Computer Science

How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know

How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know

  • Downloads：6452
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-03-11 03:16:29
  • Update Date：2025-09-07
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Brian Ward
  • ISBN：B07X7S1JMB
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
  • Download

Summary

Best selling guide to the inner workings of the Linux operating system with over 50，000 copies sold since its release in 2014。 This in-depth guide to the various components of a Linux system covers topics like how the system boots， how networking works， and what the Linux kernel actually does。

The Linux operating system is the power behind Android， Chromebooks， web servers， and the public cloud。 It's impossible to know for sure but there may well be over 60 million Linux users in the world。 Developers and system maintainers need to understand how Linux works in order to use it effectively and fix it when it breaks。 In this third edition of the best selling How Linux Works， author Brian Ward peels back the layers of this well-loved operating system to make Linux internals accessible。 Readers learn how Linux boots， how the kernel manages devices and device drivers， and how processes， networking， interfaces， firewalls， and servers work。 They also learn how Linux-based development tools work， how to use shared libraries， and how to write effective shell scripts。 This edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded with added coverage of Logical Volume Manager （LVM）， virtualization， and containers。

Download

Reviews

Barazbay ，

Beginner-friendly book wuld be necessary for experienced users

Yazan Monshed ，

it's a nice book， has a lot of information about the functionality of Linux。 really I enjoying reading it and looking forward to the third edition in march it's a nice book， has a lot of information about the functionality of Linux。 really I enjoying reading it and looking forward to the third edition in march 。。。more

Marco ，

Os capítulos iniciais desse livro me ajudaram bastante a entender o funcionamento desse sistema operacional de uma forma sistêmica。

Mateus Molina ，

Good book！ It covers many topics required for a solid understanding of the OS。 It's also worth to mention that in many areas the book lacks depth and it's difficult to follow when one doesn't have sufficient knowledge in advance。 Sometimes it leaved me wanting more info about a subject or suddenly introduced concepts without any given context， what， imo， hinder the overall reading experience。 Good book！ It covers many topics required for a solid understanding of the OS。 It's also worth to mention that in many areas the book lacks depth and it's difficult to follow when one doesn't have sufficient knowledge in advance。 Sometimes it leaved me wanting more info about a subject or suddenly introduced concepts without any given context， what， imo， hinder the overall reading experience。 。。。more

Leland William ，

Good introductory reference to how Linux is organized and how to think about interacting with it。I'd be interested in seeing a book that blends the theory of OS's with the implementation of a production-grade OS。 Good introductory reference to how Linux is organized and how to think about interacting with it。I'd be interested in seeing a book that blends the theory of OS's with the implementation of a production-grade OS。 。。。more

Mohamed Ahmed ，

Good but not enough

Samuel Taggart ，

A great book on Linux。 It helps if you are already slightly familiar with Linux， because there is not a lot of handholding。 It's not unapproachable for beginners， but it will be a much easier read with some basic knowledge。It covers a wide range of topics related to Linux。 It covers them in varying depths。 Some topics he goes way in-depth on。 Others he just gives you a basic starting point and then points you towards further resources。 It's mostly centered around the CLI， although it does briefl A great book on Linux。 It helps if you are already slightly familiar with Linux， because there is not a lot of handholding。 It's not unapproachable for beginners， but it will be a much easier read with some basic knowledge。It covers a wide range of topics related to Linux。 It covers them in varying depths。 Some topics he goes way in-depth on。 Others he just gives you a basic starting point and then points you towards further resources。 It's mostly centered around the CLI， although it does briefly touch on the Desktop。 It also does a fairly good job at being distirbution agnostic so whatever flavor of Linux you are using， you will still find it useful。 In the end， I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the big picture and most of the basics。 A few of the sections went a little over my head。 I will certainly be referring to it as a reference book for the foreseeable future。If you are using Linux， this book will definitely be useful。 。。。more

