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Michael Kerrisk

The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook 1st Edition

by Michael Kerrisk (Author)

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The Linux Programming Interface (TLPI) is the definitive guide to the Linux and UNIX programming interface—the interface employed by nearly every application that runs on a Linux or UNIX system.

In this authoritative work, Linux programming expert Michael Kerrisk provides detailed descriptions of the system calls and library functions that you need in order to master the craft of system programming, and accompanies his explanations with clear, complete example programs.

You'll find descriptions of over 500 system calls and library functions, and more than 200 example programs, 88 tables, and 115 diagrams. You'll learn how to:
–Read and write files efficiently
–Use signals, clocks, and timers
–Create processes and execute programs
–Write secure programs
–Write multithreaded programs using POSIX threads
–Build and use shared libraries
–Perform interprocess communication using pipes, message queues, shared memory, and semaphores
–Write network applications with the sockets API

While The Linux Programming Interface covers a wealth of Linux-specific features, including epoll, inotify, and the /proc file system, its emphasis on UNIX standards (POSIX.1-2001/SUSv3 and POSIX.1-2008/SUSv4) makes it equally valuable to programmers working on other UNIX platforms.

The Linux Programming Interface is the most comprehensive single-volume work on the Linux and UNIX programming interface, and a book that's destined to become a new classic.

ISBN-10

1593272200
ISBN-13

978-1593272203
Edition

1st
Publisher

No Starch Press
Publication date

October 28, 2010
Language

English
Dimensions

7.25 x 2.29 x 9.5 inches
Print length

1552 pages
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Kerrisk has been using and programming UNIX systems for more than 20 years, and has taught many week-long courses on UNIX system programming. Since 2004, he has maintained the man-pages project (http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/), which produces the manual pages describing the Linux kernel and glibc programming APIs. He has written or co-written more than 250 of the manual pages and is actively involved in the testing and design review of new Linux kernel-userspace interfaces. Michael lives with his family in Munich, Germany.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ No Starch Press; 1st edition (October 28, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 1552 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1593272200
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1593272203
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 2.29 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #105,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Unix Programming
- #8 in Linux Programming
- #27 in Linux Networking & System Administration

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640 ratings

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Michael Kerrisk

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I'm a New Zealand-born, Munich-based programmer, trainer, and writer who has been programming and using various UNIX systems since 1987, and focusing primarily on Linux since the late 1990s. Since 2004, have been the maintainer of the Linux man-pages project (http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/), which documents the Linux and GNU C library programming APIs. As part of that work, I'm actively involved in the Linux development community, providing testing and design review of changes to the Linux kernel-user-space API. I write and deliver training courses on Linux/UNIX system programming and related areas. Those courses draw on many years of teaching and programming experience and a long and intimate association with the UNIX and Linux programming APIs to create superlative training courses. For more details, see http://man7.org/training/.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

640 global ratings

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Charles A

TLPI - A masterpiece, full of essential information. A real look under the hood!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

/**
* Name: Charles
* Age: 23
* Purchased: May, 2013
*/

Organization:
[0] -> The book is divided into chapters.
[1] -> Each chapter has multiple sections.
[2] -> Each chapter ends with a summary.
[3] -> At the very end of each chapter are exercises meant to reinforce what was learned in the chapter.

This is by far one of the best computer science texts I own. I did not purchase this book as a requirement for a class (though I am a student), but I did purchase it for 'personal consumption' and to further my knowledge of programming and grow as a unix/linux systems programmer.

I have read many computer science books by many different publishers and I have to admit I really enjoy the books that I own that were printed by No Starch press. I was turned on to this book by an interest in C/C++ socket programming and systems programming in general. I have a background in web development and had been programming in C for about a year when I purchased this book.

There is something to learn for everyone in this book, regardless of how many years or decades of experience you have. The book starts with a history of Unix, Linux, and standards, and then progresses into the great detail the inner workings of linux and unix.

One of my biggest disappointments with most other programming books is that the authors use bad analogies to explain how things work, or fail to explain how things work at all and only offer a shallow glimpse into the subject. Some authors seem to go back over their books adding stupid and unintelligent filler to try and make the book longer. This book is over 1500 pages and each page is jam packed with information. In fact, I'm sure there was information that was deemed 'not important' enough to make it into this book, and thus the book references how one can find more information on a topic.

