Linux Kernel Development [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Robert Love (Author) "AFTER THREE DECADES OF USE, THE Unix operating system is still regarded as one of the most powerful and elegant systems in existence..." (more)
Key Phrases: dentry object, lush threads, syscall number, Linus Elevator, Kernel Synchronization Methods, Kernel Synchronization Introduction (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Linux Kernel Development details the design and implementation of the Linux kernel, presenting the content in a manner that is beneficial to those who wish to write and develop kernel code. This book is for anyone who wants a fun, practical approach to the Linux kernel.

The author, a core kernel developer, shares valuable knowledge andexperience on the very latest Linux kernel.

The book discusses the major subsystems and features of the Linuxkernel, including their design and implementation, their purpose andgoals, and their interfaces. Specific topics covered include: processmanagement, scheduling, time management and timers, system callinterface, memory addressing and management, caching layers, VFS, kernelsynchronization, debugging, and the kernel community.

The book covers the new 2.6 Linux kernel, and includes numerous sectionson its new features, such as the new O(1) scheduler, the new I/Oschedulers, the new block layer, and kernel preemption.

This book is an authoritative, practical guide that helps programmersbetter understand the Linux kernel, and to write and develop kernelcode.

From the Back Cover

Linux Kernel Development details the design and implementation of the Linux kernel, presenting the content in a manner that is beneficial to those writing and developing kernel code. While the book discusses topics that are theoretical, it does so with the goal of assisting programmers so they better understand the topics and become more efficient and productive in their coding.

The book discusses the major subsystems and features of the Linux kernel, including design and implementation, their purpose and goals, and their interfaces. Important computer science and operating system design details are also addressed. The book covers the Linux kernel from both angles -- theoretical and applied -- which should appeal to both types of readers.

The author, a core kernel developer, shares valuable knowledge and experience on the very latest Linux kernel.

Specific topics covered will include: all the important algorithms, relevant subsystems, process management, scheduling, time management and timers, system call interface, memory addressing, memory management, paging strategies, caching layers, VFS, kernel synchronization, and signals.

An authoritative, practical guide that helps programmers better understand the Linux kernel, and to write and develop kernel code.

* Authored by core Linux kernel developers.
* In-depth coverage of all the major subsystems and features of the new Linux 2.6 kernel.
* Targeted audience includes programmers interested in gaining relevant and timely information so they may further their kernel development skills.


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Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Sams; illustrated edition edition (September 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672325128
• ISBN-13: 978-0672325120
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #676,965 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Linux kernel development book for newbie and prof., September 28, 2004

By	H. Wang (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been doing Linux kernel/system level development on and off since 1999. This is the book that I think should be owned by any Linux newbie who wants starting their kernel hacking. Even if people do not directly do Linux kernel development, it is a good book complementary to any serious operating systems course in college - it helps gain a better idea of how and why.

The book is quite easy to follow and read and does not try to overwhelm readers with tons of information (consequently it does not address many details in Linux kernel). I consider this is a major strength of the book which parts away from other books (comparing to "Understanding the Linux Kernel", which has quite some details on each subsystem, but if you take the book as your guide to kernel programming, you feel you are overwhelmed by the information and often clueless on where to start to write some simple stuffs. This does not mean I think the latter is a bad one - it is a very good one indeed). Considering the fact that Linux kernel evolves so fast, it may make sense to focus on the core parts and once you understand them, it may become easy for you to track and understand changes later. Even as a professional programmer doing kernel development, occasionally referencing a well-written book like this is very helpful.

I am a bit reluctant to rate it 5 stars though due to many typos observed, which I guess is the result of rush to publishing (and the poor job of proofreading). Fortuanately, most can be understood by reading the contexts around them. But a few are really misleading or totally wrong. For example, on page 169, there is a sample code to show how page allocation/free is done in kernel. It uses __get_free_pages() to allocate pages, but uses free_pages() to free these pages. As the author has just said a page ago, __free_pages() should be used to free (struct page*) pages, otherwise corruption will ensure (free_pages is used to free pages with logic address as parameter).

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars clear and careful explanations from an expert, February 23, 2004

By A Customer

I was a Linux kernel newbie writing a device driver and started reading "Linux Device Drivers" by Rubini. On hindsight, this was a bad idea. Rubini's book goes deep into driver code quickly with good details but it only sparingly touches the higher level kernel overview or essential concepts. These missing pieces are covered very well in Love's book and I should have understood them before reading Rubini's book; important basic concepts covered in good detail include:

- user thread vs kernel thread.
- kernel-space process context vs kernel-space interrupt context.
- tasklet as a non-concurrent form of softirq and is not related in any way to tasks.
- bottom-half methods comprising softirq, tasklet and work queue; and that BH and task queue are obsolete and deprecated.
- semaphore sleeping vs spinlock spinning (busy-wait).
- spinlock adversely affecting scheduling latency while semaphore does not.

Love's book shows ambly that he is an expert in Linux kernel matters and speaks with authority. At the same time he has the ability of a good teacher to explain obscure and critical kernel concepts clearly. I heartily recommend this as the first book one should read about the Linux kernel, well before books such as Bovet's "Understanding the Linux Kernel" or Rubini's device driver book.

This 2nd edition introduces more materials and explanation to cover the updated 2.6 kernel. As far as I can see, it is a worthy new edition to own.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book to learn Linux kernel programming, February 7, 2006

By	Lars Tackmann (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Linux Kernel Development (2nd Edition) (Novell Press) (Paperback)

About one year ago I was browsing the univerity book store, not really knowing what I was looking for. Being all fed up with math thesis stuff I was certain that I wanted somthing practical and funny to read. By chance I saw a book called "Linux Kernel Development". At first I did not give it much attention because normaly writing kernel code does not make me relax at all. When I was leaving the book store, curiosity took over and I decided to find out who the author was - expecting to see some no name punk I was really surprised that it was Robert Love, known of much programming fame in the kernel community. Naturaly I bought the book, read it in 2 days and I loved it. Here for the first time was a book that precendet the art of kernel programming in an easy, understandebel and about all funny way. This was 2004, last week I discovered that a second edtion was out. I quickly bought it on Amazon and while I loved the first edition I must admit that this one is even better.

Robert takes you gently but thoroughly through most of the facets of kernel programming, including system call registration, coding guidelines, synchronization and the VM layer. This is a great book which while being short and precise still manages to get you hacking on the kernel without suffering two much headache. The only thing I feel is missing is a chapter or two devoted to debugging the kernel - but in that regard one could also pickup "Linux(R) Debugging and Performance Tuning " by Steve Best which is a complete book on the fine art of bug/bottleneck hunting. Anyway this is one of the best written tech book I have ever had the joy of reading and it fully deserves to be put next to computer science classics such as "Introduction to Algorithms" and "The C Programming Language".