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<p>
<h2><font color=#e00000>Books about BSD</font><hr></h2>

<P>We are now associated with <a href="http://www.amazon.com"> Amazon.com</a>
so that you can order some of these books directly from them.
<EM>Ordering from these "Order from Amazon" links is a way of helping to
fund the OpenBSD project</EM>.

<h3><font color=#e00000>User Guides</font></h3><p>

"Berkeley UNIX" is so widely known that there is no need to list
the basic "how-to" books about it here - there are too many to list!
While some user guides exclusively cover System V Unix, or some
other specific implementation such as Solaris, Linux, or whichever,
most others try to be general.
These are some that cover Berkeley UNIX.<p>

<dl>
<li><strong><font color=#0000e0>UNIX Made Easy</font></strong>
is one general book that is said to be good, though we've not
tested it.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0078821738/openbsdA/">Order from Amazon</a>)<p>

<li><strong><font color=#0000e0>
Berkeley Unix: A Simple and Comprehensive Guide
</font></strong>
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=047161582X/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>)
<p>

<li>For the more ambitious,
<strong><font color=#0000e0>
An Introduction to Berkeley Unix and ANSI C
</font></strong>
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0130684953/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>)
<p>

<li>Every advanced UNIX user will probably want a copy of
<strong><font color=#0000e0>UNIX Power Tools</font></strong>,
now in its second edition.
This book discusses hundreds of neat tricks, little-known techniques,
and add-on utilities. 
Be aware that many of the utilities are either included with OpenBSD
or, more commonly, are already available as ports or packages.
So most of section 52.03, complaining about how hard it is to port
software to different UNIXes, can be disregarded if you learn about
the
<a href="ports.html">Ports Mechanism</a>
that is part of OpenBSD.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1565922603/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>)
<p>

</dl>
<p>

You may see reference to the
<strong><font color=#0000e0>
4.4 BSD User's Reference Manual (URM)</font></strong>,
(O'Reilly, 1994).
This is just a reprint of the man pages for users. 
Your OpenBSD distribution includes the online man pages,
which are specific to OpenBSD, and more up-to-date. So
you don't need this one: use the <em>man</em> command instead.
<p>

<h3><font color=#e00000>Administering the OpenBSD System</font></h3><p>

We can't unreservedly recommend any books specifically on OpenBSD 
Administration at present. However, if you're administering OpenBSD
you may also have to administer other versions of UNIX.
A good book on UNIX administration, with special mentions of details in
SunOS, Solaris, and BSDI (the commercial 4.4BSD distribution) is
<strong><font color=#0000e0>
UNIX System Administration Handbook</font></strong>
(Second Edition, by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, et al.)
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0131510517/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>.)<p>

The <strong><font color=#0000e0>
4.4 BSD System Manager's Manual (SSM)</font></strong>
(O'Reilly, 1994)
details  what you need to know to run a BSD system.
Quite a bit of this material is relevant to OpenBSD.
Unfortunately it is currently out of print.
Worse, due to licensing restrictions from AT&amp;T,
the electronic editions of these were not included in the
4.4BSD distributions, so most of them are not included with OpenBSD.
The few that are may be found via the <a href="docum.html">Documents page</a>.
<p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>Building Linux and OpenBSD Firewalls
</font></strong>(Wes Sonnenreich, Tom Yates)
describes the OpenBSD 2.5 installation process and the elementary management
of the system firewalling tools.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0471353663/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>.)<p>

We recommend against buying books that concentrate on installation or
configuration of particular "other" distributions of BSD, as the
installation procedures for each are wildly different.<p>

<h3><font color=#e00000>Books on Programming Under the BSD System</font></h3><p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>
4.4 BSD Programmer's Reference Manual (PRM)</font></strong>
(O'Reilly, 1994)
is a printed version of the Programmer's Manual.
You have the online man pages, which are specific to OpenBSD, instead.
Since the descriptions in the book pre-date the POSIX specification,
please use the online pages, using the <em>man</em> command.<p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>
BSD-Lite 4.4 CD-ROM Companion: International Edition</font></strong>
(UC Berkeley Staff, Computer Systems Research Group; O'Reilly, 1994)
is a neat little package containing a CD-ROM with just the unbundled
portions of 4.4BSD-Lite-1, which is not only obsolete, but also an incomplete
and unbootable system.  A small booklet is included listing the original
BSD contributors, and an index to the printed man pages.
Besides being a piece of history, this is not very useful.
<a href="orders.html">We suggest you buy an OpenBSD CD-ROM instead.</a><p>

A much older book which still sheds much light on the philosophy
of programming UNIX is
<strong><font color=#0000e0>
The UNIX Programming Environment</font></strong>,
(Kernighan and Pike). While not specific to BSD, most of it applies today.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=013937681X/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>).<p>

Another older book which Brian Kernighan had a hand in, and which
we recommend even though it's not UNIX specific, is
<strong><font color=#0000e0>
The Elements of Programming Style</font></strong>.
This book contains more common sense than many books triple or quadruple
its weight.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0070342075/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>).<p>

<h3><font color=#e00000>Books about how the System works, for those wanting to modifying it</font></h3><p>

<strong><a href="http://cseng.aw.com/bookdetail.qry?ISBN=0-201-54979-4&ptype=0">
The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System</a></strong>
Marshal Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels, John S. Quarterman
Addison-Wesley: 1996. ISBN 0-201-54979-4.<br>

At 549 pages plus an index, this must be considered comprehensive.
McKusick, Bostic and Karels are well known as prime movers at
Berkeley CSRG (Computer Systems Research Group) during the 4.3/4.4BSD
period. This book covers the 4.4 and 4.4-Lite releases, and discusses
everything you wanted to know about how the system operates.  Not
100% applicable, but probably the closest there is to an overall
system internals manual for OpenBSD.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0201549794/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>).<p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>
The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD Unix Operating System</font></strong>
(Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick).<br>
An earlier book from many of the same good folk at CSRG.
Slightly dated, but gives an overall feel for the beast if you can find
it real cheap at a garage sale.<p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>
The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD Unix Operating System : Answer Book
</font></strong>
Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick
1991<br>
Answers to the "exercises for the reader" in the 4.3 version of the book.<p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>Source Code Secrets: The Basic 386BSD 
Operating System Reference
(Volume 1 of Operating System Source Code Secrets)</font></strong>
(L. W. Jolitz, William Jolitz, 1997)<br>
The Jolitzes built the first port of BSD to the PC-386 architecture,
and deserve a lot of credit for making BSD portable to this low-cost
architecture. The earliest versions, called "386bsd", were described
in articles in <EM>Dr. Dobbs Journal</EM>. This book goes beyond the articles,
and provides a comprehensive annotated collection of source code.
Not all of it applies to modern versions of OpenBSD, of course, but
you can still learn a lot from it.
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1573980269/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a><p>

<strong><font color=#0000e0>Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition with Source Code</font></strong>,
Peer-to-Peer ommunications, 1996.  ISBN 1-57398-013-7.
Although the UNIX described in this book is to BSD as a Model T Ford
is to a 70's Mustang or Thunderbird, UNIX inventor Ken Thompson
claims that "After 20 years, this is still the best exposition
of the workings of a 'real' operating system." Originally circulated
in illicit photocopies, this is the book that most first- and second-generation
UNIX hackers cut their code-teeth on. Recommended as a good introduction
to how a timesharing OS works, if you've not been inside one before.
Substantially shorter than the McKusick book above.
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1573980137/openbsdA/">
Order from Amazon</a>)<p>

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