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| HowTo Linux Zone | Linux Zone Home | E-Mail Me | The Linux Reading List HOWTO by Eric S. Raymond
v1.6, 20 April 1999
This document lists the book I think are most valuable to a person
trying to learn Unix (especially Linux) top to bottom.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose of this document
1.2 New versions of this document
1.3 Feedback and Corrections
1.4 Related Resources
1.5 Conventions Used In This Document
2. Books on Culture, History, and Pragmatics
3. Books on General Unix/Linux
3.1 Linux Installation and Administration
3.2 Using Unix & Linux
3.3 System Security
4. Books on Shell, Script, and Web Programming
5. Books on Text Formatting
5.1 Tex and LaTeX
6. Books on C and C++ Programming
6.1 C and C++
6.2 C System Call Interface
7. Books on Networking
8. Books on Unix Kernel Implementation
8.1 Ancestors of Linux
8.2 Linux
8.3 Relatives of Linux
9. Books on Intel processor architecture and programming
10. Books on PC-Class Hardware
11. Administrivia
11.1 Terms of Use
11.2 History
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose of this document
This document lists what I consider to be the essential book-length
references for learning Unix (especially Linux) and how to program
under it.
1.2. New versions of this document
New versions of the Linux Reading List HOWTO will be periodically
posted to comp.os.linux.answers. They will also be uploaded to
various Linux WWW and FTP sites, including the LDP home page.
You can also view the latest version of this on the World Wide Web via
the URL <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Reading-List-HOWTO.html>.
1.3. Feedback and Corrections
If you have questions or comments about this document (or just want to
suggest a book that you think should be on it), please feel free to
mail Eric S. Raymond, at esr@thyrsus.com. I welcome any suggestions or
criticisms.
1.4. Related Resources
For on-line HOWTOs, magazines, and other non-book material, see the
Linux Documentation Project home page
<http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO>.
Some years ago I wrote a less Linux-focused Unix bibliography that may
still be of some interest and retains a certain amusement value. You
can find the Loginataka at
<http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/loginataka.html>.
There's a collection of Web links to Linux book reviews called Opening
Doors, Breaking Windows
<http://members.bellatlantic.net/~ptgeiger/guidehome.htm>.
1.5. Conventions Used In This Document
Comments not in quotes below are either mine, or I have seen no reason
to change them from those of Jim Haynes (previous maintainer of this
document). Comments sent in by others are in quotes, and have the
name of the commentator before them (JH is Jim Haynes).
"See" URLs attached to publishing information point directly into the
publisher's web catalog and typically take you to a page containing a
cover shot, blurbs, and ordering information. Books that don't have
these lack them because the publisher is using frames and the catalog
pages can't be bookmarked.
Topic listings go roughly from the outside in (culture to user-land
programming to kernel programming to hardware). Within sections I
have tried to list the most useful books first insofar as I am
familiar with them. It's just an embarrassing coincidence that this
lists one of my books first, honest! (Suggestions for a better
organization cheerfully accepted.)
2. Books on Culture, History, and Pragmatics
The New Hacker's Dictionary (Third Edition)
Raymond, Eric S.; MIT Press; 1996; ISBN 0-262-68092-0; 547pp.
See <http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/book-
home.tcl?isbn=0262680920>.
Um, er. A guide to Internet culture. Lots of people like it.
HTML at the Jargon File Resource Page <http://www.tuxedo.org>.
A Quarter Century of Unix
Salus, Peter H.; Addison-Wesley; 1994; ISBN 0-201-54777-5;
256pp.
See <http://www.awl.com/cp/authors/salus/unix/unix.html>
Linux is part of the Unix tradition. This book is an oral
history of Unix -- how it originated, how it evolved, how it
spread -- by the people who were there.
The Mythical Man Month (Anniversary Edition)
Brooks, Frederick P.; Addison-Wesley 1995 (ISBN 0-201-83595-9).
