xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man9/intro.9 (revision 946379e7b37692fc43f68eb0d1c10daa0a7f3b6c) 
1.\"     $NetBSD: intro.9,v 1.16 2015/03/23 13:40:34 riastradh Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1997, 2007 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
4.\" All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
7.\" by Jeremy Cooper, and Mindaugas Rasiukevicius.
8.\"
9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
11.\" are met:
12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17.\"
18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS
19.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
20.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
21.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
22.\" LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
23.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
24.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
25.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
26.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
27.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
28.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
29.\"
30.Dd December 2, 2010
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
52Machine-dependent swap interface.
53See
54.Xr cpu_swapout 9 .
55.Pp
56Introduction to kernel memory allocators.
57See
58.Xr memoryallocators 9 .
59.Pp
60Machine-dependent portion of the virtual memory system.
61See
62.Xr pmap 9 .
63.Pp
64Virtual memory system external interface.
65See
66.Xr uvm 9 .
67.Sh I/O SUBSYSTEM
68Buffer cache interfaces.
69See
70.Xr buffercache 9 .
71.Pp
72Device buffer queues.
73See
74.Xr bufq 9 .
75.Pp
76Initiate I/O on raw devices.
77See
78.Xr physio 9 .
79.Pp
80I/O descriptor allocation interface.
81See
82.Xr getiobuf 9 .
83.Sh PROCESS CONTROL
84Machine-dependent process exit.
85See
86.Xr cpu_exit 9 .
87.Pp
88Idle CPU while waiting for work.
89See
90.Xr cpu_idle 9 .
91.Pp
92Finish a fork operation.
93See
94.Xr cpu_lwp_fork 9 .
95.Pp
96Switch to another light weight process.
97See
98.Xr mi_switch 9 .
99.Pp
100Current process and processor.
101See
102.Xr curproc 9 .
103.Pp
104Set process uid and gid.
105See
106.Xr do_setresuid 9 .
107.Pp
108New processes and kernel threads.
109See
110.Xr fork1 9 ,
111.Xr kthread 9 .
112.Pp
113Context switch notification.
114See
115.Xr cpu_need_resched 9 .
116.Pp
117Common scheduler framework.
118See
119.Xr csf 9 .
120.Pp
121Software signal facilities.
122See
123.Xr signal 9 .
124.Pp
125Suspend the scheduler.
126See
127.Xr suspendsched 9 .
128.Pp
129Return path to user-mode execution.
130See
131.Xr userret 9 .
132.Sh FILE SYSTEM
133High-level file operations.
134See
135.Xr dofileread 9 .
136.Pp
137Convert an extended attribute namespace identifier to a string and
138vice versa.
139See
140.Xr extattr 9 .
141.Pp
142Operations on file entries.
143See
144.Xr file 9 .
145.Pp
146In-kernel, file-system independent, file-meta data association.
147See
148.Xr fileassoc 9 .
149.Pp
150File descriptor tables and operations.
151See
152.Xr filedesc 9 .
153.Pp
154File descriptor owner handling functions.
155See
156.Xr fsetown 9 .
157.Pp
158File system suspension helper subsystem.
159See
160.Xr fstrans 9 .
161.Pp
162Pathname lookup, cache and management.
163See
164.Xr namei 9 ,
165.Xr namecache 9 ,
166.Xr pathname 9 .
167.Pp
168Kernel interface to file systems.
169See
170.Xr vfs 9 .
171.Pp
172Kernel representation of a file or directory and vnode attributes.
173See
174.Xr vnode 9 ,
175.Xr vattr 9 .
176.Sh NETWORKING
177Kernel interfaces for manipulating output queues on network interfaces.
178See
179.Xr altq 9 .
180.Pp
181Externally visible ARP functions.
182See
183.Xr arp 9 .
184.Pp
185Ethernet and FDDI driver support functions and macros.
186See
187.Xr ethersubr 9 .
188.Pp
189Core 802.11 network stack functions and rate adaptation based on
190received signal strength.
191See
192.Xr ieee80211 9 ,
193.Xr rssadapt 9 .
194.Pp
195Compute Internet checksum.
196See
197.Xr in_cksum 9 .
198.Pp
199Look up the IPv4 source address best matching an IPv4 destination.
200See
201.Xr in_getifa 9 .
202.Pp
203Functions and macros for managing memory used by networking code.
204See
205.Xr mbuf 9 .
206.Pp
207Packet filter interface.
208See
209.Xr pfil 9 .
210.Pp
211Route callout functions.
212See
213.Xr rt_timer 9 .
214.Pp
215TCP congestion control API.
216See
217.Xr tcp_congctl 9 .
218.Sh LOCKING AND INTERRUPT CONTROL
219Condition variables.
220See
221.Xr condvar 9 .
222.Pp
223Kernel lock functions.
224See
225.Xr lock 9 .
226.Pp
227Memory barriers.
228See
229.Xr mb 9 .
230.Pp
231Mutual exclusion primitives.
232See
233.Xr mutex 9 .
234.Pp
235Restartable atomic sequences.
