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The Kernel Source Tree

The kernel source tree is divided into a number of directories, most of which contain many more subdirectories. The directories in the root of the source tree, along with their descriptions, are listed in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1. Directories in the Root of the Kernel Source Tree

Directory

Description

arch

Architecture-specific source

crypto

Crypto API

Documentation

Kernel source documentation

drivers

Device drivers

fs

The VFS and the individual file systems

include

Kernel headers

init

Kernel boot and initialization

ipc

Interprocess communication code

kernel

Core subsystems, such as the scheduler

lib

Helper routines

mm

Memory management subsystem and the VM

net

Networking subsystem

scripts

Scripts used to build the kernel

security

Linux Security Module

sound

Sound subsystem

usr

Early user-space code (called initramfs)


A number of files in the root of the source tree deserve mention.The file COPYING is the kernel license (the GNU GPL v2). CREDITS is a listing of developers with a more than trivial amount of code in the kernel. MAINTAINERS lists the names of the individuals who maintain subsystems and drivers in the kernel. Finally, Makefile is the base kernel Makefile.

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