See <http://heg-school.awl.com/cseng/authors/brooks/mmm-ae/mmm-
ae.html>.
The one book on software engineering that everyone should read.
Alan Cox: "This I'd recommend not for its technical value but
for its application of common sense and reality to computing
projects." JH: "Ah, yes. What if Linus had been given 200
programmers and had been told to produce Linux in 3 months!"
Bell System Technical Journal, July-August 1978, Vol. 57, No. 6,
part 2
AT&T; 416 pp.
Many early papers on Unix, including Ritchie & Thompson, "The
UNIX Time Sharing System"; Thompson, "UNIX Implementation";
Ritchie, "A Retrospective"; Bourne, "The UNIX Shell"...
3. Books on General Unix/Linux
3.1. Linux Installation and Administration
Linux Installation and Getting Started
Welsh, Matt; LDP; 1997. Available on the LDP home page, or
directly at <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/gs>.
How to bring up Linux. Explains a lot of Linux basics. Covers
basic system administration.
Linux System Administrator's Guide
Wirzenius, Lars; LDP; 1997. Available on the LDP home page, or
directly at <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/sag>.
An excellent first book on how to maintain and administer a
Linux system.
Essential System Administration (Second Edition)
Frisch, Aeleen; O'Reilly; 1995; ISBN 0-937175-80-3; 788 pp;
$32.95.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/esa2/noframes.html>.
More in-depth coverage of normal system-administration tasks.
Not Linux-specific but contains Linux material.
3.2. Using Unix & Linux
Linux in a Nutshell
Hekman, Jessica P. et al.; O'Reilly; ISBN 1-56592-167-4; 1997;
438 pp. $9.95.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/linuxnut/noframes.html>.
According to O'Reilly, "The Desktop Reference for Linux". For
Linux users this obsoletes their "Unix In a Nutshell" which was
SVr4/Solaris-oriented.
Running Linux (Second Edition)
Welsh, Matt, & Kaufman, Lar; O'Reilly; ISBN 1-56592-151-8; 1996;
650pp; $24.95.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/runux2/noframes.html>.
Everything you need in order to understand, install, and use the
Linux operating system. Excellent beginner's book.
Hands-on-Linux
Sobell, Mark G.; Addison-Wesley; ISBN ISBN 0-201-32569-1; 1998;
1015 pp.
Just what the title says -- practical tutorials in basic Unix,
shells, editors, mail programs, networking, Web tools, and
utilities. Covers some system administration fundamentals.
(This appears to be a repackaging of 1997's ``A Practical Guide
to Linux'' from the same author, without Caldera OpenLinux Lite
included.)
3.3. System Security
Practical Unix Security
Garfinkel, Simpson, and Spafford, Gene; O'Reilly Associates;
ISBN 0-56592-148-8; 1991.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/puis/noframes.html>.
Ronald P. Miller: "Some overlap with Essential System Admin.,
but all in all a solid book on security, especially for those
aspiring to allow multiple-user, dial-up/net access to their
Linux boxes."
Firewalls & Internet Security
Cheswick, William R. & Bellovin, Steven M.; Addison-Wesley;
1994; ISBN 0-201-63357-4; 320pp.
4. Books on Shell, Script, and Web Programming
Programming Perl (Second Edition)
Wall, Larry & Christiansen, Tom & Schwartz, Randal; O'Reilly;
1997; ISBN 0-56592-149-6; 644pp.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/pperl2/noframes.html>.
Shell (as a programming language for more than trivial
scripting) is dead. Perl rules in its place. This is the
second edition of the definitive Perl book -- vastly better
organized than the first, and it covers Perl 5.
Emmanuel Pierre keeps a short list of Perl books <www.e-
nef.com/perl/listeperl.html>.
Programming Python
Lutz, Mark; O'Reilly; 1997; ISBN 0-56592-197-6; 880pp.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/python/noframes.html>.
