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The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System |
List Price: $59.99
Your Price: $51.02 |
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Product Info |
Reviews |
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Rating: Summary: Has advantages over linux Review: For some 15 years or more, Addison-Wesley has published a set of definitive books on Unix, C and the Internet. It is a pleasure to see that this FreeBSD book continues that tradition.
The book goes into a detailed explanation of FreeBSD's kernel and associated matters. Strictly for the experienced unix programmer or systems developer. At the core of the kernel are many algorithms. It is these and their data structures that are the essence of this book. Also worthy of mention is the inclusion of exercises at the end of each chapter. Given that we have an algorithms book, the subject lends itself readily to probing questions, and it is nice that the authors chose to do so.
We also have a discussion of FreeBSD versus linux. In recent years, linux has grown hugely, and has overtaken FreeBSD. The authors face this issue squarely. That is, if you are choosing a unix to develop on, why pick FreeBSD? The main point is that for anything you make under it, you do not have to fold back into the main FreeBSD thread, by revealing or relinquishing the source code or any other intellectual property.
Rating: Summary: Hardly a wasted word in this guide to the FreeBSD kernel Review: I have been administering FreeBSD systems for four years, and I read 'The Design' to get a better understanding of the system 'under the hood.' This book is definitely not for beginners, and intermediate users like myself can become quickly overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I am very glad FreeBSD developers like McKusick and Neville-Neil took the time to document the kernel in this book.
Before tackling 'The Design,' I recommend reading a book like 'Modern Operating Systems, 2nd Ed' by Andrew Tannenbaum. The reader needs to be familiar with OS concepts and terms like 'mutex,' 'semaphore,' 'locking,' and so on before reading 'The Design.' If for some reason you want to read 'The Design' but are not familiar with userland FreeBSD issues, I recommend Greg Lehey's 'Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed.'
I was unable to grasp all of the material in 'The Design,' since some of it will appeal only to those coding their own kernels or who are equipped to debate the FreeBSD core team's design choices. In that respect the book is well suited for a college course (perhaps a master's level?) where the content could be discussed by a professor and students. I was able to critically read the chapters covering networking (ch. 11-13) as I deploy FreeBSD partly for its robust TCP/IP stack. Reading 'The Design' helped me understand some of Robert Watson's recent posts concerning removal of the GIANT lock from the networking subsystem, for example.
There are many other parts of the book which non-kernel developers will find accessible. Nearly every chapter features a well-written introduction to the technology at hand, such as memory management (ch. 5) or devices (ch. 7). I found various bits of history helpful, like the development of NFS (ch. 9) or UNIX itself (ch. 1). Those trying to understand issues concerning the new ULE scheduler will find ch. 4 enlightening. The 38 page glossary is also excellent and the index is well-constructed.
'The Design' is the sort of book I expect to consult when I need greater insight to a certain aspect of the FreeBSD kernel. It's an excellent companion when one reads the freebsd-current mailing lists and needs background on the latest hot design issue. I would be happy to see other operating systems have similar books published, so that an apples-to-apples comparison of their capabilities could be made by informed users.
Rating: Summary: An advanced resource especially for advanced students Review: The Design And Implementation Of The FreeBSD Operating System is the collaborative work of computer science and UNIX operating systems experts Marshal Kirk McKusick and George V. Neville-Neil. Covering FreeBSD version 5.2, this is an advanced resource especially for advanced students and users of the widely used FreeBSD system, which is commonly applied to Internet services and firewalls, high-availability servers, general timesharing systems, embedded systems that take advantage of FreeBSD's lean qualities, and much more. Chapters include an overview of FreeBSD's history, goals, and general design, and then delve into the nuts and bolts of its kernel services, process management, i/o system, network filesystem, network protocols, and much more. A complex and technical reference featuring diagrams and flowcharts summarizing how FreeBSD operates, The Design And Implementation Of The FreeBSD Operating System is a "must-have" in-depth work for anyone concerned with learning the capabilities, most efficient interfaces, fine-tuning configurements, and more details of FreeBSD.
Rating: Summary: In depth, well written and impressive Review: This hardback academic style book is an impressive piece of work. The writing style is serious, but not overwhelming, and the use of graphics is appropriate and effective. The organization is what you would expect, it cuts the Kernel as if it were an onion and starts at the center, covering I/O and devices, goes through process management, file systems, IPC and networking. There are exercises at the end of every chapter.
This book is a genuinely impressive piece of work. It's well worth the money for anyone looking for a computer science work on operating systems construction.
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