Ask HN: How to get started with Linux kernel developing/debugging?

5 pointsjesusofsuburbia7y ago1 comments

Hello HN,

I'm a developer and Linux user for quite some time. I run Arch Linux and already experienced with different kernels, also with building some special Kernels from AUR and applying some patches, etc.

Now I have a minor issue with my touchpad, I know it's caused by a change between 4.9 and 4.11, not sure what exactly, and I would love to figure this out on my own and eventually submit a patch. This is knowledge/a skill I was eager to gain for quite some time now.

So, Dear HNers, what would you recommend to an experienced programmer to get started with debugging and developing the Linux kernel? I'm looking for everything that you made good experiences with, be it articles, tutorials, videos or even books.

Thanks to everyone!

1 comments

rijoja7y ago

Not a kernel developer, yet! I'd say that you ought to start out with using qemu/kvm to spin up a virtual machine. The qemu documentation itself contains some info on how to hook up a gdb debugger to the os.

Since it's a real hardware problem probably you'll need to set up some usb forwarding to the qemu program, but that should be doable I think.

Again not a kernel hacker but good luck to you!

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