Introduction to the Kernel
and Device Drivers
Mark Stanovich
COP 5641 / CIS 4930
Introduction
Device drivers
Software interface to hardware device
Use standardized calls
Independent of the specific driver
Main role
Map standard calls to device-specific operations
Can be developed separately from the rest of the
kernel
Plugged in at runtime when needed
Role of the Device Driver
Implements the mechanisms to access the
hardware
E.g., Hard disk
Read/write blocks of data
Access as a continuous array
Does not force particular policies on the user
Examples
Who many access the drive
Whether the drive is accessed via a file system
Whether users may mount file systems on the drive
Policy-Free Implementation
Simplifies the design
Separation of concerns
Capabilities provided
Use of Capabilities
Reuse
Different policies do not require changes to the
kernel
Splitting the Kernel
Kernel handles resource requests
Process management
Creates, destroys processes
Supports communication among processes
Signals, pipes, etc.
Schedules how processes share the CPU/cores
Memory management
Virtual addressing
Splitting the Kernel
File systems
Everything in UNIX can be treated as a file
Linux supports multiple file systems
Device control
System operation maps to a physical device
Networking
Handles packets
Routing and network address resolution
Splitting the Kernel
(Dynamically) Loadable Modules
The ability to add and remove kernel features
at runtime
Each unit of extension is called a module
Use insmod and modprobe program to
add a kernel module
Use rmmod program to remove a kernel
module
Classes of Devices and Modules
Character devices
Block devices
Network devices
Others
Character Devices
Abstraction: a stream of bytes
Examples
Text console (/dev/console)
Serial ports (/dev/ttyS0)
Usually supports open, close, read, write
Accessed sequentially (in most cases)
Might not support file seeks
Accessed through a filesystem node
Block Devices
Abstraction: continuous array of storage
blocks (e.g. sectors)
Applications can access a block device in bytes
Accessed through a file system node
A block device can host a file system
Network Devices
Abstraction: data packets
Send and receive packets
Do not know about individual connections
Have unique names (e.g., eth0)
Not in the file system
Support protocols and streams related to packet
transmission (i.e., no read and write)
Other Classes of Devices
Examples that do not fit to previous
categories:
USB
SCSI
FireWire
MTD
File System Modules
Software drivers, not device drivers
Serve as a layer between user API and block
devices
Intended to be device-independent
Security Issues
Deliberate vs. incidental damage
Kernel modules present possibilities for both
System does only rudimentary checks at
module load time
Relies on limiting privilege to load modules
And trusts the driver writers
Driver writer must be on guard for security
problems
Security Issues
Do not define security policies
Provide mechanisms to enforce policies
Be aware of operations that affect global
resources
Setting up an interrupt line
Could cause another device to malfunction
Setting up a default block size
Could affect other users
Security Issues
Buffer overrun
Overwriting unrelated data
Treat input/parameters with utmost suspicion
Uninitialized memory
Kernel memory should be zeroed before being
made available to a user
Otherwise, information leakage could result
Passwords
Security Issues
Avoid running kernels/device drivers
compiled by an untrusted friend
Modified kernel could allow anyone to load a
module
Version Numbering
Every software package used in Linux has a
release number
Version dependency
You need a particular version of one package to run a
particular version of another package
Prepackaged distribution contains compatible
versions of various packages
Version Numbering
Different throughout the years
1.0 … 2.4 … 2.6… 3.0
After version 1.0 but before 3.0
<major>.<minor>.<release>.<bugfix>
Time based releases (after two to three months)
3.x
Moved to 3.0 to better reflect newer development
process
<version>.<release>.<bugfix>
https://lkml.org/lkml/2011/5/29/204
License Terms
GNU General Public License (GPL2)
GPL allows anybody to redistribute and sell a
product covered by GPL
As long as the recipient has access to the source
And is able to exercise the same rights
Any software product derived from a product
covered by the GPL must be released under GPL
License Terms
If you want your code to go into the mainline
kernel
Must use a GPL-compatible license
Joining the Kernel Development
Community
The central gathering point
Linux-kernel mailing list
http://www.tux.org/lkml
https://lkml.org/
Chapter 20 of LKD Book further discusses
the community and accepted coding style
