Linux Kernel Development

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 justExtremely 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.