# Recommended book on FreeBSD



## bsaidus (Oct 7, 2012)

Hello.
Can you tel me the recommended books for FreeBSD.
Is there a printed version of the FreeBSD Handbook?
Thank you.


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## Minbari (Oct 7, 2012)

FreeBSD Handbook
The Complete FreeBSD
Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD


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## bsaidus (Oct 7, 2012)

Thank you


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## Majorix (Oct 7, 2012)

I too suggest Absolute FreeBSD. Get the 2nd edition if you can.


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## cbrace (Oct 7, 2012)

Everyone needs a firewall. Indespensible: Book of PF, 2nd Edition

Hansteen is clearly an OpenBSD partisan but this book is still great!


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## UNIXgod (Oct 8, 2012)

cbrace said:
			
		

> Everyone needs a firewall. Indespensible: Book of PF, 2nd Edition
> 
> Hansteen is clearly an OpenBSD partisan but this book is still great!



I hated that book. It's a rehash of what's already online. Jacek Artymiak's book "Building Firewalls with OpenBSD and PF, 2nd edition" covers actually learning the syntax as a programming language vs just here's a recipe for small office with x/y/z and here is one for larger environment with just x and z.

Absolute FreeBSD also covers enough or pf() that makes the "Book of PF" redundant.

For shell scripting I always suggest the canonical classic "The UNIX Programming Environment" by Kernighan/Pike. Though it's not FreeBSD specific it's still the definitive classic on using "UNIX as an IDE" per se.

My first FreeBSD book was Lehey's Complete FreeBSD. With the "FreeBSD in the title" books that one has been around the longest.


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## Erratus (Oct 15, 2012)

Compared to others *Absolute FreeBSD *_2nd Edition _is a valuable book I can recommand. This one is in use while others made it in the shelves.


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## AlexJ (Oct 16, 2012)

*"BSD Hacks 100 Industrial Tip & Tools" by Dru Lavigne*. 
It kind of "notes of sys.admin" that can be used as compendium.

*"Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security" by Paco Hope, Yanek Korff, Bruce Potter*


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 16, 2012)

I recommend these links:
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=29021
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=26833
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=21382
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=4190
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=3531
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=35008
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=5978
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=3349
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=9068


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## fluca1978 (Oct 16, 2012)

Absolute FreeBSD is a must. I love the style of Mr. Lukas!


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## kclark (Oct 16, 2012)

I just got FreeBSD Hacks and love it!


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## UNIXgod (Oct 17, 2012)

drhowarddrfine said:
			
		

> I recommend these links:
> http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=29021
> http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=26833
> http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=21382
> ...



omglololololo0


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## fred974 (Mar 27, 2013)

*I need a book!*

Hello,

Could anyone recommend a good book on *F*ree*BSD* as I'm really struggling to learn it.
I know some of you you redirect me to the manual (which is great) but I'm after something that could take me fro A to B. 
I need to setup a small business software base on *F*ree*BSD*.

At the moment, this is for personal learning but I'll hope to offer it as a service maybe one day

Thank you
Fred


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## ondra_knezour (Mar 27, 2013)

FreeBSD Handbook is more book then manual, try it. AFAIK there is not any up to date "FreeBSD for Dummies in 24 hours" book, but there are some how-tos and blogs about it, like FreeBSD small business server.


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## fred974 (Mar 27, 2013)

*T*hank you @ondra_knezour, on my way to that link.


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## srobert (Mar 27, 2013)

The best I have seen is Absolute FreeBSD. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. have it. 
Unfortunately, the latest edition is several years old and starting to get outdated. I'm hoping Lucas will do a 3rd ed. But it is still very good. 

The FreeBSD Handbook is probably the best for being up-to-date.


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## cpm@ (Mar 27, 2013)

My humble recommendation according to your business needs, Building a Server with FreeBSD 7: A Modular Approach by Bryan J. Hong.


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## CoTones (Mar 27, 2013)

Arrrgh... wanted to recommend "UNIX System Administration Handbook", but in last edition FreeBSD was replaced by Ubuntu and OpenSUSE linux.


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## fonz (Mar 27, 2013)

fred974 said:
			
		

> Could anyone recommend a good book on *F*ree*BSD*


Besides what's already been mentioned, there's _The Complete FreeBSD_ by Greg Lehey. Parts of it are by now somewhat outdated, but much of it is still relevant. I own a printed version that I paid for, but it's available for free here. If you're interested in (Free)BSD kernel hacking, then _Designing BSD Rootkits_ by Joseph Kong is a good starting point.

When these forums first got started, one of the first moderators/admins started a thread about good books on (Free)BSD. Nowadays a forum search will probably turn up way too many hits to easily find that particular thread, but perhaps someone still knows which thread it was (and perhaps it ought to retroactively be made a sticky).


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## ondra_knezour (Mar 27, 2013)

fonz said:
			
		

> When these forums first got started, one of the first moderators/admins started a thread about good books on (Free)BSD. Nowadays a forum search will probably turn up way too many hits to easily find that particular thread, but perhaps someone still knows which thread it was (and perhaps it ought to retroactively be made a sticky).



My Google-Fu thinks, that you may have this on mind?


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## fonz (Mar 27, 2013)

ondra_knezour said:
			
		

> My Google-Fu thinks, that you may have this on mind?


Yes indeed. A simple Forum search got way more results than I expected but you managed to find exactly the thread I was thinking of.


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