The Linux Kernel API

Table of Contents

1. Driver Basics

Driver Entry and Exit points

Atomic and pointer manipulation

Delaying, scheduling, and timer routines

High-resolution timers

Workqueues and Kevents

Internal Functions

Kernel objects manipulation

Kernel utility functions

Device Resource Management

2. Data Types

Doubly Linked Lists

3. Basic C Library Functions

String Conversions

String Manipulation

Bit Operations

4. Basic Kernel Library Functions

Bitmap Operations

Command-line Parsing

CRC Functions

5. Memory Management in Linux

The Slab Cache

User Space Memory Access

More Memory Management Functions

6. Kernel IPC facilities

IPC utilities

7. FIFO Buffer

kfifo interface

8. relay interface support

relay interface

9. Module Support

Module Loading

Inter Module support

10. Hardware Interfaces

Interrupt Handling

DMA Channels

Resources Management

MTRR Handling

PCI Support Library

PCI Hotplug Support Library

MCA Architecture

MCA Device Functions

MCA Bus DMA

11. Firmware Interfaces

DMI Interfaces

EDD Interfaces

12. Security Framework

security_init — initializes the security framework

security_module_enable — Load given security module on boot ?

register_security — registers a security framework with the kernel

mod_reg_security — allows security modules to be “stacked”

13. Audit Interfaces

audit_log_start — obtain an audit buffer

audit_log_format — format a message into the audit buffer.

audit_log_end — end one audit record

audit_log — Log an audit record

audit_alloc — allocate an audit context block for a task

audit_free — free a per-task audit context

audit_syscall_entry — fill in an audit record at syscall entry

audit_syscall_exit — deallocate audit context after a system call

__audit_getname — add a name to the list

__audit_inode — store the inode and device from a lookup

auditsc_get_stamp — get local copies of audit_context values

audit_set_loginuid — set a task's audit_context loginuid

__audit_mq_open — record audit data for a POSIX MQ open

__audit_mq_timedsend — record audit data for a POSIX MQ timed send

__audit_mq_timedreceive — record audit data for a POSIX MQ timed receive

__audit_mq_notify — record audit data for a POSIX MQ notify

__audit_mq_getsetattr — record audit data for a POSIX MQ get/set attribute

__audit_ipc_obj — record audit data for ipc object

__audit_ipc_set_perm — record audit data for new ipc permissions

audit_socketcall — record audit data for sys_socketcall

__audit_fd_pair — record audit data for pipe and socketpair

audit_sockaddr — record audit data for sys_bind, sys_connect, sys_sendto

__audit_signal_info — record signal info for shutting down audit subsystem

audit_core_dumps — record information about processes that end abnormally

audit_receive_filter — apply all rules to the specified message type

14. Accounting Framework

sys_acct — enable/disable process accounting

acct_auto_close_mnt — turn off a filesystem's accounting if it is on

acct_auto_close — turn off a filesystem's accounting if it is on

acct_init_pacct — initialize a new pacct_struct

acct_collect — collect accounting information into pacct_struct

acct_process — now just a wrapper around do_acct_process

15. Device drivers infrastructure

Device Drivers Base

Device Drivers Power Management

Device Drivers ACPI Support

Device drivers PnP support

Userspace IO devices

16. Block Devices

blk_get_backing_dev_info — get the address of a queue's backing_dev_info

generic_unplug_device — fire a request queue

blk_start_queue — restart a previously stopped queue

blk_stop_queue — stop a queue

blk_sync_queue — cancel any pending callbacks on a queue

__blk_run_queue — run a single device queue

blk_run_queue — run a single device queue

blk_init_queue — prepare a request queue for use with a block device

blk_start_queueing — initiate dispatch of requests to device

blk_requeue_request — put a request back on queue

blk_insert_request — insert a special request in to a request queue

submit_bio —

blk_complete_request — end I/O on a request

blk_rq_bytes — Returns bytes left to complete in the entire request

blk_rq_cur_bytes — Returns bytes left to complete in the current segment

end_queued_request — end all I/O on a queued request

end_dequeued_request — end all I/O on a dequeued request

end_request — end I/O on the current segment of the request

blk_end_request — Helper function for drivers to complete the request.

