Linux Kernel Internals and Development

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Course Description

Official Linux Foundation™ Course

Learn how to develop for the Linux kernel.

In this course you’ll learn how Linux is architected, the basic methods for developing on the kernel, and how to efficiently work with the Linux developer community. If you are interested in learning about the Linux kernel, this is absolutely the definitive course on the subject.

This course is designed to provides experienced programmers with a solid understanding of the Linux kernel. In addition to a detailed look at the theory and philosophy behind the Linux kernel, you’ll also participate in extensive hands-on exercises and demonstrations designed to give you the necessary tools to develop and debug Linux kernel code.

In this course you’ll learn:

•     How Linux is architected
•     How kernel algorithms work
•     Hardware and memory management
•     Modularization techniques and debugging
•     How the kernel developer community operates and how to efficiently work with it.
•     And much more.

The information in this course will work with any major Linux distribution.

Course Materials

As part of your registration, a printed copy of the course manual will be provided.

Those who attend the entire course will receive a digital Certificate of Course Completion from the Linux Foundation™.

Course Outline

   1. Introduction

•         Objectives
•         Who You Are
•         The Linux Foundation
•         Linux Foundation Training
•         Course Registration

    2. Preliminaries

•         Procedures
•         Things change in Linux
•         Linux Distributions
•         Kernel Versions
•         Kernel Sources and Use of git
•         Platforms
•         Documentation and Links

    3. Kernel Architecture I

•         UNIX and Linux **
•         Monolithic and Micro Kernels
•         Object-Oriented Methods
•         Main Kernel Tasks
•         User-Space and Kernel-Space
•         Kernel Mode Linux **

    4. Kernel Programming Preview

•         Error Numbers and Getting Kernel Output
•         Task Structure
•         Memory Allocation
•         Transferring Data between User and Kernel Spaces
•         Linked Lists
•         String to Number Conversions
•         Jiffies
•         Labs

    5. Modules

•         What are Modules?
•         A Trivial Example
•         Compiling Modules
•         Modules vs Built-in
•         Module Utilities
•         Automatic Loading/Unloading of Modules
•         Module Usage Count
•         The module struct
•         Module Licensing
•         Exporting Symbols
•         Resolving Symbols **
•         Labs

    6. Kernel Architecture II

•         Processes, Threads, and Tasks
•         Process Context
•         Kernel Preemption
•         Real Time Preemption Patch
•         Dynamic Kernel Patching
•         Run-time Alternatives **
•         Porting to a New Platform **

    7. Kernel Initialization

•         Overview of System Initialization
•         System Boot
•         Das U-Boot for Embedded Systems**

    8. Kernel Configuration and Compilation

•         Installation and Layout of the Kernel Source
•         Kernel Browsers
•         Kernel Configuration Files
•         Kernel Building and Makefiles
•         initrd and initramfs
•         Labs

    9. System Calls

•         What are System Calls?
•         Available System Calls
•         How System Calls are Implemented
•         Adding a New System Call
•         Replacing System Calls from Modules
•         Labs

    10. Kernel Style and General Considerations

•         Coding Style
•         kernel-doc **
•         Using Generic Kernel Routines and Methods
•         Making a Kernel Patch
•         sparse
•         Using likely() and unlikely()
•         Writing Portable Code, CPU, 32/64-bit, Endianness
•         Writing for SMP
•         Writing for High Memory Systems
•         Power Management
•         Keeping Security in Mind
•         Mixing User- and Kernel-Space Headers **
•         Labs

    11. Race Conditions and Synchronization Methods

•         Concurrency and Synchronization Methods
•         Atomic Operations
•         Bit Operations
•         Spinlocks
•         Seqlocks
•         Disabling Preemption
•         Mutexes
•         Semaphores
•         Completion Functions
•         Read-Copy-Update (RCU)
•         Reference Counts
•         Labs

    12. SMP and Threads

•         SMP Kernels and Modules
•         Processor Affinity
•         CPUSETS
•         SMP Algorithms - Scheduling, Locking, etc.
•         Per-CPU Variables **
•         Labs

    13. Processes

•         What are Processes?
•         The task_struct
•         Creating User Processes and Threads
•         Creating Kernel Threads
•         Destroying Processes and Threads
•         Executing User-Space Processes From Within the Kernel
•         Labs

    14. Process Limits and Capabilities **

•         Process Limits
•         Capabilities
•         Labs

    15. Monitoring and Debugging

•         Debuginfo Packages
•         Tracing and Profiling
•         sysctl
•         SysRq Key
•         oops Messages
•         Kernel Debuggers
•         debugfs
•         Labs

    16. Scheduling Basics

•         Main Scheduling Tasks
•         SMP
•         Scheduling Priorities
•         Scheduling System Calls
•         The 2.4 schedule() Function
•         O(1) Scheduler
•         Time Slices and Priorities
•         Load Balancing
•         Priority Inversion and Priority Inheritance **
•         Labs

    17. Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS)

•         The CFS Scheduler
•         Calculating Priorities and Fair Times
•         Scheduling Classes
•         CFS Scheduler Details
•         Labs

    18. Memory Addressing

•         Virtual Memory Management
•         Systems With no MMU
•         Memory Addresses
•         High and Low Memory
•         Memory Zones
•         Special Device Nodes
•         NUMA
•         Paging
•         Page Tables
•         page structure
•         Kernel Samepage Merging (KSM) **
•         Labs

    19. Huge Pages

•         Huge Page Support
•         libhugetlbfs
•         Transparent Huge Pages
•         Labs

    20. Memory Allocation

•         Requesting and Releasing Pages
•         Buddy System
•         Slabs and Cache Allocations
•         Memory Pools
•         kmalloc()
•         vmalloc()
•         Early Allocations and bootmem()
•         Memory Defragmentation
•         Labs

    21. Process Address Space

•         Allocating User Memory and Address Spaces
•         Locking Pages
•         Memory Descriptors and Regions
•         Access Rights
•         Allocating and Freeing Memory Regions
•         Page Faults
•         Labs

    22. Disk Caches and Swapping

•         Caches
•         Page Cache Basics
•         What is Swapping?
•         Swap Areas
•         Swapping Pages In and Out
•         Controlling Swappiness
•         The Swap Cache
•         Reverse Mapping **
•         OOM Killer
•         Labs

    23. Device Drivers**

•         Types of Devices
•         Device Nodes
•         Character Drivers
•         An Example
•         Labs

    24. Signals

•         What are Signals?
•         Available Signals
•         System Calls for Signals
•         Sigaction
•         Signals and Threads
•         How the Kernel Installs Signal Handlers
•         How the Kernel Sends Signals
•         How the Kernel Invokes Signal Handlers
•         Real Time Signals
•         Labs

** These sections may be considered in part or in whole as optional. They contain either background reference material, specialized topics, or advanced subjects. The instructor may choose to cover or not cover them depending on classroom experience and time constraints

Learning Path

• Linux Kernel Debugging and Security – GTLF5  Please Contact Us for further information.

Ways to Attend

• Attend a public course, if there is one available. Please check our Schedule, or Register Your Interest in joining a course in your area.
• Private onsite Team training also available, please Contact Us to discuss. We can customise this course to suit your business requirements.