The Linux Kernel documentation¶
This is the top level of the kernel’s documentation tree. Kernel documentation, like the kernel itself, is very much a work in progress; that is especially true as we work to integrate our many scattered documents into a coherent whole. Please note that improvements to the documentation are welcome; join the linux-doc list at vger.kernel.org if you want to help out.
Working with the development community¶
The essential guides for interacting with the kernel’s development community and getting your work upstream.
Internal API manuals¶
Manuals for use by developers working to interface with the rest of the kernel.
Development tools and processes¶
Various other manuals with useful information for all kernel developers.
User-oriented documentation¶
The following manuals are written for users of the kernel — those who are trying to get it to work optimally on a given system and application developers seeking information on the kernel’s user-space APIs.
See also: the Linux man pages, which are kept separately from the kernel’s own documentation.
Firmware-related documentation¶
The following holds information on the kernel’s expectations regarding the platform firmwares.
Architecture-specific documentation¶
- CPU architectures
- ARC architecture
- ARM Architecture
- ARM64 Architecture
- LoongArch Architecture
- m68k Architecture
- MIPS-specific Documentation
- Nios II Specific Documentation
- OpenRISC Architecture
- PA-RISC Architecture
- powerpc
- RISC-V architecture
- s390 Architecture
- SuperH Interfaces Guide
- Sparc Architecture
- x86-specific Documentation
- Xtensa Architecture
Other documentation¶
There are several unsorted documents that don’t seem to fit on other parts of the documentation body, or may require some adjustments and/or conversion to reStructuredText format, or are simply too old.