man-pages-3.23 release; my book progresses

I've uploaded man-pages-3.23 into the release directory (or view the online pages). This release consists entirely of fixes to existing pages.

Meanwhile, progress continues on my book providing a detailed description of Linux and Unix system programming. We now have a title: The Linux Programming Interface. I've also posted the detailed table of contents of chapters 1 to 42. (Full list of chapters here; draft preface here.)

See you at LCA 2010!

One of my proposals got accepted for LCA 2010, in Wellington, New Zealand! As usual, there look to be lots of interesting papers at LCA. I'm presenting a tutorial on writing secure privileged programs, which will draw heavily on Chapter 38 of my book.

What to call my book?

We (me, my publisher) are still trying to work out what to call my (lengthy) system programming book. On my other blog, I'm asking for opinions from potential readers. If you'd like to help me name my book, please have a read of that blog post and send me a vote!

System programming book now half-way through copyediting

My book on Lunux/Unix system programming is now more than half-way through copyediting, so I've posted the detailed table of contents of the first 33 chapters. (For an overview of the book, look here, and to see the brief table of contents--chapter names only--look here.)

We're still on schedule for the book to be published in the first half of 2010 (by No Starch Press). Ongoing progress towards publication is regularly updated at blog.man7.org.

Please keep telling people about the book and the blog!

A different story: my book

For quite a long time now, I've been working on a book that covers much the same topic area as man-pages; that is, the Linux/Unix kernel-userland interface (system calls, /proc, and so on) and C library (glibc) functions.

The book is going to be comprehensive: it runs to around 1500 pages (exactly how long will depend on typesetting and page layout, which are just getting started), has 64 chapters, 116 diagrams, 85 tables, and around 250 example programs. It will be published in the first half of 2010 by No Starch Press. You can read about its ongoing progress towards publication in my other blog at blog.man7.org. To get an overview of what the book is about, read this post, and to see the table of contents of the book, read this post.

And of course, please tell people about the book!

man-pages-3.22 is released

After a long gap without a release, I've uploaded man-pages-3.22 into the release directory (or view the online pages). This release consists entirely of fixes to existing pages.

man-pages-3.21 is released

A few days ago, I uploaded man-pages-3.21 into the release directory (or view the online pages). Notable changes in man-pages-3.21 are:

• A new pthread_setconcurrency(3) page documents pthread_setconcurrency() and pthread_getconcurrency().
• A new pthread_yield(3) page documents pthread_yield().
• The feature_test_macro(7) page adds information on the changes that glibc 2.10 makes for alignment with POSIX.1-2008, and adds an example program that can be used to display the feature test macros that are implicitly defined by particular glibc versions and as a consequence of explicitly setting macros.

Living with options, Los Gatos

man-pages-3.20 is released

I've uploaded man-pages-3.20 into the release directory (or view the online pages). Notable changes in man-pages-3.20 are:

• The addition of cpuid(4) and msr(4) device man pages (thanks to Andi Kleen)
• Numerous fixes to other pages.

Te whare karakia i Onuku, Ōtautahi

man-pages-3.19 is released

I've uploaded man-pages-3.19 into the release directory (or view the online pages). The most notable change in man-pages-3.19 is the addition of four pages describing the POSIX interval timers API: timer_create(2), timer_settime(2), timer_getoverrun(2), and timer_delete(2).

man-pages-3.18 is released

I've uploaded man-pages-3.18 (my one hundredth release as maintainer!) into the release directory (or view the online pages). Notable changes in man-pages-3.18 are:

• 4 new pages describing character sets: armscii-8(7), iso_8859-11(7), iso_8859-4(7), and iso _8859-6(7). Thanks once again to Lefteris Dimitroulakis for contributing!


• A new pthread_kill(3) page documents pthread_kill().


• A new pthread_kill_other_threads_np(3) page documents pthread_kill_other_threads_np().


• A new pthread_sigmask(3) page documents pthread_sigmask().


• The clock_getres(2) page was moved from Section 3 to Section 2 (since the interfaces it describes really are system calls, not library functions), and adds a description of CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW, new in 2.6.28.


• Some bugs were fixed in select_tut(2) and many changes and tidy-ups were made to the text.

linux.conf.au 2010 in Wellington

For it's 11th time out, linux.conf.au returns to New Zealand again in 2010. (YAY!!) Congratulations to the successful bidders from Wellington! The conference will run from Monday 18 January to Saturday 23 January. The organizers' website is http://www.penguinsvisiting.org.nz/.

Speaking at LCA 2009

Late notice (but that's all I got)... I'll be speaking at LCA 2009 in Hobart, Australia, on 22 Jan, considering what happens when kernel and userland don't talk.

Update: my presentation slides can be found here.

man-pages-3.17 is released

I've uploaded man-pages-3.17 into the release directory (or view the online pages). Notable changes in man-pages-3.17 are:

• A new endian(3) page documents functions added in glibc 2.9 that convert between host byte order and little- and big-endian order: htobe16(), htole16(), be16toh(), le16toh(), htobe32(), htole32(), be32toh(), le32toh(), htobe64(), htole64(), be64toh(), and le64toh().


• A new getifaddrs(3) page documents the getifaddrs() and freeifaddrs() library functions.


• 8 new pages describe various character sets: cp1251(7), iso-8859-10(7), iso_8859-13(7), iso_8859-14(7), iso_8859-3(7), iso_8859-5(7), iso_8859-8(7), and koi8-u(7). Thanks to Lefteris Dimitroulakis for contributing these!


• And various smaller changes in many other pages.

Tasmanian Devil

man-pages-3.16 is released

I've uploaded man-pages-3.16 into the release directory (or view the online pages). Notable changes in man-pages-3.16 are:

• A new pthread_getcpuclockid(3) page documents pthread_getcpuclockid().
• A new libc(7) page provides an overview of the standard C library implementations on Linux.
• A new rtld-audit(7) page provides an overview of the dynamic linker auditing API (modeled on the Solaris API): the functions la_version(), la_objsearch(), la_activity(), la_objopen(), la_objclose(), la_preinit(), la_symbind(), la_pltenter(), and la_pltexit().
  
• The ld.so(8) page adds documentation of the LD_AUDIT and LD_POINTER_GUARD environment variables.
  

See you at LCA 2009

It's too much fun to miss, so I finally made the booking... I'm going to LCA 2009 (19-24 Jan), in Hobart, Australia!