__blk_end_request — Helper function for drivers to complete the request.

blk_end_bidi_request — Helper function for drivers to complete bidi request.

blk_end_request_callback — Special helper function for tricky drivers

__generic_make_request —

__end_that_request_first — end I/O on a request

blk_end_io — Generic end_io function to complete a request.

blk_rq_map_user — map user data to a request, for REQ_BLOCK_PC usage

blk_rq_unmap_user — unmap a request with user data

blk_rq_map_kern — map kernel data to a request, for REQ_BLOCK_PC usage

blk_release_queue — release a struct request_queue when it is no longer needed

blk_queue_prep_rq — set a prepare_request function for queue

blk_queue_merge_bvec — set a merge_bvec function for queue

blk_queue_make_request — define an alternate make_request function for a device

blk_queue_bounce_limit — set bounce buffer limit for queue

blk_queue_max_sectors — set max sectors for a request for this queue

blk_queue_max_phys_segments — set max phys segments for a request for this queue

blk_queue_max_hw_segments — set max hw segments for a request for this queue

blk_queue_max_segment_size — set max segment size for blk_rq_map_sg

blk_queue_hardsect_size — set hardware sector size for the queue

blk_queue_stack_limits — inherit underlying queue limits for stacked drivers

blk_queue_dma_pad — set pad mask

blk_queue_dma_drain — Set up a drain buffer for excess dma.

blk_queue_segment_boundary — set boundary rules for segment merging

blk_queue_dma_alignment — set dma length and memory alignment

blk_queue_update_dma_alignment — update dma length and memory alignment

blk_end_sync_rq — executes a completion event on a request

blk_execute_rq_nowait — insert a request into queue for execution

blk_execute_rq — insert a request into queue for execution

blk_queue_ordered — does this queue support ordered writes

blkdev_issue_flush — queue a flush

blk_queue_find_tag — find a request by its tag and queue

blk_free_tags — release a given set of tag maintenance info

blk_queue_free_tags — release tag maintenance info

blk_init_tags — initialize the tag info for an external tag map

blk_queue_init_tags — initialize the queue tag info

blk_queue_resize_tags — change the queueing depth

blk_queue_end_tag — end tag operations for a request

blk_queue_start_tag — find a free tag and assign it

blk_queue_invalidate_tags — invalidate all pending tags

__blk_free_tags — release a given set of tag maintenance info

__blk_queue_free_tags — release tag maintenance info

17. Char devices

register_chrdev_region — register a range of device numbers

alloc_chrdev_region — register a range of char device numbers

register_chrdev — Register a major number for character devices.