236See
237.Xr ras 9 .
238.Pp
239Reader / writer lock primitives.
240See
241.Xr rwlock 9 .
242.Pp
243Machine-independent software interrupt framework.
244See
245.Xr softint 9 .
246.Pp
247Functions to modify system interrupt priority level.
248See
249.Xr spl 9 .
250.Pp
251Functions to raise the system priority level.
252See
253.Xr splraiseipl 9 .
254.Sh SECURITY
255Kernel authorization framework.
256See
257.Xr kauth 9 .
258.Pp
259API for cryptographic services in the kernel.
260See
261.Xr opencrypto 9 .
262.Pp
263Security model development guidelines.
264See
265.Xr secmodel 9 .
266.Sh SYSTEM TIME CONTROL
267Execute a function after a specified length of time.
268See
269.Xr callout 9 .
270.Pp
271Microsecond delay.
272See
273.Xr delay 9 .
274.Pp
275Real-time timer.
276See
277.Xr hardclock 9 .
278.Pp
279System clock frequency.
280See
281.Xr hz 9 .
282.Pp
283Initialization of system time and time-of-day clock support.
284See
285.Xr inittodr 9 ,
286.Xr todr 9 .
287.Pp
288Check that a timeval value is valid, and correct.
289See
290.Xr itimerfix 9 .
291.Pp
292System time variables.
293See
294.Xr timecounter 9 .
295.Pp
296Realtime system clock.
297See
298.Xr microtime 9 .
299.Pp
300Get the time elapsed since boot.
301See
302.Xr microuptime 9 .
303.Pp
304Convert milliseconds to system clock ticks.
305See
306.Xr mstohz 9 .
307.Pp
308Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
309See
310.Xr ppsratecheck 9 .
311.Pp
312Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
313See
314.Xr ratecheck 9 .
315.Pp
316Set battery-backed clock from system time.
317See
318.Xr resettodr 9 .
319.Pp
320System time variables.
321See
322.Xr time_second 9 .
323.Sh KERNEL AND USER SPACE DATA COPY FUNCTIONS
324Kernel space to/from user space copy functions.
325See
326.Xr copy 9 .
327.Pp
328Store data to user-space.
329See
330.Xr store 9 .
331.Pp
332Fetch data from user-space.
333See
334.Xr fetch 9 .
335.Pp
336Move data described by a struct uio.
337See
338.Xr uiomove 9 .
339.Sh MACHINE DEPENDENT KERNEL FUNCTIONS
340Machine-dependent clock setup interface.
341See
342.Xr cpu_initclocks 9 .
343.Pp
344Machine-dependent process core dump interface.
345See
346.Xr cpu_coredump 9 .
347.Pp
348Machine-dependent kernel core dumps.
349See
350.Xr cpu_dumpconf 9 .
351.Pp
352Unique CPU identification number
353See
354.Xr cpu_number 9 .
355.Pp
356Halt or reboot the system
357See
358.Xr cpu_reboot 9 .
359.Pp
360Machine-dependent root file system setup
361See
362.Xr cpu_rootconf 9 .
363.Pp
364Machine-dependent CPU startup
365See
366.Xr cpu_startup 9 .
367.Pp
368Disk label management routines.
369See
370.Xr disklabel 9 .
371.Sh DEVICE CONFIGURATION
372Autoconfiguration frame-work.
373See
374.Xr autoconf 9 .
375.Pp
376Description of a device driver.
377See
378.Xr driver 9 .
379.Pp
380The autoconfiguration framework ``device definition'' language.
381See
382.Xr config 9 .
383.Pp
384Machine-dependent device autoconfiguration.
385See
386.Xr cpu_configure 9 .
387.Sh MI DEVICE DRIVER API
388Bus and Machine Independent DMA Mapping Interface.
389See
390.Xr bus_dma 9 .
391.Pp
392Bus space manipulation functions.
393See
394.Xr bus_space 9 .
395.Pp
396Generic disk framework.
397See
398.Xr disk 9 .
399.Pp
400Hardware-assisted data mover interface.
401See
402.Xr dmover 9 .
403Generic event counter framework.
404See
405.Xr evcnt 9 .
406.Pp
407Firmware loader API for device drivers.
408See
409.Xr firmload 9 .
410.Pp
411How to implement a new ioctl call to access device drivers.
412See
413.Xr ioctl 9 .
414.Pp
415Extensible line discipline framework.
416See
417.Xr linedisc 9 .
418.Sh CONSOLE DEVICES
419Console magic key sequence management.
420See
421.Xr cnmagic 9 .
422.Pp
423Console access interface.
424See
425.Xr cons 9 .
426.Pp
427Raster display operations.
428See
429.Xr rasops 9 .
430.Pp
431Generic virtual console framework.
432See
433.Xr vcons 9 .
434.Pp
435Machine-independent console support.
436See
437.Xr wscons 9 .
438.Sh DEVICE SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION
439Interface between low and high level audio drivers.
440See
441.Xr audio 9 .
442.Pp
443Bluetooth Device/Protocol API.
444See
445.Xr bluetooth 9 .
