Linux System Programming

Write software that draws directly on services offered by the Linux kernel and core system libraries. With this comprehensive book, Linux kernel contributor Robert Love provides you with a tutorial on Linux system programming, a reference manual on Linux system calls, and an insider’s guide to writing smarter, faster code.

Love clearly distinguishes between POSIX standard functions and special services offered only by Linux. With a new chapter on multithreading, this updated and expanded edition provides an in-depth look at Linux from both a theoretical and applied perspective over a wide range of programming topics, including:

• A Linux kernel, C library, and C compiler overview
• Basic I/O operations, such as reading from and writing to files
• Advanced I/O interfaces, memory mappings, and optimization techniques
• The family of system calls for basic process management
• Advanced process management, including real-time processes
• Thread concepts, multithreaded programming, and Pthreads
• File and directory management
• Interfaces for allocating memory and optimizing memory access
• Basic and advanced signal interfaces, and their role on the system
• Clock management, including POSIX clocks and high-resolution timers

Robert Love has been a Linux user and hacker since the early days. He is active in--and passionate about--the Linux kernel and GNOME desktop communities. His recent contributions to the Linux kernel include work on the kernel event layer and inotify. GNOME-related contributions include Beagle, GNOME Volume Manager, NetworkManager, and Project Utopia. Currently, Robert works in the Open Source Program Office at Google.