There are two types of programming interfaces under Linux:
1) APIs for User Space Applications:
Linux provides API for user space applications (everything
outside the kernel) called system calls. It is an interface between application
and kernel.
Usually, we do not invoke system calls directly. Instead, we
call wrapper methods like “exit()” provided by library like libc. For more
information on system call and their implementations, please go through “System
call” post.
2) APIs for Kernel Space Applications:
In order to make Kernel programming (writing
modules/drivers) easier, Linux Kernel exports many methods including system
call handlers. These methods are also called Kernel interface. To see
these interfaces (exported symbols), you can run “cat /proc/kallsyms” command.
Example,
[root@linux ~]# grep sys_exit /proc/kallsyms
ffffffff810709f0 T sys_exit
“sys_exit” is an interface for kernel programmers which
handle exit system call. From kernel module, we can directly call these system
call handlers along with other kernel APIs.
Kernel application/programs in Linux are known as Kernel
Module. These modules can be loaded and unloaded at runtime without rebooting
the kernel. Once they get loaded into the memory, they become part of the
kernel. Thus they can access all kernel exported methods directly.
