Chapter 6. Drivers

Table of Contents

Introduction to drivers
Driver Types
Driver Implementations
Driver Management
Listing currently loaded modules
Loading Modules
Unloading modules
Other module management commands
Device Drivers

Introduction to drivers

A driver is a kind of program that extends the kernel's functionality in some way.

There are many different drivers in the kernel to provide support for hardware devices, file system types, binary executable formats, network protocols and a host of other imaginable things.

The bulk of the kernel binary, which exists both as a disk file (/boot/vmlinuz or /boot/vmlinux) and in memory at run-time, is made up of drivers.

Figure 6.1. Kernel Binary

Kernel Binary