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Linux System Programming: Talking Directly to the Kernel and C Library
This book is about writing software that makes the most effective use of the system you're running on -- code that interfaces directly with the kernel and core system libraries, including the shell, text editor, compiler, debugger, core utilities, and system daemons. The majority of both Unix and Linux code is still written at the system level, and Linux System Programming focuses on everything above the kernel, where applications such as Apache, bash, cp, vim, Emacs, gcc, gdb, glibc, ls, mv, and X exist.
Written primarily for engineers looking to program (better) at the low level, this book is an ideal teaching tool for any programmer. Even with the trend toward high-level development, either through web software (such as PHP) or managed code (C#), someone still has to write the PHP interpreter and the C# virtual machine. Linux System Programming gives you an understanding of core internals that makes for better code, no matter where it appears in the stack. Debugging high-level code often requires you to understand the system calls and kernel behavior of your operating system, too.
Key topics With Linux System Programming , you will be able to take an in-depth look at Linux from both a theoretical and an applied perspective as you cover a wide range of programming topics.
Written primarily for engineers looking to program (better) at the low level, this book is an ideal teaching tool for any programmer. Even with the trend toward high-level development, either through web software (such as PHP) or managed code (C#), someone still has to write the PHP interpreter and the C# virtual machine. Linux System Programming gives you an understanding of core internals that makes for better code, no matter where it appears in the stack. Debugging high-level code often requires you to understand the system calls and kernel behavior of your operating system, too.
Key topics With Linux System Programming , you will be able to take an in-depth look at Linux from both a theoretical and an applied perspective as you cover a wide range of programming topics.
522 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
89 people are currently reading
729 people want to read
About the author
Robert Love
3 books94 followersSenior Director of Engineering at Google Cloud building planet-scale networking.
Previously Toast, Google Search, Android, Linux kernel, book author.
Previously Toast, Google Search, Android, Linux kernel, book author.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
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September 25, 2019This had lots of good, practical advice.
January 20, 2019
A good introduction to the low-level layers of Linux systems. Note that this is not a comprehensive approach to how Linux works. Prior knowledge and experience on Linux systems are advised to take the most out of this reading.
It is a really good book if you hacked your way through Linux and you feel you would be more efficient if you knew how things actually work under the hood.
It provides a good illustration of the Linux everything is a file philosophy by describing the consequences of various system calls on different kind of files (e.g. regular files or devices won't behave similarly)
Even with this 429 pages, it is a really quick book to read. Even if it is a technical read, it doesn't go into highly theoretical concepts and thus, it is a perfectly valid candidate for your next commute read. Expect to finish it in less than two weeks if you grab it with you while commuting.
The code illustrating the system calls are in C but the code snippets are very short and understandable for developer unfamiliar with the C programming language.
The main topics covered in this book are:
- Introduction to the process of reading/writing data from/to the disk
- Process management and signals
Note that those topics are mainly illustrated by studying C functions of standard libraries. But again, that should not be a stop if you are not familiar with C since the snippets are short and very well explained.
A good point for this book is that it teaches you notions that will empower you to monitor Linux systems more efficiently. Especially the parts about processes and memory management.
e.g.You often encounter memory leaks on your machine and don't know why? The book introduces you to zombie processes how they spawn and what can be done about them.
Another nice thing about this book is that it provides you with some very low-level insights on software/hardware interaction, especially the part about writing data to memory. You will learn plenty of things about the various steps of writing information to the disk. Being knowledgable on this topic proved to be very helpful to help me understand challenges related to database related topics (e.g.concurrency and consistency).
It is a really good book if you hacked your way through Linux and you feel you would be more efficient if you knew how things actually work under the hood.
It provides a good illustration of the Linux everything is a file philosophy by describing the consequences of various system calls on different kind of files (e.g. regular files or devices won't behave similarly)
Even with this 429 pages, it is a really quick book to read. Even if it is a technical read, it doesn't go into highly theoretical concepts and thus, it is a perfectly valid candidate for your next commute read. Expect to finish it in less than two weeks if you grab it with you while commuting.
The code illustrating the system calls are in C but the code snippets are very short and understandable for developer unfamiliar with the C programming language.
