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Linux Kernel Development 3rd Edition

by Robert Love (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 279 ratings
See all formats and editions
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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, as well as to programmers seeking to better understand the operating system and become more efficient and productive in their coding.

The book details the major subsystems and features of the Linux kernel, including its design, implementation, and interfaces. It covers the Linux kernel with both a practical and theoretical eye, which should appeal to readers with a variety of interests and needs.

The author, a core kernel developer, shares valuable knowledge and experience on the 2.6 Linux kernel. Specific topics covered include process management, scheduling, time management and timers, the system call interface, memory addressing, memory management, the page cache, the VFS, kernel synchronization, portability concerns, and debugging techniques. This book covers the most interesting features of the Linux 2.6 kernel, including the CFS scheduler, preemptive kernel, block I/O layer, and I/O schedulers.

The third edition of Linux Kernel Development includes new and updated material throughout the book:

  • An all-new chapter on kernel data structures
  • Details on interrupt handlers and bottom halves
  • Extended coverage of virtual memory and memory allocation
  • Tips on debugging the Linux kernel
  • In-depth coverage of kernel synchronization and locking
  • Useful insight into submitting kernel patches and working with the Linux kernel community
Previous slide of product details
  1. ISBN-10
    0672329468
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0672329463
  3. Edition
    3rd
  4. Publisher
    Addison-Wesley Professional
  5. Publication date
    June 22, 2010
  6. Part of series
    Game Design
  7. Language
    English
  8. Dimensions
    7 x 1.1 x 8.9 inches
  9. Print length
    480 pages
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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, as well as to programmers seeking to better understand the operating system and become more efficient and productive in their coding.

¿

The book details the major subsystems and features of the Linux kernel, including its design, implementation, and interfaces. It covers the Linux kernel with both a practical and theoretical eye, which should appeal to readers with a variety of interests and needs.

¿

The author, a core kernel developer, shares valuable knowledge and experience on the 2.6 Linux kernel. Specific topics covered include process management, scheduling, time management and timers, the system call interface, memory addressing, memory management, the page cache, the VFS, kernel synchronization, portability concerns, and debugging techniques. This book covers the most interesting features of the Linux 2.6 kernel, including the CFS scheduler, preemptive kernel, block I/O layer, and I/O schedulers.

¿

The third edition of Linux Kernel Development includes new and updated material throughout the book:

  • An all-new chapter on kernel data structures
  • Details on interrupt handlers and bottom halves
  • Extended coverage of virtual memory and memory allocation
  • Tips on debugging the Linux kernel
  • In-depth coverage of kernel synchronization and locking
  • Useful insight into submitting kernel patches and working with the Linux kernel community

About the Author

Robert Love is an open source programmer, speaker, and author who has been using and contributing to Linux for more than 15 years. He is currently senior software engineer at Google, where he was a member of the team that developed the Android mobile platform’s kernel. Prior to Google, he was Chief Architect, Linux Desktop, at Novell. Before Novell, he was a kernel engineer at MontaVista Software and Ximian.

¿

Love’s kernel projects include the preemptive kernel, the process scheduler, the kernel events layer, inotify,VM enhancements, and several device drivers.

¿

He has given numerous talks on and has written multiple articles about the Linux kernel and is a contributing editor for Linux Journal. His other books include Linux System Programming and Linux in a Nutshell.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Addison-Wesley Professional; 3rd edition (June 22, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0672329468
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0672329463
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.82 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.1 x 8.9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 279 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Robert Love

Robert Love

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Robert Love is an author, speaker, and engineer. He contributes to open source projects such as the Linux kernel, GNOME desktop, and Android mobile platform. Robert is Senior Director of Engineering at Google Cloud where builds planet-scale networking products. Robert earned a BA in Mathematics and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Florida. He lives in Boston.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
279 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book detailed, concise, and clear. They say it's well-written and accessible for beginners. Readers also mention the book is worth the price and worth owning.

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DepthReadabilityValue for money
31 customers mention "Depth"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the book detailed, concise, and clear. They say it's a great book for beginners on kernel development. Readers also appreciate the author's amazing job of explaining the modular structure of the kernel and how most things are implemented.

"...It also does a lot to explain topics that are justExtremely clearly written, with a good amount of detail but not too much...." Read more

"The author does a wonderful job of explaining everything you need to know...." Read more

"...so if that's what you're doing, the book is a good intro but you're going to need another book afterward...." Read more

"...Very straight-forward. He does an amazing job of explaining the modular structure of kernel and how most things are implemented as modules / pseudo-..." Read more

22 customers mention "Readability"20 positive2 negative

Customers find the book very well-written, accessible for beginners, and awesome. They say it's coherent, well-indexed, and useful both as a reader and a reference.

"...It also does a lot to explain topics that are justExtremely clearly written, with a good amount of detail but not too much...." Read more

"...It's well written and reads like a friend took time to explain it in a way that I understand." Read more

"This is a solid book, well worth the purchase price and the time to read it if you want to know the kernel (particularly 2.6.30) in reasonable detail..." Read more

"...the fact that you realize that Love know his stuff and he has a great writing style...." Read more

6 customers mention "Value for money"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth the price and say it's worth owning.