William Schram ，

"How Linux Works" does what it describes。 Brian Ward takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Linux Operating System。 There are numerous flavors of Linux available， so Ward tells you which one he is talking about in the text。 Ward would prefer that you had a copy of Linux available to work on while you read this book， but I did not have that privilege。 I do most of my reading at work and do not have access to a computer there。The book does not go into the history of Linux。 Ward makes some recommendat "How Linux Works" does what it describes。 Brian Ward takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Linux Operating System。 There are numerous flavors of Linux available， so Ward tells you which one he is talking about in the text。 Ward would prefer that you had a copy of Linux available to work on while you read this book， but I did not have that privilege。 I do most of my reading at work and do not have access to a computer there。The book does not go into the history of Linux。 Ward makes some recommendations if you are interested in that aspect of the Linux OS。 Modern Operating Systems are complicated。 Multiple pieces are working in sync。 Thankfully， Ward doesn't go into too much detail。 I didn't want to read a brick anyway。 。。。more

Adam McCartney ，

Nicely written introduction， with enough detail to serve as a reference for the first year or two of programming with linux。

Hongcheng ，

A good and easy to follow book。 I read it to revisit some concepts learned in college。

Tajung ，

Great practical book

Hatim ，

what are you waiting for。。。？！

Nathan Ormond ，

noice

Hildey ，

Good， but strays too far from Linux itself at some points。

Enzo Altamiranda ，

Excellent book to understand the fundamentals of linux and operative systems。 Full of examples and interesting facts that could help even a seasoned user to brush up on some fundamental concepts。

Boris ，

This is the real Linux bible！ Perfectly explained， not just a how-to， but also why and how commands work。 Just enough kernel for a non-OS developer to grasp the technology， perfect examples and use of commands。 Brings a regular user to superuser as promised。 Definitely will be sitting on my desk from now on。Required knowledge: basic Linux commands and concept

Jennifer ，

It's a good book to practice， but a bit hard to grasp if you are not sitting at a linux box testing the text。 It's a good book to practice， but a bit hard to grasp if you are not sitting at a linux box testing the text。 。。。more

Chris Bosdal ，

If you've already read an introductory book to Linux， this is a fantastic follow up to deepen your knowledge。 If you've already read an introductory book to Linux， this is a fantastic follow up to deepen your knowledge。 。。。more

Gustavo ，

Simple and very effective。

Matthias ，

This is overall an excellent book。 I've been working with computers for 25 years and learned a fair bit from this book。 It is in fact a great introduction to operating systems and computers in general， not just Linux。 I think if someone ever asked me "how do computers work？" I would not hesitate to point them to this book to build a holistic picture。However， despite how condensed the material is， the sheer breadth of content found in this book got a little out of hand in my opinion。 It covers li This is overall an excellent book。 I've been working with computers for 25 years and learned a fair bit from this book。 It is in fact a great introduction to operating systems and computers in general， not just Linux。 I think if someone ever asked me "how do computers work？" I would not hesitate to point them to this book to build a holistic picture。However， despite how condensed the material is， the sheer breadth of content found in this book got a little out of hand in my opinion。 It covers literally everything you could possibly think of and then some， from SCSCI and spinning drive internals over boot manager configuration， networking protocols， the X window system to at least honorable mentions of some popular programming languages and databases。 Considering that all of this had to fit onto ~400 pages， it's an incredible feat， but due to the lack of depth in some of these sections， I wonder what the intended audience was for those， as for both layman and expert alike some sections were too shallow to be useful。But for any section that lacked depth， there were 5 others that did not， so there is still a wealth of information here that is useful to pretty much anyone with an interest in computers and operating systems。Recommended！ 。。。more

Taro ，

I have been using Linux exclusively for the past 20 years or so but have never really done structured learning on Linux。 I picked How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know in hope of helping me （re）organize my knowledge around Linux。If you are at a stage where you want to play around with your Linux box as a root and not just as a regular user， this book would be a great place to start with。 The materials are neither too basic nor too advanced， and the coverage is fairly comprehensive。 B I have been using Linux exclusively for the past 20 years or so but have never really done structured learning on Linux。 I picked How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know in hope of helping me （re）organize my knowledge around Linux。If you are at a stage where you want to play around with your Linux box as a root and not just as a regular user， this book would be a great place to start with。 The materials are neither too basic nor too advanced， and the coverage is fairly comprehensive。 But I think you need to be at the right experience level to make sense of the book。 If you are a beginner， most of the stuff would go over your head and reading through would be a waste of time。 If you are too experienced， you find that you already know them， or at least have figured out how to deal with the issues from browsing the web for solutions， like myself。Throughout the book， the author rather meticulously provides references to other books and/or documentations that come with Linux itself。 Although the book is not self-contained in that sense， those references are indeed very useful as a stepping stone for more relevant information。 This book is highly recommended for intermediate Linux users。 。。。more