The main topics covered in this book are:
- Introduction to the process of reading/writing data from/to the disk
- Process management and signals
Note that those topics are mainly illustrated by studying C functions of standard libraries. But again, that should not be a stop if you are not familiar with C since the snippets are short and very well explained.
A good point for this book is that it teaches you notions that will empower you to monitor Linux systems more efficiently. Especially the parts about processes and memory management.
e.g.You often encounter memory leaks on your machine and don't know why? The book introduces you to zombie processes how they spawn and what can be done about them.
Another nice thing about this book is that it provides you with some very low-level insights on software/hardware interaction, especially the part about writing data to memory. You will learn plenty of things about the various steps of writing information to the disk. Being knowledgable on this topic proved to be very helpful to help me understand challenges related to database related topics (e.g.concurrency and consistency).
January 8, 2015
I really loved Love's Linux Kernel Development (LKD) book (I have read it couple of times) and I read this book in delirium immediately after I gobbled up the LKD book. This books can be kept as a reference on Linux system programming and one has to go to it periodically to check up facts while doing coding. In a way it is most helpful when u have a computer handy so u can type the example programs side by side while u read from the book (I didn't do it that way!). From my own investigation there are other competent books in this space like Stephen Rago's updated "Advanced unix programming" and "The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook" by Michael Kerrisk (which is showing no #1 in Amazon best seller ratings) but if you like the tone/pace/depth of Love's writing (which I do) then this is the book for ya'.
October 14, 2011
A wonderful way to dive into systems programming and start getting a handle on the standard things the kernel does for you. Though Linux is in the title, Robert Love does a good job of covering the commonalities and departures from other unix-like systems out there. Parts of the book read a bit too much like man pages (I tended to mostly skip the paragraph long descriptions of each possible errno that can be set by each new call - that'd be useful as a reference, but not on your initial read-through. On the other hand, the examples (of which there are plenty) really help in getting a concrete (and practical) understanding of what the calls do.
June 22, 2018
Good concise introduction. For references, Linux Programming Interface is more comprehensive.
May 1, 2015
"В наборе компиляторов GNU (DNU Compiler Connection, GCC)"
Качество перевода, количество опечаток и отсутствие редактуры удручает. По возможности избегайте книг, изданных издательством "Питер".
October 15, 2016
It started well, became a bit boring to the end, but it's book about API after all, not exactly action-packed topic :) It does its job well.
August 22, 2017
Great book about how Linux works under the hood.
Perhaps a bit low level to be directly relevant to TC but really helped my overall understanding of Linux as an OS
Perhaps a bit low level to be directly relevant to TC but really helped my overall understanding of Linux as an OS
July 30, 2024
Long read! It took me more than a year to complete this book, of course, I didn’t read it every day but it’s one of the books I’ve spent the most time reading. An extremely dense explanation of the various system calls that make up what’s referred to as Linux system programming. It’s extremely theoretic although you can work up some of the example snippets that are strewn across the book.
The book explains the nitty gritty of the different Linux concepts such as process, file, and memory management in an easy-to-understand manner. For instance, explaining pathname resolution from the ground up. And answering questions such as why your file writes are so fast when the underlying disk is supposed to be slow. Or how pids are reused for processes when your machine has been running long enough. Or how the kernel makes use of copy-on-write to provide better performance without any tangible difference in functionality. There are many such examples and I could go on but that wouldn’t serve any purpose.
The last three chapters I felt were somewhat targeted, and a tad bit too theoretical for casual reading. But the first eight chapters and the treasure trove of information in them more than makeup for a little bit of theory at the end. I just wished the book had more practical exercises.
The book explains the nitty gritty of the different Linux concepts such as process, file, and memory management in an easy-to-understand manner. For instance, explaining pathname resolution from the ground up. And answering questions such as why your file writes are so fast when the underlying disk is supposed to be slow. Or how pids are reused for processes when your machine has been running long enough. Or how the kernel makes use of copy-on-write to provide better performance without any tangible difference in functionality. There are many such examples and I could go on but that wouldn’t serve any purpose.
