Linux Device Driver Training
Linux
Device Driver Development Course
Overall
objective of this class is to teach attendees on how to develop
device drivers for Linux.
This three
day course provides substantial practice with the key steps
in developing Linux device drivers. The course shows attendees
how device drivers work with the Linux kernel, how to compile
and load drivers, how to debug drivers, as well as other essential
topics.
This course
acquaints developers with the issues essential for Linux device
driver development. The course progresses through a number
of topics. Each topic is presented along with a supporting
laboratory exercise before moving on to the next topic.
Attendees
will spend approximately 50 percent of the class time actually
gaining hands-on experience with these topics.
Course Objectives:
• To provide an understanding of the essentials
of Linux device drivers.
• To give you practical experience in developing Linux
device drivers.
• The steps necessary to add devices to a Linux system
• How to determine what hardware is present on a Linux
system
• The purpose and functionality of device drivers
• Compiling and linking device drivers
• Trade-offs between loadable modules and drivers compiled
into the kernel.
Who Should Attend:
The course is designed for software engineers
who are new to Linux device drivers. Attendees should have experience
with C, be able to perform basic Unix commands, and have some
experience with the basic Gnu tools of gcc, gdb, and make.
Course Materials
The class materials for this course have been
meticlously designed by leading practioners in this area. The
workshop materials include a comprehensive student workbook
and CD. The workbook contains all of the slides used in the
course as well as hands-on lab exercises. The CD contains
the lab exercise code as well as a large amount of Linux software.
Course Workshop and Set-up:
The workshop makes use of standard PC’s
with a desktop Linux distribution for development. The course
will make use of PC's and PC devices as examples.
The
following modules will be covered during the class:
Devices in Linux
|
Devices treated as files, the /dev directory
Device classes – character, block, network, pipe
Creating device files with mknod |
User Space Driver APIs
|
Low-level API
Streams API |
| How Loadable Modules Work |
Benefits of loadable modules
Correct use of insmod, modprobe, rmmod, and lsmod
Passing parameters to a loadable module
The GPL and your driver code |
Compiling, Loading And Exporting
|
Writing a simple module
Compiling modules
Loading/unloading modules
Exporting symbols from a loadable module
Creating stacked loadable modules |
| Character
Devices |
Major and minor numbers
Registering character device file
Driver methods – the file operations table
Transferring data to/from User Space |
| Tracing and Debugging |
printk for debugging
Device information in /proc
strace to track system calls
ksyms and ksymoops
Debuggers – gdb and kgdb |
| Blocking and Wait Queues |
Multi-tasking
Schedule()
Wait Queues
Safe sleeping
Poll() |
| Accessing Hardware |
I/O ports vs. memory mapping
Allocating and mapping I/O space
Functions for reading and writing I/O ports
Barriers
Accessing I/O from User Space |
| Handling Interrupts |
Interrupt Handler functions
Restrictions of kernel code running in interrupt context
Deferred interrupt handling tasklets and workqueues |
Accessing PCI hardware
|
detecting PCI devices
Resource conflicts
Vendor/device IDs
I/O mapping |
| USB Drivers |
USB structure and Topology
Endpoints, interfaces and configurations
USB Request Blocks(urbs)
Driver Structure and organization
"Gadget" drivers
|
| Managing Time |
Timer interrupts and jiffies
Short Delays
Task queues
Kernel Timers |
|
| Block Device Drivers |
Block Device Drivers
Header files
Registering block drivers
The block_device_operations structure
Special Methods
|
Network Drivers |
The net_device structure
Sockets
Naming scheme and registration
Network driver methods
NAPI the new API
|
| Adding a Driver to the Kernel Tree |
Where to put it - kernel layout for drivers
Modifying the Makefile
Adding it to configuration options - the Kconfig file
|
If
you have any questions about the difficulty level of the class
or any other aspect of the class, please contact us at: classes
(at) linuxcertified.com
Optional:
All attendees will get a Linux laptop to be used during the
class. You have the option of purchasing this laptop with
an additional course fee.
Enrollment Form
On-site:
If you would like to arrange an on-site Linux Device Driver
class, please contact us: classes (at) linuxcertified.com.
Public
class schedule: Please see dates on our calendar
page.
