Linux Book

00 0430 FM

5/22/01

2:32 PM

Page i

Contents At a Glance
I Advanced UNIX Programming
with Linux

Advanced
Linux
Programming

1 Getting Started

3

2 Writing Good GNU/Linux
Software 17
3 Processes 45
4 Threads 61
5 Interprocess Communication 95
II Mastering Linux
6 Devices 129
7 The /proc File System

147

8 Linux System Calls 167
9 Inline Assembly Code 189
10Security 197
11 A Sample GNU/Linux
Application 219
III Appendixes
A Other Development Tools 259
B Low-Level I/O 281
C Table of Signals 301
D Online Resources 303
E Open Publication License
Version 1.0 305
F GNU General Public License 309

00 0430 FM

5/22/01

2:32 PM

Page ii

00 0430 FM

5/22/01

2:32 PM

Page iii

Advanced Linux
Programming
Mark Mitchell, JeffreyOldham,
and Alex Samuel

www.newriders.com
201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46290
An Imprint of Pearson Education
Boston • Indianapolis • London • Munich • New York • San Francisco

00 0430 FM

5/22/01

2:32 PM

Page iv

Advanced Linux Programming
Copyright © 2001 by New Riders Publishing
FIRST EDITION: June, 2001
All rights reserved. No part of this book may bereproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without written
permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of
brief quotations in a review.
International Standard Book Number: 0-7357-1043-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-105343
05 04 03 02 01 7 6 5 43 2 1
Interpretation of the printing code:The rightmost doubledigit number is the year of the book’s printing; the rightmost single-digit number is the number of the book’s
printing. For example, the printing code 01-1 shows that the
first printing of the book occurred in 2001.
Composed in Bembo and MCPdigital by New Riders
Publishing.
Printed in the United States of America.

TrademarksAll terms mentioned in this book that are known to be
trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. New Riders Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of
this information. Use of a term in this book should not be
regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service
mark.
PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.
Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.Warning and Disclaimer
This book is designed to provide information about
Advanced Linux Programming. Every effort has been made to
make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but
no warranty or fitness is implied.
The information is provided on an as-is basis.The authors
and New Riders Publishing shall have neither liability nor
responsibility to any person or entity with respectto any loss
or damages arising from the information contained in this
book or from the use of the discs or programs that may
accompany it.

Publisher
David Dwyer
Associate Publisher
Al Valvano
Executive Editor
Stephanie Wall
Managing Editor
Gina Brown
Acquisitions Editor
Ann Quinn
Development Editor
Laura Loveall
Product Marketing
Manager
Stephanie Layton
Publicity ManagerSusan Petro
Project Editor
Caroline Wise
Copy Editor
Krista Hansing
Senior Indexer
Cheryl Lenser
Manufacturing
Coordinator
Jim Conway
Book Designer
Louisa Klucznik
Cover Designer
Brainstorm Design, Inc.
Cover Production
Aren Howell
Proofreader
Debra Neel
Composition
Amy Parker

00 0430 FM

5/22/01

2:32 PM

Page v

00 0430 FM

5/22/01

2:32 PM

Page vi

Tableof Contents
I Advanced UNIX Programming
with Linux 1
1 Getting Started

3

1.1 Editing with Emacs 4
1.2 Compiling with GCC 6
1.3 Automating the Process with GNU
Make 9
1.4 Debugging with GNU Debugger
(GDB) 11
1.5 Finding More Information 13

2 Writing Good GNU/Linux
Software 17
2.1 Interaction With the Execution
Environment 17
2.2 Coding Defensively 30
2.3 Writing and Using...