Re: looking at the kernel

[Arun Sharma <arun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Nov 25, 2000 at 04:41:36AM +0000, Rajeev Rao wrote:
> Hello,
>   I'm  a newbie to linux. I'm studying Operating Systems, and I want to do a 
> case study of the linux kernel, by looking at its source. I'm not sure which 
> source file to start of with. Can anyone help me?
> 

http://www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.3/doc/kernel-docs.txt.html

Look for "tour" in the above URL. I'd start by going into arch/i386
and tracing the path from where BIOS hands control over to the kernel.

>   This may sound stupid, but does the linux kernel have main() fuction 
> somewhere inside it?

Look in linux/init/main.c:start_kernel

> 
>   Another Question(off topic from the above), how does one delete a file of 
> a given directory from c, in linux. For that matter, how can one perform 
> simple shell activities, (ls, rm, mkdir,..etc) within a c program?

rm = unlink

For others, run the commands under "strace" and see the system calls
they make. You can do the same things in your C program to achieve
the same results.

For more info, read "Advanced programming in the UNIX environment" by
Richard Stevens.

	-Arun