CS 378: Linux Kernel Programming

Spring 2003, Course ID (unique): 51947, MF 12:00-1:30P, HRH 3.102A

Instructor: Prof. Yongguang Zhang (ygz@cs.utexas.edu), office hours: MF 1:30-2:30 @ ACES 6.240
TA: Jonathan Chen (ccchen@cs.utexas.edu), office hours: TTH 11-12:30 @ TAY basement lounge
Newsgroup: utexas.class.cs378-zhang

Objectives

This course is designed as a laboratory component in the undergrad Operating Systems curriculum. It will supplement CS372 (Introduction to Operating Systems) and enable students to experiment with a contemporary OS (Linux). Through a series of programming assignments, the students will develop an appreciation in systems programming in general, experience the new open source software development model, and gain necessary skills and experiences to work large system software as complex as an OS kernel.

Why Teaching/Learning Linux Kernel Programming

Linux kernel is a very complex and monolithic software system. For performance reasons, it forgoes the structural design and many other software engineering principles that we learn in CS courses. Working in the kernel requires special skills and good judgements, such as

thinking through every line
understanding the details without loosing the big picture
understanding the trade-offs and making the right choices
dealing with serve constraints (resource, space and time)
yet maintaining good programming style and discipline

Students taking this course will not only learn the linux 2.4 kernel, but also perfect these skills to become a great system programmer.

Furthermore, linux represents a new software development paradigm -- open source and community building. This class will be taught in such a way that allows students to learn to work in the open source community.

How does it Compared with Last Spring

You can visit the homepage for Spring 02, when this course was offered for the first time.

It will be much improved this time. We will teach the open source development model and do programming assignments in this model. We will encourage participation as a community. The class will be more condensed in the beginning, and introduce the open source development model.

The project will be more adapted to kernel 2.4 and user-mode-linux.

As a collaboration with the Linux Technology Center at IBM Austin, we will continue to have guest lectures, external expertise, project suggestions, and and additional mentors from IBM.

Prerequisites

CS372 (Introduction to Operating Systems)
Strong programming skills in C/C++
Practical Unix/Linux experience from a user's level
Enjoy "hacking"

Course Grading

Class Participation: 5%
Community Building: 15%
Project Assignments: 80%
No exams

Reading Materials and References

Textbooks (one is required)

I am recommending these two text books. They both cover Linux 2.4 kernel, but explain the details differently. You can follow either book, or get both.

Be careful about the "edition" when you buy these books. (If you buy an older edition, you will get the wrong kernel version.) Also, don't expect you can buy or sell used Linux kernel books, because the Linux kernel changes very fast.

Understanding the Linux Kernel, 2nd Edition
By Daniel P. Bovet, Marco Cesati
O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 0-596-00213-0
Paperback, 784 pages, December 2002, list price: $49.95 (search mysimon)

Linux Kernel Programming, 3rd Edition
By Michael Beck, Harald Bohme, Mirko Dziadzka, Ulrich Kunitz, Robert Magnus, Claus Schroter, Dirk Verworner
Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-201-71975-4
Paperback w/ CD, 496 pages, August 2002, list price: $54.99 (search mysimon)

More references about Linux kernel

	Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition (entire book online) By Alessandro Rubini & Jonathan Corbet O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 0-596-00008-1 Paperback, 586 pages, June 2001, list price: $39.95
	Linux Kernel 2.4 Internals By Tigran Aivazian Entire book online: HTML, PDF, other
	Kernel Projects for Linux By Gary Nutt Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-201-61243-7 Paperback w/CD-ROM, 239 pages, July 2000, list price: $39.00 (search mysimon)

Other references about Linux

	Linux: The Textbook By Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Robert Koretsky, & Syed Aqeel Sarwar Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-201-72595-9 Paperback, 678 pages, July 2001, list price: $61.00
	Linux System Administration: A User's Guide By Marcel Gagne Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-201-71934-7 Paperback, 560 pages, September 2001, list price: $44.99
	Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition By Olaf Kirch & Terry Dawson O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 1-56592-400-2 Paperback, 506 pages, June 2000, list price: $34.95

More information

Please visit Spring 02 homepage for information on syllabus, projects, and reference books. We will make some changes to the syllabus, have new projects, and use new text books, but you can get the idea from last year.

	Understanding the Linux Kernel, 2nd Edition By Daniel P. Bovet, Marco Cesati O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 0-596-00213-0 Paperback, 784 pages, December 2002, list price: $49.95 (search mysimon)
	Linux Kernel Programming, 3rd Edition By Michael Beck, Harald Bohme, Mirko Dziadzka, Ulrich Kunitz, Robert Magnus, Claus Schroter, Dirk Verworner Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-201-71975-4 Paperback w/ CD, 496 pages, August 2002, list price: $54.99 (search mysimon)