On May 22, the Linux kernel ushered in a version update. Version 5.18 is available for download. On the 23rd, the merge window for version 5.19 opened. This time 5.

On May 22, the Linux kernel ushered in a version update. Version 5.18 is already available for download. On the 23rd, the merge window for version 5.19 was opened. An update in version 5.18 has caused discussion before: Intel's software-defined chip (SDSI) mechanism driver is included in the kernel. It has many functions. To put it simply, it can limit users to certain aspects of the processor. The use of these functions - before the user pays. Although it is technically no different from other drivers, Intel has not explained their purpose, which has caused confusion and concern.

▲When I saw this information in the 5.18 version merge window in February this year,

people expressed great confusion about it.

In the 5.19 version merge information, nearly 500,000 lines of code were added to the display/graphics driver update content (new 495,793 lines added), most of which are provided by AMD. It seems that if it is finally merged into version 5.19, the AMDGPU/AMDKFD kernel driver code will exceed 4 million lines!

Of course, these numbers are not indicators of special use, but they allow us to think about some questions: How did Linux, an operating system used around the world, grow to what it is today? How did it develop? As an open source project, where did its 30 million lines of core code come from?

Linus and Linux

All of this starts with Linus Torvalds, who created the original Linux.

"As long as there is a computer, this child doesn't have to worry about it."

Linus is a Finnish man who was born in Helsinki in 1969. His family background is very good. Both his parents and grandfather are journalists. His maternal grandfather is one of the first statistics professors in Finland. He loved computers when he was very young. He first used BASIC to write some small programs under the guidance of his grandfather. Later, he became addicted to it and began tinkering with computers on his own.

Just as he wrote in his autobiography:

My mother told some of her friends that I am a very easy-to-raise child. All she had to do was put me in a dark storage cupboard with a computer and occasionally throw some spaghetti in there, and I'd be super happy. What she said made sense.

My mother told some of her friends that I am a very easy-to-raise child. All she had to do was put me in a dark storage cupboard with a computer and occasionally throw some spaghetti in there, and I'd be super happy. What she said made sense. After

entered university and started studying computer science, he had his own computer, but he did not have an easy-to-use operating system - the mainstream Unix at that time was too expensive, and most distributions were closed source and difficult to use. During college, he served in the military and was assigned to the computer department. Later, he bought a textbook written by Andrew Stewart Tenenbaum and the corresponding Minix operating system source code, and fell in love with it immediately, holding the book in his arms day and night.

"Programming was all I had in my life at that time"

After returning to school, Linus began to write his own operating system. He believes that for all programmers, programming is the most interesting thing in the world. As long as the rules are formulated, results consistent with them will be obtained. When

was writing that operating system, he had almost no social interaction. All he had in life was writing code. When recalling the situation at that time, he said this:

This cost me a lot of energy: programming - sleeping - programming - sleeping - programming - eating (biscuits) - programming - sleeping - programming ——Take a shower (take a shower)——Programming.

has been interested in computers since childhood, which drove him to devote most of his time to programming and the development of this operating system.

On August 25, 1991, Linus looked at the nascent operating system and posted a post on the Minix community - the Minix operating system discussion community used in the operating system development textbook he bought, When I talk about my thoughts and what I am doing now, I want to make a completely open source project.

▲Posts posted by Linus at that timeNetwork archives

Linux was born!

Many people in the Minix community like the Minix operating system, but it is exclusively for teaching, and the author refuses to add new code. So when Linus posted his ideas and progress on the forum, it quickly aroused the interest of many people, who also participated in the project and contributed their own code and ideas.

In order to allow community members to download and use the source code, in September of the same year, Linus transferred the code to the FTP server of the Finnish University and Research Network (FUNET) and released the Linux kernel version 0.01 - initially its name was not It's not called Linux, it's a suggestion given by the server administrator.

Linux is born! This version of the Linux kernel has only 10,239 lines of code in total.

Of course, this was not really an operating system at the time, it was just a kernel. Most people - including Linus - are looking forward to the GNU project.

Linux operating system and Linux kernel

GNU is a great project. They envisaged making a series of completely free software and operating systems, and completed most of the components required for the operating system, and were working hard to develop its kernel GNU Hurd.

However, perhaps because their positioning of this system is too high or for other reasons, the development of the kernel has always encountered obstacles and has been unable to advance, resulting in the operating system becoming unusable.

Therefore, Linux has gained a lot of room for development and gained a large number of developers and users.

Linux's open source

As Linus said in his initial post, his purpose is to develop a free project, so the source code is open to all developers so that they can participate.

As more developers participated, Linux developed rapidly, and countless codes were transferred to Linus from all over the world, and were then selected to be merged into the kernel code.

