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AI f2e7d6c5d7 Fix PMM: switch to Multiboot2 boot protocol and add documentation (AI)

- Changed grub.cfg from 'multiboot' to 'multiboot2' command. The PMM parses
  Multiboot2 tag structures, but GRUB was booting with Multiboot1 protocol,
  causing the memory map parsing to silently fail (all memory stayed marked
  as used, leading to OOM on every allocation).
- Fixed BITMAP_SIZE calculation to properly round up instead of truncating,
  ensuring the last few pages of the address space are covered.
- Fixed sign comparison warning in bitmap init loop.
- Added debug output to PMM init (mem_upper, region count) for diagnostics.
- Removed stale Multiboot1 magic constant and (void)addr cast from kernel.c.
- Added documentation for the interrupt subsystem and PMM in docs/.
- Checked off 'Implement a PIC handler' and 'Create a physical memory
  allocator' in the task list.

Tested: kernel boots in QEMU with both 4MB and 128MB RAM, PMM correctly
allocates from NORMAL zone (0x01000000) and DMA zone (0x00001000).

2026-02-23 10:57:56 +00:00

2.5 KiB

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Interrupt Subsystem

Overview

The interrupt subsystem handles both CPU exceptions (faults, traps, aborts) and hardware interrupts (IRQs) from external devices. It consists of three cooperating components:

IDT (Interrupt Descriptor Table) — Maps interrupt vectors 0–255 to handler entry points.
ISR (Interrupt Service Routines) — Assembly stubs and a C dispatcher that routes interrupts.
PIC (Programmable Interrupt Controller) — Manages the 8259A PIC chips that multiplex hardware IRQs onto CPU interrupt lines.

Architecture

Interrupt Vector Layout

Vector Range	Purpose
0–31	CPU exceptions (Division by Zero, Page Fault, GPF, etc.)
32–47	Hardware IRQs (remapped from default 0–15)
48–255	Available for software interrupts / future use

Flow of an Interrupt

CPU or device raises an interrupt.
CPU looks up the vector in the IDT and jumps to the assembly stub.
The stub pushes a dummy error code (if the CPU didn't push one), the interrupt number, and all general-purpose registers onto the stack.
The stub loads the kernel data segment (0x10) and calls isr_handler() in C.
For hardware interrupts (vectors 32–47), isr_handler sends an End-of-Interrupt (EOI) to the PIC.
For CPU exceptions (vectors 0–31), the handler prints the exception name and halts.
On return, the stub restores all registers and executes iret.

PIC Remapping

The 8259A PIC ships with IRQ 0–7 mapped to vectors 8–15, which collide with CPU exceptions. During initialization, we remap:

Master PIC (IRQ 0–7) → vectors 32–39
Slave PIC (IRQ 8–15) → vectors 40–47

The PIC is initialized in cascade mode with ICW4 (8086 mode). Original IRQ masks are saved and restored after remapping.

Key Files

src/idt.c / src/idt.h — IDT setup and gate registration.
src/interrupts.S — Assembly stubs for ISRs 0–31 and IRQs 0–15.
src/isr.c / src/isr.h — C interrupt dispatcher and registers_t structure.
src/pic.c / src/pic.h — PIC initialization, EOI, mask/unmask.
src/port_io.h — Inline inb, outb, io_wait helpers.

Register Save Frame

When an interrupt fires, the following is pushed onto the stack (from high to low address):

ss, useresp         (only on privilege change)
eflags
cs, eip             (pushed by CPU)
err_code            (pushed by CPU or stub as 0)
int_no              (pushed by stub)
eax..edi            (pushed by pusha)
ds                  (pushed by stub)

This matches the registers_t struct in isr.h.

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