Chapter 2: Operating System

Structures
 Chapter 2: Operating System Structures
 Operating System Services
 User Operating System Interface
 System Calls
 Types of System Calls
 System Programs
 Operating System Design and Implementation
 Operating System Structure
 Operating System Debugging
 Operating System Generation
 System Boot
 Objectives

 To describe the services an operating

system provides to users, processes,
and other systems
 To discuss the various ways of
structuring an operating system
 Operating System Services
 Operating systems provide an environment for
execution of programs and services to programs and
users
 One set of operating-system services provides functions that
are helpful to the user:
 User interface - Almost all operating systems have a
user interface (UI).
Varies between Command-Line (CLI), Graphics User
Interface (GUI), Batch
 Program execution - The system must be able to load a
program into memory and to run that program, end
execution, either normally or abnormally (indicating error)
 I/O operations - A running program may require I/O,
which may involve a file or an I/O device
 Operating System Services
 One set of operating-system services provides functions that are helpful
to the user :
 File-system manipulation - The file system is of particular interest.
Programs need to read and write files and directories, create and
delete them, search them, list file Information, permission
management.
 Communications – Processes may exchange information, on the
same computer or between computers over a network
 Communications may be via shared memory or through message
passing (packets moved by the OS)
 Error detection – OS needs to be constantly aware of possible errors
 May occur in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O devices, in user
program
 For each type of error, OS should take the appropriate action to ensure
correct and consistent computing
 Debugging facilities can greatly enhance the user’s and programmer’s
abilities to efficiently use the system
 Operating System Services
 Another set of OS functions exists for ensuring the efficient
operation of the system itself via resource sharing
 Resource allocation - When multiple users or multiple jobs
running concurrently, resources must be allocated to each of them
 Many types of resources - CPU cycles, main memory, file
storage, I/O devices.
 Accounting - To keep track of which users use how much and
what kinds of computer resources
 Protection and security - The owners of information stored in a
multiuser or networked computer system may want to control use
of that information, concurrent processes should not interfere with
each other
 Protection involves ensuring that all access to system
resources is controlled
 Security of the system from outsiders requires user
authentication, extends to defending external I/O devices from
invalid access attempts
A View of Operating System Services
 User Operating System Interface - CLI

CLI or command interpreter allows direct

command entry
 Sometimes implemented in kernel,
sometimes by systems program
 Sometimes multiple flavors implemented –
shells
 Primarily fetches a command from user and
executes it
 Sometimes commands built-in, sometimes
just names of programs
 Ifthe latter, adding new features doesn’t require
shell modification
Bourne Shell Command Interpreter
 User Operating System Interface - GUI
 User-friendly desktop metaphor interface
 Usually mouse, keyboard, and monitor
 Icons represent files, programs, actions, etc
 Various mouse buttons over objects in the interface cause various
actions (provide information, options, execute function, open
directory (known as a folder)
 Invented at Xerox PARC

 Many systems now include both CLI and GUI

interfaces
 Microsoft Windows is GUI with CLI “command” shell
 Apple Mac OS X is “Aqua” GUI interface with UNIX
kernel underneath and shells available
 Unix and Linux have CLI with optional GUI interfaces
(CDE, KDE, GNOME)
 Touchscreen Interfaces

 Touchscreen devices
require new interfaces
 Mouse not possible or not
desired
 Actions and selection based
on gestures
 Virtual keyboard for text
entry
 Voice commands.
The Mac OS X GUI
 System Calls
 Programming interface to the services
provided by the OS
 Typically written in a high-level language
(C or C++)
 Mostly accessed by programs via a high-
level Application Programming
Interface (API) rather than direct system
call use
 Three most common APIs are Win32 API
for Windows, POSIX API for POSIX-based
systems (including virtually all versions of
UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X), and Java
API for the Java virtual machine (JVM)
 Example of System Calls
 System call sequence to copy the contents of
one file to another file
Example of Standard API
 System Call Implementation
 Typically, a number associated with each system
call
 System-call interface maintains a table indexed
according to these numbers
 The system call interface invokes the intended
system call in OS kernel and returns status of the
system call and any return values
 The caller need know nothing about how the
system call is implemented
 Just needs to obey API and understand what OS will do
as a result call
 Most details of OS interface hidden from programmer
by API. Managed by run-time support library
API – System Call – OS Relationship
 System Call Parameter Passing
 Often, more information is required than simply
identity of desired system call
 Exact type and amount of information vary according to
OS and call
 Three general methods used to pass parameters
to the OS
 Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
 In some cases, may be more parameters than registers

 Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and address of

block passed as a parameter in a register
 This approach taken by Linux and Solaris

 Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program and

popped off the stack by the operating system
 Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of
parameters being passed
Parameter Passing via Table
 Types of System Calls
 Process control
 create process, terminate process
 end, abort
 load, execute
 get process attributes, set process attributes
 wait for time
 wait event, signal event
 allocate and free memory
 Dump memory if error
 Debugger for determining bugs, single step
execution
 Locks for managing access to shared data between
processes
 Types of System Calls

 File management
 create file, delete file
 open, close file
 read, write, reposition
 get and set file attributes
 Device management
 request device, release device
 read, write, reposition
 get device attributes, set device attributes
 logically attach or detach devices
 Types of System Calls
 Information maintenance
 get time or date, set time or date
 get system data, set system data
 get and set process, file, or device attributes
 Communications
 create, delete communication connection
 send, receive messages if message passing
model to host name or process name
 From client to server
 Shared-memory model create and gain
access to memory regions
 transfer status information
 attach and detach remote devices
 Types of System Calls

 Protection
 Control access to resources
 Get and set permissions
 Allow and deny user access
Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls
 Standard C Library Example
 C program invoking printf() library call, which
calls write() system call
 Example: MS-DOS
 Single-tasking
 Shell invoked when
system booted
 Simple method to run
program
 No process
created
 Single memory space
 Loads program into
memory, overwriting
all but the kernel
At system startup running a program
 Program exit -> shell
reloaded
 Example: FreeBSD
 Unix variant
 Multitasking
 User login -> invoke user’s choice
of shell
 Shell executes fork() system call to
create process
 Executes exec() to load program
into process
 Shell waits for process to
terminate or continues with user
commands
 Process exits with:
 code = 0 – no error
 code > 0 – error code
 System Programs
 System programs provide a convenient
environment for program development and
execution. They can be divided into:
 File manipulation
 Status information sometimes stored in a File
modification
 Programming language support
 Program loading and execution
 Communications
 Background services
 Application programs
 Most users’ view of the operation system is defined by
system programs, not the actual system calls
 System Programs
 Provide a convenient environment for program
development and execution
 Some of them are simply user interfaces to system calls; others
are considerably more complex

 File management - Create, delete, copy,

rename, print, dump, list, and generally
manipulate files and directories
 Status information
 Some ask the system for info - date, time, amount of available
memory, disk space, number of users
 Others provide detailed performance, logging, and debugging
information
 Typically, these programs format and print the output to the
terminal or other output devices
 Some systems implement a registry - used to store and retrieve
configuration information
 System Programs
 File modification
 Text editors to create and modify files
 Special commands to search contents of files or perform
transformations of the text
 Programming-language support - Compilers,
assemblers, debuggers and interpreters
sometimes provided
 Program loading and execution- Absolute
loaders, re-locatable loaders, linkage editors, and
overlay-loaders, debugging systems for higher-
level and machine language
 Communications - Provide the mechanism for
creating virtual connections among processes,
users, and computer systems
 System Programs
 Background Services
 Launch at boot time
 Some for system startup, then terminate
 Some from system boot to shutdown

 Provide facilities like disk checking, process scheduling,

error logging, printing
 Run in user context not kernel context
 Known as services, subsystems, daemons

 Application programs
 Don’t pertain to system
 Run by users
 Not typically considered part of OS
 Launched by command line, mouse click, finger poke
 Operating System Design and
Implementation
 Design and Implementation of OS not “solvable”, but some
approaches have proven successful
 Internal structure of different Operating Systems can vary
widely
 Start the design by defining goals and specifications
 Affected by choice of hardware, type of system
 User goals and System goals
 User goals – operating system should be convenient to
use, easy to learn, reliable, safe, and fast
 System goals – operating system should be easy to design,
implement, and maintain, as well as flexible, reliable, error-
free, and efficient
 Operating System Design and Implementation

