xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man9/intro.9 (revision b5677b36047b601b9addaaa494a58ceae82c2a6c) 
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30.Dd February 17, 2007
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.
48.El
49.Sh MEMORY MANAGEMENT
50Machine-dependent swap interface.
51See
52.Xr cpu_swapout 9 .
53.Pp
54Introduction to kernel memory allocators.
55See
56.Xr memoryallocators 9 .
57.Pp
58Machine-dependent portion of the virtual memory system.
59See
60.Xr pmap 9 .
61.Pp
62Virtual memory system external interface.
63See
64.Xr uvm 9 .
65.Sh I/O SUBSYSTEM
66Buffer cache interfaces.
67See
68.Xr buffercache 9 .
69.Pp
70Device buffer queues.
71See
72.Xr bufq 9 .
73.Pp
74Initiate I/O on raw devices.
75See
76.Xr physio 9 .
77.Pp
78I/O descriptor allocation interface.
79See
80.Xr getiobuf 9 .
81.Sh PROCESS CONTROL
82Machine-dependent process exit.
83See
84.Xr cpu_exit 9 .
85.Pp
86Idle CPU while waiting for work.
87See
88.Xr cpu_idle 9 .
89.Pp
90Finish a fork operation.
91See
92.Xr cpu_lwp_fork 9 .
93.Pp
94Switch to another light weight process.
95See
96.Xr ctxsw 9 .
97.Pp
98Current process and processor.
99See
100.Xr curproc 9 .
101.Pp
102Set process uid and gid.
103See
104.Xr do_setresuid 9 .
105.Pp
106New processes and kernel threads.
107See
108.Xr fork1 9 ,
109.Xr kthread 9 .
110.Pp
111Context switch notification.
112See
113.Xr cpu_need_resched 9 .
114.Pp
115Process scheduling subsystem.
116See
117.Xr scheduler 9 .
118.Pp
119Software signal facilities.
120See
121.Xr signal 9 .
122.Pp
123Suspend the scheduler.
124See
125.Xr suspendsched 9 .
126.Pp
127Return path to user-mode execution.
128See
129.Xr userret 9 .
130.Sh FILE SYSTEM
131High-level file operations.
132See
133.Xr dofileread 9 .
134.Pp
135Convert an extended attribute namespace identifier to a string and
136vice versa.
137See
138.Xr extattr 9 .
139.Pp
140Operations on file entries.
141See
142.Xr file 9 .
143.Pp
144In-kernel, file-system independent, file-meta data association.
145See
146.Xr fileassoc 9 .
147.Pp
148File descriptor tables and operations.
149See
150.Xr filedesc 9 .
151.Pp
152File descriptor owner handling functions.
153See
154.Xr fsetown 9 .
155.Pp
156File system suspension helper subsystem.
157See
158.Xr fstrans 9 .
159.Pp
160Pathname lookup, cache and management.
161See
162.Xr namei 9 ,
163.Xr namecache 9 ,
164.Xr pathname 9 .
165.Pp
166Kernel interface to file systems.
167See
168.Xr vfs 9 .
169.Pp
170Kernel representation of a file or directory and vnode attributes.
171See
172.Xr vnode 9 ,
173.Xr vattr 9 .
174.Sh NETWORKING
175Kernel interfaces for manipulating output queues on network interfaces.
176See
177.Xr altq 9 .
178.Pp
179Externally visible ARP functions.
180See
181.Xr arp 9 .
182.Pp
183Ethernet and FDDI driver support functions and macros.
184See
185.Xr ethersubr 9 .
186.Pp
187Core 802.11 network stack functions and rate adaptation based on
188received signal strength.
189See
190.Xr ieee80211 9 ,
191.Xr rssadapt 9 .
192.Pp
193Compute Internet checksum.
194See
195.Xr in_cksum 9 .
196.Pp
197Look up the IPv4 source address best matching an IPv4 destination.
198See
199.Xr in_getifa 9 .
200.Pp
201Functions and macros for managing memory used by networking code.
202See
203.Xr mbuf 9 .
204.Pp
205Packet filter interface.
206See
207.Xr pfil 9 .
208.Pp
209Route callout functions.
210See
211.Xr rt_timer 9 .
212.Pp
213TCP congestion control API.
214See
215.Xr tcp_congctl 9 .
216.Sh LOCKING AND INTERRUPT CONTROL
217Condition variables.
218See
219.Xr condvar 9 .
220.Pp
221Kernel lock functions.
222See
223.Xr lock 9 .
224.Pp
225Memory barriers.
226See
227.Xr mb 9 .
228.Pp
229Mutual exclusion primitives.
230See
231.Xr mutex 9 .
232.Pp
233Restartable atomic sequences.
234See
235.Xr ras 9 .
236.Pp
237Reader / writer lock primitives.
238See
239.Xr rwlock 9 .
240.Pp
241Machine-independent software interrupt framework.
242See
243.Xr softintr 9 .
244.Pp
245Functions to modify system interrupt priority level.
246See
247.Xr spl 9 .