I have so many good things to say about this book, I highly recommend it to anybody with an interest in linux systems programming. You will need an understanding of C programming to get through the book. If you are looking for a book on how to program in C, this is not the book. If you are a C programmer, or are learning C, and would like a book that shows you how to apply your programming knowledge to the linux and unix operating systems, this is a book for you.

This is a book for system admins, network admins, hackers, teachers and professors, students (high school, college, or graduate), makers, computer scientists, etc.

This is one book that I know I will carry with me everywhere. Or I will buy multiple copies so that I don't have to lug around this heavy, 1500+ pg hardcover book. Definitely a book you want at home, at the office, on the plain, in the car, in the bathroom, or anywhere else you can think of reading!

This is the most well written programming book that I own!

41 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Kayser

I've never seen a book rated so high. After starting to read it, If I could give it 10 stars, I would! Wow!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 10, 2013

Verified Purchase

What an incredible resource for the Linux community!

I'm an Oracle DBA, that has always been interested in the lower-level stuff (I/O, system calls, etc.). I was researching Oracle ASM (Oracle's own volume manager), but feeling the need to get more insight into the Linux I/O subsystem. So, I went to Amazon, started searching for relevant resources, and came across this book.

I've bought thousands of dollars of technical books on Amazon, and read lots of Amazon reviews.
When I bought this book, it had 61 reviews. 60 rated the book a 5 star, and 1 rated the book a 4-star.
I have *never* seen a book rated so highly on Amazon before. A book, with incredible ratings like that, was simply unheard of.

I'm now reading the book, and thoroughly enjoying the care, the attention to detail, the comprehensiveness, the technical accuracy, the methodology, the extremely well-written English, the clear explanations, and the well-written code.

For example, on page 246, where Michael discusses Direct I/O, he says:

"If a file is opened with O_DIRECT by one process, and opened normally (i.e. so that the buffer cache is used) by another process, then there is no coherency between the contents of the buffer cache and the data read or written via direct I/O. Such scenarios should be avoided."

Wow. In just one sentence, Michael tells us one of the fundamental issues with concurrent I/O, and that by simultaneously using different I/O mechanisms, you can corrupt your files.

Another example: on page 249, Michael writes:

"When using the stdio library functions in conjunction with I/O system calls to perform I/O on disk files, we must keep buffering issues in mind. I/O system calls transfer data directly to the kernel buffer cache, while the stdio library waits until the stream's user-space buffer is full before calling write() to transfer the buffer to the kernel buffer cache."

Wow. It makes sense, when you know as much about the Linux kernel as Michael does. Need to insert an fflush() between the stdio write and the system call write. Another "Aha!" moment, just a couple of pages later. And the pages in between had one of the clearest examples of code for Direct I/O that I have ever seen. Michael even writes about the memory alignment challenges of Direct I/O.

It's simply incredible! How in the world could anyone write so much high-quality technical stuff? It's 1500+ pages of awe inspiring, amazing technical blessing. It is a fabulous example to everyone in the I.T. industry, and a very high bar for any technical books to come.

Thank you, Michael, for your incredible book.

17 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

webbje

Beautifully written book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

Beautifully written book, a model of clarity and succinctness, equivalent to K&R's C Programming Language book, but surprisingly readable from front to back too. I've been working with Unix and Linux since both became available in the UK and I think they're both beautiful from an engineering viewpoint, but often they're not well explained from a systems programming perspective. This book - along with W. Richard Stevens' book, "Advanced Programming in The Unix Environment" - are the best available on the subject in my humble view. I particularly like Kerrisk's because he obviously thought long and hard about the best way to present the material in a narrative format in the opening part of the book where he walks through key concepts, but then he shows the same consideration in each subsequent chapter where he does more of a deep-dive into each kernel subsystem, meaning that it's a book that readers can return to again and again when they want to explore a topic in more depth. It's also a very comprehensive programmer's guide - the coverage is excellent, and the material is bang up-to-date.

7 people found this helpful

D. Watson

The most fun I've ever had writing C as a beginner

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

Typical C books are boring, dry and all follow the same structure, they give you the foundations with no real direction on how you progress to be useful.

