Is there any good literature explaining Linux's file system ?

Rami Rosen roszenrami at gmail.com
Sun Jul 10 11:36:20 EDT 2016


Hi, Ruan,

AFAIK, there is no book which is dedicated to the Linux kernel
implementation of Linux filesystems.

In "Understanding the Linux Kernel, 3rd Edition"
By Daniel P. Bovet, Marco Cesati
rhere is one chapter (chapter 18) of about 40 pages about the
implementation of Ext2 and Ext3.
Please keep in mind that ext3 was removed:
https://lwn.net/Articles/651645/

There is also a chapter about Virtual File System (VFS), even though
you did not asked about it. I believe that learning about VFS is
important in ordet to understand how particular filesystems like
ext2/ext3/btrfs work.

See:http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596005658.do


Also in "Professional Linux Kernel Architecture" by Wolfgang Mauerer,
Wiley Publishing, Inc., there is a chapter about the "The Extended
Filesystem Family" (chapter 9), and also a chapter about VFS (Chapter
8).

here is also a book titled "Linux Filesystems Paperback"
by William Von Hagen. I did not read it. However, it is really old
(2002!); 14 years are significant in Linux development.

Good luck!

Regards,
Rami Rosen
http://ramirose.wix.com/ramirosen

On 10 July 2016 at 15:23, Yubin Ruan <ablacktshirt at gmail.com> wrote:
>      Hi everybody,
>      I'm really curious about whether there is any literature that
> describe Linux's file systems(e.g. ext2{3,4}, btrfs) deeply?
>      I can't find much literature about Linux's filesystem. I have read
> some papers about Unix's file system. For example, **A Fast File System
> for UNIX**, which explain things in detail(though not so informative for
> me). I also read **Design and Implementation of the Second Extend
> Filesystem** by Remy, Theodore, et al. But those papers and blogs can't
> make thing clear for me, because there are so many things that they have
> not explained.
>      I wonder is there any book that explain one of the Linux
> filesystem(design, implementation) in detail, like what Mal Gorman
> explain about Linux Memory Management in his books **Understand The
> Linux Memory Manager** and **Code Commentary On The Linux Virtual Memory
> Manager** ?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Ruan.
>
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