procfs is a software created virtual file system that mounted to /proc directory at boot time. It was originally designed to provide information about running process of the Linux system, but has gone far beyond its original purpose as Linux kernel development proceeds.

Basics of procfs

It can act as a bridge connecting the [...]

Memory allocation in Linux kernel is different from the user space counterpart. The following facts are noteworthy,

Kernel memory is not pageable. Kernel memory allocation mistakes can cause system oops (system crash) easily. Kernel memory has limited hard stack size limit.

There’re two ways to allocate memory space for a kernel process, statically from the [...]

Linux kernel has linked-list as a built-in data structure defined in /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/include/linux/list.h. Compared with common implementations of linked list, the Linux kernel version allows one to embedded the pre-defined linked-list node into any data structure to form a linked list.

0. Comparison of Common Linked List and Linux Kernel Linked List

Suppose we [...]

Linux kernel is considered as mysterious and tough for many programmers, but it’s actually just another big code base with certain special rules and programming practices.

The loadable kernel module is something easier to start with, and one can still learn specifics about Linux kernel programming. This blog covers the very basics of the [...]