The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System

[cajunman4life]

I'm considering buying this book, and wanted to get opinions on it. Anyone?

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by cajunman4life

Anyone?

If you are interested in the internals of FreeBSD, this is an excellent book. If you thinking that you will learn how to use the system from a user's standpoint, you will be disappointed. From a theoretical standpoint, there isn't anything better than reading McKusick.

[cajunman4life]

Yea, I was more or less looking for something that goes over teh internals. I've pretty much got the user's standpoint down

That being said, looks like I'll go get it.

[Oliver_H]

It isn't up-to-date anymore but it's nonetheless a standard work.

http://www.amazon.com/Designing-BSD-...0235455&sr=8-1

Designing BSD Rootkits: An Introduction to Kernel Hacking

This e.g. is a good book to understand some of the actual internals of FreeBSD.

[ephemera]

The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System
+1

Designing BSD Rootkits: An Introduction to Kernel Hacking
+1

got both but haven't finished reading either of them.

[tuck]

"The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System" is very nice to read.

ephemera: I got both of them too and haven't managed to finish them I think I like book p****

Programming book p****graphy. The idea that having a pile of thick, important-looking programming books sitting on your shelf, largely unread, will somehow make you a better programmer.

In my case it's not only related to programming books.

[ephemera]

i have to admit that those books are in a way porno material for me too.
i bought them out of curiosity but i don't have any immediate or pressing need for the information given in those books. maybe someday i will have time to read them and develop freebsd software...

[TerryP]

If I had the cash, I'd buy both :-)

I generally have mixed feelings about computer books, I prefer Sci-Fi myself... But for some thing like that I'd make an exception -- because it's a good chance to learn more about things with less hunt & peck through the source tree.

[drhowarddrfine]

I own this book and agree with ocicat and the others above.

[muflon]

Classic publication. I read It years ago, and till today I check some chapters from time to time.

I'm planning to review Maurice Bach, The Design of the Unix Operating System, published by Prentice Hall in 1986.

And for the record.
The first major editions of UNIX were the Research systems from Bell Laboratories.
In addition to the earliest versions of the system, these systems include the UNIX Time-Sharing System, Sixth Edition, commonly known as V6, which in 1976 was the first version widely available outside of Bell Laboratories.

Systems are identified by the edition numbers of the UNIX Programmer's Manual that were current when the distributions were made.

The UNIX system was distinguished from other operating systems in three important ways.
1. It was written in a high-level language.

2. It was distributed in source form.

3. It provided powerful primitives normally found in only those operating systems that ran on much more expensive hardware.

And by the way:
Many people saying that "everything started from UNIX", forgot that everything was started from CTSS system, witch was the first real Time-Sharing - structural environment - in witch users can do simple tasks.
And for the record, creator of these system [and great successor Multics], who is nowadays, to sad say forgotten, professor Fernando José Corbató, set the system operations laws that was next implemented by Ken Thompson in his 'private project' in 1969.

Continuing... master important distinction of the AT&T was its early release from Bell Laboratories to other research environments in source form. By providing source, the system's founders ensured that other organizations would be able not only to use the system, but also to tinker with its inner workings.
After the distribution of Seventh Edition in 1978, the Research group turned over external distributions to the UNIX Support Group (USG).
USG's first external distribution after Seventh [research] Edition was UNIX System III...

Besides USG, the most influential of the non-Bell Laboratories and non-AT&T UNIX development groups was the University of California at Berkeley, know till today as abbreviation therm BSD.
They developed firstly USERLAND for the AT&T Unix, by I mean programs that can be operated in the system environment.

So what I would like to say to All to You, is that UNIX was divided:
1. Research versions - which included systems like Seventh Edition (V7),
System Version 1.0 (32V), Eighth Edition (V8); Ninth Edition (V9); and UNIX Time-Sharing System, Tenth Edition (V10). Their 1996 system was Plan 9.

2. Distributed for sale,
-by AT&T's USG team which was metamorphosed into the UNIX System Development Laboratory USDL. In 1983 famous System V was released by USG, and then in 1984, System V Release 2 by USDL.
- by Berkeley Software Distributions,
- on the other licenses, like Microsoft Xenix, IBM's AIX, SunOS, HP-UX etc.

Salute