Good books?

[Anthony Taylor]

Jonathon Suggs wrote:
> I'm surprised that this didn't get any responses (at least to the ML).  
> I'm kinda in the same situation (and so would assume there are others as 
> well), so if people have suggestions please post here for future reference.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> *From*: Atilla Filiz <atilla.filiz at gmail.com 
> <mailto:Atilla%20Filiz%20%3catilla.filiz at gmail.com%3e>>
> *To*: openmoko-devel at lists.openmoko.org 
> <mailto:openmoko-devel at lists.openmoko.org>
> *Subject*: Good books?
> *Date*: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:02:15 +0200
> 
> I really want to dive deep into embedded Linux development, especially 
> with openmoko. The thing is, I am ok with application development but I 
> need some good literature about modules, services, daemons, d-bus and 
> other system stuff. Can you name me some good books? I found these on 
> amazon:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Linux-Programming-Programmer/dp/0471776130/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1214492343&amp;sr=8-2 
> <http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Linux-Programming-Programmer/dp/0471776130/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214492343&sr=8-2>
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Embedded-Linux-Primer-Real-World-Development/dp/0131679848/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
> 

I'm not sure that you're talking about "embedded" development, 
specifically. It sounds like you need some basic systems-level 
references. I don't know of any good books on the subject, since I get 
pretty much everything off the web these days. In fact, I'd be a little 
wary of any book, especially ones on dbus and Linux modules, as those 
are "moving targets," as they say. For dbus, your best resource is the 
auto-generated documentation that comes with the source, and is 
available through most package repositories, and on-line.

However, here are some resources you might use on the web:

For writing daemons:

Old, but still good:
	http://www.netzmafia.de/skripten/unix/linux-daemon-howto.html

The only thing not covered is using standard logging facilities, like 
syslog.

For dbus, go straight to the source:
	http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus

There's a section on documentation, which includes a decent (though 
incomplete, and possibly dated) tutorial, and all the auto-generated 
documentation for the most recent release.

For module programming, linuxhq has your stuff:
	http://www.linuxhq.com/lkprogram.html#module


As far as "services" go, what do you mean? Daemons usually provide 
services, though you can create a service that starts on-demand using dbus.

I'm still waiting for GTA02 hardware to come to the states so I can 
start programming, too, so I can't give OpenMoko-specific advice. 
However, the links listed above should give you a start on systems 
programming.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

				- Tony