Re: Plex86 and Kernel Debugging
> Ok. I'll take a look at the oskit stuff. What are the basic advantages
> of oskit-mach over gnumach?
Well, for one thing specifically it has good support for using gdb over a
serial line on the kernel.
> Is oskit-mach better positioned for longer
> term maintenance as far as hardare support goes?
Yes. It already has newer drivers (Linux 2.2.12) than gnumach (Linux 2.0.x).
> What about support/development resources for each?
gnumach has basically no development going on. Nobody is really interested
in working on it. I for one only plan to work on oskit-mach, which is not
to say that I've done anything on it lately.
The oskit itself is actively maintained at the University of Utah.
> Also, do you have any recommendations for how to learn the "gdb over
> serial" and general "kernel debugging" techniques? I'm green to both,
> and should read something about them before I try to dig in.
I've only learned by doing. The oskit has a fair bit of documentation,
though I really can't say off hand how helpful it will be on this stuff.
The reason I recommended using oskit example kernels is because that is a
good way to learn the basics. If you boot the oskit's "hello world"
example kernel, and step through its code with gdb over the serial line,
then that is about as basic as it gets. Then you can use one of the
example kernels that uses device drivers and get a feel for that. The real
biggy is a kernel that actually uses protection and address-space
switching, and for that I don't think there is a thing to start with, that
really does it, much simpler than oskit-mach. But by that point hopefully
you'll be ready to see how easy it really can be to debug a kernel like
oskit-mach.
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