Lions’ Commentary on Unix

By John Lions

The most famous suppressed book in computer history * Used as an Operating System textbook at MIT"After 20 years, this is still the best expostion of the workings of a 'real' operating system." --- Ken Thompson (Developer of the UNIX operating system)After years of suppression (as trade secrets) by various owners of the UNIX code, this tome has been re-released, and we owe a debt to all involved in making this happen. I consider this to be the single most important book of 1996. Unix Review, June 1997"The Lions book", cherished by UNIX hackers and widely circulated as a photocopied bootleg document since the late 1970's, is again available in an unrestricted edition. This legendary underground classic, reproduced without modification, is really two works in one: the complete source code to an early version (Edition 6) of the UNIX operating system, a treasure in itself a brilliant commentary on that code by John Lionswith additional historical perspective essays added in 1996.Lions' marriage of source code with commentary was originally used as an operating systems textbook, a purpose for which it remains superbly well-suited (as evidenced by it's ongoing use at MIT).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573980137
• ISBN13: 9781573980135
• Release Date: August 1977
• Publisher: Peer-To-Peer Communications
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book for Unix lover

I have been working with Unix for more than 5 years, and read more than 20 books about unix itself. But I never seend book like this much well explain about internal architecture. Unix 6 on PDP-11 is old, but main idea still remain all major distribution. It great helpful for my understanding about Unix.

Complete, Yet Small Enough to Grasp

The world is full of books on operating systems: their theory, their internals, their applications, etc. The Lions book connects OS theory to practice better than anything I have ever seen. Reading it beforehand certainly made graduate-school Operating Systems a lot easier.

The Way

Any comments made on a superlative commentary on superb code would be largely superfluous. This gem should be part of any Operating Systems course. The greatest of the pleasures offered by the book is the opportunity to read the source code, version 6 of the UNIX Operating System. It is a unique opportunity to see the real masters at work! Highly recommended, with Maurice J Bach's "The Design of the Unix Operating System" as a supplement.

Greatest OS Introduction

This book is a true computer science classic and will never go out of print. It is the greatest introduction to operating systems there is. I lived for years with a 5th generation photocopy and i am very glad to own a new, clear copy.Buy it, study it, learn... give it to your children.

Elegant and Inspiring

This is the kind of computer book which makes me wish all my friends were programmers so I could share it with everyone I know.Although the version of Unix it documents is wildly out of date and the C code would make a K & R compiler laugh in disbelief, the underlying elegance of the code shines through. The commentary is brilliant -- Lions pushes the reader to understand for him or herself, all the while providing clear guidance through the most complicated pieces.Having programmed for years, I've never fully understood such deep mysteries as how process switching works, or how the OS bootstraps itself. Although I am sure that things are much more complex today, having read and pored over this old text and having achieved that elusive feeling of enlightenment, I now feel that it all makes sense.My only complaint is that they should have printed it as two volumes as it was originally produced. Constantly flipping back and forth was frustrating. But other than that, a total pleasure.