Any book that covers internals of recent versions of Unix OS

Question

This summer I'm getting into UNIX (mostly *BSD) development. I've graduate level knowledge about operating systems. I can also understand the code & read from here and there but the thing is I want to make most of my time. Reading books are best for this.

From my search I found that these two books

1. "Unix Internals: The New Frontiers" by Uresh Vahalia (1996) (See here for 2nd edition)
2. The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System (Covers 5.2 FreeBSD) (2004)

are like established books on UNIX OS internals. But the thing is these books are pretty much outdated.

So, Is there any recent books that covers internals of recent Unix OS?

How about books on other Unix operating systems? They seem to be recent than above books but how close are they to OpenBSD/FreeBSD?

• Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris Kernel Architecture, 2 edition (July 20, 2006)

• HP-UX 11i Internals (February 1, 2004)

I really don't prefer HP-UX as its not open source.

Answer 1

Actually the The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System has a new edition from 2004. I'd say it's your best bet.

I'd heartily recommend you to have a look at Advanced Programming in the UNIX(R) Environment (2nd Edition) as well. It's not a kernel level book, but it's targeted mostly at BSD system calls, IPC, etc - a compelling read.

You should also consider Modern Operating Systems from 2007. It's centered around the educational Unix-like Minix OS that served as the inspiration for Linux.

Finally Designing BSD Rootkits: An Introduction to Kernel Hacking comes to mind. Designing BSD Rootkits arms you with the knowledge you need to write offensive rootkits, to defend against malicious ones, and to explore the FreeBSD kernel and operating system in the process.

Answer 2

This one is pretty recent and close to latest Linux kernels : http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Linux-Kernel-Third-Daniel/dp/0596005652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273219581&sr=8-1, if you are interested in Linux also.

Answer 3

Network-stack oriented and for 4.4BSD-Lite, but Richard Steven's TCP Illustrated Volume 2 is also very good. Not sure how relevant it is for current BSDs.

You can also check out the FreeBSD Developers' Handbook