kernel-desc.xml 972 B

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  1. <sect2><title>&nbsp;</title><para>&nbsp;</para></sect2>
  2. <sect2><title>Short descriptions</title>
  3. <para>The <emphasis>kernel</emphasis> is the engine of your GNU/Linux system.
  4. When switching on your box, the kernel is the first part of your operating
  5. system that gets loaded. It detects and initializes all the components of your
  6. computer's hardware, then makes these components available as a tree of files
  7. to the software, and turns a single CPU into a multi-tasking machine capable
  8. of running scores of programs seemingly at the same time.</para>
  9. <para>The <emphasis>kernel headers</emphasis> define the interface to the
  10. services that the kernel provides. The headers in your system's
  11. <filename>include</filename> directory should <emphasis>always</emphasis> be
  12. the ones against which Glibc was compiled and should therefore
  13. <emphasis>not</emphasis> be replaced when upgrading the kernel.</para>
  14. </sect2>