xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man9/intro.9 (revision a0698ed9d41653d7a2378819ad501a285ca0d401) 
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30.Dd July 14, 2018
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
210See
211.Xr locking 9
212for an overview.
213.Pp
214Condition variables.
215See
216.Xr condvar 9 .
217.Pp
218Kernel lock functions.
219See
220.Xr lock 9 .
221.Pp
222Memory barriers.
223See
224.Xr membar_ops 3 .
225.Pp
226Mutual exclusion primitives.
227See
228.Xr mutex 9 .
229.Pp
230Restartable atomic sequences.
231See
232.Xr ras 9 .
233.Pp
234Reader / writer lock primitives.
235See
236.Xr rwlock 9 .
237.Pp
238Machine-independent software interrupt framework.
239See
240.Xr softint 9 .
241.Pp
242Functions to modify system interrupt priority level.
243See
244.Xr spl 9 .
245.Pp
246Functions to raise the system priority level.
247See
248.Xr splraiseipl 9 .
249.Sh SECURITY
250Kernel authorization framework.
251See
252.Xr kauth 9 .
253.Pp
254API for cryptographic services in the kernel.
255See
256.Xr opencrypto 9 .
257.Pp
258Security model development guidelines.
259See
260.Xr secmodel 9 .
261.Sh SYSTEM TIME CONTROL
262Execute a function after a specified length of time.
263See
264.Xr callout 9 .
265.Pp
266Microsecond delay.
267See
268.Xr delay 9 .
269.Pp
270Real-time timer.
271See
272.Xr hardclock 9 .
273.Pp
274System clock frequency.
275See
276.Xr hz 9 .
277.Pp
278Initialization of system time and time-of-day clock support.
279See
280.Xr inittodr 9 ,
281.Xr todr 9 .
282.Pp
283Check that a timeval value is valid, and correct.
284See
285.Xr itimerfix 9 .
286.Pp
287System time variables.
288See
289.Xr timecounter 9 .
290.Pp
291Realtime system clock.
292See
293.Xr microtime 9 .
294.Pp
295Get the time elapsed since boot.
296See
297.Xr microuptime 9 .
298.Pp
299Convert milliseconds to system clock ticks.
300See
301.Xr mstohz 9 .
302.Pp
303Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
304See
305.Xr ppsratecheck 9 .
306.Pp
307Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
308See
309.Xr ratecheck 9 .
310.Pp
311Set battery-backed clock from system time.
312See
313.Xr resettodr 9 .
314.Pp
315System time variables.
316See
317.Xr time_second 9 .
318.Sh KERNEL AND USER SPACE DATA COPY FUNCTIONS
319Kernel space to/from user space copy functions.
320See
321.Xr copy 9 .
322.Pp
323Store data to user-space.
324See
325.Xr store 9 .
326.Pp
327Fetch data from user-space.
328See
329.Xr fetch 9 .
330.Pp
331Move data described by a struct uio.
332See
333.Xr uiomove 9 .
334.Sh MACHINE DEPENDENT KERNEL FUNCTIONS
335Machine-dependent clock setup interface.
336See
337.Xr cpu_initclocks 9 .
338.Pp
339Machine-dependent process core dump interface.
340See
341.Xr cpu_coredump 9 .
342.Pp
343Machine-dependent kernel core dumps.
344See
345.Xr cpu_dumpconf 9 .
346.Pp
347Unique CPU identification number
348See
349.Xr cpu_number 9 .
350.Pp
351Halt or reboot the system
352See
353.Xr cpu_reboot 9 .
354.Pp
355Machine-dependent root file system setup
356See
357.Xr cpu_rootconf 9 .
358.Pp
359Machine-dependent CPU startup
360See
361.Xr cpu_startup 9 .
362.Pp
363Disk label management routines.
364See
365.Xr disklabel 9 .
366.Sh DEVICE CONFIGURATION
367Autoconfiguration frame-work.
368See
369.Xr autoconf 9 .
370.Pp
371Description of a device driver.
372See
373.Xr driver 9 .
374.Pp
375The autoconfiguration framework ``device definition'' language.
376See
377.Xr config 9 .
378.Pp
379Machine-dependent device autoconfiguration.
380See
381.Xr cpu_configure 9 .
382.Sh MI DEVICE DRIVER API
383Bus and Machine Independent DMA Mapping Interface.
384See
385.Xr bus_dma 9 .
386.Pp
387Bus space manipulation functions.
388See
389.Xr bus_space 9 .
390.Pp
391Generic disk framework.
392See
393.Xr disk 9 .
394.Pp
395Hardware-assisted data mover interface.
396See
397.Xr dmover 9 .
398Generic event counter framework.
399See
400.Xr evcnt 9 .
401.Pp
402Firmware loader API for device drivers.
403See
404.Xr firmload 9 .
405.Pp
406How to implement a new ioctl call to access device drivers.
407See
408.Xr ioctl 9 .
409.Pp
410Extensible line discipline framework.
411See
412.Xr linedisc 9 .
413.Sh CONSOLE DEVICES
414Console magic key sequence management.
415See
416.Xr cnmagic 9 .
417.Pp
418Console access interface.
419See
420.Xr cons 9 .
421.Pp
422Raster display operations.
423See
424.Xr rasops 9 .
425.Pp
426Generic virtual console framework.
427See
428.Xr vcons 9 .
429.Pp
430Machine-independent console support.
431See
432.Xr wscons 9 .
433.Sh DEVICE SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION
434Interface between low and high level audio drivers.
435See
436.Xr audio 9 .
437.Pp
438The
439.Nx audio specification.
440See
441.Xr audio_system 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
619Options string management.
620See
621.Xr optstr 9 .
622.Pp
623Performs pattern matching on strings.
624See
625.Xr pmatch 9 .
626.Pp
627Add or remove a shutdown hook.
628See
629.Xr pmf 9 .
630.Pp
631Non-local jumps.
632See
633.Xr setjmp 9 .
634.Pp
635System variable control interfaces.
636See
637.Xr sysctl 9 .
638.Sh HISTORY
639The
640.Nx
641kernel internals section first appeared in
642.Nx 1.2 .
643