Before Starting the Conversion

Before starting to convert a driver to the SunOS 5.7 system, take the preliminary steps listed below.

Review Existing Functionality

Make sure that the driver's current functionality is well understood: the way it manages the hardware, and the interfaces it provides to applications ( ioctl(2) states the device is put in for example). Maintain this functionality in the new driver.

Read the Manual

This chapter is not a substitute for the rest of this book. Make sure that you have access to the SunOS 5.7 reference manuals.

ANSI C Compliance

The unbundled Sun C compiler is now ANSI C compliant. Most ANSI C changes are beyond the scope of this book. A number of ANSI C books are available in local bookstores; in particular, the following books are good references:

• Kernighan and Ritchie, The C Language, 2nd Ed., Prentice-Hall, 1988.

• Harbison and Steele, C: A Reference Manual, 2nd Ed., Prentice-Hall, 1987.