Design of the UNIX Operating System (Prentice Hall Software Series)

The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System

Advanced Programming in the UNIX(R) Environment (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)

Bsd

The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System (Unix and Open Systems Series.)

Format: Hardcover
Author: Marshall Kirk McKusick
ReleaseDate: 30 April, 1996
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Rating:

Not bad.

There is some bad in the good though, the text varies in quality, not having code anywhere in the book is sometimes a big miss, you can get pretty exhausted reading this, I meant to get this book as bed time reading, it ended up being more of a reference, with only a few chapters being useful, if you're curious about the internals of the actual system get it, but if you need some more theoretical grasp or a "toy problem" book to truly understand the basics, then get Lions book. This really filled the void between the amazing hands-on "Lions Book" and Maurice Bach's "The Design of the UNIX Operating System", introducing the reader to some more modern implementation of the UNIX operating system.
Conclusion, I dont regret having it on my shelf, maybe it just could have been better.

Enjoy.

packed with facts, however there is little joy
If you're an advanced "userland" programmer who wants to start learning about kernel internels, this is one way to proceed but, it is very, very difficult. If you are already a BSD kernel expert you might use this as a reference.

I wish Kirk had decided to show us more of the joy of programming the kernel. If he had, the book would have been worth at least twice it's current price.

very good, nice, funny, professional kernel hacking
. well, just see the authors,.
in my opinion, the overall text is very good designed, easy to read, and gives you a good overview of the kernel.
although im not a professional kernel hacking, it explains you how the system works, lettign you "grep" through the source, (get 4. 3 bsd from ftp://ftp. funet. fi/unix first), very good.