discuss: Thread: Developing documented Linux stacks

Hello,

The problem:
The Linux Operating System has very complex stacks with zillion of
terms and inter-connects in each stack.
New users and even intermediate users get lost very quickly in the
modern Linux system, due to massive use of specific terms, both
user-space and kernel-space.
Those components have lots of dependencies, and this salad of
vocabulary terms needs to be documented.
Currently it is nearly impossible to read Linux newspapers due to
loads of terms / vocabulary.

I would like to document them.

(I base my knowledge on the Debian GNU/Linux platform, but it applies
to other Linux distributions, and, to a lesser degree to other
UNIX-like OSes, such as Solaris and FreeBSD)

Is there any ongoing effort ?
My plan: Draw the diagrams (in KolourPaint, maybe later rewrite in
LibO), then copy some docs from WikiPedia and write some of my own.
Acceptable plan ?

WARNING: Due to my limited understanding of several GNU/Linux aspects,
the diagrams I draw may be wrong.

Stacks, that need to be documented:
-Web Applications (LAMP + some apps, like PHPbb3 forum, Drupal, BugZilla...)
-Graphics (X11/Mesa/DRI/GEM/TTM/Qt/...)
-Multimedia (Alsa/OSS/Xine/FFmpeg/GStreamer/Phonon/codecs/...)
-Virtualization (KVM/VirtualBox/Xen/libvirt/OpenStack)
-Authentication (libpam, /etc/shadow, LDAP, fingerprint reader
hardware, ...) <-- I'm _really_ weak on this point.
-Printing (CUPS, SMB, ...?) <-- I'm _really_ weak on this point.
-Network (ebtables, iptables/netfilter, TAP, Linux bridge, MAC
address, IP address, WiFi, ...)

Please see shared screenshots / diagrams, and give some critique /
comments. (via Google Web Albums)
https://picasaweb.google.com/104857992831201925592/LinuxStacksDocumentationDraft
*Is there a better way to share photos / screenshots / diagrams ?

Do we need comparison to Windows? (I have provided one diagram)

MIT/X11 license.
--
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

> On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 02:35:32AM +0200, Alexey Eromenko wrote:
>Hello,
>
>The problem:
>The Linux Operating System has very complex stacks with zillion of
>terms and inter-connects in each stack.
>New users and even intermediate users get lost very quickly in the
>modern Linux system, due to massive use of specific terms, both
>user-space and kernel-space.
>Those components have lots of dependencies, and this salad of
>vocabulary terms needs to be documented.
>Currently it is nearly impossible to read Linux newspapers due to
>loads of terms / vocabulary.
>
>I would like to document them.
>
>(I base my knowledge on the Debian GNU/Linux platform, but it applies
>to other Linux distributions, and, to a lesser degree to other
>UNIX-like OSes, such as Solaris and FreeBSD)
>
>Is there any ongoing effort ?

What I usually do, I just start scratching or writing something with everything 
I know.

Wiki is a great tool as it allows somebody else to easily add and correct your 
documentation.

If there's little interest, you'll sure find out in the long run. ;-)

Your question here is more likely to see if somebody else has already started 
something, and I've never heard anything yet concerning the topic.

Since Linux is coded in C programming language, you might check-in with the 
Freenode #c IRC group as there are many expert C programmers there.  You could 
also check the Assembly Language IRC group as well. ...just some ideas.

--
Roger
http://rogerx.freeshell.org/

>
> Your question here is more likely to see if somebody else has already started
> something, and I've never heard anything yet concerning the topic.

Well, I did the diagrams, that already tell a lot !
-- 
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

Le 11/03/2012 01:35, Alexey Eromenko a écrit :
> Hello,

Hello, glad to see you here :-)

For the others, Alexey is a great contributor in the VirtualBox world :-)

> I would like to document them.

any documentation is welcome. Specially if both you feel there is a 
need and you are ready to begin yourself :-)

Given you want to wotk with graphics, you better use the wiki 
(simpler) or docbook (a bit harder but may be more easy to spread)

> Is there any ongoing effort ?

I don't know elsewhere, but on the LDP I don't think so.

> My plan: Draw the diagrams (in KolourPaint, maybe later rewrite in
> LibO), then copy some docs from WikiPedia and write some of my own.
> Acceptable plan ?
>
> WARNING: Due to my limited understanding of several GNU/Linux aspects,
> the diagrams I draw may be wrong.
>
> Stacks, that need to be documented:

I don't understand for sure

* what exactly you call stacks (I looked at the diagramms and find 
them complicated for me)
* what is the target - public expected?

thanks
jdd (LDP Coordinator)

Le 11/03/2012 09:28, jdd a écrit :
> Le 11/03/2012 01:35, Alexey Eromenko a écrit :
>> Hello,

by the way I don't know what is the "MIT/X11" licence. The accepted 
LDP licences are here:

http://wiki.tldp.org/LdpWikiDefaultLicence

thanks
jdd

Here are my draft diagrams: (via Google Web Albums)
https://picasaweb.google.com/104857992831201925592/LinuxStacksDocumentationDraft

Please evaluate those all.

In this link:
http://wiki.tldp.org/LdpWikiDefaultLicence

See under "Accepted licences":  "MIT License", this is what I have
chosen (for now). MIT License and MIT/X11 License are the same one.
-- 
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

Le 11/03/2012 21:24, Alexey Eromenko a écrit :

> In this link:
> http://wiki.tldp.org/LdpWikiDefaultLicence
>
> See under "Accepted licences":  "MIT License", this is what I have
> chosen (for now). MIT License and MIT/X11 License are the same one.


that's ok for me

thanks
jdd

-- 
http://www.dodin.net

> On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 09:28:02AM +0100, jdd wrote:
>Le 11/03/2012 01:35, Alexey Eromenko a écrit :
>> Stacks, that need to be documented:
>
>I don't understand for sure
>
>* what exactly you call stacks (I looked at the diagramms and find 
>them complicated for me)

For the sake of those reading this thread, I believe stacks are what is already 
allocated in memory (for execution by the CPU).  The "stack" is commonly 
referred to in C/ASM.  Once the stack is allocated, it is then executed or 
passed-over by the CPU by an additional instruction or instructions.

Did I get this right, or did I fail miserably?

-- 
Roger
http://rogerx.freeshell.org/

> Did I get this right, or did I fail miserably?
You fail miserably. Stack is a set of related dependencies.

See my diagrams.
-- 
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

> On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 01:27:34AM +0200, Alexey Eromenko wrote:
>> Did I get this right, or did I fail miserably?
>You fail miserably. Stack is a set of related dependencies.
>
>See my diagrams.

These are diagrams of package dependencies for a specific function a user is 
trying to configure their GNU/Linux system for.  The diagrams further detail 
where the each package dependency will lie within the execution (memory) stack.

ie.

Click & Play KDE/iCKy Interface
Xine/FFMpeg user frontends
Also/OSS userspace libs/utilities
Alsa/OSS drivers
Linux Kernel 

I was correct.  I started second guessing when I took a second closer look just 
now thinking they were only package dependencies.  But the diagrams do detail 
the stack.

(The stack grows from the bottom up.)

-- 
Roger
http://rogerx.freeshell.org/