Initially, Linux used an open source license drafted by Linus and his team. Under this license, others were not allowed to commercially redistribute Linux. By version 0.12 in 1992, he adopted the GNU General Public License (GPL). After

adopted the GPL, more companies and institutions saw the potential of Linux and the shadow of alternatives to the Unix operating system. They also joined in to help develop the Linux kernel and contribute their own code.

GNU/Linux operating system

The cooperative development model of the Linux kernel and Linus's open source thinking have made Linux achieve unimaginable success.

This coincides with the GNU project philosophy. GNU began to support Linux. After the efforts of countless developers, the Linux kernel was perfectly integrated with other applications and components that GNU had already prepared, becoming a real operating system - GNU/Linux operating system .

The Linux system we are talking about today actually refers to the GNU/Linux operating system. In this operating system, each specific implementation is responsible for the same or different developers. For example, the original kernel was written by Linus; Donald Knuth was responsible for the text typesetting software (TeX); the window system (X Window System) was developed by Bob Scheifler and so on.

Together they are called an operating system.

Linux is the kernel : it allocates computing resources and programs to other programs running on the computer. It is a basic part of the operating system and does not play a direct role on its own - as far as the user is concerned. It can only function within the framework of a complete operating system.

Linux system and Linux kernel

Although many people know that Linux is a kernel rather than an operating system, most of the time the entire system is called "Linux" - including most programmers.

The source of all this is that Linus designed and wrote the original Linux, and made it completely public, allowing developers around the world to participate and develop it into what it is today, which is extremely successful - is used by almost all servers The system is GNU/Linux.

Raymond, the first president of the Open Source Initiative, once joked: "It's funny, if you are humble from the bottom of your heart and admit that you owe others a lot, you will soon find that the world will treat you like this: they think it is You invented the entire software, and you're appropriately humble about your talents. We can see how well that translates to Linus!"

Many people think that Linus developed Linux by himself. Yes, probably because of this idea.

After completing his master's degree, Linus worked at Transmeta until he left in 2003 - leaving to concentrate on the development of the Linux kernel. He joined the Open Source Development Laboratory (OSDL) as the main maintainer of the Linux kernel. Two years later, due to some things, Linus invented git within ten days, which is now used by almost all programmers, as the version management tool of the Linux kernel. It is another story.

Compared with the initial developers who directly sent emails to Linus, now the development of the entire Linux kernel has become standardized and smooth. Each part of the Linux kernel has dedicated maintainers, who will review the modified code when they receive it. If the changes are important enough, a pull request containing this information will be sent to Linus within a few days. If it is not that important, a pull request will be sent to Linus during the next merge window - for example, now that kernel version 5.18 is released, the pull window for version 5.19 is open and lasts for about two weeks.

Now, the Linux kernel has nearly 30 million lines of code. These contributions come from countless freelance developers around the world, as well as large companies such as Intel, Red Hat, Samsung, and IBM.

Most of the time nowadays we talk about Linux - if the Linux kernel is not specified, it refers to Operating systems that contain the Linux kernel , which have various GNU/Linux versions, called distributions. Regarding the operation, operation and maintenance, development and other contents of Linux, it does not refer to the Linux kernel level.

After 30 years of development, Linux has become an indispensable role in the Internet. Not only specialized Linux development and operation, daily learning and development inevitably involve contact with Linux, and there are different levels of demand for Linux knowledge.

Xiaoyi brings five good books today to meet everyone's different needs for Linux learning, so that whether you are specialized in Linux development or simply want to learn how to use Linux, you can learn it instantly!

You can learn it instantly, and you can also be comfortable with Linux

Learn Linux from scratch, and countless people will choose the "Brother Bird's Linux Private Cooking" series.

"Brother Niao's Linux Private Kitchen Basic Learning Chapter 4th Edition"

▲ Classic introduction, click to enter the Linux world

This book is very classic and very basic. It started with the author's own experience of learning Linux from scratch. In order to help more people learn Linux knowledge, he compiled the content into a book. Because of this, the content arrangement in the book is a step-by-step process, slowly taking readers to understand and enter the Linux world.

This book also has a great feature. When explaining some professional concepts, the author uses very colloquial expressions, which makes it easier for readers to understand and accept. Some books' overly professional and written descriptions may wear away some patience when reading and affect learning efficiency.

As a basic chapter, this book is not only suitable for beginners, but also for practitioners with a certain foundation - because this book explains the concepts in very detailed and easy-to-understand terms, and the introduction of functions and commands is accompanied by a large number of references. Hands-on and detailed analysis.

For beginners, these contents are a very good introductory teacher, comprehensive and easy to understand; for those with basic knowledge, this book can also be a very good encyclopedia, with comprehensive content coverage and detailed explanations.

