Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online [LWN.net]

LWN is happy to host an online version of Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition by Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman. As of this writing, only the PDF version of the book is available; it will eventually be released in HTML and DocBook form as well. The book has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, but you're going to want to run out and buy a copy or three anyway.

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Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 0:41 UTC (Tue) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] (10 responses)

I am sorry to ask that, but why not (dual-)licensing it with a GPL-compatible license ? After all the subject matter is under the GPL.

Thanks in advance

Dual-licensing

Posted Mar 15, 2005 3:25 UTC (Tue) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

Why not dual-license it under the GPL? I guess because none of us saw a reason to do that. Who would benefit? Remember that the examples are already separately licensed dual BSD/GPL, so there's no problem with the code...

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 3:53 UTC (Tue) by riddochc (guest, #43) [Link] (8 responses)

The GPL really isn't appropriate for books. It's very particularly targeted to code rather than text or other media. What does "linking" mean in a non-code context, hmm?

Licensing text is rather different from licensing code. There are different priorities people apply when the copyrighted work is code as opposed to text or music. It's hard to even determine what would constitute "free" when these priorities come into play. I'll skip the 30-page essay on the tip of my tongue and just vaguely refer to all the various fights over the "free"ness of the GFDL as an illustration of the problems.

Back to the topic, since I don't remember commenting on earlier articles about it... Congratulations, Jon! I'm glad to see the results of your efforts. I personally don't write very much OS-level code, but if I did, this is the book I'd want. Thanks for licensing it nicely!

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 10:32 UTC (Tue) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link] (2 responses)

A more practical question: can I use code snippets from the book in a GPL kernel code?

(As for me personally: I bought it anyway)

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 16, 2005 3:32 UTC (Wed) by sttng359 (guest, #28502) [Link] (1 responses)

The examples are dual BSD/GPL licensed.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 17, 2005 1:41 UTC (Thu) by gregkh (subscriber, #8) [Link]

Not all examples are dual licensed, some of them are GPL only due to the fact that they are based on GPL only code.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 14:11 UTC (Tue) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link] (4 responses)

> The GPL really isn't appropriate for books. It's very particularly targeted to code rather than text or other media. What does "linking" mean in a non-code context, hmm?

The GPL does not speak of 'linking': the only use of the verb 'to link' in the GPL text is in the last sentence advertising the LGPL.

So far no one has presented arguments that the GPL was not suitable to text that was backed by the actual GPL text.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 16, 2005 1:23 UTC (Wed) by riddochc (guest, #43) [Link] (1 responses)

So, you're right that it doesn't mention linking... much. "This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library."

But that was just one example of my point. Maybe the fact that the GPL uses the word "Program" more than fifty times, and the word "document" once, and only in the context that "Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed."

You don't suppose a different license might be more appropriate for a document than a license that doesn't even refer to the work it's licensing as a document?

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 17, 2005 21:14 UTC (Thu) by piman (guest, #8957) [Link]

The word "Program" is not the same as the word "program". "Program" is a technical term for the scope of the GPL that referrs to the work being licensed. It just happens that most Programs are also programs, but it's perfectly acceptable for a Program to be something other than a program.

Consider the analogous "float an_integer = 3.14".

Why the GPL is wrong for documentation

Posted Mar 17, 2005 2:13 UTC (Thu) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link] (1 responses)

You think there are no problems with applying the GPL to documentation? OK, here's one. You have a GPLed manual, printed out on paper. You give it to a friend. Is that legal?

Answer: no, unless you jump through some extra hoops. You need to either provide your friend with the source code for the book (LaTex source, DocBook, OpenOffice file, whatever), or you need to give your friend a written offer, good for three years, to provide the source later on whenever he demands it (though you can charge a fee to cover your expenses in doing this).

Even if you want to distribute a PDF, you still need to provide the source, since a PDF is not a preferred form for modification. It will do to put the source on the same FTP or HTTP server.

Why the GPL is fine for documentation (where desired)

Posted Mar 17, 2005 7:39 UTC (Thu) by rickmoen (subscriber, #6943) [Link]

Joe Buck wrote:

You think there are no problems with applying the GPL to documentation? OK, here's one. You have a GPLed manual, printed out on paper. You give it to a friend. Is that legal?

Actually, since you're a non-comercial redistributor, you simply pass along upstream's offer of access to the preferred format, persuant to GPLv2 clause 3c.

The obvious place to use GPL for documentation is for HTML docs, or online docs with builtin hyperlinks to SGML or XML source, etc. In that case the "Master copy is at [URL]" header serves as the aforementioned upstream written offer, regardless of how the thing gets subsequently redistributed.