unregister_chrdev_region — return a range of device numbers

cdev_add — add a char device to the system

cdev_del — remove a cdev from the system

cdev_alloc — allocate a cdev structure

cdev_init — initialize a cdev structure

18. Miscellaneous Devices

misc_register — register a miscellaneous device

misc_deregister — unregister a miscellaneous device

19. Parallel Port Devices

parport_yield — relinquish a parallel port temporarily

parport_yield_blocking — relinquish a parallel port temporarily

parport_wait_event — wait for an event on a parallel port

parport_wait_peripheral — wait for status lines to change in 35ms

parport_negotiate — negotiate an IEEE 1284 mode

parport_write — write a block of data to a parallel port

parport_read — read a block of data from a parallel port

parport_set_timeout — set the inactivity timeout for a device

parport_register_driver — register a parallel port device driver

parport_unregister_driver — deregister a parallel port device driver

parport_get_port — increment a port's reference count

parport_put_port — decrement a port's reference count

parport_register_port — register a parallel port

parport_announce_port — tell device drivers about a parallel port

parport_remove_port — deregister a parallel port

parport_register_device — register a device on a parallel port

parport_unregister_device — deregister a device on a parallel port

parport_find_number — find a parallel port by number

parport_find_base — find a parallel port by base address

parport_claim — claim access to a parallel port device

parport_claim_or_block — claim access to a parallel port device

parport_release — give up access to a parallel port device

parport_open — find a device by canonical device number

parport_close — close a device opened with parport_open

20. Message-based devices

Fusion message devices

I2O message devices

21. Sound Devices

snd_register_device — Register the ALSA device file for the card

snd_printk — printk wrapper

snd_printd — debug printk

snd_assert — run-time assertion macro

snd_printdd — debug printk

register_sound_special_device — register a special sound node

register_sound_mixer — register a mixer device

register_sound_midi — register a midi device

register_sound_dsp — register a DSP device

unregister_sound_special — unregister a special sound device

unregister_sound_mixer — unregister a mixer

unregister_sound_midi — unregister a midi device

unregister_sound_dsp — unregister a DSP device

snd_pcm_playback_ready — check whether the playback buffer is available

snd_pcm_capture_ready — check whether the capture buffer is available

snd_pcm_playback_data — check whether any data exists on the playback buffer

snd_pcm_playback_empty — check whether the playback buffer is empty

snd_pcm_capture_empty — check whether the capture buffer is empty

snd_pcm_format_cpu_endian — Check the PCM format is CPU-endian

snd_pcm_new_stream — create a new PCM stream

snd_pcm_new — create a new PCM instance

snd_device_new — create an ALSA device component

snd_device_free — release the device from the card

snd_device_register — register the device

snd_iprintf — printf on the procfs buffer

snd_info_get_line — read one line from the procfs buffer

snd_info_get_str — parse a string token

snd_info_create_module_entry — create an info entry for the given module

snd_info_create_card_entry — create an info entry for the given card

snd_card_proc_new — create an info entry for the given card

snd_info_free_entry — release the info entry

snd_info_register — register the info entry

snd_rawmidi_receive — receive the input data from the device

snd_rawmidi_transmit_empty — check whether the output buffer is empty

snd_rawmidi_transmit_peek — copy data from the internal buffer

snd_rawmidi_transmit_ack — acknowledge the transmission

snd_rawmidi_transmit — copy from the buffer to the device

snd_rawmidi_new — create a rawmidi instance

snd_rawmidi_set_ops — set the rawmidi operators

snd_request_card — try to load the card module

snd_lookup_minor_data — get user data of a registered device

snd_register_device_for_dev — Register the ALSA device file for the card

snd_unregister_device — unregister the device on the given card

copy_to_user_fromio — copy data from mmio-space to user-space

copy_from_user_toio — copy data from user-space to mmio-space

snd_pcm_lib_preallocate_free_for_all — release all pre-allocated buffers on the pcm

snd_pcm_lib_preallocate_pages — pre-allocation for the given DMA type

snd_pcm_lib_preallocate_pages_for_all — pre-allocation for continous memory type (all substreams)

snd_pcm_sgbuf_ops_page — get the page struct at the given offset

snd_pcm_lib_malloc_pages — allocate the DMA buffer

snd_pcm_lib_free_pages — release the allocated DMA buffer.

snd_card_new — create and initialize a soundcard structure

snd_card_disconnect — disconnect all APIs from the file-operations (user space)

snd_card_register — register the soundcard

snd_component_add — add a component string

snd_card_file_add — add the file to the file list of the card

snd_card_file_remove — remove the file from the file list

snd_power_wait — wait until the power-state is changed.

snd_dma_program — program an ISA DMA transfer

snd_dma_disable — stop the ISA DMA transfer

snd_dma_pointer — return the current pointer to DMA transfer buffer in bytes

snd_ctl_new1 — create a control instance from the template

snd_ctl_free_one — release the control instance

snd_ctl_add — add the control instance to the card

snd_ctl_remove — remove the control from the card and release it

snd_ctl_remove_id — remove the control of the given id and release it

snd_ctl_rename_id — replace the id of a control on the card

snd_ctl_find_numid — find the control instance with the given number-id

snd_ctl_find_id — find the control instance with the given id

snd_pcm_set_ops — set the PCM operators

snd_pcm_set_sync — set the PCM sync id

snd_interval_refine — refine the interval value of configurator

snd_interval_ratnum — refine the interval value

snd_interval_list — refine the interval value from the list

snd_pcm_hw_rule_add — add the hw-constraint rule

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_integer —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_minmax —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_list —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_ratnums —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_ratdens —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_msbits —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_step —

snd_pcm_hw_constraint_pow2 —

snd_pcm_hw_param_value —

snd_pcm_hw_param_first —

snd_pcm_hw_param_last —

snd_pcm_lib_ioctl — a generic PCM ioctl callback

snd_pcm_period_elapsed — update the pcm status for the next period

snd_hwdep_new — create a new hwdep instance

snd_pcm_stop —

snd_pcm_suspend —

snd_pcm_suspend_all —

snd_malloc_pages — allocate pages with the given size

snd_free_pages — release the pages

snd_dma_alloc_pages — allocate the buffer area according to the given type

snd_dma_alloc_pages_fallback — allocate the buffer area according to the given type with fallback

snd_dma_free_pages — release the allocated buffer

snd_dma_get_reserved_buf — get the reserved buffer for the given device

snd_dma_reserve_buf — reserve the buffer

22. 16x50 UART Driver

uart_handle_dcd_change — handle a change of carrier detect state

uart_handle_cts_change — handle a change of clear-to-send state

uart_update_timeout — update per-port FIFO timeout.

uart_get_baud_rate — return baud rate for a particular port

uart_get_divisor — return uart clock divisor

uart_parse_options — Parse serial port baud/parity/bits/flow contro.

