Chapter 6: Introduction to Devices, Drivers, and Platform Abstraction
The Linux Device Model (LDM) is a concept that was introduced in the Linux kernel to describe and manage kernel objects (those requiring reference counting, for example, such as files, devices, buses, and even drivers), as well as their hierarchies and how they are bound to others. LDM introduced object life cycle management, reference counting, an object-oriented (OO) programming style in the kernel, and other advantages (such as code reusability and refactoring, automatic resource releasing, and more), which will not be discussed here.
Since reference counting and life cycle management are at the lowest level of LDM, we will discuss higher representations, such as dealing with common kernel data objects and structures, including devices, drivers, and buses.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- Linux kernel platform abstraction and data structures
- Device and driver matching mechanism...