The next step beyond Perl. Python is beautifully designed, has
better integration with C, and scales up better to large
projects.
HTML: The Definitive Guide (2nd Edition)
Musciano, Chuck & Kennedy. Bill; O'Reilly; 1997; ISBN
0-56592-235-2; 552pp.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/html2/noframes.html>.
The best HTML tutorial/reference I have ever seen, and the only
HTML book you need unless you want to do CGI.
The Unix Programming Environment
Kernighan, Brian, and Pike, Rob; Prentice-Hall; 1984; ISBN
0-13-937681-X; 1984.
A true classic -- possibly the best single-book exposition of
the Unix philosophy.
5. Books on Text Formatting
5.1. Tex and LaTeX
The LaTeX Companion
Goossens, Michael & Mittlebach, Frank, & Samarin, Alexander;
Addison-Wesley; 1994; ISBN 0-201-54199-8; 530pp.
See <http://www.awl.com/cp/tlc.html>.
`If you are one of those users who would like to know how LaTeX
can be extended to create the nicest documents possible without
becoming a (La)TeX guru, then this book is for you' --- from the
Preface. Bruce Thompson adds: "A very nice book providing a lot
of information about the new extensions to LaTeX, provides a
large number of examples showing precisely how your document's
layout can be manipulated"
LaTeX: A Document Preparation System (Second Edition)
Lamport, Leslie; Addison-Wesley; 1994; ISBN 0-201-52983-1;
256pp.
See <http://heg-
school.awl.com/cseng/authors/lamport/latex/latex.html>.
Bruce Thompson: "The ultimate reference on LaTeX 2.09 by its
author. A new edition covering LaTeX2e (the version included in
the current TeX/LaTeX distribution) is in preparation. LaTeX
2.09 is fully supported by LaTeX2e. A must for anyone wanting
to use LaTeX. Provides a gentle introduction to document
preparation and the various tools that LaTeX provides for
producing professional quality documents. Lots of examples."
The TeXbook, Volume A of Computers and Typesetting; Knuth, Donald
A.
Addison-Wesley; 1986, ISBN 0-201-13448; 496pp. See
<http://www.awl.com/cp/TeXbook.html>
Bruce Thompson: "The definitive user's guide and complete
reference manual for TeX. Probably not needed for casual LaTeX
use, but a fascinating book nonetheless." I'll strengthen that
by adding that this book is not for the faint of heart.
The METAFONT book, Volume C of Computers and Typesetting
Knuth, Donald A.; Addison-Wesley; 1986; 0-201-13444-6, 1986;
384pp.
See <http://www.awl.com/cp/METAFONTbook.html>
Bruce Thompson: "The definitive user's guide and reference
manual for METAFONT, the companion program to TeX for designing
fonts. An excellent work if you're planning to design your own
fonts for use in TeX and LaTeX. METAFONT is included with the
normal TeX/LaTeX distribution." This book is definitely not for
the faint of heart.
6. Books on C and C++ Programming
6.1. C and C++
The C Programming Language (Second Edition)
Kernighan, Brian W.; Ritchie, Dennis M; Prentice-Hall; 1988;
ISBN 0-13-110362-8, 272pp.
The improved second edition, covering ANSI C, of the original
classic C book coauthored by C's designer, "K&R". Still the
best!
Who's Afraid of C++?
Heller, Steve; Academic Press; 1996; ISBN 0-12-339097; 508pp.
The best introductory book on C++ I have seen.
6.2. C System Call Interface
POSIX Programmer's Guide: Writing Portable Unix Programs
Lewine, Donald; O'Reilly; 1992; ISBN 0-937175-73-0; 607pp.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/posix/noframes.html>.
An excellent programmer's reference on the POSIX.1 standard. I
like this one better than JH's choice.
The Posix.1 Standard: A Programmer's Guide
Zlotnick, Fred; Benjamin, Cummings; 1991; ISBN 0-8053-9605-5;
379pp.; $35.95 (USA).