248.Pp
249Functions ro raise the system priority level.
250See
251.Xr splraiseipl 9 .
252.Sh SECURITY
253Kernel authorization framework.
254See
255.Xr kauth 9 .
256.Pp
257API for cryptographic services in the kernel.
258See
259.Xr opencrypto 9 .
260.Pp
261Security model development guidelines.
262See
263.Xr secmodel 9 .
264.Sh SYSTEM TIME CONTROL
265Execute a function after a specified length of time.
266See
267.Xr callout 9 .
268.Pp
269Microsecond delay.
270See
271.Xr delay 9 .
272.Pp
273Real-time timer.
274See
275.Xr hardclock 9 .
276.Pp
277System clock frequency.
278See
279.Xr hz 9 .
280.Pp
281Initialization of system time and time-of-day clock support.
282See
283.Xr inittodr 9 ,
284.Xr todr 9 .
285.Pp
286Check that a timeval value is valid, and correct.
287See
288.Xr itimerfix 9 .
289.Pp
290System time variables.
291See
292.Xr timecounter 9 .
293.Pp
294Realtime system clock.
295See
296.Xr microtime 9 .
297.Pp
298Get the time elapsed since boot.
299See
300.Xr microuptime 9 .
301.Pp
302Convert milliseconds to system clock ticks.
303See
304.Xr mstohz 9 .
305.Pp
306Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
307See
308.Xr ppsratecheck 9 .
309.Pp
310Function to help implement rate-limited actions.
311See
312.Xr ratecheck 9 .
313.Pp
314Set battery-backed clock from system time.
315See
316.Xr resettodr 9 .
317.Pp
318System time variables.
319See
320.Xr time_second 9 .
321.Sh KERNEL AND USER SPACE DATA COPY FUNCTIONS
322Kernel space to/from user space copy functions.
323See
324.Xr copy 9 .
325.Pp
326Store data to user-space.
327See
328.Xr store 9 .
329.Pp
330Fetch data from user-space.
331See
332.Xr fetch 9 .
333.Pp
334Move data described by a struct uio.
335See
336.Xr uiomove 9 .
337.Sh MACHINE DEPENDENT KERNEL FUNCTIONS
338Machine-dependent clock setup interface.
339See
340.Xr cpu_initclocks 9 .
341.Pp
342Machine-dependent process core dump interface.
343See
344.Xr cpu_coredump 9 .
345.Pp
346Machine-dependent kernel core dumps.
347See
348.Xr cpu_dumpconf 9 .
349.Pp
350Unique CPU identification number
351See
352.Xr cpu_number 9 .
353.Pp
354Halt or reboot the system
355See
356.Xr cpu_reboot 9 .
357.Pp
358Machine-dependent root file system setup
359See
360.Xr cpu_rootconf 9 .
361.Pp
362Machine-dependent CPU startup
363See
364.Xr cpu_startup 9 .
365.Pp
366Disk label management routines.
367See
368.Xr disklabel 9 .
369.Sh DEVICE CONFIGURATION
370Autoconfiguration frame-work.
371See
372.Xr autoconf 9 .
373.Pp
374Description of a device driver.
375See
376.Xr driver 9 .
377.Pp
378The autoconfiguration framework ``device definition'' language.
379See
380.Xr config 9 .
381.Pp
382Machine-dependent device autoconfiguration.
383See
384.Xr cpu_configure 9 .
385.Sh MI DEVICE DRIVER API
386Bus and Machine Independent DMA Mapping Interface.
387See
388.Xr bus_dma 9 .
389.Pp
390Bus space manipulation functions.
391See
392.Xr bus_space 9 .
393.Pp
394Generic disk framework.
395See
396.Xr disk 9 .
397.Pp
398Hardware-assisted data mover interface.
399See
400.Xr dmover 9 .
401Generic event counter framework.
402See
403.Xr evcnt 9 .
404.Pp
405Firmware loader API for device drivers.
406See
407.Xr firmload 9 .
408.Pp
409How to implement a new ioctl call to access device drivers.
410See
411.Xr ioctl 9 .
412.Pp
413Extensible line discipline framework.
414See
415.Xr linedisc 9 .
416.Sh CONSOLE DEVICES
417Console magic key sequence management.
418See
419.Xr cnmagic 9 .
420.Pp
421Console access interface.
422See
423.Xr cons 9 .
424.Pp
425Raster display operations.
426See
427.Xr rasops 9 .
428.Pp
429Generic virtual console framework.
430See
431.Xr vcons 9 .
432.Pp
433Machine-independent console support.
434See
435.Xr wscons 9 .
436.Sh DEVICE SPECIFIC IMPLEMENTATION
437Interface between low and high level audio drivers.
438See
439.Xr audio 9 .
440.Pp
441Bluetooth Device/Protocol API.
442See
443.Xr bluetooth 9 .
444.Pp
445Support for CardBus PC-Card devices.
446See
447.Xr cardbus 9 .
448.Pp
449VESA Display Data Channel V2.
