ReactOS Tutorials (Documentation)

Win32k source tree

Windows Subsystem Kernel layout tree

The Windows subsystem environment is divided amongst two chunks that make up the entirety of the said subsystem. The user mode, with client libraries used by applications and components that interact within the user mode space (Kernel32.dll, Gdi32.dll, User32.dll et al) and a large portion being the kernel mode. The latter portion is in itself left undocumented, with no major details or explanation provided about the inner implementation of the kernel mode side. And what I am referring about the kernel mode portion is, without a doubt, Win32k.sys.

Win32k.sys, which is merely a kernel mode system driver, is responsible for graphics management -- what do you see on the screen. The kernel driver is separated into two major subset components: GDI (also known as Graphics Device Interface) and USER (known as the window manager of Windows). GDI is implemented internally in a directory named ntgdi (as you'd see in the tree layout below) whereas the window manager is named as ntuser. Within GDI source tree you'll see directories called fontdrv, gre and halftone. Gre (or Graphics rendering engine) is what it makes up the most of GDI source code base for implementation of primitive graphics handling, brushes, palette, colour objects and whatnot. When capturing the function calls in the call stack of Win32k with WinDBG, whilst in the course of debugging something, you may get across kernel routines such as GreSetDCOwnerEx with the prefix Gre* denoting the function belongs to the GDI kernel module.

ntuser, or just USER, is the window manager that has the responsibility for the creation and management of USER objects such as windows, menus, cursor and other stuff. In other words, USER is the internal compoment that provides graphical interaction between the system and user. An important remark is worth noting -- whilst GDI is primarily written in C++, USER for its entirety remains written in C. It's not really surprising considering USER is a massive historic source code dating back with the very early versions of Windows (including the 9x editions as well such as Windows 95 and 98). The inception of Win32k started with the development and release of the successive Windows operating system, Windows NT 4.0. With the 4.0 version of Windows NT all the GDI and USER code were moved into a kernel mode system driver for the sake of improving overall performance in terms of handling GDI/USER objects in a timely fashion. Before that, the Windows subsystem core code was in a server/client communication process called CSRSS.

d:
- nt
  - public
    - internal
      - windows (Windows Subsystem)
        
        inc (Header files)
        
        muio.w
  - windows (Windows Subsystem)
    - core (Core Windows Kernel Subsystem)
      - kmode (Kernel Mode)
        
        w32init.c
      - ntgdi (Native Graphics Device Interface)
        
        fontdrv (Font Driver)
        
        bmfd
        
        fon16.c
        
        gre (Graphics Rendering Engine)
        
        aatext.cxx
        
        alphablt.cxx
        
        alphaimg.cxx
        
        bltlnk.cxx
        
        brushddi.cxx
        
        brushobj.hxx
        
        curseng.cxx
        
        dcgdi.cxx
        
        dcobj.hxx
        
        devlock.hxx
        
        dibapi.cxx
        
        drawstream.cxx
        
        drvsup.cxx
        
        engline.cxx
        
        fastfill.cxx
        
        hmgrapi.cxx
        
        htblt.cxx
        
        ntgdi.c
        
        opendc.cxx
        
        os.cxx
        
        palgdi.cxx
        
        patblt.cxx
        
        plgblt.cxx
        
        rgnobj.cxx
        
        solline.cxx
        
        strchblt.cxx
        
        strdir.cxx
        
        surfgdi.cxx
        
        surfobj.cxx
        
        textddi.cxx
        
        tranblt.cxx
        
        trimesh.cxx
        
        trivblt.cxx
        
        umpd.hxx
        
        umpddrv.cxx
        
        umpdeng.cxx
        
        umpdobj.cxx
        
        halftone (Halftone Tecnique Support)
        
        ht
        
        htalias.c
        
        htapi.c
        
        htgetbmp.c
        
        htmapclr.c
        
        htmath.c
        
        htmemory.c
        
        htpat.c
        
        htrender.c
        
        htsetbmp.c
        
        htstret.c
      - ntuser (Native USER Window Manager)
        
        inc (Header files)
        
        ntcb.h
        
        user.h
        
        rtl (NTUSER Run-Time Library)
        
        chartran.c
        
        draw.c
        
        drawtext.c
        
        menu.c
        
        mmrtl.c
        
        rect.c
        
        winevent.c
        
        winmgr.c
        
        winprop.c
        
        wow.c
        
        kernel (Kernel Mode USER)
        
        access.c
        
        acons.c
        
        atom.c
        
        calcclrc.c
        
        caption.c
        
        capture.c
        
        caret.c
        
        class.c
        
        classchg.c
        
        cleanup.c
        
        clipbrd.c
        
        createw.c
        
        cursor.c
        
        dc.c
        
        ddemlsvr.c
        
        ddetrack.c
        
        debug.c
        
        desktop.c
        
        dragdrop.c
        
        dtbitmap.c
        
        dwp.c
        
        enumwin.c
        
        event.c
        
        ex.c
        
        exitwin.c
        
        fekbd.c
        
        focusact.c
        
        fullscr.c
        
        getset.c
        
        ghost.c
        
        handtabl.c
        
        heap.c
        
        help.c
        
        hidevice.c
        
        hooks.c
        
        hotkeys.c
        
        hungapp.c
        
        imehotky.c
        
        inctlpan.c
        
        init.c
        
        input.c
        
        job.c
        
        kbdlyout.c
        
        keyboard.c
        
        libmgmt.c
        
        loadbits.c
        
        logon.c
        
        menu.c
        
        menudd.c
        
        minmax.c
        
        misc.c
        
        miscutil.c
        
        mnaccel.c
        
        mnapi.c
        
        mnchange.c
        
        mncomput.c
        
        mncreate.c
        
        mndraw.c
        
        mndstry.c
        
        mngray.c
        
        mnkey.c
        
        mnloop.c
        
        mnpopup.c
        
        mnsel.c
        
        mnstate.c
        
        mnsys.c
        
        movesize.c
        
        multimon.c
        
        newmouse.c
        
        ntimm.c
        
        ntinput.c
        
        ntstubs.c
        
        paint.c
        
        palette.c
        
        pnp.c
        
        pool.c
        
        power.c
        
        profile.c
        
        queue.c
        
        random.c
        
        rare.c
        
        sbctl.c
        
        scrollw.c
        
        security.c
        
        sendmsg.c
        
        server.c
        
        service.c
        
        shadow.c
        
        showwin.c
        
        snapshot.c
        
        spb.c
        
        sprite.c
        
        srvhook.c
        
        ssend.c
        
        swp.c
        
        syscmd.c
        
        sysmet.c
        
        taskman.c
        
        timers.c
        
        tmswitch.c
        
        tooltips.c
        
        tounicod.c
        
        update.c
        
        usergdi.c
        
        userk.h
        
        validate.c
        
        visrgn.c
        
        winable.c
        
        winable2.c
        
        winmgr.c
        
        winprop.c
        
        winsta.c
        
        winwhere.c
        
        wmicon.c
        
        xlate.c
      - rtl (Win32k Run-Time Library)
        
        debug.c
        
        heap.c
        
        tag.c
      - w32inc (Win32k Header Files)
        
        w32p.h

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