu_idle 9 .
83.Pp
84Finish a fork operation.
85See
86.Xr cpu_lwp_fork 9 .
87.Pp
88Switch to another light weight process.
89See
90.Xr mi_switch 9 .
91.Pp
92Current process and processor.
93See
94.Xr curproc 9 .
95.Pp
96Set process uid and gid.
97See
98.Xr do_setresuid 9 .
99.Pp
100New processes and kernel threads.
101See
102.Xr fork1 9 ,
103.Xr kthread 9 .
104.Pp
105Context switch notification.
106See
107.Xr cpu_need_resched 9 .
108.Pp
109Common scheduler framework.
110See
111.Xr csf 9 .
112.Pp
113Software signal facilities.
114See
115.Xr signal 9 .
116.Pp
117Suspend the scheduler.
118See
119.Xr suspendsched 9 .
120.Pp
121Return path to user-mode execution.
122See
123.Xr userret 9 .
124.Sh FILE SYSTEM
125High-level file operations.
126See
127.Xr dofileread 9 .
128.Pp
129Convert an extended attribute namespace identifier to a string and
130vice versa.
131See
132.Xr extattr 9 .
133.Pp
134Operations on file entries.
135See
136.Xr file 9 .
137.Pp
138In-kernel, file-system independent, file-meta data association.
139See
140.Xr fileassoc 9 .
141.Pp
142File descriptor tables and operations.
143See
144.Xr filedesc 9 .
145.Pp
146File descriptor owner handling functions.
147See
148.Xr fsetown 9 .
149.Pp
150File system suspension helper subsystem.
151See
152.Xr fstrans 9 .
153.Pp
154Pathname lookup, cache and management.
155See
156.Xr namei 9 ,
157.Xr namecache 9 .
158.Pp
159Kernel interface to file systems.
160See
161.Xr vfs 9 .
162.Pp
163Kernel representation of a file or directory and vnode attributes.
164See
165.Xr vnode 9 ,
166.Xr vattr 9 .
167.Sh NETWORKING
168Kernel interfaces for manipulating output queues on network interfaces.
169See
170.Xr altq 9 .
171.Pp
172Externally visible ARP functions.
173See
174.Xr arp 9 .
175.Pp
176Ethernet and FDDI driver support functions and macros.
177See
178.Xr ethersubr 9 .
179.Pp
180Core 802.11 network stack functions and rate adaptation based on
181received signal strength.
182See
183.Xr ieee80211 9 ,
184.Xr rssadapt 9 .
185.Pp
186Compute Internet checksum.
187See
188.Xr in_cksum 9 .
189.Pp
190Look up the IPv4 source address best matching an IPv4 destination.
191See
192.Xr in_getifa 9 .
193.Pp
194Functions and macros for managing memory used by networking code.
195See
196.Xr mbuf 9 .
197.Pp
198Packet filter interface.
199See
200.Xr pfil 9 .
201.Pp
202Route callout functions.
203See
204.Xr rt_timer 9 .
205.Pp
206TCP congestion control API.
207See
208.Xr tcp_congctl 9 .
209.Sh LOCKING AND INTERRUPT CONTROL
210Condition variables.
211See
212.Xr condvar 9 .
213.Pp
214Kernel lock functions.
215See
216.Xr lock 9 .
217.Pp
218Memory barriers.
219See
220.Xr mb 9 .
221.Pp
222Mutual exclusion primitives.
223See
224.Xr mutex 9 .
225.Pp
226Restartable atomic sequences.
227See
228.Xr ras 9 .
229.Pp
230Reader / writer lock primitives.
231See
232.Xr rwlock 9 .
233.Pp
234Machine-independent software interrupt framework.
235See
236.Xr softint 9 .
237.Pp
238Functions to modify system interrupt priority level.
239See
240.Xr spl 9 .
241.Pp
242Functions to raise the system priority level.
243See
244.Xr splraiseipl 9 .
245.Sh SECURITY
246Kernel authorization framework.
247See
248.Xr kauth 9 .
249.Pp
250API for cryptographic services in the kernel.
251See
252.Xr opencrypto 9 .
253.Pp
254Security model development guidelines.
255See
256.Xr secmodel 9 .
257.Sh SYSTEM TIME CONTROL
258Execute a function after a specified length of time.
259See
260.Xr callout 9 .
261.Pp
262Microsecond delay.
263See
264.Xr delay 9 .
265.Pp
266Real-time timer.
267See
268.Xr hardclock 9 .
269.Pp
270System clock frequency.
271See
272.Xr hz 9 .