And that's pretty much what Michael Stutz wrote, too.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 7:55 UTC (Tue) by yashi (subscriber, #4289) [Link]

Just got a printed version as well from an online book store. Looks very nice, indeed.

Do you use any open source tool (ie. a fo processor) to produce pdf and html version of LDD3?

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 14:18 UTC (Tue) by nhoxanh (guest, #17931) [Link] (3 responses)

I have a question: if I translate the book to other languages, and provides it on the internet for free for everybody, is that legal or not?

And what if my translation is printed by a publisher, is that legal or not?

Thanks.
NX

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 14:38 UTC (Tue) by bk (guest, #25617) [Link] (1 responses)

I am not a lawyer, but according to my reading of the license that is permitted provided that you give attribution to the authors and distribute your derivative work(s) under the same Attribution-ShareAlike license.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 18:18 UTC (Tue) by dlang (guest, #313) [Link]

re-read the second post here, the code snippits are dual licensed under BSD/GPL

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 23:36 UTC (Tue) by charlieb (guest, #23340) [Link]

Read the license, and/or have your lawyer read the license.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 15:42 UTC (Tue) by toufeeq_hussain (guest, #25235) [Link]

Ohh this is great.
I've always wanted a 2.6 Kernel Book.
The best part is that its released under the CC license.
Thanks guys.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 15:56 UTC (Tue) by pellucide (guest, #4498) [Link]

I bought the first edition of the book few yers back. Loved it.
Thanks for putting it on the CC license.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 16:29 UTC (Tue) by qingyou_meng (guest, #25543) [Link]

This is really a good book, thank you guys!

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 18:45 UTC (Tue) by sanjoy (subscriber, #5026) [Link]

Thanks for making it available under a CC license.

The article says "This book is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. That means that you are free to download and redistribute it." Aren't you also free to make derivative works, as long as if they are distributed, they are made available on the same terms (the ShareAlike provision)? That'll become easier once the HTML is available, of course.

The PDF version of the copyright page says it uses a NonCommerical CC license. Which version is right?

And, why is the PDF file for the one copyright page 360KB?!

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 15, 2005 23:56 UTC (Tue) by carlos (guest, #3066) [Link] (1 responses)

Congratulations, I just ordered my copy. Thanks for the free license!

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 17, 2005 17:35 UTC (Thu) by tmattox (subscriber, #4169) [Link]

I recieved my copy a few days ago. Looks great so far.
And now with the online version, I have a computer searchable reference too! Fantastic.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Mar 19, 2005 6:40 UTC (Sat) by balbir (guest, #19399) [Link] (1 responses)

I am waiting to buy the book, meanwhile I downloaded the PDF's. It helps me wait for the book while it arrives. No bookstores in Bangalore have the original edition, claiming that an Indian edition should be on its way soon. Unfortunately for me shipping from the US is very expensive, almost half the cost of the book

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted May 14, 2005 20:52 UTC (Sat) by abhishek (guest, #10716) [Link]

I got my Indian Edition copy from Gangaram's nearly a month ago. Rs. 450. Ask for 10% discount on cash payment.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Oct 13, 2005 15:30 UTC (Thu) by mfirth (guest, #33074) [Link]

A suggestion:

On the top page of the LDD Third Edition (i.e. http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3) would it be possible to add a sentence, as is covered in the text of the book, explaining that this book only covers Kernel 2.6 (and presumably higher) and that LDD Second Edition covers Kernel 2.2 and 2.4, with a link to the LDD Second Edition online edition?

Regards

Michael

Looking for info on writing 64 bit drivers

Posted May 24, 2006 22:47 UTC (Wed) by Eliot (guest, #19701) [Link]

One topic that I'd really like to see as an addendum, or in LDD4 ;-) is 64 bit compatibility. Either as a new chapter, or distributed through the book.

E.g Cover compat_ioctl vs unlocked_ioctl, DMA, 64/32 compatibility etc.

Does anybody have any pointers to existing online text on this subjecct?

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online, pure HTML

Posted Oct 25, 2006 21:05 UTC (Wed) by conan_hacker (guest, #41316) [Link]

Here is the book in html format, one page per chapter: http://linuxdriver.co.il/ldd3/

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Jun 1, 2013 3:57 UTC (Sat) by duxing2007 (guest, #91235) [Link] (1 responses)

hello everybody, source code examples in ldd3 are based on 2.6.10, which won't compiled on kernel version using in most currently linux distributions.I've port them to all linux longterm stable branch after 3.0. see https://github.com/duxing2007/ldd3-examples-3.x.

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition now online

Posted Jun 1, 2013 7:27 UTC (Sat) by lsl (subscriber, #86508) [Link]

Nice! Thank you for the work.