Acknowledgments

Bill: For my wife, Dorothy Fisher, without whom life wouldn't be anywhere near as good or as much fun, and for Mike Bauer, Bill Gaussa, and Larry Weidman, who gave me many professional opportunities and encouraged me to expand my horizons. I'd also like to thank David Brickner, without whom I never would have finished this book (well, at least not this year) and for the opportunity to write for O'Reilly in general. Without David's suggestions, comments, and general support, this would be a lesser book.

Finally, no book having to do with GNU/Linux would be complete without thanking Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and the open source community in general. I'd also like to thank my coauthor, Brian Jones, for making this book better than it would have been without him.

Brian: For my wife, Natasha, who has supported and encouraged me in all of my ambitions and goals, and has dealt with my nonsense while in pursuit of said ambitions and goals. Also for my siblings: Heather, for forcing me to pursue computing as a career; Jessica, for being almost sickeningly positive and encouraging; Jon, for keeping me on my toes; and Russell, without whom I might've self-destructed long ago.

A hearty thanks goes to David Brickner, who offered me the opportunity to write for O'Reilly, and whose even keel, firm hand, and sheer diligence have made this a wonderful experience. I'd also like to thank all the folks at OSTG, TriLUG, and php|architect, for being friends of mine; Matt Appio, for making me take occasional fishing breaks; and my coworkers at Princeton, for teaching me far more than I could ever list here.

To Linus Torvalds and the rest of the open source community: thank you so much for all your work.