Re: usefulness of source

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.

Thanks for this info, but please allow me to offer a gentle reminder that the mailing lists do not serve as a bug reporting mechanism. That's why I asked you for bug numbers. Please file this request at <http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter>. I believe there is a request on file for kernel-level FireWire documentation (mostly from audio developers), and your request would show that there is broader interest for such docs.

Once you've filed formal requests via BugReporter, I can then take those bug numbers to the TechPubs group and speak to them on your behalf.

(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.

Mach is officially considered SPI (system programming interface) within Apple, so you're not likely to see more documentation in this area. Instead, I recommend requesting APIs to accomplish the tasks you're currently using Mach for.

The BSD area is pretty broad, again, some specific requests would be helpful here. 

Chris

Thanks,

--gc