273.Pp
274Initialization of system time and time-of-day clock support.
275See
276.Xr inittodr 9 ,
277.Xr todr 9 .
278.Pp
279Check that a timeval value is valid, and correct.
280See
281.Xr itimerfix 9 .
282.Pp
283System time variables.
284See
285.Xr timecounter 9 .
286.Pp
287Realtime system clock.
288See
289.Xr microtime 9 .
290.Pp
291Get the time elapsed since boot.
292See
293.Xr microuptime 9 .
294.Pp
295Convert milliseconds to system clock ticks.
296See
297.Xr mstohz 9 .
298.Pp
299Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
300See
301.Xr ppsratecheck 9 .
302.Pp
303Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
304See
305.Xr ratecheck 9 .
306.Pp
307Set battery-backed clock from system time.
308See
309.Xr resettodr 9 .
310.Pp
311System time variables.
312See
313.Xr time_second 9 .
314.Sh KERNEL AND USER SPACE DATA COPY FUNCTIONS
315Kernel space to/from user space copy functions.
316See
317.Xr copy 9 .
318.Pp
319Store data to user-space.
320See
321.Xr store 9 .
322.Pp
323Fetch data from user-space.
324See
325.Xr fetch 9 .
326.Pp
327Move data described by a struct uio.
328See
329.Xr uiomove 9 .
330.Sh MACHINE DEPENDENT KERNEL FUNCTIONS
331Machine-dependent clock setup interface.
332See
333.Xr cpu_initclocks 9 .
334.Pp
335Machine-dependent process core dump interface.
336See
337.Xr cpu_coredump 9 .
338.Pp
339Machine-dependent kernel core dumps.
340See
341.Xr cpu_dumpconf 9 .
342.Pp
343Unique CPU identification number
344See
345.Xr cpu_number 9 .
346.Pp
347Halt or reboot the system
348See
349.Xr cpu_reboot 9 .
350.Pp
351Machine-dependent root file system setup
352See
353.Xr cpu_rootconf 9 .
354.Pp
355Machine-dependent CPU startup
356See
357.Xr cpu_startup 9 .
358.Pp
359Disk label management routines.
360See
361.Xr disklabel 9 .
362.Sh DEVICE CONFIGURATION
363Autoconfiguration frame-work.
364See
365.Xr autoconf 9 .
366.Pp
367Description of a device driver.
368See
369.Xr driver 9 .
370.Pp
371The autoconfiguration framework ``device definition'' language.
372See
373.Xr config 9 .
374.Pp
375Machine-dependent device autoconfiguration.
376See
377.Xr cpu_configure 9 .
378.Sh MI DEVICE DRIVER API
379Bus and Machine Independent DMA Mapping Interface.
380See
381.Xr bus_dma 9 .
382.Pp
383Bus space manipulation functions.
384See
385.Xr bus_space 9 .
386.Pp
387Generic disk framework.
388See
389.Xr disk 9 .
390.Pp
391Hardware-assisted data mover interface.
392See
393.Xr dmover 9 .
394Generic event counter framework.
395See
396.Xr evcnt 9 .
397.Pp
398Firmware loader API for device drivers.
399See
400.Xr firmload 9 .
401.Pp
402How to implement a new ioctl call to access device drivers.
403See
404.Xr ioctl 9 .
405.Pp
406Extensible line discipline framework.
407See
408.Xr linedisc 9 .
409.Sh CONSOLE DEVICES
410Console magic key sequence management.
411See
412.Xr cnmagic 9 .
413.Pp
414Console access interface.
415See
416.Xr cons 9 .
417.Pp
418Raster display operations.
419See
420.Xr rasops 9 .
421.Pp
422Generic virtual console framework.
423See
424.Xr vcons 9 .
425.Pp
426Machine-independent console support.
427See
428.Xr wscons 9 .
429.Sh DEVICE SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION
430Interface between low and high level audio drivers.
431See
432.Xr audio 9 .
433.Pp
434Bluetooth Device/Protocol API.
435See
436.Xr bluetooth 9 .
437.Pp
438Support for CardBus PC-Card devices.
439See
440.Xr cardbus 9 .
441.Pp
442VESA Display Data Channel V2.
443See
444.Xr ddc 9 .
445.Pp
446VESA Extended Display Identification Data.
447See
448.Xr edid 9 .
449.Pp
450Inter IC (I2C) bus.
451See
452.Xr iic 9 .
453.Pp
454Baseboard I/O control ASIC for DEC TURBOchannel systems.
455See
456.Xr ioasic 9 .
