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I wish there would be more guides like this for macOS KEXT development. Easy to read, clean code examples, and quick to get started. I was planning to port a d

by ctas 7y ago

I wish there would be more guides like this for macOS KEXT development. Easy to read, clean code examples, and quick to get started. I was planning to port a driver for a specific PCI 802.11 NGFF WiFi device from FreeBSD or Linux, but it's really hard to find exhaustive guides on KEXT development, whereas Linux has the amazing guide at https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/80211/index.html https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/80211/inde....

yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
I thought Apple was deprecating (3rd party) kernel-mode drivers? Or am I misremembering that?
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Correct: https://developer.apple.com/support/kernel-extensions/ https://developer.apple.com/support/kernel-extensions/
- ctas 7y ago
  That is correct, but hasn't happened, yet. My comment also applies to DriverKit which is Apples "modern" solution to run userspace Kernel extensions.
pjmlp 7y ago
Those exhaustive guides are called books on OS X's case. https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Internals-Approach-paperback/dp/0134426541 https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Internals-Approach-paperback/d... https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-User-Mode/dp/099105556X https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-User-Mode/dp/0991... https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-II-Kernel/dp/0991055578 https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-II-Kernel/dp/0991... https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-III-Insecurity/dp/0991055535 https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-III-Insecurity/dp... https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-iOS-Internals-Apples/dp/1118057651 https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-iOS-Internals-Apples/dp/111805... However the future leads to userspace extensions, so their usefulness is kind of relative, beyond targeting pre-Catalina versions.
non-entity 7y ago
Same but for Windows. There are a handful of decent, but cursory WDK books / tutorials, and the Windows Internals books, but outside of that the MSDN documentation seems pretty bad. A lot of stuff seems almost contradictory (it probably isnt, but it reads that way) Everytime ove wanted to develop a driver for windows, I get stuck because I cant even figure out what type of driver to use because there are so many possible models and existing stacks to build off of. At least with linux and BSDs I can hop in something like an irc channel when and someone can usually help me.

by ctas 7y ago

yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago

I thought Apple was deprecating (3rd party) kernel-mode drivers? Or am I misremembering that?

saagarjha 7y ago
Correct: https://developer.apple.com/support/kernel-extensions/ https://developer.apple.com/support/kernel-extensions/
ctas 7y ago
That is correct, but hasn't happened, yet. My comment also applies to DriverKit which is Apples "modern" solution to run userspace Kernel extensions.

pjmlp 7y ago

Those exhaustive guides are called books on OS X's case. https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Internals-Approach-paperback/dp/0134426541 https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Internals-Approach-paperback/d... https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-User-Mode/dp/099105556X https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-User-Mode/dp/0991... https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-II-Kernel/dp/0991055578 https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-II-Kernel/dp/0991... https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-III-Insecurity/dp/0991055535 https://www.amazon.com/MacOS-iOS-Internals-III-Insecurity/dp... https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-iOS-Internals-Apples/dp/1118057651 https://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-iOS-Internals-Apples/dp/111805... However the future leads to userspace extensions, so their usefulness is kind of relative, beyond targeting pre-Catalina versions.

non-entity 7y ago

Same but for Windows. There are a handful of decent, but cursory WDK books / tutorials, and the Windows Internals books, but outside of that the MSDN documentation seems pretty bad. A lot of stuff seems almost contradictory (it probably isnt, but it reads that way) Everytime ove wanted to develop a driver for windows, I get stuck because I cant even figure out what type of driver to use because there are so many possible models and existing stacks to build off of. At least with linux and BSDs I can hop in something like an irc channel when and someone can usually help me.