"This is a solid book, well worth the purchase price and the time to read it if you want to know the kernel (particularly 2.6.30) in reasonable detail..." Read more

"...print space by simply publishing code snippets from the kernel.. Worth the price. Even available in Kindle...." Read more

"...However, this is still worth owning, primarily because the subject has so much depth that a clear, high-level description of what's going on is..." Read more

"...Worth the price." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

Z
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
I wish I had this book when I was going through my Operating Systems undergrad class, or any time after that, but I'm glad I finally discovered it. It clears up so much about Linux that is usually just glossed over in a lot of other documentation. It goes into enough depth to make diving into kernel-level or system-level code less overwhelming. It also does a lot to explain topics that are just

Extremely clearly written, with a good amount of detail but not too much. Not only is this a map for many workings of the Linux kernel, but also a great primer to many broader aspects of computer science that relate to the kernel and its functions, such as various data structures, algorithms, mathematical concepts, etc.

Even if I wasn't working directly with the Linux kernel, I would be very happy to have read this book and have it in my bookshelf as a reference.
6 people found this helpful
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Levi Durfee
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2023
Verified Purchase
The author does a wonderful job of explaining everything you need to know. He builds based on the previous chapters to help you understand more complex ideas in future chapters. It's well written and reads like a friend took time to explain it in a way that I understand.
4 people found this helpful
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Scott Carter
4.0 out of 5 stars Good and worthwhile, but could use some (more) editing
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2011
Verified Purchase
This is a solid book, well worth the purchase price and the time to read it if you want to know the kernel (particularly 2.6.30) in reasonable detail. You really should have the equivalent understanding of a bog-standard undergraduate OS theory class first, though.

It's particularly good on the issues of multi-core/multithreaded processors (which are just a special case of SMP, after all). There's basically nothing about the unique aspects of embedded Linux, though (other than a brief description of JFFS2 and a couple of other flash filesystems), so if that's what you're doing, the book is a good intro but you're going to need another book afterward.

Gripes:

The book is a bit schizophrenic in its expectations of its readers: time, pages, and grams of weight :) are wasted on quickly reiterating some basic OS theory (mutexes, standard deadlock, preemption) that should be very old hat to anybody who is going to be actually doing kernel work.

I would have appreciated more on kernel debugging philosophy and tricks, but what is there is good.

A fair number of .h files are included in their entirety. IMHO they should have been editted down to just the fields relevant to the discussion in the text; we have The Source when we need the entire .h.

It's probably more x86-centric than it really needs to be, but that's certainly a venial sin at most, since the vast majority of non-embedded Linux boxen do run x86.

Gripes notwithstanding, this book is a real service to the community. Thanks, Mr. Love.
21 people found this helpful
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Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on the Kernel I've Found
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is the best book in my opinion for learning about the kernel! Even if you are doing driver development or just embedded system work, I highly recommend this as the text for learning the linux kernel. It goes over the scheduler, how processes are represented, memory management, devices, system calls, and many kernel data structures. Each topic is covered quite well with relevant CODE and information. Very straight-forward. He does an amazing job of explaining the modular structure of kernel and how most things are implemented as modules / pseudo-objects.

Really gives the tools you need to know to be an effective developer. This book helps me understand the dryer, wordier, less clear, out-of-date, Linux Device Drivers. Full disclosure: have not completely finished reading the book, but I am more than a third the way through!
13 people found this helpful
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Marc
5.0 out of 5 stars A great developer intro to the Kernel
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2012
Verified Purchase
This book is a great book, but it has a limited scope. So it is not a programmers reference, and it should not be bought with that in mind.

However, this is a great high level discussion of the kernel and its implementation. And what really makes it great is the fact that you realize that Love know his stuff and he has a great writing style.

He does cover the major system components with a great high level description, and more important, he gives a great analysis of issues, both design and some implementation. His overview of the CFS is the best of any I have seen. And this can be repeated most topics he covers in this book.

The index is excellent.

After reading this book I would love to go to a seminar given by Love. His presentation skills are probably better than his writing skills.
10 people found this helpful
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Yaacov B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2023
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Yaacov B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2023

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One person found this helpful
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I Feel Fine
5.0 out of 5 stars Good primer
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is a good primer on one of the most complex pieces of software out there. Not sure of the prereq background... probably a solid understanding of C including threading models in UNIX and also basic Linux sysadmin, such as knowing how to find or download the headers for your distro. If you have that down, all the other pieces are probably there.

This book is mostly prose. Full functions or even snippets are rare. Kind of different for a non academic book. It's easy to read as it doesn't get bogged down with examples that need to be studied. In fact, after having read it, I wish more practical programming books would do this.

Only one minor complaint. There are too many footnotes that aren't footnotes. "Wood stoves had previously burned wood. A homeowner would generally provide the fuel. Steps are fall a tree, cut the wood into manageable pieces, and properly dry the wood... Today we mostly use gas or electric." It seemed these little guys were all over the place.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Douglas Ribas de Mattos
5.0 out of 5 stars N/A
Reviewed in Brazil on May 30, 2024
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Mainak90
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on linux kernel
Reviewed in Germany on September 7, 2021
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Probably someone starting out can do better with the LPI book, and then jump in here for better understanding.
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Eric
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente libro
Reviewed in Mexico on November 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
Muy buen libro para empezar a aprender a entender el codigo fuente de el kernel de linux
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Client
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in France on January 11, 2020
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Excellent
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good buy.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2019
Verified Purchase
Easy to read and understand. This isn't a "beginners into to Linux" however so only buy if you are interested in developing work on the kernel (as the title indicates anyway but just to be clear ;) )
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