457.Pp
458Industry-standard Architecture.
459See
460.Xr isa 9 .
461.Pp
462Introduction to ISA Plug-and-Play support.
463See
464.Xr isapnp 9 .
465.Pp
466MicroChannel Architecture bus.
467See
468.Xr mca 9 .
469.Pp
470PPBUS microseqencer developer's guide.
471See
472.Xr microseq 9 .
473.Pp
474Peripheral Component Interconnect.
475See
476.Xr pci 9 .
477.Pp
478Perform PCI bus configuration.
479See
480.Xr pci_configure_bus 9 .
481.Pp
482PCI bus interrupt manipulation functions.
483See
484.Xr pci_intr 9 .
485.Pp
486PC keyboard port interface.
487See
488.Xr pckbport 9 .
489.Pp
490Support for PCMCIA PC-Card devices.
491See
492.Xr pcmcia 9 .
493.Pp
494User-space interface to ppbus parallel port.
495See
496.Xr ppi 9 .
497.Pp
498Interface between low and high level radio drivers.
499See
500.Xr radio 9 .
501.Pp
502Functions to make a device available for entropy collection.
503See
504.Xr rnd 9 .
505.Pp
506SCSI/ATAPI middle-layer interface.
507See
508.Xr scsipi 9 .
509.Pp
510TURBOchannel bus.
511See
512.Xr tc 9 .
513.Pp
514USB tty support.
515See
516.Xr ucom 9 .
517.Pp
518USB device drivers interface.
519See
520.Xr usbdi 9 .
521.Pp
522Versa Module Euroboard bus.
523See
524.Xr vme 9 .
525.Pp
526Machine-independent IDE/ATAPI driver.
527See
528.Xr wdc 9 .
529.Sh KERNEL EVENT
530Functions to add or remove kernel event filters.
531See
532.Xr kfilter_register 9 .
533.Pp
534Functions to raise kernel event.
535See
536.Xr knote 9 .
537.Pp
538Record and wakeup select requests.
539See
540.Xr selrecord 9 .
541.Pp
542Simple do-it-in-thread-context framework.
543See
544.Xr workqueue 9 .
545.Sh KERNEL HELPER FUNCTIONS
546Kernel expression verification macros.
547See
548.Xr KASSERT 9 .
549.Pp
550Convert a single byte between (unsigned) packed bcd and binary.
551See
552.Xr bcdtobin 9 .
553.Pp
554Bitmask output conversion.
555See
556.Xr snprintb 3 .
557.Pp
558General purpose extent manager.
559See
560.Xr extent 9 .
561.Pp
562Compare integers.
563See
564.Xr imax 9 .
565.Pp
566Kernel formatted output conversion.
567See
568.Xr kprintf 9 .
569.Pp
570Data comparing, moving, copying, setting and cleaning.
571See
572.Xr memcmp 9 ,
573.Xr memmove 9 ,
574.Xr memcpy 9 ,
575.Xr memset 9 ,
576.Xr bcmp 9 ,
577.Xr bcopy 9 ,
578.Xr bzero 9 ,
579.Xr kcopy 9 .
580.Pp
581Log a message from the kernel through the /dev/klog device.
582See
583.Xr log 9 .
584.Pp
585Bring down system on fatal error.
586See
587.Xr panic 9 .
588.Sh MISC
589Power management and inter-driver messaging.
590See
591.Xr pmf 9 .
592.Pp
593Run all shutdown hooks.
594See
595.Xr pmf_system_shutdown 9 .
596.Pp
597Kernel internal error numbers.
598See
599.Xr errno 9 .
600.Pp
601Kernel hash functions, hash table construction and destruction.
602See
603.Xr hash 9 ,
604.Xr hashinit 9 .
605.Pp
606Format a number into a human readable form.
607See
608.Xr humanize_number 9 .
609.Pp
610Machine-dependent interface to ipkdb.
611See
612.Xr ipkdb 9 .
613.Pp
614Options string management.
615See
616.Xr optstr 9 .
617.Pp
618Performs pattern matching on strings.
619See
620.Xr pmatch 9 .
621.Pp
622Hardware Performance Monitoring Interface.
623See
624.Xr pmc 9 .
625.Pp
626Add or remove a shutdown hook.
627See
628.Xr pmf 9 .
629.Pp
630Non-local jumps.
631See
632.Xr setjmp 9 .
633.Pp
634System variable control interfaces.
635See
636.Xr sysctl 9 .
637.Sh HISTORY
638The
639.Nx
640kernel internals section first appeared in
641.Nx 1.2 .
642