BOOK REVIEW: Linux Kernel Development - Third Edition
kaaching - August 10, 2010
General information:
Title: Linux Kernel Development - Third Edition
Authors: Robert Love 2010, Addison Wesley Professional
How to get: ISBN# 978-0-672-32946-3, link on InformIT
Please post your review below
good book
8/10
This Third Edition (released June 22, 2010) is a significant improvement over the previous edition. This version specifically tries to cover the state of the kernel in 2.6.32 and 2.6.34.
I like this book. It won't teach you how to code a driver because it only discusses the main Linux kernel mechanisms, not the various driver subsystems.
It does a good attempt to explain the various main mechanisms (process management, scheduling, memory management, interrupts, the various synchronisation mechanisms, debugging, portability). In clear English, Robert discusses the overview and then dives deep.
One thing that I think is odd, is that he usually explains concepts twice: once in the first introduction of a chapter, and then again in a paragraph. At first, I only found it annoying, as I was reading the book cover-to-cover. Later I realized this is very convenient if you use the book to look things up.
If you are new to kernel development, I think this book will get you started. As an introduction to the various subsystems like PCI, USB, networking, etc, you probably also want to buy the Venkateswaran book.