446.Pp
447Support for CardBus PC-Card devices.
448See
449.Xr cardbus 9 .
450.Pp
451VESA Display Data Channel V2.
452See
453.Xr ddc 9 .
454.Pp
455VESA Extended Display Identification Data.
456See
457.Xr edid 9 .
458.Pp
459Inter IC (I2C) bus.
460See
461.Xr iic 9 .
462.Pp
463Baseboard I/O control ASIC for DEC TURBOchannel systems.
464See
465.Xr ioasic 9 .
466.Pp
467Industry-standard Architecture.
468See
469.Xr isa 9 .
470.Pp
471Introduction to ISA Plug-and-Play support.
472See
473.Xr isapnp 9 .
474.Pp
475MicroChannel Architecture bus.
476See
477.Xr mca 9 .
478.Pp
479PPBUS microseqencer developer's guide.
480See
481.Xr microseq 9 .
482.Pp
483Peripheral Component Interconnect.
484See
485.Xr pci 9 .
486.Pp
487Perform PCI bus configuration.
488See
489.Xr pci_configure_bus 9 .
490.Pp
491PCI bus interrupt manipulation functions.
492See
493.Xr pci_intr 9 .
494.Pp
495PC keyboard port interface.
496See
497.Xr pckbport 9 .
498.Pp
499Support for PCMCIA PC-Card devices.
500See
501.Xr pcmcia 9 .
502.Pp
503User-space interface to ppbus parallel port.
504See
505.Xr ppi 9 .
506.Pp
507Interface between low and high level radio drivers.
508See
509.Xr radio 9 .
510.Pp
511Functions to make a device available for entropy collection.
512See
513.Xr rnd 9 .
514.Pp
515SCSI/ATAPI middle-layer interface.
516See
517.Xr scsipi 9 .
518.Pp
519TURBOchannel bus.
520See
521.Xr tc 9 .
522.Pp
523USB tty support.
524See
525.Xr ucom 9 .
526.Pp
527USB device drivers interface.
528See
529.Xr usbdi 9 .
530.Pp
531Versa Module Euroboard bus.
532See
533.Xr vme 9 .
534.Pp
535Machine-independent IDE/ATAPI driver.
536See
537.Xr wdc 9 .
538.Sh KERNEL EVENT
539Functions to add or remove kernel event filters.
540See
541.Xr kfilter_register 9 .
542.Pp
543Functions to raise kernel event.
544See
545.Xr knote 9 .
546.Pp
547Record and wakeup select requests.
548See
549.Xr selrecord 9 .
550.Pp
551Simple do-it-in-thread-context framework.
552See
553.Xr workqueue 9 .
554.Sh KERNEL HELPER FUNCTIONS
555Kernel expression verification macros.
556See
557.Xr KASSERT 9 .
558.Pp
559Convert a single byte between (unsigned) packed bcd and binary.
560See
561.Xr bcdtobin 9 .
562.Pp
563Bitmask output conversion.
564See
565.Xr snprintb 3 .
566.Pp
567General purpose extent manager.
568See
569.Xr extent 9 .
570.Pp
571Compare integers.
572See
573.Xr imax 9 .
574.Pp
575Kernel formatted output conversion.
576See
577.Xr kprintf 9 .
578.Pp
579Data comparing, moving, copying, setting and cleaning.
580See
581.Xr memcmp 9 ,
582.Xr memmove 9 ,
583.Xr memcpy 9 ,
584.Xr memset 9 ,
585.Xr bcmp 9 ,
586.Xr bcopy 9 ,
587.Xr bzero 9 ,
588.Xr kcopy 9 .
589.Pp
590Log a message from the kernel through the /dev/klog device.
591See
592.Xr log 9 .
593.Pp
594Bring down system on fatal error.
595See
596.Xr panic 9 .
597.Sh MISC
598Power management and inter-driver messaging.
599See
600.Xr pmf 9 .
601.Pp
602Run all shutdown hooks.
603See
604.Xr pmf_system_shutdown 9 .
605.Pp
606Kernel internal error numbers.
607See
608.Xr errno 9 .
609.Pp
610Kernel hash functions, hash table construction and destruction.
611See
612.Xr hash 9 ,
613.Xr hashinit 9 .
614.Pp
615Format a number into a human readable form.
616See
617.Xr humanize_number 9 .
618.Pp
619Machine-dependent interface to ipkdb.
620See
621.Xr ipkdb 9 .
622.Pp
623Options string management.
624See
625.Xr optstr 9 .
626.Pp
627Performs pattern matching on strings.
628See
629.Xr pmatch 9 .
630.Pp
631Hardware Performance Monitoring Interface.
632See
633.Xr pmc 9 .
634.Pp
635Add or remove a shutdown hook.
636See
637.Xr pmf 9 .
638.Pp
639Non-local jumps.
640See
641.Xr setjmp 9 .
642.Pp
643System variable control interfaces.
644See
645.Xr sysctl 9 .
646.Sh HISTORY
647The
648.Nx
649kernel internals section first appeared in
650.Nx 1.2 .
651