UNIX System Calls and Subroutines using C

By A. D. Marshall

In order to use Solaris and most other Unix Systems you will need to be familiar with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE). Before embarking on learning C with briefly introduce the main features of the CDE.

Most major Unix vendors now provide the CDE as standard. Consequently, most users of the X Window system will now be exposed to the CDE. Indeed, continuing trends in the development of Motif and CDE will probably lead to a convergence of these technologies in the near future. This section highlights the key features of the CDE from a Users perspective.

Upon login, the user is presented with the CDE Desktop. The desktop includes a front panel, multiple virtual workspaces, and window management. CDE supports the running of applications from a file manager, from an application manager and from the front panel. Each of the subcomponents of the desktop are described below.

Click to Read More

Unix Programming Tools

By Parlante, Zelenski, and many others

This document explains the overall edit-compile-link-debug programming cycle and introduces several common Unix programming tools— gcc, make, gdb, emacs, and the Unix shell. The goal is to describe the major features and typcial uses of the tools and show how they fit together with enough detail for simple projects.

This is document #107, Unix Programming Tools, in the CS Education Library at Stanford. This and other free educational materials are available at http://cslibrary.stanford.edu/. This document is free to be used, reproduced, or redistributed so long as this notice is clearly reproduced at its beginning.

Contents

• Introduction — the compile-link process
• The gcc compiler/linker
• The make project utility
• The gdb debugger
• The emacs editor
• Summary of Unix shell commands

Click to Download

The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide

By Peter Jay Salzman and Ori Pomerantz

Ori's original document was good about supporting earlier versions of Linux, going all the way back to the 2.0 days. I had originally intended to keep with the program, but after thinking about it, opted out. My main reason to keep with the compatibility was for Linux distributions like LEAF, which tended to use older kernels. However, even LEAF uses 2.2 and 2.4 kernels these days.

Both Ori and I use the x86 platform. For the most part, the source code and discussions should apply to other architectures, but I can't promise anything. One exception is Chapter 12, Interrupt Handlers, which should not work on any architecture except for x86.

What Is A Kernel Module?
So, you want to write a kernel module. You know C, you've written a few normal programs to run as processes, and now you want to get to where the real action is, to where a single wild pointer can wipe out your file system and a core dump means a reboot.

What exactly is a kernel module? Modules are pieces of code that can be loaded and unloaded into the kernel upon demand. They extend the functionality of the kernel without the need to reboot the system. For example, one type of module is the device driver, which allows the kernel to access hardware connected to the system. Without modules, we would have to build monolithic kernels and add new functionality directly into the kernel image. Besides having larger kernels, this has the disadvantage of requiring us to rebuild and reboot the kernel every time we want new functionality.

Click to Read More