The Art of Linux Kernel Design : Illustrating the Operating System Design Principle and Implementation

This book uses the real source code of a multi-process operating system (OS) as the blueprint and its actual running operation as the main thread. It uses the concept of "master-slave mechanism" and provides more than 300 figures, illustrating the complex relationships within the OS. Divided into two sections, it provides detailed insight on the complete process from booting up to system idling. The second part uses a few carefully designed real-life user operations as study cases to explicate important OS concepts.

Uses the Running Operation as the Main Thread

Difficulty in understanding an operating system (OS) lies not in the technical aspects, but in the complex relationships inside the operating systems. The Art of Linux Kernel Design: Illustrating the Operating System Design Principle and Implementation addresses this complexity. Written from the perspective of the designer of an operating system, this book tackles important issues and practical problems on how to understand an operating system completely and systematically. It removes the mystery, revealing operating system design guidelines, explaining the BIOS code directly related to the operating system, and simplifying the relationships and guiding ideology behind it all.

Using the 0.11 edition source code as a representation of the Linux basic design, the book illustrates the real states of an operating system in actual operations. It provides a complete, systematic analysis of the operating system source code, as well as a direct and complete understanding of the real operating system run-time structure. The author includes run-time memory structure diagrams, and an accompanying essay to help readers grasp the dynamics behind Linux and similar software systems.

• Identifies through diagrams the location of the key operating system data structures that lie in the memory
• Indicates through diagrams the current operating status information which helps users understand the interrupt state, and left time slice of processes
• Examines the relationship between process and memory, memory and file, file and process, and the kernel
• Explores the essential association, preparation, and transition, which is the vital part of operating system

This text offers an in-depth study on mastering the operating system, and provides an important prerequisite for designing a whole new operating system.