/* $Id: VBox-doc.c 96407 2022-08-22 17:43:14Z vboxsync $ */ /** @file * VirtualBox Top Level Documentation File. */ /* * Copyright (C) 2006-2022 Oracle and/or its affiliates. * * This file is part of VirtualBox base platform packages, as * available from https://www.virtualbox.org. * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License * as published by the Free Software Foundation, in version 3 of the * License. * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU * General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, see . * * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-only */ /** @mainpage VirtualBox * * (add introduction here) * * @section pg_main_comp Components * * - VM / @ref pg_vmm "VMM" / GVM / @ref pg_gvmm "GVMM" - Virtual Machine * Monitor. * - @ref pg_cfgm * - @ref pg_cpum * - @ref pg_dbgf * - @ref pg_dbgf_addr_space * - @ref pg_dbgf_vmcore * - @ref pg_dbgf_module * - @ref pg_dbgc * - VBoxDbg - Debugger GUI (Qt). * - @ref grp_dis * - @ref pg_em * - @ref pg_gim * - @ref pg_hm * - @ref pg_iem * - @ref pg_nem * - @ref pg_gmm * - @ref pg_mm * - @ref pg_pgm * - @ref pg_pgm_phys * - @ref pg_pgm_pool * - @ref pg_selm * - @ref pg_iom * - @ref pg_pdm * - Devices / USB Devices, Drivers and their public interfaces. * - Async I/O Completion API. * - Async Task API. * - Critical Section API. * - Queue API. * - Thread API. * - @ref pg_pdm_block_cache * - @ref pg_ssm * - @ref pg_stam * - @ref pg_tm * - @ref pg_trpm * - VMM docs: * - @ref pg_vmm_guideline * - @ref pg_raw * - Pluggable Components (via PDM). * - DevPCArch - PC Architecture Device (chipset, legacy ++). * - DevPCBios - Basic Input Output System. * - DevDMAC - DMA Controller. * - DevPIC - Programmable Interrupt Controller. * - DevPIT - Programmable Interval Timer (i8254). * - DevRTC - Real Time Clock. * - DevVGA - Video Graphic Array. * - DevPCI - Peripheral Component Interface (Bus). * - VBoxDev - Special PCI Device which serves as an interface between * the VMM and the guest OS for the additions. * - @ref pg_pdm_audio "Audio": * - DevHda - Intel High Definition Audio Device Emulation. * - DevIchAc97 - ICH AC'97 Device Emulation. * - DevSB16 - SoundBlaster 16 Device Emulation. * - DrvAudio - Intermediate driver. * - DrvHostAudioAlsa - ALSA Host Audio Driver (Linux). * - DrvHostAudioCoreAudio - Core Audio Host Audio Driver (macOS). * - DrvHostAudioDebug - Debug Backend Driver. * - DrvHostAudioDSound - DirectSound Host Audio Driver (Windows). * - DrvHostAudioNull - NULL Backend Driver. * - DrvHostAudioOss - Open Sound System Host Audio Driver (Linux, * Solaris, ++). * - DrvHostAudioPulseAudio - PulseAudio Host Audio Driver (Linux). * - DrvHostAudioValidationKit - Validation Kit Test Driver. * - DrvHostAudioWasApi - Windows Audio Session API Host Audio Driver. * - Networking: * - DevPCNet - AMD PCNet Device Emulation. * - DevE1000 - Intel E1000 Device Emulation. * - DevEEPROM - Intel E1000 EPROM Device Emulation. * - SrvINetNetR0 - Internal Networking Ring-0 Service. * - DevINIP - IP Stack Service for the internal networking. * - DrvIntNet - Internal Networking Driver. * - DrvNetSniffer - Wireshark Compatible Sniffer Driver (pass thru). * - DrvNAT - Network Address Translation Driver. * - DrvTAP - Host Interface Networking Driver. * - Storage: * - DevATA - ATA ((E)IDE) Device Emulation. * - @ref pg_dev_ahci * - DevFDC - Floppy Controller Device Emulation. * - DrvBlock - Intermediate block driver. * - DrvHostBase - Common code for the host drivers. * - DrvHostDVD - Host