Re: usefulness of source

Subject: Re: usefulness of source

From: Chris Thomas <email@hidden>

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:43:23 -0500

Delivered-to: email@hidden

On Feb 27, 2006, at 2:17 PM, Garth Cummings wrote:

Especially because kernel documentation is nonexistent, the source is necessary for driver development.

^^^^^^^^

"...some kernel documentation..."

I'm particularly interested in specifics when a developer writes something like this. "Nonexistent" isn't literally true as any search of <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicedrivers> will show. So I interpret your statement to mean that you couldn't find information on something you're specifically interested in.

I work closely with the tech writers who produce the I/O Kit docs and I know they're perfectly willing to improve the situation if they know where the holes are.

Great! Two large holes that I can see are:

(1) go to http://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicedrivers/FireWire-date.html

Notice there isn't any kernel-level documentation. There is headerdoc if you search for it; it contains mostly (entirely?) entries describing fields reserved for future use.

(2) there is sketchy reference documentation, at best, for the Mach and BSD portions of the kernel. The kernel programming book says:

Up-to-date versions of the Mach 3 APIs that Mac OS X provides are described in the Mach API reference in the kernel sources. The kernel sources can be found in the xnu project on http://www.opensource.apple.com.

Chris

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Follow-Ups:

Re: usefulness of source
- From: Garth Cummings <email@hidden>

References:

>usefulness of source (From: Rob Braun <email@hidden>)

>Re: usefulness of source (From: Amanda Walker <email@hidden>)

>Re: usefulness of source (From: Chris Thomas <email@hidden>)

>Re: usefulness of source (From: Garth Cummings <email@hidden>)