Dennis's `The UNIX I/O System' paper in Volume 2 of the 7/e
manual is basically about how drivers work. Is that near
enough, possibly as augmented by Ken's `UNIX Implementation'
paper in the same book?
I'm not blessed with paper versions of these, but they are in usr/doc/iosys and usr/doc/cacm/* respectively.
Those were my own starting point, long ago, for understanding
how to write device drivers. Along with existing source code
as examples, of course, but (unlikely many who hack on device
drivers, I'm afraid) I have always preferred to have a proper
statement of rules, conventions, and interfaces rather than
just reading code and guessing.
Yes. This is exactly what I was looking for, and I'm surprised I hadn't thought to look here sooner. Thanks!
Warner