JH: "When I complained about the lack of Section 2 man pages in
Linux, somebody told me just to get a POSIX book, because that's
what Linux does. I like this book because I'm not a
professional programmer and the author gives copious
explanations and examples."
Advanced Programming in The Unix Environment
Stevens, Richard; 1992; ISBN 0-201-56317; Addison-Wesley
A book on general Unix programming that is every bit as good as
Stevens's classic on network programming.
Linux Application Development
Michael K. Johnson, Erik W. Troan; 1998; ISBN 0201308215;
Addison-Wesley.
The best reference to the C API of Linux.
7. Books on Networking
Unix Network Programming
Stevens, W. Richard; Prentice Hall; 1990; ISBN 0-13-949876-1;
772 pp.; $54 (USA).
Everything you might want to know about the subject, and some
things you probably didn't want to know (really, XNS!?).
Generally regarded as definitive on the basics. Two more
volumes are planned.
Linux Network Administrator's Guide
Kirch, Olaf; O'Reilly; 1995; ISBN 1-56592-087-2; 335pp.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/linag/noframes.html>.
A practical guide to Linux's TCP/IP and related services.
Accessible on the Web at the Linux Documentation Project page,
or directly at <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/LDP/nag/nag.html>.
TCP/IP Network Adminstration
Hunt, Craig; O'Reilly Associates, ISBN 0-937175-82-X; 1992;
472pp.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/tcp2/noframes.html>.
Less Linux-specific than the Kirch book. Features deeper
coverage of the TCP/IP core, including routing and BGP.
DNS and BIND (Second Edition)
Albitz, Paul, and Liu, Cricket; O'Reilly; 1996; ISBN
1-56592-236-0; 1992; 438pp; $32.95.
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/dns2/noframes.html>.
In-depth coverage of DNS, useful for people running complicated
multiple-subnet installations. Covers BIND library programming.
Sendmail (Second Edition)
Costales, Bryan & Allman, Eric; O'Reilly; ISBN 1-56592-222-0;
1997; 1050 pp; $32.95
See <http://www.ora.com/catalog/sendmail2/noframes.html>.
An exhaustive (and exhausting) guide to Linux's and Unix's
default mail-transfer agent.
8. Books on Unix Kernel Implementation
8.1. Ancestors of Linux
The Design of the Unix Operating System
Bach, Maurice J.; Prentice-Hall; ISBN 0-13-201799-7; 470pp.; $60
(USA).
The book that got Linus started.
Operating Systems, Design and Implementation;
Tanenbaum, Andrew S.; Prentice-Hall; 1987.
Alan Cox (one of the core kernel people) likes this book.
Tanenbaum designed Minix, which is the system Linus bootstrapped
Linux up from.
8.2. Linux
The Linux Kernel book
Rémy Card, Èric Dumas, Franck Mével; John Wiley and Sons; 1998;
ISBN 0-471-98141-9. $100 (AUS).
(Translated from the French language edition of "Programmation
Linux 2.0"; same authors; 1997; Éditions Eyrolles; Paris,
France.)
A very interesting and informative description of the operation
of the kernel that fills in the gap between the POSIX interface
and "The Design of the Unix Operating System" and the Linux
source code. A good understanding of the design and operation
of a Unix OS is a pre-requisite, but this book is an excellent
help to going beyond that general understanding into actual
work.
The primary author is one of the core developers for the ext2
filesystem, and the Linux Kernel book shows a firm grasp of the
matter and clear explanations and structure. It's surprisingly
readable for something working at such a low level. The book
does seem to have suffered a little in the translation to
English -- there are a few typos and grammatical mistakes, but
it's quite readable. (The code example files are charmingly
still named in French.)
Network protocol implementations are not covered.
The book's current to Linux 2.0.35 and foreshadows 2.1 and 2.2.
Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide
Johnson, Michael K.
Accessible on the Web at the Linux Documentation Project page,
or directly at .
LINUX Kernel Internals (Second Edition)
Beck, Michael & Bohme, Harold & Mirko, Dziadzka & Kunitz, Ulrich
& Magnus, Robert & Verworner, Dick; Addison Wesley; 1998;
ISBN:0-201-33143-8; 480.
See <http://heg-
school.awl.com/cseng/authors/beck.m/linux/linux.html>.
A guide to Linux kernel programming; covers 2.0.
8.3. Relatives of Linux
The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Unix Operating System
McKusick, Marshall Kirk, Bostic, Keith, Karels, Michael J., and
Quarterman, John S.; Addison-Wesley; 1996; ISBN 0-201-54979-4;
608pp.
See <http://heg-
school.awl.com/cseng/authors/mckusick/4.4bsd/4.4bsd.html>.
The successor to a classic book on the implementation of the 4.3
BSD kernel, which influenced Linux's design (especially near
sockets and networking). This book covers the 4.4BSD base of
BSD/OS, FreeBSD, and NetBSD.
Porting Unix to the 386; Jolitz, William F., and Jolitz, Lynne G.
Dr. Dobb's Journal; Jan 1991-July 1992.
9. Books on Intel processor architecture and programming
80386 Programmer's Reference Manual
Intel Corp.; ISBN 1-55512-022-9; 1986;
Part I. Applications Programming, data types, memory model,
instruction set. Part II. Systems Programming, architecture,
memory management, protection, multitasking, I/O, exceptions and
interrupts, initialization, coprocessing and multiprocessing.
Part III. Compatibility (with earlier x86 machines). Part IV.
Instruction Set.
80386 System Software Writer's Guide
Intel Corp.; ISBN 1-55512-023-7; 1987.
This explains the 386 features for operating system writers. It
includes a chapter on Unix implementation. A lot of the 80386
architecture seems to have been designed with Multics in mind;
the features are not used by DOS or by Unix.
Programming the 80386
Crawford, John H & Gelsinger, Patrick P.; Sybex; ISBN
0-89588-381-3; 774pp.; $26.95 (USA).
This is the book the Jolitzes used when they ported BSD to the
386 architecture.
Pentium Processor User's Manual: Volume 3, Architecture and Pro&SHY;
gramming
Manual" Intel Corp.; 1993; ISBN 1-55512-195-0;
Pretty much the Pentium version of the 80386 Programmer's manual
listed above.
10. Books on PC-Class Hardware
Note: these books are four or five years old and possibly out of date.
I don't really grok hardware...
80386 Hardware Reference Manual
Intel Corp.; 1986; ISBN 1-55512-024-5;
Pin connections, timing, waveforms, block diagrams, voltages,
all that kind of stuff.
The Indispensable PC Hardware Book
Messmer, Hans-Peter; Addison-Wesley; 1993; ISBN 0-201-62424-9;
1000 pp.
JH: "Covers the more recent stuff like EIDE and PCI."
11. Administrivia
11.1. Terms of Use
This document is copyright 1997 by Eric S. Raymond. You may use,
disseminate, and reproduce it freely, provided you:
· Do not omit or alter this copyright notice.
· Do not omit or alter or omit the version number and date.
· Do not omit or alter the document's pointer to the current WWW
version.
· Clearly mark any condensed, altered or versions as such.
These restrictions are intended to protect potential readers from
stale or mangled versions. If you think you have a good case for an
exception, ask me.
11.2. History
This was originally a mini-HOWTO maintained by Jim Haynes. I have
changed the emphasis somewhat, trying to make it more a standalone
document and less reliant on the various USENET bibliographic
postings. The unattributed mini-reviews are mine rather than his.
| HowTo Linux Zone | Linux Zone Home | E-Mail Me | Copyright 1999 Linux Zone