The last three chapters I felt were somewhat targeted, and a tad bit too theoretical for casual reading. But the first eight chapters and the treasure trove of information in them more than makeup for a little bit of theory at the end. I just wished the book had more practical exercises.
October 30, 2024
Interesting book to learn many basic concepts of Linux and POSIX (with some information about BSD differences). Useful for pretty much any programmer, especially when facing issues with troubleshooting or performance, although the finer details may not be relevant or accurate any more. For example, the I/O scheduling chapters introduce ever-relevant concepts, although current Linux versions default to a different scheduler and HDD scheduling is mostly not relevant any more in this time of SSDs and "cloud" providers mostly offering network storage in a trenchcoat. Most examples rely on the C language: I found that fine for the purpose of understanding, though I hope certain low level memory management is carefully avoided by programmers these days for security reasons. Some interesting kernel topics like NUMA are completely absent (but I realise that's a pretty niche concern).
October 2, 2024
A little dated (multiple major linux versions behind), but still a very useful and enjoyable resource for familiarizing yourself with Linux/glibc. I enjoyed following along and writing little useless programs using the prominent syscalls and library functions.
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August 10, 2022Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 -- Process Management part
September 29, 2022
Well written book, but I was hoping to contain sections on Linux kernel interfaces and data structures.
July 28, 2024
good but i think it needs more diagrams
January 21, 2019
I think this is one of the best books, if not the best, about systems programming in Linux (FWIW, I'm not aware of any other book in the same category). By systems programming we understand programming that requires services provided by the Linux kernel, which usually are satisfied via system calls. The book is categorized in chapters, each chapter covering a topic (I/O, threading, memory management, process management, etc) and a good share of system calls. Examples are also provided.
I have to confess it took me a while to finish this book. I think the main reason is that when I started to read it I was mainly interested in learning about a few aspects of Linux (CPU affinity, sockets and signals), but somehow I kept reading the whole book until I completed it.
I found the general explanations of each chapter interesting and I think those ones are a good read even if you're not interested in the programming specifics. Going down on the details of something I was not really interested made me wonder sometimes of how much value it was for me, as I would forget about what I just learned rather quickly. So in hindsight, I think this book is two things: a reference book for systems programming and a general book about concepts related with an OS, specifically the Linux OS. If you're interested, or need to learn, about the programming specifics, go ahead and read the whole chapter. If you want to refresh or broaden your knowledge about a topic, read the introductory explanations. Also, since the book is structured in chapters, it's not necessary to read the book from cover to cover. Read simply what you need.
On the other hand, there are a few things I didn't like about the book and perhaps could be improved in future editions. I think, as it was pointed out in other reviews, the details about error handling described for each system call are excessive. This type of information can be easily retrieved from man pages. In addition, I found the examples too much simple. Most of them consist of calls to a specific system call with some argument management. I think providing code examples that solve real-world problems could be more illustrative on how system calls can be used and could even help to spark some creativity on the learning reader.
Lastly, as the kernel keeps evolving and new aspects and new systems calls get incorporated into the Linux kernel I think a new edition of this book would be gladly welcomed.
I have to confess it took me a while to finish this book. I think the main reason is that when I started to read it I was mainly interested in learning about a few aspects of Linux (CPU affinity, sockets and signals), but somehow I kept reading the whole book until I completed it.
I found the general explanations of each chapter interesting and I think those ones are a good read even if you're not interested in the programming specifics. Going down on the details of something I was not really interested made me wonder sometimes of how much value it was for me, as I would forget about what I just learned rather quickly. So in hindsight, I think this book is two things: a reference book for systems programming and a general book about concepts related with an OS, specifically the Linux OS. If you're interested, or need to learn, about the programming specifics, go ahead and read the whole chapter. If you want to refresh or broaden your knowledge about a topic, read the introductory explanations. Also, since the book is structured in chapters, it's not necessary to read the book from cover to cover. Read simply what you need.
On the other hand, there are a few things I didn't like about the book and perhaps could be improved in future editions. I think, as it was pointed out in other reviews, the details about error handling described for each system call are excessive. This type of information can be easily retrieved from man pages. In addition, I found the examples too much simple. Most of them consist of calls to a specific system call with some argument management. I think providing code examples that solve real-world problems could be more illustrative on how system calls can be used and could even help to spark some creativity on the learning reader.
