man/man9/intro.9

.\"
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2023 The FreeBSD Foundation
.\"
.\" This manual page was written by Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> under
.\" sponsorship from the FreeBSD Foundation.
.\"
.Dd January 30, 2024
.Dt INTRO 9
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm intro
.Nd "introduction to kernel programming interfaces"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
Welcome to the
.Fx
kernel documentation.
Outside the source code itself, this set of
.Xr man 1
pages is the primary resource for information on usage of the numerous
programming interfaces available within the kernel.
In some cases, it is also a source of truth for the implementation details
and/or design decisions behind a particular subsystem or piece of code.
.Pp
The intended audience of this documentation is developers, and the primary
authors are also developers.
It is written assuming a certain familiarity with common programming or
OS-level concepts and practices.
However, this documentation should also attempt to provide enough background
information that readers approaching a particular subsystem or interface for
the first time will be able to understand.
.Pp
To further set expectations, we acknowledge that kernel documentation, like the
source code itself, is forever a work-in-progress.
There will be large sections of the codebase whose documentation is subtly or
severely outdated, or missing altogether.
This documentation is a supplement to the source code, and can not always be
taken at face value.
.Pp
At its best, section 9 documentation will provide a description of a particular
piece of code that, paired with its implementation, fully informs the reader of
the intended and realized effects.
.Pp
.Xr man 1
pages in this section most frequently describe functions, but may also
describe types, global variables, macros, or high-level concepts.
.Sh CODING GUIDELINES
Code written for the
.Fx
kernel is expected to conform to the established style and coding conventions.
Please see
.Xr style 9
for a detailed set of rules and guidelines.
.Sh OVERVIEW
Below is presented various subsystems.
.Ss Data Structures
There are implementations for many well-known data structures available in the
kernel.
.Bl -tag -width "Xr bitstring 3"
.It Xr bitstring 3
Simple bitmap implementation.
.It Xr counter 9
An SMP-safe general-purpose counter implementation.
.It Xr hash 9
Hash map implementation.
.It Xr nv 9
Name/value pairs.
.It Xr queue 3
Singly-linked and doubly-linked lists, and queues.
.It Xr refcount 9
An SMP-safe implementation of reference counts.
.It Xr sbuf 9
Dynamic string composition.
.It Xr sglist 9
A scatter/gather list implementation.
.El
.Ss Utility Functions
Functions or facilities of general usefulness or convenience.
See also the
.Sx Testing and Debugging Tools
or
.Sx Miscellaneous
sub-sections below.
.Pp
Formatted output and logging functions are described by
.Xr printf 9 .
.Pp
Endian-swapping functions:
.Xr byteorder 9 .
.Pp
Data output in hexadecimal format:
.Xr hexdump 9 .
.Pp
A rich set of macros for declaring
.Xr sysctl 8
variables and functions is described by
.Xr sysctl 9 .
.Pp
Non-recoverable errors in the kernel should trigger a
.Xr panic 9 .
Run-time assertions can be verified using the
.Xr KASSERT 9
macros.
Compile-time assertions should use
.Fn _Static_assert .
.Pp
The SYSINIT framework provides macros for declaring functions that will be
executed during start-up and shutdown; see
.Xr SYSINIT 9 .
.Pp
Deprecation messages may be emitted with
.Xr gone_in 9 .
.Pp
A unit number facility is provided by
.Xr unr 9 .
.Ss Synchronization Primitives
The
.Xr locking 9
man page gives an overview of the various types of locks available in the
kernel and advice on their usage.
.Pp
Atomic primitives are described by
.Xr atomic 9 .
.Pp
The
.Xr epoch 9
and
.Xr smr 9
facilities are used to create lock-free data structures.
There is also
.Xr seqc 9 .
.Ss Memory Management
Dynamic memory allocations inside the kernel are generally done using
.Xr malloc 9 .
Frequently allocated objects may prefer to use
.Xr uma 9 .
.Pp
.\" MHTODO: It would be useful to have a vm_page(9) or similar
.\" high-level page which points to the following contents instead.
Much of the virtual memory system operates on
.Vt vm_page_t
structures.
The following functions are documented:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
.Xr vm_page_advise 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_alloc 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_bits 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_aflag 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_alloc 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_bits 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_busy 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_deactivate 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_free 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_grab 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_insert 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_lookup 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_rename 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_sbusy 9 ,
.Xr vm_page_wire 9
.Ed
.Pp
Virtual address space maps are managed with the
.Xr vm_map 9
API.
.Pp
The machine-dependent portion of the virtual memory stack is the
.Xr pmap 9
module.
.Pp
Allocation policies for NUMA memory domains are managed with the
.Xr domainset 9
API.
.Ss File Systems
The kernel interface for file systems is
.Xr VFS 9 .
File system implementations register themselves with
.Xr vfsconf 9 .
.Pp
The
.Xr vnode 9
is the abstract and filesystem-independent representation of a file,
directory, or other file-like entity within the kernel.
.Pp
The implementation of access control lists for filesystems is described by
.Xr acl 9 .
Also
.Xr vaccess 9 .
.Ss I/O and Storage
.\" TODO: This page needs to be rewritten before it can be included here.
.\" The buffer cache is described by:
.\" .Xr buf 9
.\" .Pp
The GEOM framework represents I/O requests using the
.Xr bio 9
structure.
.Pp
Disk drivers connect themselves to GEOM using the
.Xr disk 9
API.
.Pp
The
.Xr devstat 9
facility provides an interface for recording device statistics in disk drivers.
.Ss Networking
Much of the networking stack uses the
.Xr mbuf 9 ,
a flexible memory management unit commonly used to store network packets.
.Pp
Network interfaces are implemented using the
.Xr ifnet 9
API, which has functions for drivers and consumers.
.Pp
A framework for managing packet output queues is described by
.Xr altq 9 .
.Pp
To receive incoming packets, network protocols register themselves with
.Xr netisr 9 .
.Pp
Virtualization of the network stack is provided by
.Xr VNET 9 .
.Pp
The front-end for interfacing with network sockets from within the kernel is
described by
.Xr socket 9 .
The back-end interface for socket implementations is
.Xr domain 9 .
.Pp
The low-level packet filter interface is described by
.Xr pfil 9 .
.Pp
The
.Xr bpf 9
interface provides a mechanism to redirect packets to userspace.
.Pp
The subsystem for IEEE 802.11 wireless networking is described by
.Xr ieee80211 9 .
.Pp
A framework for modular TCP implementations is described by
.Xr tcp_functions 9 .
.Pp
A framework for modular congestion control algorithms is described by
.Xr mod_cc 9 .
.Ss Device Drivers
.\" TODO: a bus(9) or newbus(9) page, as well as updates to existing pages
.\" would be helpful in laying out the high-level concepts of FreeBSD's device
.\" structure, and explaining the organization of existing documentation.
Consult the
.Xr device 9
and
.Xr driver 9
pages first.
.Pp
Most drivers act as devices, and provide a set of methods implementing the
device interface.
This includes methods such as
.Xr DEVICE_PROBE 9 ,
.Xr DEVICE_ATTACH 9 ,
and
.Xr DEVICE_DETACH 9 .
.Pp
In addition to devices, there are buses.
Buses may have children, in the form of devices or other buses.
Bus drivers will implement additional methods, such as
.Xr BUS_ADD_CHILD 9 ,
.Xr BUS_READ_IVAR 9 ,
or
.Xr BUS_RESCAN 9 .
.Pp
Buses often perform resource accounting on behalf of their children.
For this there is the
.Xr rman 9
API.
.Pp
Drivers can request and manage their resources (e.g. memory-space or IRQ
number) from their parent using the following sets of functions:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
.Xr bus_alloc_resource 9 ,
.Xr bus_adjust_resource 9 ,
.Xr bus_get_resource 9 ,
.Xr bus_map_resource 9 ,
.Xr bus_release_resource 9 ,
.Xr bus_set_resource 9
.Ed
.Pp
Direct Memory Access (DMA) is handled using the
.Xr busdma 9
framework.
.Pp
Functions for accessing bus space (i.e. read/write) are provided by
.Xr bus_space 9 .
.Ss Clocks and Timekeeping
The kernel clock frequency and overall system time model is described by
.Xr hz 9 .
.Pp
A few global time variables, such as system up-time, are described by
.Xr time 9 .
.Pp
Raw CPU cycles are provided by
.Xr get_cyclecount 9 .
.Ss Userspace Memory Access
Direct read/write access of userspace memory from the kernel is not permitted,
and memory transactions that cross the kernel/user boundary must go through one
of several interfaces built for this task.
.Pp
Most device drivers use the
.Xr uiomove 9
set of routines.
.Pp
Simpler primitives for reading or writing smaller chunks of memory are
described by
.Xr casuword 9 ,
.Xr copy 9 ,
.Xr fetch 9 ,
and
.Xr store 9 .
.Ss Kernel Threads, Tasks, and Callbacks
Kernel threads and processes are created using the
.Xr kthread 9
and
.Xr kproc 9
interfaces, respectively.
.Pp
Where dedicated kernel threads are too heavyweight, there is also the
.Xr taskqueue 9
interface.
.Pp
For low-latency callback handling, the
.Xr callout 9
framework should be used.
.Pp
Dynamic handlers for pre-defined event hooks are registered and invoked using
the
.Xr EVENTHANDLER 9
API.
.Ss Thread Switching and Scheduling
The machine-independent interface to a context switch is
.Xr mi_switch 9 .
