A good way to get started with the kernel source code is to look at version 0.0.1, which can be found here: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/

Kernel panic was as simple as:

  volatile void panic(const char * s)
  {
    printk("Kernel panic: %s\n\r",s);
    for(;;);
  }

It's interesting to compare it to the modern version [1].

In a way, it really isn't much more complicated now. It's changed to take a format string, but beyond that, once you rip out the platform-specific ifdefs, the SMP/lock code, and the automatic reboot code, you're still left with a pretty simple function that does basically the same thing.

[1] http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git...

Some previous submissions:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42795

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=113223

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=503796

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=514272

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=514723

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1363911

Interestingly, no significant comments on any of them.

I feel like I'm missing some key information that would make it more useful.

I guess it's the "interactive map" part that throws me off. The zooming and navigation just seems pointless. It doesn't zoom into enough detail to make it worthwhile.

The main page [1] seems like a nice collection of links, though, so I got something out of it, at least.

[1] http://www.makelinux.net/reference

It looks neat at first but I'm not sure what it is supposed to do? Maybe it does not function well with Firefox. Respectfully I am more comfortable with just using lxr myself...if not plain old tree, ack-grep, etc.

How was this map made? I assume with a manual process, but perhaps using some automated tool to make things easier? I'd like to see a similar visualization of the FreeBSD kernel.

Conceptualization at it's finest, thanks!