Kbuild: the Linux Kernel Build System

Listing 3. Coin Character Device Driver Example

#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/uaccess.h>
#include <linux/device.h>
#include <linux/random.h>
#include <linux/debugfs.h>

#define DEVNAME "coin"
#define LEN  20
enum values {HEAD, TAIL};

struct dentry *dir, *file;
int file_value;
int stats[2] = {0, 0};
char *msg[2] = {"head\n", "tail\n"};

static int major;
static struct class *class_coin;
static struct device *dev_coin;

static ssize_t r_coin(struct file *f, char __user *b,
                      size_t cnt, loff_t *lf)
{
        char *ret;
        u32 value = random32() % 2;
        ret = msg[value];
        stats[value]++;
        return simple_read_from_buffer(b, cnt,
                                       lf, ret,
                                       strlen(ret));
}

static struct file_operations fops = { .read = r_coin };

#ifdef CONFIG_COIN_STAT
static ssize_t r_stat(struct file *f, char __user *b,
                         size_t cnt, loff_t *lf)
{
        char buf[LEN];
        snprintf(buf, LEN, "head=%d tail=%d\n",
                 stats[HEAD], stats[TAIL]);
        return simple_read_from_buffer(b, cnt,
                                       lf, buf,
                                       strlen(buf));
}

static struct file_operations fstat = { .read = r_stat };
#endif

int init_module(void)
{
        void *ptr_err;
        major = register_chrdev(0, DEVNAME, &fops);
        if (major < 0)
                return major;

        class_coin = class_create(THIS_MODULE,
                                  DEVNAME);
        if (IS_ERR(class_coin)) {
                ptr_err = class_coin;
                goto err_class;
        }

        dev_coin = device_create(class_coin, NULL,
                                 MKDEV(major, 0),
                                 NULL, DEVNAME);
        if (IS_ERR(dev_coin))
                goto err_dev;

#ifdef CONFIG_COIN_STAT
        dir = debugfs_create_dir("coin", NULL);
        file = debugfs_create_file("stats", 0644,
                                   dir, &file_value,
                                   &fstat);
#endif

        return 0;
err_dev:
        ptr_err = class_coin;
        class_destroy(class_coin);
err_class:
        unregister_chrdev(major, DEVNAME);
        return PTR_ERR(ptr_err);
}

void cleanup_module(void)
{
#ifdef CONFIG_COIN_STAT
        debugfs_remove(file);
        debugfs_remove(dir);
#endif

        device_destroy(class_coin, MKDEV(major, 0));
        class_destroy(class_coin);
        return unregister_chrdev(major, DEVNAME);
}

In Listing 3, you can see that the CONFIG_COIN_STAT configuration option is used to register (or not) a special debugfs file that exposes the coin-flipping statistics to userspace.

Figure 2 summarizes the kernel build process, and the output of the git diff --stat command shows the files you have modified to include the driver:

drivers/char/Kconfig  |   16 +++++++++
drivers/char/Makefile |    1 +
drivers/char/coin.c   |   89 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3 files changed, 106 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

Figure 2. Kernel Build Process

Conclusion

Linux, despite being a monolithic kernel, is highly modular and customizable. You can use the same kernel in a varied range of devices from high-performance clusters to desktops all the way to mobile phones. This makes the kernel a very big and complex piece of software. But, even when the kernel has millions of lines of code, its build system allows you to extend it with new features easily. In the past, to have access to an operating system's source code, you had to work for a big company and sign large NDA agreements. Nowadays, the source of probably the most modern operating system is publicly available. You can use it, study its internals and modify it in any creative way you want. The best part is that you even can share your work and get feedback from an active community. Happy hacking!