Lastly, as the kernel keeps evolving and new aspects and new systems calls get incorporated into the Linux kernel I think a new edition of this book would be gladly welcomed.
October 21, 2015
This book was a great chance for me to become more familiar with a lower level of Linux programming, which I usually manage to avoid unless absolutely necessary. I've gained a sense of the APIs used by system level software, such as daemons and services. I've also realized what extra tricks are available even to a regular application that wants to ask the Linux kernel to optimize for its own behaviour when dealing with large amounts of memory or lots of I/O.
After the excellent introduction, it becomes a bit like a reference manual, but it's worth reading from cover to cover. I do wish that there had been more discussion of which API is standard in the C library, or which is a glibc extra, which is a Linux system call, or which is extra API in a Linux header that's not a system call.
I really appreciate that the writing was straightforward and direct, telling you the practical details. There's no hand waving here.
After the excellent introduction, it becomes a bit like a reference manual, but it's worth reading from cover to cover. I do wish that there had been more discussion of which API is standard in the C library, or which is a glibc extra, which is a Linux system call, or which is extra API in a Linux header that's not a system call.
I really appreciate that the writing was straightforward and direct, telling you the practical details. There's no hand waving here.
May 29, 2015
Highly readable, entirely useful.
O'Reilly books tend to have a very high standard of clarity and general smartness and accuracy. This book was no surprise.
With nonfiction and technical writing it is always a pleasure to find what you were seeking and then to find some more, which you didn't even know you wanted to know.
As an intermediate programmer who is interested in systems programming in the C language, I am utterly satisfied by this book
O'Reilly books tend to have a very high standard of clarity and general smartness and accuracy. This book was no surprise.
With nonfiction and technical writing it is always a pleasure to find what you were seeking and then to find some more, which you didn't even know you wanted to know.
As an intermediate programmer who is interested in systems programming in the C language, I am utterly satisfied by this book
October 8, 2020
This book and the other title Linux Kernel Development shaped/wrap my mind around the process and to know the inner working of the system in more details. It was fascinating and invigorating to read such a wonderfully written book on such a complex system. Thank you Robert, your books make my understanding of my beloived subject more intriguing and interesting.
My understanding of the subject solidified by your books. A kudo is not enough for you , but you deserve more.
My understanding of the subject solidified by your books. A kudo is not enough for you , but you deserve more.
January 23, 2015
A very readable book for a programming manual - he not only goes over the API, but has well thought out suggestions as to when or how you should use particular programming interfaces, as well as which ones are most portable.
He also gets into some of the internals of the latest Linux version so you can write efficient programs for your applications.
He also gets into some of the internals of the latest Linux version so you can write efficient programs for your applications.
June 22, 2008
A very clear, if sometimes excessive look through systems programming on Linux. I think many of the individual functions and flags that weren't being discussed in-depth could have been left for the reader to dig through the man page.
Other than that, I definitely recommend it.
Other than that, I definitely recommend it.
September 27, 2014
Almost no fluff, very detailed and at the same time not that huge in confront to Rich Steven's book. Great syscalls and low level linux design explained from one of the kernel devs. Linux Kernel Development is another his book which is already in my reading queue.
November 23, 2016
Странная книжка: подробно разжёвываются очень очевидные вещи вроде известных по K&R вызовов, которые есть в стандарте, в то время как более специфические моменты рассказаны вскользь. Перевод корявый. Примерно через год надо будет перечитать, т.к. для запоминания одного прочтения мало.
June 18, 2012
Для новичка в Linux типа меня по-моему вполне дельно, пусть и слишком много пересказов манов
November 20, 2012
It's the best book ever when It comes about Linux internals, stuff like Multi threading, timers, IPC is perfectly explained in this book.
January 23, 2014
some good insights about the internal stuff that happens behind the standard library calls.
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July 17, 2017Good reference book. Will be useful by your side when doing systems programming. Appendix A offers some extensions to C for optimization and appendix B suggest some great material for subsequent reading.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews