Linux start_kernel
The first thing Linux does when a machine wakes up.
start_kernel is the function a Linux machine passes through as it boots.
Linus Torvalds and others
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GNU General Public License, version 2 only. Copyright Linus Torvalds and others. This notice stays on this page. A lawyer cleared this listing.
start_kernel is the function a Linux machine passes through as it boots, the point where the hardware hands over to the kernel proper. It is the same function whether you are on a phone, a laptop, or a data-center rack.
Firmware finds a bootloader, and the low-level code does as little as it can before calling here. Interrupts are still off and the scheduler is not yet running. The function is a stair of calls that switches those services on in order.