Linux kernel interfaces: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:59, 27 April 2025

Latest revision as of 17:36, 2 August 2025

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== {{Anchor|Linux API}}Linux API ==

[[File:Linux API.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|The '''Linux API''' is composed out of the system call interface of the Linux kernel, the [[GNU C Library]] (by [[GNU]]), [[cgroups|libcgroup]],<ref name="libcgroup">{{cite web|url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ControlGroupInterface/|title=ControlGroupInterface|publisher=[[freedesktop.org]]}}</ref> [[Direct Rendering Manager|libdrm]], [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture|libalsa]] and [[evdev|libevdev]]<ref name="libevdev">{{cite web |url=httphttps://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/libevdev/ |title=libevdev |publisher=[[freedesktop.org]]}}</ref> (by [[freedesktop.org]]).]]

[[File:Linux kernel API.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Linux API vs. [[POSIX]] API]]

The Linux API includes the kernel&ndash;user space API, which allows code in user space to access system resources and services of the Linux kernel.<ref>{{cite web

| url = httphttps://www.linux.it/~rubini/docs/ksys/ksys.html

| title = Kernel System Calls

| date = 2006-11-02 | access-date = 2014-11-11

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The ''system call interface'' of a kernel is the set of all implemented and available [[system calls]] in a kernel. In the Linux kernel, various subsystems, such as the [[Direct Rendering Manager]] (DRM), define their own system calls, all of which are part of the system call interface.

Various issues with the organization of the Linux kernel system calls are being publicly discussed. Issues have been pointed out by Andy Lutomirski, [[Michael Kerrisk]] and others.<ref>{{cite web |url=httphttps://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2014/165/Kernel-News |title=System Call Organization}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/2/27/571 |title= Making a universal list of syscalls? |publisher=[[LKML]] |date=2014-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/585415/ |title=Flags as a system call API design pattern |publisher=[[LWN.net]] |date=2014-02-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/446528/ |title=On vsyscalls and the vDSO |publisher=[[LWN.net]] |date=2011-06-08}}</ref>

=== The C standard library ===

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== In-kernel ABIs ==

Since there are no stable in-kernel APIs, there cannot be stable in-kernel ABIs.<ref>{{cite web|url=httphttps://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/timeline/linux/ | title=Analysis of ABI changes in the Linux kernel |publisher=Andrey Ponomarenko's ABI laboratory|date=2016-03-15}}</ref>

== Abstraction APIs ==

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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070227215533/http://www.gnugeneration.com/books/linux/2.6.20/kernel-api/ The API of Linux kernel 2.6.20] and [https://www.kernel.org/doc/htmldocs/kernel-api/ 4.12] (in deprecated htmldocs format)

*[https://abi-laboratory.pro/?view=timeline&l=linux API/ABI changes review for Linux]

* [httphttps://man7.org/tlpi/ The Linux Programming Interface] book, [httphttps://man7.org/tlpi/api_changes/ Linux and ''glibc'' API changes] since [[The Linux Programming Interface]] was released in 2010

*{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20121220032539/http://www.makelinux.net/kernel_map/ Interactive Linux kernel map]}} with main API functions and structures, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180827040646/http://www.makelinux.net/kernel_map/LKM.pdf PDF]}} version

* {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130221193824/http://www.makelinux.net/ldd3 Linux Device Drivers]}} by Jonathan Corbet, Greg Kroah-Hartman and Alessandro Rubini, 3rd edition