Solaris™ Internals: Core Kernel Components

Chapter 4. Kernel Bootstrap and Initialization

In the previous chapters, we provided a description of the Solaris kernel and an overview of the key features and facilities of the operating system. We emphasized the modular and dynamic nature of the kernel because the Solaris kernel does not originate on disk as a single, monolithic binary object. Rather, the kernel is constructed in memory, during system bootstrap, as major operating system components are loaded.

Kernel objects load both at boot time and while the system is running. In this chapter, we take a look at the directory hierarchy that stores binary kernel objects. We then discuss the kernel bootstrap and initialization process, the dynamic module loading facility, and the kernel runtime ...