Our objective in this chapter is to introduce the basics of Linux device drivers. We’ll begin with the concept of installable kernel modules. Then we’ll look at the basic device driver APIs in the ...

Although Linux does not (yet) support this binary format, the good news is that you can learn how to write kernel modules by implementing COM support for the Linux kernel.

This includes such things as whenever an inode is accessed, a module is loaded or a task is created. As of the 2.5.31 kernel, there were 88 different function pointers needed. The majority of these ...

When you program in the kernel, there is no operating system to step in and safely stop your code from running and tell you that you have a problem. The Linux kernel is pretty nice to its own code.

The kernel, however, including modules, has no such restriction. That can make debugging modules tricky because you can easily bring the system to its knees.

Programmers had already been experimenting with earlier versions of the language as an option for kernel module programming, with a proof of concept developed in 2013.

Blacklisting modules prevents them from being loaded and used, and it is sometimes an important step in keeping a system running properly. The Linux kernel is modular — composed of modules that ...

Members of the open source community are working on a new security-focused project for the Linux kernel. Named Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG), this is a loadable kernel module that will perform ...

With this second excerpt, Abbott discusses kernel modules and device drivers in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6. In this final installment of the excerpt, Abbott continues this ...