Free Book on FreeBSD System Programming

An anonymous reader writes "A new book on BSD system programming has been released. And, in the spirit of open source, the book was released using the GNU Free Documentation License. Anyone interested in system programming on the BSD's can use this."

Comments

But isn't it nice that this can be fixed?

[jbn-o]

I fail to understand how the parent post is "interesting" (funny, perhaps). I understand the point being made -- the word "bootstrapping" was misspelled -- but that happens. It seems to me that is why the licensing on this book is significant: At least with this book this error can be corrected and reprinted by anyone so readers don't have to live with the error for long. As I read the web page, it looks like there is no error in the table of contents.

It's got to be tough to write a book and not make a minor spelling error. I've never written a book like this so I wouldn't know, but I have read many books (including technical books) with such errors. I read the error, mark it in my notes if I have paper handy, and move on. After reading the book, I often remember to submit my notes to the publisher for future corrections. It seems to me that the remarkably thorough editing and more restrictive licensing terms on these other books I've read do not prevent the errors from occurring. So my notes never result in fixing the book for subsequent readers unless the publisher decides to reprint.