[...] many books have tried to be the successors to Richard Stevens' legendary APUE. I think that "The Linux Programming Interface" is one of the very few successes in that endeavor. This 1552 book has truly encyclopedic scope, although it focuses only on the Linux flavor of Unix. It's best treated as a reference, rather than a tutorial to read from cover to cover. That said, I read a good portion of its chapters whole (in addition to skimming through the rest), and the book is so well written it makes a very pleasant read. It explains many complex topics in great depth; even topics which don't have good coverage in other places, like pseudo-terminals. I enjoyed reading, and I will definitely use it as a reference when the opportunity presents itself.
Off-topic, but I have to thank you for your amazing blog posts and Stack Overflow answers regarding LLVM internals. As a grad student in systems software, I can't even begin to account for how much time, energy, and loss-of-consciousness-due-to-head-trauma-from-repeatedly-banging-my-head-against-a-wall you've saved me from. Thank you so much!!
Maybe wrong Amazon page (or the store being down made it wonky), I see over 150 reviews. Very stellar response, I'm going to up my backing to get it now:
I recall reading it cover to cover in 2011 (I had a lot of time sitting at a desk). I remember it was really good. Really did the job. Not just a reference book, but readable. I've got a hardback edition a few feet from me as I type this. It's good.
I don't know if it's thirty dollars good (although I see I paid thirty GBP for my hardback back in 2011), but it's good.
I already have most of these books, including TLPI, and that alone is worth the price of the whole bundle.
How Linux works is also a great introduction.
[...] many books have tried to be the successors to Richard Stevens' legendary APUE. I think that "The Linux Programming Interface" is one of the very few successes in that endeavor. This 1552 book has truly encyclopedic scope, although it focuses only on the Linux flavor of Unix. It's best treated as a reference, rather than a tutorial to read from cover to cover. That said, I read a good portion of its chapters whole (in addition to skimming through the rest), and the book is so well written it makes a very pleasant read. It explains many complex topics in great depth; even topics which don't have good coverage in other places, like pseudo-terminals. I enjoyed reading, and I will definitely use it as a reference when the opportunity presents itself.