Re: documenting the kernel

Mauro Condarelli (mc5686@mclink.it)
Wed, 16 Jul 1997 22:35:28 +0000

> > I find the Linux source code very readable, rewriting some piece of
> > Linux-kernel usually takes me 4 hours of just simply reading. I write
> > upto 10 lines of code in that time, and erasing them time after
> > time. Then suddenly I understand what I'm doing and write the thing in
> > half an hour. (That's how the previous kmalloc got written).
That's usually the case, but there are several places in the kernel I
find a little more criptic ...

>
> really nice ... the trial and error method :-)
No. It's the "study until you grok", with written homeworks :) :)

>
> But documention is a _must_!
Agreed.

>
> For the start: could some people paint some graphics, charts and structure picture
> (one picture says more then 1000 words) for the basic fundamentals!? This implied
> a graphic environment: i vote for LaTeX.
No chance.
It would fall behind too quickly.
I venture to suggest the use of cxref.
The documentation is written as short comments, which are then
automatically collected.
This *could* remain reasonably up-to-date.
I confess I never used this beast, but it looks good and I plan to
use it for my "serious" work. If You're interested i can relate my
hand-on findings.

>
> If the pictures available, other (or the same people) can describe it.
Naaah!

Best Regards
Mauro