Building Embedded Linux Systems

Building Embedded Linux Systems, 2nd Edition
 Karim Yaghmour, Jon Masters, Gilad Ben-Yossef, Philippe Gerum, O'Reilly Media, Inc., ISBN-13: 978-0596529680 

This second edition (mainly done by Jon Masters) gives you the basics of building embedded Linux systems, along with the configuration, setup, and use of several open source and free software packages in common use. The book also looks at the strengths and weaknesses of using Linux in an embedded system, plus a discussion of licensing issues, and an introduction to real-time, with a discussion of real-time options for Linux.

This book features:
 * What the different embedded Linux distributions (both open and commercial) are and why there are so many
 * How to build your own GNU development toolchain
 * How to Select, configure, build, and deploy a kernel on an embedded system
 * How to create a target root filesystem
 * Information on setting up and using flash devices and flash file systems
 * Install and configuring a bootloader for the target
 * Cross-compiling a slew of utilities and packages
 * Debugging your embedded system using gdb, kgdb, strace and other techniques
 * a discussion on the RTLinux (microkernel + Linux) approach
 * a discussion on the Linux Real Time patch

Make sure to get the second edition - the first edition (from 2003) is extremely outdated!