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Linux Device Drivers Environment Setup

This document provides instructions for setting up an environment to write Linux device drivers and creating a simple "hello world" module. It explains how to install the Linux headers, write a basic module with an initialization function, compile and load the module, and remove it. Expanding on the simple example, it notes that modules generally need initialization and exit functions to print messages when loaded and unloaded.

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Saimir Astrit Hydi
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57 views2 pages

Linux Device Drivers Environment Setup

This document provides instructions for setting up an environment to write Linux device drivers and creating a simple "hello world" module. It explains how to install the Linux headers, write a basic module with an initialization function, compile and load the module, and remove it. Expanding on the simple example, it notes that modules generally need initialization and exit functions to print messages when loaded and unloaded.

Uploaded by

Saimir Astrit Hydi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Linux device drivers

May 12, 2017

Environment setup
You need linux headers to be able to compile new module.

To make sure you have linux headers, see if the following path exists:

$ ls /usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r`
arch crypto drivers fs init Kbuild kernel
...

If the above directory is not present, you can install the headers using:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Once the headers are installed you are good to go.

Writing hello module


To start off, create the following file in any directory.

// hello.c
#include <linux/module.h>

MODULE_LICENSE("Dual BSD/GPL");

Create the following Makefile to compile your module.

obj-m := hello.o
KDIR := /usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-23-generic

all:
make -C $(KDIR) M=$(PWD) modules
clean:
make -C $(KDIR) M=$(PWD) clean

After running make, you should see following:

# Check that *.ko is created.


vagrant@precise64:~$ ls
hello.c hello.ko hello.mod.c hello.mod.o hello.o Makefile
...
# Install the module.
vagrant@precise64:~$ sudo insmod hello.ko
# Confirm the it's installed.
vagrant@precise64:~$ lsmod | grep hello
hello 8217 0
# Remove the module.
vagrant@precise64:~$ sudo rmmod hello
# Confirm that it's removed.
vagrant@precise64:~$ lsmod | grep hello

Expanding further, each module needs to have an init and exit method.

#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>

MODULE_LICENSE("Dual BSD/GPL");

static int hello_init(void) {


printk("<1> Hola Mundo!\n");
return 0;
}

static void hello_exit(void) {


printk("<1>Hasta Luego\n");
}

module_init(hello_init);
module_exit(hello_exit);

Again, use inmod to install the command and you should see Hola Mundo! in dmesg. printk is
important here; as kernel will print it to the syslog. Pretty useful in understanding other drivers.

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