Re: Network code

From: Tauno Voipio (tauno.voipio_at_iki.fi.NOSPAM.invalid)
Date: 10/09/04 

Date: Sat, 09 Oct 2004 08:40:33 GMT

Mark M wrote:
> Hi all,
> I've been using Linux off and on for a few years now, and I finally
> feel like I have enough programming know-how to contribute to the
> community. My prof tells me that I should look at networking code in
> linux because that is where my interests are heading. I have a Linux
> machine running now with Fedora Core 2. I can get around with it, but
> I've never done development for a linux system. Can anyone give me a
> few pointers on what I should do to familiarize myself with writing
> system code for Linux? What sources should I look for the networking
> code?
>

Understanding networks and their programming starts with the
W. Richard Stevens' books, see <http://www.kohala.com/start/>.

Understanding the Linux kernel can be speeded up with the books:

  Daniel P. Bovet and Marco Cesati, Understanding the Linux Kernel,
  O'Reilly, ISBN 0-596-00213-2, and

  Alessandro Rubini, Jonathan Corbet, Linux Device Drivers,
  O'Reilly, ISBN 0-596-00008-1

For the real nuts and bolts of the Linux networking internals:

  Stephen T. Satchell, H.B.J.Clifford, Heather Clifford, Linux IP
  Stacks Commentary, Coriolis, ISBN 1-57610-470-2.

There are 500 to 1000 pages in each book, and they may be slightly
out of date, so the final authoritative reference is the kernel
source. However, you do need the books before digging into the
kernel code itself.

HTH

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

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