"This is how you should learn Linux"

▲ Pay tribute to open source, learn Linux with Teacher Liu Many media have certified the content and quality of this book.

Liu Xuan, the author of this book, is a member of the Linux Foundation and one of the earliest Linux instructors in China with Red Hat certification. For many years, he has been engaged in training Linux operation and maintenance technology and Red Hat certification courses, and has very rich and professional Linux knowledge and teaching experience.

Therefore, this book truly thinks from the perspective of a novice and guides how to get started with Linux, and is extremely friendly to beginners. All content is written based on the latest version of Linux system and can be used to self-study mainstream systems such as RHEL, CentOS, and Ubuntu. At the same time, the author of this book has a strong open-source spirit, and the accompanying website provides a complete set of tools and services needed for Linux learning for free! Online reading, software tools, advanced materials, and more!

I’m not afraid of not being able to learn, I’m just afraid that you won’t learn! It only takes 1 hour a day for 30 consecutive days, and you will find that you have mastered the Linux operating system while reading and practicing.

"UNIX/Linux System Management Technical Manual (5th Edition)"

▲ Use the latest Linux system to fully understand UNIX/Linux

A classic technical manual with a Douban score of 9.1! Based on the previous editions, the use cases have been updated. Taking the five current mainstream Linux distributions as examples, three important topics that cannot be ignored include various management knowledge and technologies of stand-alone Linux, network, X window system and printing system. Starting from each aspect, we will explain UNIX/Linux knowledge in an all-round way.

As a technical manual, this book compares the differences and details of various versions of Linux and UNIX, and outlines the overall architecture of the two systems for readers, all-inclusive. For each knowledge point, the author tries to start with concepts and then move on to basic usage. Moreover, the three authors are all experienced computer experts with very rich usage and development experience. They have integrated these experiences into the book, which has a very good guiding role for practical operations.

In addition to technology, the author uses humorous language to talk about many interesting things and gossip in the development process of UNIX/Linux, as well as their philosophical thoughts. In short, this book is a very comprehensive manual for learning UNIX/Linux system knowledge.

A good book recommended by Linus, don’t miss it!

"Linux Advanced Programming (Third Edition)"

▲ Helps readers to master Linux programming skills in an all-round way.

This book has very comprehensive basic knowledge and is designed to help readers complete the tasks of memory, CPU, disk, and network under Linux systems. and knowledge of accessing and managing audio equipment. The development tool used by

is GCC 4.0/GDB 6.3. It introduces in detail the programming environment and programming tools, file management, process management, attribute control, basic network programming, advanced applications, etc. under the Linux system.

This book is guided by cases, allowing readers to use the application cases in the book to conduct practical programming exercises for each knowledge point, and truly master Linux system programming.

"Linux Command Line Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition"

▲ Know and understand every commonly used command line

Seeing the name of this book, you may be a little confused: What are the recommendations for a command line encyclopedia? Just search for a lot. This is a big misunderstanding! This book is certainly not just about showing you some command lines! It starts from the command line and analyzes Linux commands in an all-round way.

Almost all programmers cannot avoid the operation of Shell. This book starts from the basic usage of Shell, and explains step by step how to configure files, common tasks and necessary tools, and finally starts writing Shell scripts by yourself. For each command line used in this process, the author has given a clear and detailed explanation. Basic issues such as what is a relative path and what is an absolute path are also explained clearly without being cumbersome.

By reading this book, readers can have a deeper understanding of Linux commands, and can use them freely in actual work and study. Therefore, this book is suitable for readers who want to quickly master Linux commands and their use; for readers who know how to use commands but do not know the principles, this book is also an excellent reference.

Whether it is for work use or daily study, this book can be of great help in Linux commands! Don’t know how to use the command? Don't know how this command works? Open the book and you will know.

Conclusion

We can find that using GNU/Linux is a very complex system, and it also provides unlimited possibilities for programming development! Therefore, when learning and using it, you need to clarify your needs and know what content you want to master. Does

only need to be able to operate? Out of interest? Or do I need to develop in a Linux environment? Are you doing server operation and maintenance? Only when you truly know why you want to study can you know how to study. Then you can choose the one that suits you from the above books and select the appropriate content to study.

Article editor: Sharyu reviewer: Tong Xi

Reference source:

[1] Linux Kernel 5.18 Released, This is What's New - OMG! Ubuntu!..

[2] LKML: Linus Torvalds: Linux 5.18..

[3 ] Linus Torvalds - Wikipedia..

[4]just-for-fun-linus-torvalds. Github.

[5] Thoughts on software-defined silicon[LWN.net]..