Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition

In order to thoroughly understand what makes Linux tick and why it works so well on a wide variety of systems, you need to delve deep into the heart of the kernel. The kernel handles all interactions between the CPU and the external world, and determines which programs will share processor time, in what order. It manages limited memory so well that hundreds of processes can share the system efficiently, and expertly organizes data transfers so that the CPU isn't kept waiting any longer than necessary for the relatively slow disks.

The third edition of Understanding the Linux Kernel takes you on a guided tour of the most significant data structures, algorithms, and programming tricks used in the kernel. Probing beyond superficial features, the authors offer valuable insights to people who want to know how things really work inside their machine. Important Intel-specific features are discussed. Relevant segments of code are dissected line by line. But the book covers more than just the functioning of the code; it explains the theoretical underpinnings of why Linux does things the way it does.

This edition of the book covers Version 2.6, which has seen significant changes to nearly every kernel subsystem, particularly in the areas of memory management and block devices. The book focuses on the following topics:

Memory management, including file buffering, process swapping, and Direct memory Access (DMA)
The Virtual Filesystem layer and the Second and Third Extended Filesystems
Process creation and scheduling
Signals, interrupts, and the essential interfaces to device drivers
Timing
Synchronization within the kernel
Interprocess Communication (IPC)
Program execution

Understanding the Linux Kernel will acquaint you with all the inner workings of Linux, but it's more than just an academic exercise. You'll learn what conditions bring out Linux's best performance, and you'll see how it meets the challenge of providing good system response during process scheduling, file access, and memory management in a wide variety of environments. This book will help you make the most of your Linux system.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, but not for beginners

By J. Goudsmit - August 2, 2006

Understanding the Linux Kernel is an excellent guide for those who have some experience using Linux, and would like to know what's going on under the hood. It's a comprehensive guide that not only describes how Linux boots and initializes itself, and how programs call functions inside the kernel, but actually goes down to the murky depths of interrupts, process switching, inter-process communication, and even memory management down to the level of the 80x86 processor instructions, registers and features (actually if you add it all up, memory management takes up most of the book -- a good thing!). Furthermore there are chapters about essentials such as file systems and device drivers.

The book specifically and explicitly focuses only on the 80x86 PC architecture so if you're interested in Linux on different platforms or if you're looking for a generic Linux kernel book, this one's not for you. Also, if you're just starting out with Linux (whether it be as user, programmer or... read more

Messrs Bovet and Cesati's 'Core-Dump' on the LINUX kernel

By Reza Mostafid - July 10, 2011

This book deserves three stars for the following reasons:

The three stars come from:

1.) The book does walk you through from the higher level kernel
functions all the way to what happens to x86 register set
during a process switch ( ....these details constitute the
'soul' of an OS IMHO ). So you can gain some insight in how
the 'naked' iron ( x86 ) is made into a higher level
LINUX virtual machine ( using Tannenbaum's analogy ).

2.) The book contains a tremendous wealth of information, far
more than most of the other few and far between titles
on the subject

3.) The book covers the aforementioned info in far more detail
than most of the other few and far between titles on the
subject

The remaining two stars were not given because:

4.) The information in the book is organized in _the_
most haphazard and unorganized way... read more

A detailed and comprehensive explanation of the inner workings of the latest 2.6 Linux kernel

By A. Papadimitriou "sterg" - February 10, 2006

The book "Undestanding the Linux Kernel",

explains clearly the inner workings of the

current 2.6 Linux kernel.

The presentation is at a considerable level of detail,

the authors fully describe the important data structures,

and the significant chunks of code.

The book is indispensable to any serious

Linux kernel developer.

However, it can be used also at the context

of an "Operating Systems Design" academic course

and the students can learn a lot from the

technologically advanced Linux 2.6 kernel implementation

and can modify/recompile and install their own version!

The level of the book is advanced and I recommend

concurrently with it, the reader to study also the

book:

"Linux kernel development" by Robert Love

that presents the algorithms also very clearly,

but with a more academic... read more

AVAILABILITY
Merchant	Format	Price
Amazon US	Paperback	$21.00 - $59.99
eBooks.com	Digital (PDF)	$39.99
BookByte	Paperback	$65.15
eCampus	Paperback	~~$57.59~~ discount!