what is __init in linux kernel code.
These are only macros to locate some parts of the linux code into special
areas in the final executing binary.
__init for example (or better the __attribute__ ((__section__
(".init.text"))) this macro expands to) instructs the compiler to mark this
function in a special way. At the end the linker collects all functions
with this mark at the end (or begin) of the binary file. When the kernel
starts, this code runs only once (initialization). After it runs, the
kernel can free this memory to reuse it and you will see the kernel
message:
Freeing unused kernel memory: 108k freed
To use this feature, you need a special linker script file, that tells the
linker where to locate all the marked functions.
(see arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S)
These are only macros to locate some parts of the linux code into special
areas in the final executing binary.
__init for example (or better the __attribute__ ((__section__
(".init.text"))) this macro expands to) instructs the compiler to mark this
function in a special way. At the end the linker collects all functions
with this mark at the end (or begin) of the binary file. When the kernel
starts, this code runs only once (initialization). After it runs, the
kernel can free this memory to reuse it and you will see the kernel
message:
Freeing unused kernel memory: 108k freed
To use this feature, you need a special linker script file, that tells the
linker where to locate all the marked functions.
(see arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S)