The System Design of Linux
January 18th, 2008
The Linux operating system derives much of its basic design from principles established during the 70s and the 80s. Its monolithic kernel handles process control, networking, peripheral and file system access. Integrated directly with the kernel are the device drivers. Essentially, the Linux system is a modular UNIX-like operating system.
A big percentage of the system’s higher-level functionality is provided by separate projects that interface with the kernel. An important part of a majority of Linux systems is the GNU userland which provides the skill and UNIX tools that enable it to carry out many basic operating system tasks. Graphical user interfaces can be placed on these tools which usually run through the X window system.