.Pp
To prevent preemption, use a
.Xr critical 9
section.
.Pp
To voluntarily yield the processor, use
.Xr kern_yield 9 .
.Pp
The various functions which will deliberately put a thread to sleep are
described by
.Xr sleep 9 .
Sleeping threads are removed from the scheduler and placed on a
.Xr sleepqueue 9 .
.\" TODO: This page is outdated and can't be included here yet.
.\".Pp
.\"The thread scheduler interface is described by
.\".Xr scheduler 9 .
.Ss Processes and Signals
To locate a process or process group by its identifier, use
.Xr pfind 9
and
.Xr pgfind 9 .
Alternatively, the
.Xr pget 9
function provides additional search specificity.
.Pp
The "hold count" of a process can be manipulated with
.Xr PHOLD 9 .
.Pp
The kernel interface for signals is described by
.Xr signal 9 .
.Pp
Signals can be sent to processes or process groups using the functions
described by
.Xr psignal 9 .
.Ss Security
See the overview in
.Xr security 7 .
.Pp
The basic structure for user credentials is
.Vt struct ucred ,
managed by the
.Xr ucred 9
API.
Thread credentials are verified using
.Xr priv 9
to allow or deny certain privileged actions.
.Pp
Policies influenced by
.Va kern.securelevel
must use the
.Xr securelevel_gt 9
or
.Xr securelevel_ge 9
functions.
.Pp
The Mandatory Access Control (MAC) framework provides a wide set of hooks,
supporting dynamically-registered security modules;
see
.Xr mac 9 .
.Pp
Cryptographic services are provided by the OpenCrypto framework.
This API provides an interface for both consumers and crypto drivers;
see
.Xr crypto 9 .
.Pp
For information on random number generation, see
.Xr random 9
and
.Xr prng 9 .
.Ss Kernel Modules
The interfaces for declaring loadable kernel modules are described by
.Xr module 9 .
.Ss Interrupts
.Xr intr_event 9
describes the machine-independent portion of the interrupt framework
that supports registration and execution of interrupt handlers.
.Pp
Software interrupts are provided by
.Xr swi 9 .
.Pp
Device drivers register their interrupt handlers using the
.Xr bus_setup_intr 9
function.
.Ss Testing and Debugging Tools
A kernel test framework:
.Xr kern_testfrwk 9
.Pp
A facility for defining configurable fail points is described by
.Xr fail 9 .
.Pp
Commands for the
.Xr ddb 4
kernel debugger are defined with the
.Xr DB_COMMAND 9
family of macros.
.Pp
The
.Xr ktr 4
tracing facility adds static tracepoints to many areas of the kernel.
These tracepoints are defined using the macros described by
.Xr ktr 9 .
.Pp
Static probes for DTrace are defined using the
.Xr SDT 9
macros.
.Pp
Stack traces can be captured and printed with the
.Xr stack 9
API.
.Pp
Kernel sanitizers can perform additional compiler-assisted checks against
memory use/access.
These runtimes are capable of detecting difficult-to-identify classes of bugs,
at the cost of a large overhead.
The Kernel Address Sanitizer
.Xr KASAN 9
and Kernel Memory Sanitizer
.Xr KMSAN 9
are supported.
.Pp
The
.Xr LOCK_PROFILING 9
kernel config option enables extra code to assist with profiling and/or
debugging lock performance.
.Ss Driver Tools
Defined functions/APIs for specific types of devices.
.Bl -tag -width "Xr usbdi 9"
.It Xr iflib 9
Programming interface for
.Xr iflib 4
based network drivers.
.It Xr pci 9
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and PCI Express (PCIe) programming API.
.It Xr pwmbus 9
Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) bus interface methods.
.It Xr usbdi 9
Universal Serial Bus programming interface.
.It Xr superio 9
Functions for Super I/O controller devices.
.El
.Ss Miscellaneous
Dynamic per-CPU variables:
.Xr dpcpu 9 .
.Pp
CPU bitmap management:
.Xr cpuset 9 .
.Pp
Kernel environment management:
.Xr getenv 9 .
.Pp
Contexts for CPU floating-point registers are managed by the
.Xr fpu_kern 9
facility.
.Pp
For details on the shutdown/reboot procedure and available shutdown hooks, see
.Xr reboot 9 .
.Pp
A facility for asynchronous logging to files from within the kernel is provided
by
.Xr alq 9 .
.Pp
The
.Xr osd 9
framework provides a mechanism to dynamically extend core structures in a way
that preserves KBI.
See the
.Xr hhook 9
and
.Xr khelp 9
APIs for information on how this is used.
.Pp
The kernel object implementation is described by
.Xr kobj 9 .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr man 1 ,
.Xr style 9
.Rs
.%T The FreeBSD Architecture Handbook
.%U https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/arch-handbook/
.Re