uart_set_options — setup the serial console parameters

uart_register_driver — register a driver with the uart core layer

uart_unregister_driver — remove a driver from the uart core layer

uart_add_one_port — attach a driver-defined port structure

uart_remove_one_port — detach a driver defined port structure

serial8250_suspend_port — suspend one serial port

serial8250_resume_port — resume one serial port

serial8250_register_port — register a serial port

serial8250_unregister_port — remove a 16x50 serial port at runtime

23. Frame Buffer Library

Frame Buffer Memory

Frame Buffer Colormap

Frame Buffer Video Mode Database

Frame Buffer Macintosh Video Mode Database

Frame Buffer Fonts

24. Input Subsystem

struct ff_replay — defines scheduling of the force-feedback effect

struct ff_trigger — defines what triggers the force-feedback effect

struct ff_envelope — generic force-feedback effect envelope

struct ff_constant_effect — defines parameters of a constant force-feedback effect

struct ff_ramp_effect — defines parameters of a ramp force-feedback effect

struct ff_condition_effect — defines a spring or friction force-feedback effect

struct ff_periodic_effect — defines parameters of a periodic force-feedback effect

struct ff_rumble_effect — defines parameters of a periodic force-feedback effect

struct ff_effect — defines force feedback effect

struct input_dev — represents an input device

struct input_handler — implements one of interfaces for input devices

struct input_handle — links input device with an input handler

struct ff_device — force-feedback part of an input device

input_event — report new input event

input_inject_event — send input event from input handler

input_grab_device — grabs device for exclusive use

input_release_device — release previously grabbed device

input_open_device — open input device

input_close_device — close input device

input_get_keycode — retrieve keycode currently mapped to a given scancode

input_set_keycode — assign new keycode to a given scancode

input_allocate_device — allocate memory for new input device

input_free_device — free memory occupied by input_dev structure

input_set_capability — mark device as capable of a certain event

input_register_device — register device with input core

input_unregister_device — unregister previously registered device

input_register_handler — register a new input handler

input_unregister_handler — unregisters an input handler

input_register_handle — register a new input handle

input_unregister_handle — unregister an input handle

input_ff_upload — upload effect into force-feedback device

input_ff_erase — erase a force-feedback effect from device

input_ff_event — generic handler for force-feedback events

input_ff_create — create force-feedback device

input_ff_destroy — frees force feedback portion of input device

input_ff_create_memless — create memoryless force-feedback device

25. Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

struct spi_device — Master side proxy for an SPI slave device

struct spi_driver — Host side “protocol” driver

spi_unregister_driver — reverse effect of spi_register_driver

struct spi_master — interface to SPI master controller

struct spi_transfer — a read/write buffer pair

struct spi_message — one multi-segment SPI transaction

spi_setup — setup SPI mode and clock rate

spi_async — asynchronous SPI transfer

spi_write — SPI synchronous write

spi_read — SPI synchronous read

spi_w8r8 — SPI synchronous 8 bit write followed by 8 bit read

spi_w8r16 — SPI synchronous 8 bit write followed by 16 bit read

struct spi_board_info — board-specific template for a SPI device

spi_register_board_info — register SPI devices for a given board

spi_register_driver — register a SPI driver

spi_new_device — instantiate one new SPI device

spi_alloc_master — allocate SPI master controller

spi_register_master — register SPI master controller

spi_unregister_master — unregister SPI master controller

spi_busnum_to_master — look up master associated with bus_num

spi_sync — blocking/synchronous SPI data transfers

spi_write_then_read — SPI synchronous write followed by read

26. I²C and SMBus Subsystem

struct i2c_client — represent an I2C slave device

struct i2c_board_info — template for device creation

I2C_BOARD_INFO — macro used to list an i2c device and its address

struct i2c_msg — an I2C transaction segment beginning with START

i2c_register_board_info — statically declare I2C devices

i2c_verify_client — return parameter as i2c_client, or NULL

i2c_new_device — instantiate an i2c device for use with a new style driver

i2c_unregister_device — reverse effect of i2c_new_device

i2c_new_dummy — return a new i2c device bound to a dummy driver

i2c_add_adapter — declare i2c adapter, use dynamic bus number

i2c_add_numbered_adapter — declare i2c adapter, use static bus number

i2c_del_adapter — unregister I2C adapter

i2c_del_driver — unregister I2C driver

i2c_use_client — increments the reference count of the i2c client structure

i2c_release_client — release a use of the i2c client structure

i2c_smbus_read_block_data — SMBus block read request

27. Clock Framework

clk_get — lookup and obtain a reference to a clock producer.

clk_enable — inform the system when the clock source should be running.

clk_disable — inform the system when the clock source is no longer required.

clk_get_rate — obtain the current clock rate (in Hz) for a clock source.

clk_put — "free" the clock source

clk_round_rate — adjust a rate to the exact rate a clock can provide

clk_set_rate — set the clock rate for a clock source

clk_set_parent — set the parent clock source for this clock

clk_get_parent — get the parent clock source for this clock