450See
451.Xr ddc 9 .
452.Pp
453VESA Extended Display Identification Data.
454See
455.Xr edid 9 .
456.Pp
457Inter IC (I2C) bus.
458See
459.Xr iic 9 .
460.Pp
461Baseboard I/O control ASIC for DEC TURBOchannel systems.
462See
463.Xr ioasic 9 .
464.Pp
465Industry-standard Architecture.
466See
467.Xr isa 9 .
468.Pp
469Introduction to ISA Plug-and-Play support.
470See
471.Xr isapnp 9 .
472.Pp
473MicroChannel Architecture bus.
474See
475.Xr mca 9 .
476.Pp
477PPBUS microseqencer developer's guide.
478See
479.Xr microseq 9 .
480.Pp
481Peripheral Component Interconnect.
482See
483.Xr pci 9 .
484.Pp
485Perform PCI bus configuration.
486See
487.Xr pci_configure_bus 9 .
488.Pp
489PCI bus interrupt manipulation functions.
490See
491.Xr pci_intr 9 .
492.Pp
493PC keyboard port interface.
494See
495.Xr pckbport 9 .
496.Pp
497Support for PCMCIA PC-Card devices.
498See
499.Xr pcmcia 9 .
500.Pp
501User-space interface to ppbus parallel port.
502See
503.Xr ppi 9 .
504.Pp
505Interface between low and high level radio drivers.
506See
507.Xr radio 9 .
508.Pp
509Functions to make a device available for entropy collection.
510See
511.Xr rnd 9 .
512.Pp
513SCSI/ATAPI middle-layer interface.
514See
515.Xr scsipi 9 .
516.Pp
517TURBOchannel bus.
518See
519.Xr tc 9 .
520.Pp
521USB tty support.
522See
523.Xr ucom 9 .
524.Pp
525USB device drivers interface.
526See
527.Xr usbdi 9 .
528.Pp
529Versa Module Euroboard bus.
530See
531.Xr vme 9 .
532.Pp
533Machine-independent IDE/ATAPI driver.
534See
535.Xr wdc 9 .
536.Sh KERNEL EVENT
537Functions to add or remove kernel event filters.
538See
539.Xr kfilter_register 9 .
540.Pp
541Functions to raise kernel event.
542See
543.Xr knote 9 .
544.Pp
545Record and wakeup select requests.
546See
547.Xr selrecord 9 .
548.Pp
549Simple do-it-in-thread-context framework.
550See
551.Xr workqueue 9 .
552.Sh KERNEL HELPER FUNCTIONS
553Kernel expression verification macros.
554See
555.Xr KASSERT 9 .
556.Pp
557Convert a single byte between (unsigned) packed bcd and binary.
558See
559.Xr bcdtobin 9 .
560.Pp
561Bitmask output conversion.
562See
563.Xr snprintb 3 .
564.Pp
565General purpose extent manager.
566See
567.Xr extent 9 .
568.Pp
569Compare integers.
570See
571.Xr imax 9 .
572.Pp
573Kernel formatted output conversion.
574See
575.Xr kprintf 9 .
576.Pp
577Data comparing, moving, copying, setting and cleaning.
578See
579.Xr memcmp 9 ,
580.Xr memmove 9 ,
581.Xr memcpy 9 ,
582.Xr memset 9 ,
583.Xr bcmp 9 ,
584.Xr bcopy 9 ,
585.Xr bzero 9 ,
586.Xr kcopy 9 .
587.Pp
588Log a message from the kernel through the /dev/klog device.
589See
590.Xr log 9 .
591.Pp
592Bring down system on fatal error.
593See
594.Xr panic 9 .
595.Sh MISC
596Run all power hooks.
597See
598.Xr dopowerhooks 9 .
599.Pp
600Run all shutdown hooks.
601See
602.Xr doshutdownhooks 9 .
603.Pp
604Kernel internal error numbers.
605See
606.Xr errno 9 .
607.Pp
608Kernel hash functions, hash table construction and destruction.
609See
610.Xr hash 9 ,
611.Xr hashinit 9 .
612.Pp
613Format a number into a human readable form.
614See
615.Xr humanize_number 9 .
616.Pp
617Machine-dependent interface to ipkdb.
618See
619.Xr ipkdb 9 .
620.Pp
621Options string management.
622See
623.Xr optstr 9 .
624.Pp
625Performs pattern matching on strings.
626See
627.Xr pmatch 9 .
628.Pp
629Hardware Performance Monitoring Interface.
630See
631.Xr pmc 9 .
632.Pp
633Add or remove a power change hook.
634See
635.Xr powerhook_establish 9 .
636.Pp
637Add or remove a shutdown hook.
638See
639.Xr shutdownhook_establish 9 .
640.Pp
641Non-local jumps.
642See
643.Xr setjmp 9 .
644.Pp
645System variable control interfaces.
646See
647.Xr sysctl 9 .
648.Sh HISTORY
649The
650.Nx
651kernel internals section first appeared in
652.Nx 1.2 .
653