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Reference Library: Darwin
The I/O Kit is the device driver subsystem of Mac OS X and is part of Darwin. The I/O Kit provides a set of C functions and C++ classes, including object-oriented abstractions common to various families of drivers. In addition, for many device types, the I/O Kit provides a device interface that enables an application to communicate with and control a device from user space.

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SimpleUserClient (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Shows how to create a user client for an I/O Kit kernel driver.
Sample Code 2008-08-27
Building Universal I/O Kit Drivers (HTML)
TN2163: How to build a universal I/O Kit kernel driver while avoiding common pitfalls.
Technical Notes 2008-08-18
Understanding and Debugging Kernel Panics (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
TN2063: Addresses kernel panics: what they are and how to debug the code that caused the panic.
Technical Notes 2008-08-14
Registering and unregistering for sleep and wake notifications (HTML)
QA1340: Explains how applications can register and unregister for sleep and wake notifications on Mac OS X.
Technical Q&As 2008-08-08
Bluetooth Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the C and Objective-C APIs that support user-space access to Bluetooth devices.
Reference 2008-04-08
Bluetooth User Interface Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the C and Objective-C APIs that provide a consistent user interface to Bluetooth services.
Reference 2008-04-08
Force Feedback Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the public interfaces to the Force Feedback implementation in Mac OS X, including support for plug-ins.
Reference 2008-04-08
I/O Kit Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the I/O Kit classes that support non-kernel access to I/O Kit objects through the device-interface mechanism.
Reference 2008-04-08
Kernel Framework Reference (HTML)
Describes the APIs and classes (including I/O Kit families) that support kernel-resident device drivers.
Reference 2008-04-08
Network Device Driver Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Background and task information about developing network drivers for Mac OS X.
Guides 2008-03-11
Programmatically causing restart, shutdown and/or logout (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1134: Describes how to programmatically cause restart, shutdown, sleep or logout.
Technical Q&As 2008-01-23
CCL Modem Scripting Release Notes (HTML)
Explains changes to modem CCLs for Mac OS X v10.5 and what to do to change existing and supersede older scripts.
Release Notes 2007-10-31
I/O Kit Power Management Release Notes (HTML)
Describes the latest changes to power management for Mac OS X v10.5.
Release Notes 2007-10-31
Kernel Core Dumps (HTML)
TN2118: Explains how to gather and use remote kernel core dumps.
Technical Notes 2007-09-18
USB Device Interface Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Provides background information and sample code for developing applications to communicate with or control USB devices and interfaces.
Guides 2007-09-04
CCL Modem Scripting Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Guides 2007-06-28
I/O Kit Fundamentals (HTML) (PDF)
The basics of developing device drivers. Includes descriptions of I/O Kit families.
Guides 2007-05-17
Mass Storage Device Driver Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Background and task information about developing kernel-resident drivers for mass storage devices.
Guides 2007-04-03
Multipathing with FibreChannel on Mac OS X (HTML)
TN2173: An explanation on how FibreChannel multipathing works on Mac OS X and how to design storage hardware to take advantage of it
Technical Notes 2007-03-23
Device File Access Guide for Storage Devices (HTML) (PDF)
Guidelines for using I/O Kit and POSIX functions to develop applications that communicate with storage devices.
Guides 2007-03-06
I/O Kit Device Driver Design Guidelines (HTML) (PDF)
Design guidelines and tips for developing, debugging, and deploying kernel-resident device drivers, including user clients.
Guides 2007-03-06
ExpressCard Prevents System Sleep (HTML)
QA1517: Describes how some ExpressCard cards can prevent system sleep and how to fix the problem.
Technical Q&As 2007-02-28
SCSIHBAEmulator (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstration of how to implement a virtual parallel tasking SCSI host bus adapter (HBA)
Sample Code 2007-02-20
Accessing Hardware From Applications (HTML) (PDF)
Tips and guidelines for developing applications that communicate with or control devices.
Guides 2007-02-08
FireWire Device Interface Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Explains how to develop applications to communicate with or control FireWire devices and units.
Guides 2007-02-08
SCSI Architecture Model Device Interface Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Explains how to develop applications that communicate with or control SCSI Architecture Model devices.
Guides 2007-02-08
Secrets of the GPT (HTML)
TN2166: Describes the new partition map format used by Intel-based Macintosh computers.
Technical Notes 2006-11-06
VolumeToBSDNode (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Shows how to iterate across all mounted volumes and retrieve their BSD node names.
Sample Code 2006-10-16
HID Class Device Interface Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Explains how to develop applications to communicate with or control HID class devices.
Guides 2006-10-03
VendorSpecificType00 (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates how to access vendor-specific storage device functionality using a simple interface from user space code.
Sample Code 2006-10-02
HBA Device Driver Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Describes how to develop a high-performance, kernel-resident driver for an HBA device.
Guides 2006-05-23
Writing PCI Drivers (HTML) (PDF)
Conceptual information about writing I/O Kit drivers for PCI, AGP, and CardBus (PC Card) devices.
Guides 2006-04-04
Audio Device Driver Programming Guide (HTML) (PDF)
Explains how to develop kernel-resident drivers for audio devices.
Guides 2006-01-10
SampleFilterScheme (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Demonstrates a simple filter scheme which passes all operations through to its provider unchanged.
