Move some getting started to readme

This commit is contained in:
Ciro Santilli
2017-12-02 09:09:45 +00:00
parent 39338a0d58
commit 128612f7bb
3 changed files with 80 additions and 73 deletions

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@@ -1,78 +1,8 @@
# Getting started
## Insane unsafe host super fast quickstart
## Where the modules come from
cd kernel_module
./make-host.sh
If the compilation of any of the C files fails, e.g. because of kernel or toolchain differences that we don't control on the host, just rename it to remove the `.c` extension and try again:
mv broken.c broken.c~
./build_host
Once you manage to compile, try it out with:
sudo insmod hello.ko
# Our module is there.
sudo lsmod | grep hello
# Last message should be: hello init
dmest -T
sudo rmmod hello
# Last message should be: hello exit
dmesg -T
# Not present anymore
sudo lsmod | grep hello
Why this is very bad and you should be ashamed:
- bugs can easily break you system. E.g.:
- segfaults can trivially lead to a kernel crash, and require a reboot
- your disk could get erased. Yes, this can also happen with `sudo` from userland. But you should not use `sudo` when developing newbie programs. And for the kernel you don't have the choice not to use `sudo`
- even more subtle system corruption such as [not being able to rmmod](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/78858/cannot-remove-or-reinsert-kernel-module-after-error-while-inserting-it-without-r)
- can't control which kernel version and build options to use. So some of the modules may simply not compile because of kernel API changes, since [the Linux kernel does not have a stable kernel module API](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37098482/how-to-build-a-linux-kernel-module-so-that-it-is-compatible-with-all-kernel-rele/45429681#45429681).
- can't control which hardware is used, notably the CPU architecture
- can't step debug it with GDB easily
The only advantage of using your host machine is that you don't have to wait some minutes / hours for the first build and waste a few Gigs of disk space. But you will soon find out that this is a very reasonable price to pay.
## Do the right thing and use a virtual machine
Reserve 12Gb of disk:
git clone https://github.com/cirosantilli/linux-kernel-module-cheat
cd linux-kernel-module-cheat
./configure
./build
./run
The first build will take a while ([GCC](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10833672/buildroot-environment-with-host-toolchain), Linux kernel), e.g.:
- 2 hours on a mid end 2012 laptop
- 30 minutes on a high end 2017 desktop
QEMU opens up, and you can run:
root
insmod /hello.ko
insmod /hello2.ko
rmmod hello
rmmod hello2
This should print to the screen:
hello init
hello2 init
hello cleanup
hello2 cleanup
which are `printk` messages from `init` and `cleanup` methods of those modules.
Each module comes from a C file under `kernel_module/`. For module usage see:
Each module comes from a C file under the [`kernel_module` directory]((kernel_module/). For module usage see:
head kernel_module/modulename.c