 Important principle to separate

Policy: What will be done?
Mechanism: How to do it?
 Mechanisms determine how to do something, policies decide
what will be done
 The separation of policy from mechanism is a very important
principle, it allows maximum flexibility if policy decisions are
to be changed later (example – timer)
 Specifying and designing an OS is highly creative task of
software engineering
 Implementation
 Much variation
 Early OSes in assembly language
 Then system programming languages like Algol, PL/1
 Now C, C++
 Actually usually a mix of languages
 Lowest levels in assembly
 Main body in C
 Systems programs in C, C++, scripting languages like
PERL, Python, shell scripts
 More high-level language easier to port to other hardware.
But slower
 Emulation can allow an OS to run on non-native hardware
 Operating System Structure

 General-purpose OS is very large

program
 Various ways to structure ones
 Simple structure – Monolithic: MS-DOS
 More complex -- UNIX
 Layered – an abstraction
 Microkernel –Mach
 Modular
 Simple Structure -- MS-DOS

 MS-DOS – written to
provide the most
functionality in the
least space
 Not divided into
modules
 Although MS-DOS
has some structure,
its interfaces and
levels of functionality
are not well separated
 Disadvantages of Monolithic OS

 It is massive:
 It performs all basic OS functions and takes up in the
order of megabytes of code and data
 It is undifferentiated:
 It is coded in a non-modular way (traditionally)
although modern ones are much more layered.
 It is intractable:
 Altering any individual software component to adapt it
to changing requirements is difficult.

37
 Monolithic Operating System

Application Application
Programs Programs
User Mode

Kernel Mode

System Services

Hardware Ex: MS-DOS

• Better application Performance

• Difficult to extend 38
 Non Simple Structure -- UNIX

UNIX – limited by hardware

functionality, the original UNIX operating
system had limited structuring. The
UNIX OS consists of two separable
parts
 Systems programs
 The kernel
 Consistsof everything below the system-call interface
and above the physical hardware
 Provides the file system, CPU scheduling, memory
management, and other operating-system functions; a
large number of functions for one level
 Traditional UNIX System Structure
Beyond simple but not fully layered
 Layered Approach
 The operating system is
divided into a number of
layers (levels), each built
on top of lower layers.
The bottom layer (layer 0),
is the hardware; the
highest (layer N) is the
user interface.
 With modularity, layers
are selected such that
each uses functions
(operations) and services
of only lower-level layers
 Layered OS

Application Application
Programs Programs
User Mode
Kernel Mode
System Services

Memory & I/O Device Mgmt

Process Schedule

Hardware

 Easier to enhance
 Each layer of code access lower level interface
42
 Low-application performance Ex : UNIX
 Microkernel System Structure
 Moves as much from the kernel into user space
 Mach example of microkernel
 Mac OS X kernel (Darwin) partly based on Mach
 Communication takes place between user modules
using message passing
 Benefits:
 Easier to extend a microkernel
 Easier to port the operating system to new architectures
 More reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
 More secure

 Detriments: Performance overhead of user space to

kernel space communication
 Microkernel Structure
Figure ©Wikipedia

Microkernel
Monolithic
Kernel
 Microkernel System Structure

Application File Device user

Program System Driver mode

messages messages

Interprocess memory CPU kernel

Communication managment scheduling mode

microkernel

hardware
 Micro-kernel

 Compared to monolithic, microkernel design

provides only the most basic abstractions,
 principally address space, threads and local IPC.
 All other system services are provided by
servers that are dynamically loaded precisely on
those computers that require them.
 Clients access these system services using the
kernel’s message-based invocation
mechanisms.

46
 Microkernel/Client Server OS

Client OS File Network Display

Application Emulators Server Server Server

User

Kernel
Microkernel
Send
Reply Hardware

 Tiny OS kernel providing basic primitive (process, memory, IPC)

 Traditional services becomes subsystems
 OS = Microkernel + User Subsystems
Ex: Mach, PARAS, Chorus, etc.
47
 The role of the microkernel

 MK appears as a layer between H/W and

system systems. If performance, rather than
portability is goal, then middleware may use
facilities of MK directly.
Middlew are

Language Language OS emulation

support support subsys tem
....
subsys tem subsys tem

Microkernel

Hardw are

The microkernel s upports middleware via subsys tems

48
 Few Popular Microkernel
Systems
 MACH: CMU
 It
supports different OS emulators including Unix and
OS/2.
 PARAS: C-DAC
 Chorus
 QNX,
 Windows NT – original design.