Sample Code 2006-01-03
Device File Access Guide for Serial Devices (HTML) (PDF)
Guidelines for using I/O Kit and POSIX functions to develop applications that communicate with serial devices.
Guides 2005-12-06
IOPrintSuperClasses (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Given the name of a class, this tool will print all of the super-classes of that class.
Sample Code 2005-08-17
SampleUSBAudioPlugin (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
USB audio plugin that performs a lowpass filtering operation on audio streamed through an audio USB Device.
Sample Code 2005-03-07
Generating an NMI Without a Programmer's Switch (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1264: Explains how to generate a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) on CPUs without programmer's switches.
Technical Q&As 2004-04-26
Issues with boot time KEXT loading (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1087: Explains how to solve problems with loading KEXTs at boot time.
Technical Q&As 2004-01-15
Installing an I/O Kit KEXT Without Rebooting (HTML)
QA1319: Describes the state of the art of installing I/O Kit kernel extensions (KEXTs) without requiring a restart.
Technical Q&As 2003-10-28
Sleep vs. Doze on Mac OS X (HTML)
QA1309: Discusses and demonstrates sleep versus doze detection on Machintosh Mac OS X
Technical Q&As 2003-10-09
PCI/PCI-X slots on the Power Mac G5 (HTML)
QA1307: Discusses installing PCI/PCI-X cards of different speeds in the Power Mac G5.
Technical Q&As 2003-09-30
IOKitWithLibrary (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Shows how an I/O Kit driver can link with a C library from a separate kernel extension.
Sample Code 2003-08-27
Driver Tuning on Panther or G5 (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
TN2090: Describes potential issues when using drivers in Panther or later, or on a Power Macintosh G5.
Technical Notes 2003-06-24
Can't attach during two-machine debugging with GDB (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
Deprecated - QA1019: Describes a workaround for a problem attaching during two-machine debugging on Mac OS X 10.0.x.
Technical Q&As 2003-06-02
SimpleDataQueue (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Implements an IODataQueue inside an I/O Kit KEXT which passes events and data to user space.
Sample Code 2003-01-14
TimerEventSample (HTML) (DMG) (ZIP)
Shows how to set up and use an IOTimerEventSource in a kext.
Sample Code 2003-01-14
Mapping kernel memory to user space on Mac OS X 10.2 (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1197: Describes a change to mapping kernel memory to user space affecting Mac OS X 10.2 and later.
Technical Q&As 2002-09-13
Retain Counts of io_object_t Objects in IOKit.framework (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1195: Distinguishes between the retain counts of an I/O Kit kernel object and its io_object_t user space proxy.
Technical Q&As 2002-09-04
IODeviceTree & the IORegistry (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1120: Describes the IODeviceTree plane in the Mac OS X IORegistry.
Technical Q&As 2002-02-13
IOLog and Interrupt Context (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1100: Describes when IOKit runs at primary (hardware) interrupt context.
Technical Q&As 2002-02-13
Power Management; Policy Maker vs. Power Controller (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1121: Describes the differences between a Power Management Policy Maker and a Power Management Power Controller.
Technical Q&As 2002-02-13
Working with Configuration Variables (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1119: Explains how to delete a specific Open Firmware configuration variable without using Command-Option-P-R.
Technical Q&As 2002-02-13
Making sense of IOKit error codes (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1075: Explains how to interpret I/O Kit error codes.
Technical Q&As 2002-02-07
User-Mode USB Device Arbitration (HTML)
Information about using USB device arbitration, available in Mac OS X version 10.1 and later.
Guides 2002-02-06
IOKit Framework Headers (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
QA1107: Describes the differences between the headers in IOKit.framework and the I/O Kit headers in Kernel.framework.
Technical Q&As 2002-01-15
Adding dependencies with kmodload (HTML)
QA1097: Illustrates how to specify dependencies when using kmodload.
Technical Q&As 2001-12-05
The dreaded "incompatible flag -framework" error (HTML)
QA1096: Explains how to eliminate the incompatible flag -framework error in Project Builder.
Technical Q&As 2001-12-05
Mac OS X and root access (HTML)
QA1013: Describes how to enable root access in Mac OS X.
Technical Q&As 2001-03-13
Open Firmware Memory bus speed (HTML)
HW97: Describes a method to display memory bus speed for G3 or G4 Macintosh in Open Firmware.
Technical Q&As 2000-09-22
CD-ROM Driver Calls (HTML)
Deprecated - DV22: Discusses public interface to Apple CD-ROM driver and supersedes information in AppleCD SC Developer's Guide.
Technical Notes 2000-08-14
Is the Open Firmware device tree object oriented? (HTML)
HW80: Discusses the object-oriented attributes of the Open Firmware device tree.
Technical Q&As 1999-11-15
Are the Name Registry device tree nodes unique? (HTML)
Deprecated - HW64: Discusses whether Name Registry nodes copied from the Open Firmware device tree are unique.
Technical Q&As 1999-10-11
Determining Open Firmware configuration variables (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
HW56: Discusses how to determine the Open Firmware variables on a system.
Technical Q&As 1999-03-29
Expansion ROM device properties (HTML) (日本語 HTML)
HW50: Describes the Open Firmware properties that should be included in a boot device's expansion ROM.
Technical Q&As 1999-03-29