DVD drive driver. * - DrvHostFloppy - Host floppy drive driver. * - DrvHostRawDisk - Host raw disk drive driver. * - DrvMediaISO - ISO media driver. * - DrvRawImage - Raw image driver (floppy images etc). * - DrvVD - Intermediate Virtual Drive (Media) driver. * - DrvVDI - VirtualBox Drive Image Container Driver. * - DrvVmdk - VMDK Drive Image Container Driver. * - USB: * - @ref pg_dev_ohci * - @ref pg_dev_ehci * - @ref pg_dev_vusb * - @ref pg_dev_vusb_old * - Host Drivers. * - SUPDRV - The Support driver (aka VBoxDrv). * - @ref pg_sup * - @ref pg_netflt * - @ref pg_netadp * - VBoxUSB - The USB support driver. * - @ref pg_netflt * - @ref pg_rawpci * - Host Services. * - @ref pg_hostclip * - Shared Folders. * - @ref pg_svc_guest_properties * - @ref pg_svc_guest_control * - Guest Additions. * - VBoxGuest. * - @ref pg_guest_lib * - @ref pg_vgsvc * - @ref pg_vgsvc_timesync * - @ref pg_vgsvc_vminfo * - @ref pg_vgsvc_vmstats * - @ref pg_vgsvc_gstctrl * - @ref pg_vgsvc_pagesharing * - @ref pg_vgsvc_memballoon * - @ref pg_vgsvc_cpuhotplug * - @ref pg_vgsvc_automount * - @ref pg_vgsvc_clipboard * - VBoxControl. * - Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD specific guest services and drivers. * - @ref pg_vboxdrmcliet (Linux only). * - VBoxClient. * - VBoxVideo. * - Windows Guests. * - VBoxTray. * - crOpenGL. * - pam. * - ... * - Network Services: * - @ref pg_net_dhcp * - NAT * - @ref pg_main * - @ref pg_main_events * - @ref pg_vrdb_usb * - Frontends: * - VirtualBox - The default Qt-based GUI. * - VBoxHeadless - The headless frontend. * - VBoxManage - The CLI. * - VBoxShell - An interactive shell written in python. * - VBoxSDL - A very simple GUI. * - VBoxBFE - A bare metal edition which does not use COM/XPCOM (barely * maintained atm). * - IPRT - Runtime Library for hiding host OS differences. * - Validation Kit: * - @ref pg_validationkit_guideline * - @ref pg_bs3kit * - @ref pg_vbox_guideline * * @todo Make links to the components. * * * * @section Execution Contexts * * VirtualBox defines a number of different execution context, this can be * confusing at first. So, to start with take a look at this diagram: * * @image html VMMContexts.png * * Context definitions: * - Host context (HC) - This is the context where the host OS runs and * runs VirtualBox within it. The absense of IN_RC and IN_GUEST * indicates that we're in HC. IN_RING0 indicates ring-0 (kernel) and * IN_RING3 indicates ring-3. * - Raw-mode Context (RC) - This is the special VMM context where we * execute the guest code directly on the CPU. Kernel code is patched * and execute in ring-1 instead of ring-0 (ring compression). Ring-3 * code execute unmodified. Only VMMs use ring-1, so we don't need to * worry about that (it's guarded against in the scheduler (EM)). We can * in theory run ring-2 there, but since practially only only OS/2 uses * ring-2, it is of little importance. The macro IN_RC indicates that * we're compiling something for RC. * Note! This used to be called GC (see below) earlier, so a bunch of RC * things are using GC markers. * - Guest Context (GC) - This is where the guest code is executed. When * compiling, IN_GUEST indicates that it's for GC. IN_RING0 and * IN_RING3 are also set when applicable, these are accompanied by * IN_GUEST_R0 and IN_GUEST_R3 respecitively. * - Intermediate context - This is a special memory context used within * the world switchers (HC -> RC and back), it features some identity * mapped code pages so we can switch to real mode if necessary. * */