Linux Device Drivers Development: Develop customized drivers for embedded Linux
Key Features
- Learn to develop customized Linux device drivers
- Learn the core concepts of device drivers such as memory management, kernel caching, advanced IRQ management, and so on.
- Practical experience on the embedded side of Linux
Book Description
Linux kernel is a complex, portable, modular and widely used piece of software, running on around 80% of servers and embedded systems in more than half of devices throughout the world. Device drivers play a critical role in how well a Linux system performs. As Linux has turned out to be one of the most popular operating systems used, the interest in developing proprietary device drivers is also increasing steadily.
This book will initially help you understand the basics of drivers as well as prepare for the long journey through the Linux kernel. This book then covers drivers development based on various Linux subsystems such as memory management, PWM, RTC, IIO, IRQ management, and so on. The book also offers a practical approach to direct memory access and network device drivers.
By the end of this book, you will be comfortable with the concept of device driver development and will be in a position to write any device driver from scratch using the latest kernel version (v4.13 at the time of writing this book).
What you will learn
- Use kernel facilities to develop powerful drivers
- Develop drivers for widely used I2C and SPI devices and use the regmap API
- Write and support devicetree from within your drivers
- Program advanced drivers for network and frame buffer devices
- Delve into the Linux irqdomain API and write interrupt controller drivers
- Enhance your skills with regulator and PWM frameworks
- Develop measurement system drivers with IIO framework
- Get the best from memory management and the DMA subsystem
- Access and manage GPIO subsystems and develop GPIO controller drivers
About the Author
John Madieu is an embedded Linux and kernel engineer living in France, in Paris. His main activities consist of developing drivers and Board Support Packages (BSP) for companies in domains such as automation, transport, healthcare, energy, and the military. John works at EXPEMB, a French company that is a pioneer in electronical board design based on computer-on-module, and in embedded Linux solutions. He is an open source and embedded systems enthusiast, convinced that it is only by sharing knowledge that one learns more.
He is passionate about boxing, which he practised for 6 years professionally, and continues to transmit this passion through sessions of training that he provides voluntarily.
Table of Contents
- Introduction to Kernel Development
- Device Driver Basis
- Kernel Facilities and Helper Functions
- Character Device Drivers
- Platform Device Drivers
- The Concept of Device Tree
- I2C Client Drivers
- SPI Device Drivers
- Regmap API - A Register Map Abstraction
- IIO Framework
- Kernel Memory Management
- DMA Direct Memory Access
- Linux Device Model
- Pin Control and GPIO Subsystem
- GPIO Controller Drivers gpio_chip
- Advanced IRQ Management
- Input Devices Drivers
- RTC Drivers
- PWM Drivers
- Regulator Framework
Why Read This Book
You will learn how to design, implement, and debug production-quality device drivers for embedded Linux, gaining practical skills for real hardware and kernel internals. The book emphasizes core driver concepts—memory management, advanced IRQ handling, kernel caching, and DMA—along with hands-on examples that make it easier to bring proprietary or custom hardware up under Linux.
Who Will Benefit
Embedded software engineers and firmware developers with basic C/Linux experience who need to write or port device drivers and integrate custom hardware into embedded Linux systems.
Level: Intermediate — Prerequisites: Comfort with C programming and basic Linux command-line use, familiarity with cross-compilation concepts and simple embedded hardware principles (GPIO, interrupts).
Key Takeaways
- Implement character, block, and network device drivers as loadable kernel modules
- Manage memory and caching in kernel space and implement DMA-safe data paths
- Handle interrupts and advanced IRQ management including threaded IRQs and top/bottom halves
- Integrate drivers with the Linux device model using platform devices, buses, and Device Tree
- Debug and profile drivers using kernel tooling (dmesg, ftrace, perf, kgdb) and test on hardware or QEMU
- Apply power-management, concurrency control, and safe kernel API usage for robust firmware
Topics Covered
- Introduction to Linux Device Drivers and Kernel Architecture
- Building and Loading Kernel Modules; Kernel Build System and Cross-Compilation
- Kernel APIs, Concurrency, and Synchronization Primitives
- Character Devices: Registration, File Operations, and ioctls
- Block and Network Driver Fundamentals (overview and integration points)
- Memory Management, Caching, and DMA in the Kernel
- Interrupt Handling and Advanced IRQ Management
- The Linux Device Model: Platform Devices, Buses, and Drivers
- Device Tree, platform data, and bringing up hardware
- Power Management, Runtime PM, and suspend/resume
- Debugging, Tracing, and Performance Profiling for Drivers
- User-space Integration: sysfs, udev, and ioctl/char interfaces
- Testing, Deployment, and Packaging Drivers for Embedded Systems
- Real-world Examples and Case Studies (embedded scenarios)
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
Covers the same practical driver-building ground as Corbet et al.'s "Linux Device Drivers" but with a stronger focus on embedded, platform/Device Tree workflows and modern debugging tools; more applied than some theory-oriented texts like LDD3.
