10 Best Free Linux & DevOps eBooks in 2026 – Hands-On Guides for Developers and SysAdmins

In 2026, staying competitive in IT means constant learning — especially in Linux administration, container technologies, automation, and cloud-native DevOps workflows.

The problem? Quality technical books are often expensive.

That’s why Dargslan Publishing decided to release a growing library of high-quality, 100% free eBooks — written by practitioners for practitioners. No fluff, no outdated content, just battle-tested knowledge you can apply immediately.

Whether you're a junior sysadmin, a mid-level DevOps engineer, a backend developer switching to containers, or someone preparing for LFCS / AWS / CKAD certifications — these free resources will save you dozens (if not hundreds) of hours.

Why Choose Dargslan’s Free Technical eBooks?

• Always up-to-date (2025–2026 editions)
• Purely practical — real commands, real pipelines, real troubleshooting
• No registration traps or email spam after download
• Covers the tools that actually matter in 2026: Podman & Docker, systemd, modern Bash, GitOps basics, cloud networking
• Companion code repositories on GitHub for every book

Here are the top 10 free titles available right now at Dargslan Publishing:

1. Linux Essentials 2026 – From Zero to productive sysadmin in 30 days Perfect starting point. Covers modern distros (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Fedora 41, AlmaLinux 9, Debian 13), systemd services, firewalld / nftables, basic security hardening, users & sudo refactoring.
2. Bash Mastery: Shell Scripting That Actually Works in Production (2026 Edition) Forget 2005-style Bash guides. Learn modern best practices: strict mode, defensive programming, parallel execution with xargs/gnu parallel, proper error handling, logging.
3. Docker & Podman in 2026 – The Practical Developer Guide Side-by-side comparison of Docker vs Podman rootless, multi-stage builds 2026 style, Compose → systemd generator migration, security scanning with Trivy + Cosign signing.
4. DevOps Starter Kit 2026 – CI/CD, GitOps and Observability Basics GitHub Actions + ArgoCD intro, Prometheus + Grafana stack on minikube-kind, practical log aggregation with Loki + Alloy.
5. Networking for Developers – Subnets, VLANs, CNI, Service Mesh Demystified From “what is CIDR?” to understanding Calico, Cilium, Istio ambient mode — explained so developers finally get what network engineers are talking about.
6. Ansible 2026 – Zero to Production-Grade Automation Roles, collections, ansible-navigator, ARA reporting, Vault best practices, molecule testing in 2026.
7. Git from Beginner to GitOps Hero Beyond git commit — rebase workflows, interactive rebase, git worktrees, sparse-checkout, semantic commit messages for conventional commits + changelog automation.
8. PowerShell Core Cross-Platform 2026 – Windows & Linux Admin Survival Guide Still relevant in hybrid environments — pwsh on Linux servers, Azure automation, cross-platform modules.
9. Kubernetes Troubleshooting Field Guide 2026 kubectl debug, ephemeral containers, crash-loop-backoff patterns, OOMKilled root causes, metrics-server + vertical pod autoscaler basics.
10. Python for SysAdmins & DevOps 2026 – Forget the basics, learn the sharp edges Click / Typer CLIs, Rich console output, pydantic v2 validation, anyio / trio async patterns, structured logging with structlog.

How to Get All These Free eBooks Right Now

1. Go to → https://www.dargslanp.com/free-books
2. Pick the ones you need (or download the whole starter pack)
3. Instant PDF + EPUB + MOBI + code .zip — no login required

Pro tip: sign up for the Dargslan Newsletter (optional, one-click unsubscribe) — you’ll get notified when new free titles drop (usually 1–2 per month in 2026).

Already using these books? Want deeper material?

Check our premium series too:

• Python Beast Series (Arrays • Generators • Decorators • Metaclasses • Async deep-dive)
• Rust Systems Programming 2026
• Modern PHP 8.3+ for 2026-era Laravel & Symfony projects
• Machine Learning Engineering field guides

All premium titles come with lifetime updates + private GitHub repos.

Final Words from the Dargslan Team

We built Dargslan because we were tired of outdated Udemy courses, paywalled Packt/Safari books that become obsolete in 18 months, and AI-generated garbage flooding Amazon Kindle.

Our mission in 2026 is simple:

Give serious developers and IT professionals the exact knowledge they need - free when possible, premium only when it adds serious depth.

Download your first free eBook today → https://www.dargslan.com/free-books

Happy learning, stay rootless & secure,

The Dargslan Publishing Team