Recommended reading to better understand Unix/Linux internals

Question

I've worked on *nix environments for the last four years as a application developer (mostly in C).

Please suggest some books/blogs etc. for improving my *nix internals knowledge.

Answer 1

Here are some suggestions on how to understand the "spirit" of Unix, in addition to the fine recommendations that have been done in the previous posts:

• "The Unix Programming Environment" by Kernighan and Pike: an old book, but it shows the essence of the Unix environment. It will also help you become an effective shell user.

• "Unix for the Impatient" is a useful resource to learn to navigate the Unix environment. One of my favorites.

If you want to become a power user, there is nothing better than O'Reilly's "Unix Power Tools" which consists of the collective tips and tricks from Unix professionals.

Another book that I have not seen mentioned that is a fun light and education reading is the "Operating Systems, Design and Implementation", the book from Andy Tanenbaum that included the source code for a complete Unix operating system in 12k lines of code.

Answer 2

You definitely want to read Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment by Stevens. Don't let the Advanced title scare you away, its very readable.

Answer 3

• The Unix Time-sharing System (10 pages) -- the original UNIX article by UNIX authors Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, published back in 1974
• Design of the Unix operating system -- the classic!
• Lion's Commentary on UNIX Kernel source code and the corresponding source code itself

Answer 4

Books/sites/manuals that i am using frequently:

• The Linux Kernel: This book published online as a part of TLDP (The Linux Documentation Project). It is not up-to-date and not an internal manual, but provides useful information and introductory materials about principles and mechanisms of the kernel. URL: http://tldp.org/LDP/tlk/

• Understanding Linux Kernel: IMHO, It is the best book for beginners who has background about the operating systems' design and concept. It is accepted as up-to-date, covers version 2.6 of the kernel. There is an HTML version of the book on the web. Most probably it is warez. URL: http://book.opensourceproject.org.cn/kernel/kernel3rd/index.html

While studying linux kernel internal, you usually need to learn how hardware works and what hardware provides in abstract manner. Intel has great manuals for this.

• Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manuals: Up-to-date, detailed information. URL: http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/

• Intel 80386 Programmer's Reference Manual: I know this is a little bit old but i've learned so many things from this manual. URL: http://www.logix.cz/michal/doc/i386/

If you need to study about operating systems' desing and concept I suggest following book: Operating System Concepts, URL: http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silberschatz/dp/0470128720/ref=dp_cp_ob_b_title_1#reader_0470128720

Answer 5

O'REILLY Linux Kernel in a Nutshell
and O'REILLY Linux Device Drivers

Answer 6

Linux Systems Programming or any other book by Robert Love (these are all O'Reilly books):

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009588

Answer 7

Well, for BSD Unices, there's The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System, parts of which are now apparently available for free at http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/design-44bsd/

Answer 8

Linux Device Drivers is another good resource. It would give you another way to get into the inner workings. From the preface:

This is, on the surface, a book about writing device drivers for the Linux system. That is a worthy goal, of course; the flow of new hardware products is not likely to slow down anytime soon, and somebody is going to have to make all those new gadgets work with Linux. But this book is also about how the Linux kernel works and how to adapt its workings to your needs or interests. Linux is an open system; with this book, we hope, it is more open and accessible to a larger community of developers.

Answer 9

I agree with all the others and I have to say that Stevens' APUE (I have the second edition) is a classic. I would also like to add that Eric Raymond's The Art of UNIX Programming ranks right up there with Stevens on my list.

Answer 10

To get a sense of the why and what the kernel is meant to support, have a look at The Art of Unix Programming by Eric Raymond. It takes things at a fairly high, philosophical level, but it would go well with the nitty-gritty details of other books.