Majakub ，

Good overview of linux world with not too deep insights into os details。

Dhruv ，

Exactly what I was looking for。 This book is very accessible for someone with an intermediary working knowledge of Linux。 Though most of the topics are intended as a starting point for people who are looking to work on complex Linux operations， a read-through gives you a high-level understanding of the Linux architecture and a feel for how to approach problem-solving in Linux。 Definitely not a one-time read unless you are an advanced linux user/developer。 This is more of a reference book for use Exactly what I was looking for。 This book is very accessible for someone with an intermediary working knowledge of Linux。 Though most of the topics are intended as a starting point for people who are looking to work on complex Linux operations， a read-through gives you a high-level understanding of the Linux architecture and a feel for how to approach problem-solving in Linux。 Definitely not a one-time read unless you are an advanced linux user/developer。 This is more of a reference book for useful linux tips and tricks to be used for linux-based web servers， embedded systems and personal computers。 。。。more

Regis Hattori ，

A huge list of commands not very well explained。

Suphatra ，

This is a good reference manual。 Note， it is not for beginners。 The first few chapters are good for building a base knowledge about the system and the most common commands you'd use， as well as the structure of the machine， but the rest of it is really intermediate sysadmin information。 This is a good reference manual。 Note， it is not for beginners。 The first few chapters are good for building a base knowledge about the system and the most common commands you'd use， as well as the structure of the machine， but the rest of it is really intermediate sysadmin information。 。。。more

Francesco Campanini ，

Yet another easy Linux book with few good info but 。。。 that's it。Just another Linux book which is not mandatory to have in your shelves。 Yet another easy Linux book with few good info but 。。。 that's it。Just another Linux book which is not mandatory to have in your shelves。 。。。more

RorSpike ，

又一本入门书，介绍的很全面，之后想深入也指明了方向

Stanislaw Baranski ，

This book open your mind on how the OS （not only Linux） works。 Fully recommend。

Farsan Rashid ，

I have not read the book from cover to cover but the most significant chapters（IMO）。 Definately recommend to anyone looking for their first Unix book as it is short （350 pages）， to the point and easy to read。

Gerd ，

Standard Linux introduction books concentrate on the shell functions and describe how to become productively in the file system and in the shell。 However， if you are interested in a more detailed approach to the Linux operating system and how its components interplay， you are faced with heavy tomes whose page numbers easily exceed 1000。 Notable mentions include Unix Power Tools by Jerry Peek et al。， Unix in a Nutshell by Arnold Robbins et al。 and the UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook Standard Linux introduction books concentrate on the shell functions and describe how to become productively in the file system and in the shell。 However， if you are interested in a more detailed approach to the Linux operating system and how its components interplay， you are faced with heavy tomes whose page numbers easily exceed 1000。 Notable mentions include Unix Power Tools by Jerry Peek et al。， Unix in a Nutshell by Arnold Robbins et al。 and the UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook by Nemeth et al。 In order to be comprehensive， these books cover both Unix and Linux， and therefore contain in parts less relevant Input， depending to which of the two camps you belong。Less is more and 'How Linux Works' limits its scope only to Linux-based operating systems with an easily digestible level of detail where one is not in danger of losing orientation。 The strength of the book are in the description of the Kernel boot process， the structure and mounting of the file system。 For instance， the communication with the file system devices is explained。 Furthermore， the initialization of the User space is described， including run levels and the common implementations of the Init process （systemd and Upstart）。 The next part deals with networking: internet layer， private networks， routing， Firewall， file transfer tools and the most important commands for adminstration。 The last part covers in detail the C++ Compiler as well as the building of libraries and packages from source with Make。Conclusion: This book is a sprint though the Linux ecosystem and avoids unnecessary in depth coverage。 There are many clues throughout the book at points where too specialized topics are being discussed， which might be skipped。 The text is easily readable and commands/instructions are reproducable at the own work station。 I suspect that the author uses Fedora， since not all tools are available in Ubuntu。 However， the content is up to date。 In case a more detailed references is needed， one of the aforementioned standard books should be chosesn。 For beginners， however， this book is the recommended starting point。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0