The book "Inside Linux"

We published a book by Brian Ward, which has already become a bestseller in the West. It describes all the subtleties of working with the Linux operating system, system administration, and deep mechanisms that provide low-level Linux functionality. On the pages of this edition you will acquire basic knowledge of working with the Linux kernel and the principles of proper operation of computer networks. The book also addresses the issues of programming shell scripts and the handling of the C language, covers topics of information protection, virtualization and other irreplaceable things.

Who should read the book

Interest in the device of the Linux operating system may be due to various reasons. IT professionals and software developers for Linux will find in this book almost everything they need to know in order to make the best use of the operating system. Researchers and students, who often have to tune the system for themselves, will find here practical explanations for why everything works this way and not otherwise. There are also "inventors" - users who like to spend time at the computer for the sake of entertainment, benefits, or both of them at once. Want to know why some things work, and others not? Are you interested in what happens if you change something? Then you are among the "inventors".

The necessary conditions

You don't have to be a programmer to read this book. You will need only the basic skills of the computer user: you must be familiar with the graphical interface (when installing and configuring the system interface), as well as have an idea about the files and directories (folders). You should also be ready to search for additional documentation on your system and online. As noted above, the most important is your willingness and desire to explore your computer.

How to read a book

When it comes to technical topics, to bring all the necessary knowledge is not an easy task. On the one hand, the reader gets bogged down in unnecessary detail and hardly learns the essence, since the human mind simply cannot process a large number of new concepts at the same time. On the other hand, the lack of details leads to the fact that the reader receives only a vague idea of ​​the subject and is not ready to absorb further material.
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In this book, the author simplified the presentation and structured material. In most chapters, important information that is needed for further work is offered first. As you read the chapter, you will find additional material in it. Do you need to immediately absorb these particulars? In most cases, the author believes not. If your eyes begin to fade at the sight of a large number of details relating to the material just studied, do not hesitate to skip to the next chapter or take a break. Other important things await you.

How this book is arranged

At the beginning of the book provides an overview of the Linux system, and then offers a number of practical tasks with the tools that you will need for further work in the system. Next, you will study each part of the system in detail, starting with equipment management and ending with network configuration, following the usual order in which the system starts up. Finally, you get an insight into some of the details of a working system, learn some important skills, and learn about the tools used by programmers.

In most of the first chapters (except Chapter 2), the Linux kernel is actively involved, but as you move through the book, you will work in your user space. If you do not understand what the author is talking about now, do not worry, explanations will be given in Chapter 1. The material is presented, if possible, without reference to any distribution of the system. It would be boring to describe all variants of the system, so Ward tried to talk about two main distribution families: Debian (including Ubuntu) and RHEL / Fedora / CentOS. The emphasis is on server versions and versions for workstations. Embedded systems, such as Android and OpenWRT, are also presented, but studying the differences between these platforms is provided to you.

What's new in the second edition

The first edition of this book dealt mainly with the user side of working on a Linux system. The main attention was paid to the arrangement of its parts and how to make them function. At that time, many elements of the system were difficult to install and correctly configured.

Thanks to the hard work of software developers and creators of Linux distributions, the situation has changed. Ward reviewed the material of the first edition in search of updates: he paid special attention to the system boot process and how it manages the hardware, and also removed outdated material (for example, a detailed explanation of the printing process) in order to expand on the role of the Linux kernel in each distribution. You probably interact with the kernel much more often than you guess about it, and the author specifically noted the moments when it happens.

Ward also changed the order in which the material was presented in the book to fit the interests and needs of contemporary readers. The only thing that has not changed is the volume of the book.

The author wanted to provide you with the information you need to get started quickly. Learning them will require some effort, but Ward does not intend to make you "weightlifters" so that you can beat this book. When you understand the most important points outlined here, it will not be difficult for you to find the details and understand them.

The author has withdrawn some of the historical details that were in the first edition, mainly to focus your attention. If you are interested in the Linux system and its relationship to the history of the Unix system, refer to the book by Peter Salus (Peter H. Salus) The Daemon, the Gnu, and the Penguin (Reed Media Services, 2008) - it describes how the used us software.

More information about the book can be found on the publisher's website .
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