Specifically regarding (3) and (4), please refer to this: http://unixtravails.blogspot.ch/2012/07/linux-versioning-system-and-development.html
Best Regards Gaurav Jain On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 12:19 AM, Konstantin Kowalski <[email protected]>wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I am interested in Linux kernel programming (and OS kernels and > general), and I am currently reading several books about Linux kernel. I > have a few questions about it: > > > 1.) Currently, I am reading 2 books about Linux kernel: Linux Device > Drivers (3rd edition) and Linux Kernel Development (3rd edition). > > I like both books and I am learning a lot from them. > > I heard that both of this books are outdated, but so far all the > information in this books seems valid and applicable. Is there better > books you would recommend? > > 2.) In Linux Device Drivers, it states that module_exit(function) is > discarded if module is built directly into kernel or if kernel is > compiled with option to disallow loadable modules. But what if the > module still has to do something during shutdown? Releasing memory is > unimportant since it does not persist over reboot, but what if the > module has to write something to a disk file, or do some other action? > > 3.) What's the deal with different kernel versions? I heard back in the > 2.x days, even kernels were stable and odd versions were experimental, > but with 2.6 it changed. > > So with 3.x kernels, are all of them experimental in the beginning and > stable in the end? Also, with 3.x new versions seem to be released more > often than in 2.1-2.5 days. Did the release cycle get smaller or is it > just my imagination? Also, what does rc number mean? > > 4.) Currently, I am running linux-next, and it works great. Am I correct > to assume that linux-next is supposed to have newest, shiniest and most > unstable features? `uname -a` says that I am still running 3.8-next, but > there is already 3.9 out. So which version is more experimental and > least stable? Which one is the newest? > > 5.) How exactly does make/.config work? When I run `make oldconfig`, > does it use the everything from the previous .config and only ask how to > configure new features? And when I run `make` does it re-use old object > files if nothing was changed in the specific file, or does it re-compile > everything from scratch? > > Thank you, > > Kostyantyn Kovalskyy (Konstantin Kowalski) > > > _______________________________________________ > Kernelnewbies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.kernelnewbies.org/mailman/listinfo/kernelnewbies > -- Gaurav Jain Associate Software Engineer VxVM Escalations Team, SAMG Symantec Software India Pvt. Ltd.
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