Customer Reviews

Professional Linux Kernel Architecture (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book exactly one year ago, and I have used it for all that time. That's more than enough to make an opinion, and I consider Linux Kernel Architecture (LKA) a *very* valuable book, actually one of the most useful books about Linux Kernel that I own (and I think I have them all).
I use it this way: When looking for some aspect of the Linux kernel logic, I first go to LKA to see if the topic is addressed somewhere (the answer is most often "yes"). Then I read the relevant parts of LKA before I start to dive into the source code for more. What I get is a plain English, detailed, structured functional and technical explanation of the code I'm interested in, with diagrams and figures whenever it can help. The book mentions the path of the relevant source files, something that saves time, too.
In other words, I use it as a reference book, as a birds eye view into the kernel, but also as a functional explanation for a number of part of the code that are all but simple and obvious.

Now be warned: This is definitely not an introductory book for the beginner, nor a Linux kernel programming tutorial or techref manual, nor a book about device driver programming - even if it may help there. But all of those topics are addressed by other famous books such as Love's Linux Kernel Development 3rd Ed., Linux Device Drivers 3rd Ed, Essential Linux Device Drivers and a few others (I use all of those, too).
This is probably not either a book that you would read cover to cover.
It might not either always cover absolutely everything with all the details you might want (heck, it's only 1337 pages!)

But what LKA provides is a very well commented guide and roadmap into many aspects of the kernel, and one that is still recent enough to still be relevant. I just hope it will be regularly updated, and new editions republished.
In other words, LKA is a great time saver. I consider my time as valuable, and LKA has paid for itself manyfolds.

I picked up Mauerer's work on the bookish desire to keep my Kernel book library complete - and contrary to my hopes I was disappointed right from the introduction.

The book is 1337 pages long, which in itself is a negative and the leading reason for the low score - being clear (which the author is) should not come at the expense of being concise. All major areas of kernel architecture are covered, and the author often covers operating systems basics not found in such books, which partly explains (but hardly justifies) the bulk.

The kernel version covered in the book is 2.6.24, which is newer than that covered by Robert Love's book, which remains my recommendation regardless because of its pointedly zeroing in on the relevant bits, instead of exploring every single minutia along the way as Mauerer does here.

The book has merit for a bookworm such as myself, who will refer to it on a chapter basis, but is not the top choice for someone entering the subject anew.

For general use (i.e. where your bookshelf does not include every Linux kernel book ever published), Love's "Linux Kernel Development" (2nd ed) is a much better architectural introduction. If you miss operating system's basics, your first stop should be Tanenbaum's "Operating Systems Design and Implementation" (3rd ed) as well as his "Modern Operating Systems" (3rd ed) before you even think to start poking at the Linux kernel and get overwhelmed by the number of concepts you should have had previous familiarity with. Finally, if you are driven to the Linux kernel by device drivers, as is the most common case, Corbet, Rubini and Kroah-Hartman's "Linux Device Drivers" (3rd ed) definitely belongs on your shelf, although the very recent "Essential Linux Device Drivers" by Vekateswaran mounted the first credible threat to it in a decade, being both thorough and possibly tying Love for the spot as most enjoyable kernel book I have read to date - I would recommend a new device driver developer to go with both, possibly augmented by Love if more architectural knowledge is desired.

The bottom line is that this is a valiant effort, but that the author should have focused more. If you have the time to read thirteen-hundred pages, your time is better invested reading the titles above recommended, picking two or three depending on your exact focus in the subject - you will still be done faster than reading this one!

Would have preferred if there were a high level overview sections in each chapter.
and then the code details separate.

Each chapter does a smooth transition to low level details. A good read for deep dive into internals.
Still reading...

Overall this book does have some irritating issues, but it is worthwhile text for programmers who are starting out with the Linux kernel. Even though Linux is a moving target, this book will save you some headaches and surfing message boards on the internet.

Is it better than Love's book? No probably not, but it is different.. This book provides some insight into coding and specific advice that will help you get past the Linux learning curve. Even if you never code, you will at least understand how to solve your own system problems.

The real issue with this book is organization and the index is horrible. The overviews are not as good as Love's, and as one reviewer mentioned he is not concise.

But he does walk you through more of the code and gives you the various coding housekeeping tasks you must peform in the kernel.

I think Love does a better job with the high level overviews, and he does provide analysis of tradeoffs.

Either way this book is worth the money, since if it saves you reading kernel sourcecode to learn, then trust me it is worth the price.

I purchased this book to use as a reference. I work in a group that does device driver development. I've picked up this book twice to look at since purchasing. Both times I've been disappointed. First to find out about calling device driver routines without invoking the big kernel lock. I didn't find the information. I did find info in the other book: "Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition". Today I wanted to learn about how to do profiling or in other words which threads are taking up the most CPU time. Couldn't find anything in this book, but did find a small amount in the other book.

Seems every section of this book starts with an intro of why the information is important. Frankly I know why it is important to me, and I would prefer all of that text be deleted.

It is an excellent book which will guide you through Linux kernel. It is based on version 2.6.26, but the book is still compatible with more recent versions of kernel. Author uses a good way of writing, so it is an easy and pleasant book to read.

A unique drawback I see in the book is about its index, which I believe is too short.

Bulk Book covers kernel basics but missing multi-processor, multi-core handling and virtualization as both host and client which modern Linux kernel has to handle and already handled. Architecture needs many more perspective pictures in both general and in detail instead of trivial words about the implementation details. The other things need to be handled are remoting, x-window, samba, cups, nas and nis from architectural perspective.

However for those who have no idea of implementation details of Linux kernel, it is a great book to go over.

Very good reading, it explain how kernel works with a lot of code source from recent version of kernel. You must have a lot of time to dedicate to this book!

Excelent book, I still don't finish reading it but so far is the best book in the subject, period.