This book is specific to Linux, it provides examples of C code to do X,Y,Z, detailed descriptions about the inner workings of Linux. I'm a tester, I don't need to write C (that's just my current hobby) but the knowledge behind processes are fantastic.

2 people found this helpful

David Walker

A "must have" for any Linux programmer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 28, 2010

Verified Purchase

Last week I got my grubby mitts on a clean, white and shiny new copy of The Linux Programming Interface ("A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook") by Michael Kerrisk.

So far I've read only a few chapters in detail, skimmed over one or two others, and dived around in it to look some things up. Just a week after receiving it is probably too soon for a fair review of such an enormous book, but Michael asked me if I would consider writing one (after I contacted him -- I don't know him personally), and it's the least I can do to thank him for what I can already tell is going to be a stupendously useful book.

From its uncluttered no-nonsense title and cover design, right down to its nitty-gritty technical details, it's obvious that this is a clear, well thought out, and well written book by someone who knows their subject matter inside and out. That's no surprise: Michael Kerrisk is maintainer and a major contributor to the Linux man-pages project. But let's be clear, this book isn't just a bunch of man pages glued together and given a cover!

Despite its large size (over 60 chapters, 1500+ pages) and level of detail, this is a surprisingly readable guidebook for UNIX system calls with a particular focus on Linux. The chapters are arranged such that they can be read in order with minimal forward-referencing. Topics covered range from the history of UNIX and fundamental systems concepts, through file i/o and file systems, processes & threads, IPC, up to advanced socket techniques and alternative I/O models. The book has a fairly comprehensive (although not exhaustive) index. The chapter list at man7.org provides a complete picture. The IPC chapters by themselves look as good as any other book I've seen on the subject.

The topics are covered in enough detail to make the book useful as a reference, but retaining a readable style throughout. It does a good job of pointing out some of the UNIX and C library quirks that might get lost in the detail of pure reference material. The book doesn't stray too far from the main focus -- the system calls themselves -- and provides references to other sources that cover related topics in more detail. There are plenty of diagrams and examples, including source code (available from man7.org). Source examples tend to be fairly simple illustrations of individual or related system calls. The book is not too code-heavy and doesn't just go through the motions of listing every possible call and parameter. After all, you already have the freely-available man pages for that. (It's occasionally useful to have a BASH prompt to hand while reading it.)

This isn't a beginner's book: a certain level of basic UNIX/Linux knowledge and a good grasp of C programming is a pre-requisite to a book like this. There is a good balance of introductory and advanced material without "dumbing down" or sacrificing of important detail.

The chapters on sockets, while quite short, cover a surprising amount of detailed ground, although a discussion of some of the more important TCP options available with setsockopt() is notably lacking. To be fair, this isn't a socket-programming book, and references to other sources of information are provided. However, I did think this was an odd omission considering the level of detail provided elsewhere in the book.

There are some exercises at the end of chapters with selected answers provided. I think this is one area that could be expanded and improved for readers who might want to treat the book like a `self-study' course or use it in an educational environment.

Any book this size with this level of technical detail inevitably has some errors, and it was after reporting one (minor) mistake that the author asked if I would consider posting a review. However, I was apparently only the second person to report one! Considering how many eyes must have glanced over this book already, that surely says something about the book's accuracy. The book has its own web page on the author's site (man7.org) where there is an errata section and a list of kernel changes since the book was released. It looks like this book will be well supported, even as the Linux kernel continues to march on its evolutionary path.

As you can probably tell from the overall tone of this review, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I plan to read this cover-to-cover over the next couple of months, and I will probably get a second copy on expenses to sit on my desk at work! I may post a follow-up review later, once I've had more time to read and reflect.

I would recommend this book to any Linux programmer.

27 people found this helpful

Tom Gahan

Superb

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

In my 45 years of computer experience I have come across several outstanding documents that have supported my coding: "IBM System 360 Principles of Operation", the set of RSX11/M manuals, and K&R. This book stands proudly on my bookshelves beside them.

However, I dislike the binding, which does injustice to an otherwise outstanding book. It is listed as a hardback, yet is a glued paperback with hard covers. Amazon should should stop misrepresenting "perfect bindings" as hardbacks/case bindings.

9 people found this helpful

Cliente Amazon

Great Book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 15, 2022

Verified Purchase

It's all about precious things to know, when programming in the Linux architecture.

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