I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch

I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch

[khaled MOHAMMED atteya]

HELLO
I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch.
am i needing to read all i386 and pentium manual (the three volume)?

Re: I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch

[Willy Tarreau]

Hello,

On Sat, Apr 29, 2006 at 12:54:28AM +0300, khaled MOHAMMED atteya wrote:
> HELLO
> I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch.
> am i needing to read all i386 and pentium manual (the three volume)?

For kernel development, you don't necessary need to start from the CPU
manuals. Starting from the kernel code would be more efficient. Then,
once you feel you really need to get specific CPU knowledge, take a look
at its manual. Generally, the i386 manual + some experience with this
CPU will be enough to understand most code. Newer x86 CPUs reuse the
same instruction set and model, and add a few instructions and memory
models. Also, it might be wise to get basic knowledge on the PC
architecture if you don't have right now (I/O, mem, DMA, PCI, IRQs, ...). 

Hoping this helps,
Willy

Re: I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch

[Valdis.Kletnieks]

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On Sat, 29 Apr 2006 00:54:28 +0300, khaled MOHAMMED atteya said:
> HELLO
> I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch.

Do you plan to be actively developing code in the arch/i386 tree, or are
you just developing on systems that happen to be x86 boxes?  The difference
is crucial.

> am i needing to read all i386 and pentium manual (the three volume)?

There's large portions of the kernel ( fs/* and net/* in particular) that
are largely CPU-agnostic.  Much more important overall is understanding the
basic *concepts* of barriers (why you need them, when, and where), and trusting
the provided macros to Do The Right Thing when you use the right macro (conversely,
using the *wrong* macro is an error no matter what architecture you're on).

That, and locking.  Understanding locking is another things more important
than the actual CPU registers.

And you need to get a grip on both of those concepts before starting to deal
with architecture-dependent code (of which there's an amazingly small amount).

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Re: I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch

[Alan Camus]

Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Apr 2006 00:54:28 +0300, khaled MOHAMMED atteya said:
>   
>> HELLO
>> I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch.
>>     
>
> Do you plan to be actively developing code in the arch/i386 tree, or are
> you just developing on systems that happen to be x86 boxes?  The difference
> is crucial.
>   
I want to be actively developing code in the arch/i386 or arch/x86_64
tree ... and plan to optimize the kernel for theses CPUs ... any advice
? thanks .

--alan

Re: I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch

[Jesper Juhl]

On 4/28/06, khaled MOHAMMED atteya <khaled.m.atteya@gmail.com> wrote:
> HELLO
> I hope to be kernel developer ,in i386 arch.
> am i needing to read all i386 and pentium manual (the three volume)?

I'd say a better place to start would be Documentation/HOWTO in the
kernel source + all the resources that document points you at + a few
good books, like; "Linux Kernel Development", "Linux Kernel
Internals", "Linux Device drivers" etc (remember to get the latest
editions) + http://kernelnewbies.org

And of course, read the actual kernel source.

--
Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@gmail.com>
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