Operating-System Structures

A View of Operating System Services

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 users and
programmers abilities to efficiently use the system
Resource allocation - When multiple users or multiple jobs
running concurrently, resources must be allocated to each of them.
Many types of resources - Some (such as CPU cycles, main
memory, and file storage) may have special allocation code, others
(such as I/O devices) may have general request and release code
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 from outsiders requires user authentication, extends to
defending external I/O devices from invalid access attempts.
For a system to be protected and secure, precautions must be
instituted throughout it. A chain is only as strong as its weakest
link.

User Operating System Interface

 Command Line Interface (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
If the latter, adding new commands doesnt require shell
modification.
User-friendly desktop Graphical User Interface (GUI) 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
(folder)
Invented at Xerox PARC
Many systems now include both CLI & GUI interfaces
Microsoft Windows is GUI with CLI command shell
Apple Mac OS has GUI interface with UNIX kernel underneath
and shells available
Solaris is CLI with optional GUI interfaces (Java Desktop,
KDE)

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
Program Interface (API)
Three most common APIs are
Win32 API for Windows,
POSIX API (all versions of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS), and
Java API for the Java virtual machine (JVM)

Example of System Calls:

Examples:
Example 1: copy.c & jcopy.java

Description: Open an existing input file and copy it to nonexisting output file.
http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs471w/code/misc/copy.c
int
main(int argc, char **argv)
{
int
n, in, out;
char
buf[1024];
char
InputFile[1024];
char
OutputFile[1024];
struct stat
st;
printf("enter Input File Name: ");
scanf("%s", InputFile);
if (stat(InputFile, &st) != 0) {
perror("InputFile does not exit");
exit(1);
}
printf("enter Outut File Name: ");
scanf("%s", OutputFile);
if (stat(OutputFile, &st) == 0) {
perror("OutputFile exists");
exit(1);
}
if ((in = open(InputFile, O_RDONLY)) < 0) {
perror(InputFile);
exit(1);
}
if ((out = open(OutputFile, O_CREAT | O_WRONLY, 0600)) < 0)
{
perror(OutputFile);
exit(1);
}
while ((n = read(in, buf, sizeof(buf))) > 0)
write(out, buf, n);
close(out);
close(in);
printf("copied %s to %s\n", InputFile, OutputFile);

exit(0);
}

To execute:
% copy
http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs471w/code/misc/jcopy.java
public class jcopy {
public static void main(String[] args)
throws IOException {
BufferedReader stdin =
new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(System.in));
System.out.println("enter Input File Name: ");
String InputFile = stdin.readLine();
File infile = new File(InputFile);
InputStream fin = new FileInputStream(infile);
System.out.println("enter Outut File Name: ");
String OutputFile = stdin.readLine();
File outfile = new File(OutputFile);
OutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream(outfile);

int len;
byte[] buf = new byte[1024];
while ((len = fin.read(buf)) > 0) {
fout.write(buf, 0, len);
}
fin.close();
fout.close();
System.out.println("copied " + InputFile + " to "
OutputFile);
}

To execute:
% java jcopy

Example 2: save.c:
Description: save 2nd argument (a string) into 1st argument file. If the
file exists it is truncated, otherwise it is created.
It then displays the content of the file to tty (standard output or file
descriptor 1).
http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs471w/code/misc/save.c
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int sfd;
int n;
char buf[1024];
int FileLength;
char *FileName = argv[1];
char *Message = argv[2];
if ((sfd = open(FileName, O_RDWR | O_TRUNC|
O_CREAT, 0600)) < 0) {
perror(FileName);
exit(1);
}
write(sfd, Message, strlen(Message));
lseek (sfd,0, SEEK_SET);
printf("\nFile '%s' contains:\n", FileName);
fflush(stdout);
n=read(sfd, buf, sizeof(buf));
write(1,buf, n);
FileLength = lseek(sfd, 0, SEEK_END);
printf("\n\nFile '%s' length:
'%d'\n", FileName, FileLength);
}

To execute:

% save savefile how are you?

http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs471w/code/misc/jsave.java
public class jsave {
public static void main(String[] args)
throws IOException {
File FileName = new File(args[0]);
String Message = args[1];
OutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream(FileName);
fout.write(Message.getBytes());
System.out.println("File " + FileName + " contains:");
BufferedReader fin =
new BufferedReader( new FileReader(FileName));
String str;
while((str = fin.readLine())!= null)
System.out.println(str);
long length = FileName.length();
System.out.println( FileName + " lenght is: " +
length);
}
}

To execute:
% java jsave savefile how are you?

API System Call OS Relationship

Standard C Library Example:

C program invoking printf() library call, which
calls write() system call

System Call Parameter Passing

Three general methods used to pass parameters to the OS
1. Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
2. 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
3. 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

Types of System Calls:

Process control
File management
Device management
Information maintenance
Communications
Protection

Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

 System Programs
System programs provide a convenient environment for program
development and execution.
They can be divided into:
File management
Status information
Programming language support, loading and execution.
Communications
Application programs
Most users view of operation system is defined by system
programs, not the actual system calls
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
system 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

 Operating System Design and Implementation

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
Important principle to separate:
Policy: What will be done?
Mechanism: How to do it?
The separation of policy from mechanism is a very important
principle,
it allows maximum flexibility if policy decisions are to be changed
later

Traditional UNIX System Structure:

UNIX the original UNIX operating system had limited

structuring.
The UNIX OS consists of two separable parts
Systems programs
The kernel
Consists of 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

Virtual Machines
A virtual machine provides an interface identical to the
underlying bare hardware
The operating system host creates the illusion that a process has
its own processor and (virtual memory)
Each guest provided with a (virtual) copy of underlying
computer

VMware Architecture:

The Java Virtual Machine:

 Operating-System Debugging
Debugging is finding and fixing errors, or bugs
OSs 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
Kernighans Law: Debugging is twice as hard as writing the
code in the rst place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by denition, not smart enough to debug it.

 Operating System Generation

Operating systems are designed to run on any class of machines;
the system must be configured for each specific computer site
SYSGEN program obtains information for specific configuration
of the hardware system
Booting starting a computer by loading the kernel
Bootstrap program code stored in ROM that is able to locate
the kernel, load it into memory, and start its execution

System Boot:
Operating system must be made available to hardware to start
Small piece of code bootstrap loader, locates the kernel,
loads it into memory, and starts it
Sometimes two-step process where boot block at fixed location
loads bootstrap loader
When power initialized on system, execution starts at a fixed
memory location