49
 Comparison: Monolithic and
Micro-kernel OS Design
 The chief advantages of a MK-based OS:
 Extensibility and its ability to enforce modularity
behind memory protection boundaries
 A relative small kernel is more likely to be free of bugs
than one that is larger and complex.
 The advantage of a monolithic OS:
 Relative efficiency with which operations can be
invoked is high because even invocation to a
separate user-level address space on the same node
is more costly.

50
 Modules

 Many modern operating systems

implement loadable kernel modules
 Uses object-oriented approach
 Each core component is separate
 Each talks to the others over known
interfaces
 Each is loadable as needed within the kernel
 Overall, similar to layers but with more
flexible
 Linux, Solaris, etc
Solaris Modular Approach
 Hybrid Systems
 Most modern operating systems are actually not
one pure model
 Hybrid combines multiple approaches to address
performance, security, usability needs
 Linux and Solaris kernels in kernel address space, so
monolithic, plus modular for dynamic loading of
functionality
 Windows mostly monolithic, plus microkernel for different
subsystem personalities
 Apple Mac OS X hybrid, layered, Aqua UI plus
Cocoa programming environment
 Below is kernel consisting of Mach microkernel and BSD
Unix parts, plus I/O kit and dynamically loadable modules
(called kernel extensions)
 Hybrid Approaches

 Many modern OS follow hybrid approach in OS

structure. E.g., Windows NT.
 Pure microkernel OSs such as Chorus & Mach
have changed over time to allow servers to be
loaded dynamically into the kernel address
space or into a user-level address space.
 Some OSs such as SPIN use event-based
model as a mechanism for interaction between
modules grafted into the kernel address space.

54
 Mac OS X Structure

graphical user interface

Aqua

application environments and services

Java Cocoa Quicktime BSD

kernel environment
BSD

Mach

I/O kit kernel extensions

 iOS
 Apple mobile OS for iPhone, iPad
 Structured on Mac OS X, added
functionality
 Does not run OS X applications natively
 Also runs on different CPU architecture (ARM
vs. Intel)
 Cocoa Touch Objective-C API for
developing apps
 Media services layer for graphics,
audio, video
 Core services provides cloud
computing, databases
 Core operating system, based on Mac
OS X kernel
 Android
 Developed by Open Handset Alliance (mostly Google)

 Open Source
 Similar stack to IOS
 Based on Linux kernel but modified
 Provides process, memory, device-driver management
 Adds power management
 Runtime environment includes core set of libraries
and Dalvik virtual machine
 Apps developed in Java plus Android API
 Javaclass files compiled to Java bytecode then translated to
executable that runs in Dalvik VM

 Libraries include frameworks for web browser

(webkit), database (SQLite), multimedia, smaller libc
 AndroidApplications
Architecture

Application Framework

Libraries Android runtime

SQLite openGL Core Libraries

surface media
Dalvik
manager framework
virtual machine
webkit libc

Linux kernel
 Operating-System Debugging
 Debugging is finding and fixing errors, or bugs
 OS generate log files containing error information
 Failure of an application can generate core dump
file capturing memory of the process
 Operating system failure can generate crash dump
file containing kernel memory
 Beyond crashes, performance tuning can optimize
system performance
 Sometimes using trace listings of activities, recorded for
analysis
 Profiling is periodic sampling of instruction pointer to look
for statistical trends
 Operating-System Debugging

Kernighan’s Law: “Debugging is twice as hard as

writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you
write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by
definition, not smart enough to debug it.”
 Performance Tuning
 Improve performance
by removing
bottlenecks
 OS must provide
means of computing
and displaying
measures of system
behavior
 For example, “top”
program or Windows
Task Manager
 Operating System Generation

 Operating systems are designed to run

on any of a class of machines; the
system must be configured for each
specific computer site
 SYSGEN program obtains information
concerning the specific configuration of
the hardware system
 Used to build system-specific compiled
kernel or system-tuned
 Can general more efficient code than one
general kernel
 System Boot
 When power initialized on system, execution
starts at a fixed memory location
 Firmware ROM used to hold initial boot code
 Operating system must be made available to
hardware so hardware can start it
 Small piece of code – bootstrap loader, stored in
ROM or EEPROM locates the kernel, loads it into
memory, and starts it
 Sometimes two-step process where boot block at
fixed location loaded by ROM code, which loads
bootstrap loader from disk
 Common bootstrap loader, GRUB, allows
selection of kernel from multiple disks, versions,
kernel options