Barrett has written a number of technical books on computer topics. The most well-known are Linux Pocket Guideand SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide. His books have been translated into Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Barrett, author of the book MediaWiki (ISBN 978-0-5965-1979-7), has received media coverage for his deployment of MediaWiki in corporate environments.

Barrett was active in the resurgence of 1970s progressive rock band Gentle Giant in the 1990s. He created the official Gentle Giant Home Page in 1994, and though it began as a fan site, it was adopted by the band and is listed as the "Official Gentle Giant website" on the band's CD re-releases.

In 1996, Barrett compiled a 2-CD set of their songs for PolyGram entitled Edge of Twilight.

In the 1990s, Barrett created the concept of BLAZEMONGER, an imaginary computer game that spoofed the computing industry, and wrote approximately 100 articles about it.

In 1988, Barrett wrote and recorded the song "Find the Longest Path," a parody incorporating an NP-complete problem in computer science and the frustrations of graduate school. It has been played at mathematics conferences and incorporated into several YouTube videos by other people.

• Barrett, Daniel J., Bandits on the Information Superhighway, 1996, ISBN 1-56592-156-9.
• Barrett, Daniel J., NetResearch: Finding Information Online, 1997, ISBN 1-56592-245-X.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Polylingual Systems: An Approach to Seamless Interoperability, Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, February 1998.
• Barrett, Daniel J., and Silverman, Richard E., SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide, 2001, ISBN 0-596-00011-1.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., Linux Security Cookbook, 2003, ISBN 0-596-00391-9.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux Pocket Guide, 2004, ISBN 0-596-00628-4.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition, 2005, ISBN 0-596-00895-3.
• Barrett, Daniel J., MediaWiki, October 2008, ISBN 978-0-5965-1979-7.

Translations

Bandits on the Information Superhighway:

• Barrett, Daniel J., Gauner Und Ganoven Im Internet, 1998, ISBN 3-93067-344-4.

NetResearch: Finding Information Online:

• Barrett, Daniel J., ??????, 1998, ISBN 957-8395-29-9.

SSH, the Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide:

• Barrett, Daniel J., and Silverman, Richard E., SSH: Secure Shell - Ein umfassendes Handbuch, December 2001, ISBN 3-89721-287-0.
• Barrett, Daniel J., and Silverman, Richard E., SSH, le shell sécurisé: La référence, January 2002, ISBN 2-84177-147-4.
• Barrett, Daniel J., and Silverman, Richard E., SSH, KompletnÍ pr?vodce, April 2003, ISBN 80-7226-852-X.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., ??SSH ?2?...?????????????? (???), November 2006, ISBN 4873112877.

Linux Security Cookbook:

• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., Linux-Sicherheits-Kochbuch, October 2003, ISBN 3-89721-364-8.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., Linux?????? ??????????????????????, November 2003, ISBN 4-87311-159-5.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., Linux Bezpieczenstwo Receptury 2003, ISBN 83-7361-249-1.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Silverman, Richard E., Byrnes, Robert A., Linux Biztonsági Eljárások, 2004, ISBN 963-09-4574-6.

Linux Pocket Guide:

• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux - kurz & gut, September 2004, ISBN 3-89721-501-2.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux Leksykon Kieszonkowy, 2004, ISBN 83-7361-586-5.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux: ???????? ???????, 2005, ISBN 5-9579-0050-8
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux???????????????????, August 2005, ISBN 4-87311-237-0.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux: Kapresní p?ehled, 2006, ISBN 80-251-0838-4.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux - précis & concis, February 2006, ISBN 2-84177-392-2.
• Barrett, Daniel J., Linux - Guia de Bolso, 2006, ISBN 8-57608-104-0.

MediaWiki:

• Barrett, Daniel J., MediaWiki efficace: Installer, utiliser et administrer un wiki, March 2009, ISBN 2-212-12466-X.