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I want to get into kernel dev, where do I start? (hexbear.net)
submitted 4 days ago by to c/technology@hexbear.net
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With Linux going the slop route, I've been thinking of switching to NetBSD which says (so far) they won't admit AI-generated code. I even tried making the switch earlier today, but it doesn't support my wifi card, so I want to be able to write a diver for it. I've done a little bit of osdev and worked some on emulators, so I think I have the ability, just not the knowledge yet. How do I get immersed in the code? Do I just pick a source file and start reading? I am decent with C code, so that's not a huge concern for me, I don't think.

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[–] [S] 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Thanks for the detailed answer! I do have another question, though. To test the driver, do I have to run it straight on my hardware? I've been able to build a live image and run it in QEMU; is there a way to expose my laptop's network card through QEMU so I can test without having to keep some partition aside for testing?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago* (1 child)

    Just scrolled past this comment on Mastodon: https://justfollow.me.uk/@sborrill/117461932167067930

    Xen support in #NetBSD both as a host and guest is very mature; it got support not much after Linux and predates KVM by a number of years. It supports UVC with the uvideo driver. USB audio also generally OK. You can do kernel USB development entirely in userland using rump kernels, so the actual kernel code is used but cannot panic the machine and you can debug with gdb.

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