Sign In Start Free Trial
Account

Add to playlist

Create a Playlist

Modal Close icon
You need to login to use this feature.
  • Book Overview & Buying Mastering Embedded Linux Programming
  • Table Of Contents Toc
  • Feedback & Rating feedback
Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming - Second Edition

By : Chris Simmonds
4.3 (12)
close
close
Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

4.3 (12)
By: Chris Simmonds

Overview of this book

Embedded Linux runs many of the devices we use every day, from smart TVs to WiFi routers, test equipment to industrial controllers - all of them have Linux at their heart. Linux is a core technology in the implementation of the inter-connected world of the Internet of Things. You will begin by learning about the fundamental elements that underpin all embedded Linux projects: the toolchain, the bootloader, the kernel, and the root filesystem. You’ll see how to create each of these elements from scratch, and how to automate the process using Buildroot and the Yocto Project. Moving on, you’ll find out how to implement an effective storage strategy for flash memory chips, and how to install updates to the device remotely once it is deployed. You’ll also get to know the key aspects of writing code for embedded Linux, such as how to access hardware from applications, the implications of writing multi-threaded code, and techniques to manage memory in an efficient way. The final chapters show you how to debug your code, both in applications and in the Linux kernel, and how to profile the system so that you can look out for performance bottlenecks. By the end of the book, you will have a complete overview of the steps required to create a successful embedded Linux system.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
close
close
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Using strace


I started the chapter with the simple and ubiquitous tool, top, and I will finish with another: strace. It is a very simple tracer that captures system calls made by a program and, optionally, its children. You can use it to do the following:

  • Learn which system calls a program makes
  • Find those system calls that fail, together with the error code: I find this useful if a program fails to start but doesn't print an error message or if the message is too general
  • Find which files a program opens
  • Find out which syscalls a running program is making, for example, to see whether it is stuck in a loop

There are many more examples online; just search for strace tips and tricks. Everybody has their own favorite story, for example, http://chadfowler.com/2014/01/26/the-magic-of-strace.html.

strace uses the ptrace(2) function to hook calls as they are made from user space to the kernel. If you want to know more about how ptrace works, the manual page is detailed and surprisingly readable.

The simplest...

Limited Time Offer

$10p/m for 3 months

Get online access to our library of over 7000 practical eBooks and videos, constantly updated with the latest in tech and supported with AI assistants
notes
bookmark Notes and Bookmarks search Search in title playlist Add to playlist download Download options font-size Font size

Change the font size

margin-width Margin width

Change margin width

day-mode Day/Sepia/Night Modes

Change background colour

Close icon Search
Country selected

Close icon Your notes and bookmarks

Confirmation

Modal Close icon
claim successful

Buy this book with your credits?

Modal Close icon
Are you sure you want to buy this book with one of your credits?
Close
YES, BUY

Submit Your Feedback

Modal Close icon
Modal Close icon
Modal Close icon