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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-05-06 01:02:30 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-05-06 01:02:30 +0000 |
commit | 76cb841cb886eef6b3bee341a2266c76578724ad (patch) | |
tree | f5892e5ba6cc11949952a6ce4ecbe6d516d6ce58 /Documentation/kbuild/headers_install.txt | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | linux-upstream.tar.xz linux-upstream.zip |
Adding upstream version 4.19.249.upstream/4.19.249upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/kbuild/headers_install.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/kbuild/headers_install.txt | 50 |
1 files changed, 50 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/headers_install.txt b/Documentation/kbuild/headers_install.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f0153adb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/kbuild/headers_install.txt @@ -0,0 +1,50 @@ +Exporting kernel headers for use by userspace +============================================= + +The "make headers_install" command exports the kernel's header files in a +form suitable for use by userspace programs. + +The linux kernel's exported header files describe the API for user space +programs attempting to use kernel services. These kernel header files are +used by the system's C library (such as glibc or uClibc) to define available +system calls, as well as constants and structures to be used with these +system calls. The C library's header files include the kernel header files +from the "linux" subdirectory. The system's libc headers are usually +installed at the default location /usr/include and the kernel headers in +subdirectories under that (most notably /usr/include/linux and +/usr/include/asm). + +Kernel headers are backwards compatible, but not forwards compatible. This +means that a program built against a C library using older kernel headers +should run on a newer kernel (although it may not have access to new +features), but a program built against newer kernel headers may not work on an +older kernel. + +The "make headers_install" command can be run in the top level directory of the +kernel source code (or using a standard out-of-tree build). It takes two +optional arguments: + + make headers_install ARCH=i386 INSTALL_HDR_PATH=/usr + +ARCH indicates which architecture to produce headers for, and defaults to the +current architecture. The linux/asm directory of the exported kernel headers +is platform-specific, to see a complete list of supported architectures use +the command: + + ls -d include/asm-* | sed 's/.*-//' + +INSTALL_HDR_PATH indicates where to install the headers. It defaults to +"./usr". + +An 'include' directory is automatically created inside INSTALL_HDR_PATH and +headers are installed in 'INSTALL_HDR_PATH/include'. + +The command "make headers_install_all" exports headers for all architectures +simultaneously. (This is mostly of interest to distribution maintainers, +who create an architecture-independent tarball from the resulting include +directory.) You also can use HDR_ARCH_LIST to specify list of architectures. +Remember to provide the appropriate linux/asm directory via "mv" or "ln -s" +before building a C library with headers exported this way. + +The kernel header export infrastructure is maintained by David Woodhouse +<dwmw2@infradead.org>. |