IA-64 Linux Kernel: Design and Implementation - Softcover

Mosberger, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130610143 ISBN 13: 9780130610140

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2002

Synopsis

The book starts with an overview of Linux and the IA-64 architecture and then discusses each major subsystem of the kernel in more detail. Among others, there are separate chapters on how multi-tasking maps onto the underlying hardware, on the virtual memory subsystem, device support (programemd I/O, DMA & interrupts), symmetric multi-processing (SMP), and on the bootstrap procedure needed to bring a computer to live. These chapters place great emphasis not just on the "what", but also on the "how" and "why" of how Linux accomplishes its tasks. Each chapter has two primary components: the first describes the interfaces that the Linux kernel uses to abstract platform differences, and the second describes how these interfaces have been realized for IA-64. This structure makes the book useful not just to those readers interested specifically in IA-64 Linux, but also to anyone who would like to gain a better understanding of how Linux works on other platform.

About this title

About the Author

DAVID MOSBERGER is a Senior Research Scientist at HP Labs. In early 1998, he founded the project to bring Linux to the IA-64 platform, later developing the first IA-64 version of the GNU C compiler and GNU toolchain. He has been serving as lead architect, developer, and gatekeeper of the IA-64 Linux kernel source code.

STÉPHANE ERANIAN is a Senior Research Scientist at HP Labs. He has been working on the port of Linux to the IA-64 platform since late 1998. He is main architect of the kernel performance monitoring subsystem, and architect and maintainer of the Linux/IA-64 elilo boot loader.

From the Back Cover

The authoritative guide to the IA-64 Linux kernel implementation.

• Authoritative and complete description of the Linux kernel for IA-64/IPF (Itanium Processor Family)
• Provides an in-depth discussion of the ideas and concepts behind the Linux hardware abstraction interfaces, the IA-64 design space, and their actual realization
• From the lead architects and developers of the IA-64 Linux kernel

The IA-64 architecture and Itanium processors are designed to offer unprecedented levels of performance, expandability, and reliability―and with the delivery of the IA-64 Linux kernel, that power is now accessible to every Linux developer. In this authoritative book, the IA-64 Linux kernel project's leaders take you "under the hood" with Linux for IA-64, demonstrating exactly how it makes the most of the IA-64's breakthrough capabilities.

They begin by introducing the IA-64 architecture, instruction set, and key features. Next, they cover every major Linux kernel subsystem in unprecedented detail, presenting the interfaces used by Linux to abstract hardware differences and showing how these interfaces have been realized in the IA-64 environment. Coverage includes:

• Processes, tasks, and threads, including thread interfaces and synchronization
• The virtual memory subsystem: address spaces, page tables, page fault handling, and coherency
• Device support: programmed I/O, DMA, and interrupts
• Symmetric multiprocessing: Linux locking principles and their implementation on IA-64
• Kernel entry and exit: interruptions, system calls, signals, and user memory access
• Bootstrapping: firmware, bootloader, and kernel initialization
• System performance monitoring: usage, kernel support, and Itanium extensions
• IA-32 compatibility: architectural support and Linux support for running legacy 32-bit applications

This book not only focuses on the ideas and concepts you need to work with this radically innovative architecture: it illuminates the key issues associated with Linux kernel operation on any platform, existing or new.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0130610143
• ISBN 13: 9780130610140
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 552