KernelNewbies:

Kernel 0.0.1 Walkthrough.

Downloading Kernel 0.01 and exploding the archive, you're faced with a directory "linux" containing, in subdirectories, some 5900 lines of (more or less) ANSI C, around 2500 lines of C headers (#include files) and around 1450 lines of i386 assembler.

The linux 0.01 kernel source is at http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/

The code directories are as follows. Click on the Details column for more information.

Name

Purpose

Details

||||boot||Kernel bootstrap code||BootDetails||

fs

File system

FsDetails

include

Header files

HeaderDetails

||||init||init process-the first process executed by a UNIX system||InitTask||

kernel

System calls

KernelDetails

lib

Library code

LibDetails

||||mm||Memory management||MmDetails||

tools

Program that splices three images together into a kernel image that can be booted from PC BIOS startup

ToolsDetails

The header files are not the standard header files, because when you're working on a kernel you don't have the luxury of the usual C functions--you have to write your own versions.

The kernel directory contains most of the system functions, but some of them (like sys_fcntl()) are in the file system directory.

The kernel bootup goes through three steps.

KernelNewbies: Kernel001WalkThrough (last edited 2004-12-19 16:52:22 by RikvanRiel)