file systems

This is an excellent text for students of the 'Operating Systems' course, and deals with the innards of UNIX. Any UNIX enthusiast will love this book. This book is not for beginners as it deals with the inner workings and principles involved in the design of the OS. Difficult concepts like the kernel algorithms are explained in the best possible way. A tough yet satisfying read.

This book has been around a while, but it's still hard to beat. It describes the design of the UNIX scheduler and file system. Most of the frequently used system calls are covered. The implementation the author covers is AT&T UNIX System V Release 2 and 3. The author is a fine writer. His explanations are clear, and pseudo-code is provided for most of the algorithms. Recommended for intermediate-to-advanced programmers who want to understand what's going on "under the hood."

Maurice J. Bach's classic "The Design of the UNIX Operating System" is based on AT&T's System V (Release 2 and 3). To avoid legal issues he had to use pseudo code as well as algorithmic description for explaining a lot of the operating system's underpinnings.

While some reader's might have preferred a glance at the related portions of the UNIX source code, others will be glad that MJB used this layer of abstraction to make the subject matter at hand easier accessible and understandable.

Even though UNIX has progressed from this snapshot in time, the solid understanding of the internals and underlying concepts that can be gained from this easy to read text will prove helpfull for a better understanding of other UNIX derivatives, too.

While this title is a "must read" for any advanced system administrator, as well as for system programmers, it's generally overkill for the average UNIX end user.