Operating System Design

The Xinu Approach

Linksys Version

Douglas Comer

LftP)
\f J
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Croup
Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Croup an informa business

A CHAPMAN & HALL BOOK

Contents

Preface xix

About The Author xxiii

Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview 1

/ .1 Operating Systems 1
1.2 Approach Used In The Text 3
1.3 A Hierarchical Design 3
1.4 The Ximt Operating System 5
1.5 What An Operating System Is Not 6
/ .6 An Operating System Viewed From The Outside 1
1.7 Remainder Of The Text 8
/ .8 Perspective 8
1.9 Summary 9

Chapter 2 Concurrent Execution And Operating System Services 11

2.1 Introduction J1
2.2 Programming Models For Multiple Activities 12
2.3 Operating System Services 13
2.4 Concurrent Processing Concepts And Terminology 13
2.5 Distinction Between Sequential And Concurrent Programs 15
2.6 Multiple Processes Sharing A Single Piece Of Code 17
2.7 Process Exit And Process Termination 19
2.8 Shared Memory, Race Conditions, And Synchronization 20
2.9 Semaphores And Mutual Exclusion 24
2.10 Type Names Used In Xinu 26
2.11 Operating System Debugging With Kputc And Kprintf 27
2.12 Perspective 28
2.13 Summary 28
viii Contents

Chapter 3 An Overview Of The Hardware and Run-Time Environment 31

3.1 Introduction 31
3.2 Physical And Logical Organizations Of The E2J00L 32
3.3 Processor Organization And Registers 33
3.4 Bus Operation: The Fetch-Store Paradigm 34
3.5 Direct Memory Access 34
3.6 The Bits Address Space 35
3.7 Contents Of Kernel Segments KSEGO and KSEG1 36
3.8 Bits Startup Static Configuration 37
3.9 Calling Conventions And The Run-Time Stack 38
3.10 Interrupts And Interrupt Processing 40
3.11 Exception Processing 41
3.12 Timer Hardware 42
3.13 Serial Communication 42
3.14 Polled vs. Interrupt-Driven I/O 43
3.15 Memory Cache And KSEGl 43
3.16 Storage Layout 44
3.17 Memory Protection 45
3.18 Perspective 45

Chapter 4 List and Queue Manipulation 49

4.1 Introduction 49
4.2 A Unified Structure For Linked Lists Of Processes 50
4.3 A Compact List Data Structure 51
4.4 Implementation Of The Queue Data Structure 53
4.5 Inline Queue Manipulation Functions 55
4.6 Basic Functions To Extract A Process From A List 55
4.7 FIFO Queue Manipulation 57
4.8 Manipulation Of Priority Queues 60
4.9 List Initialization 62
4.10 Perspective 63
4.11 Summary 64

Chapter 5 Scheduling and Context Switching 67

5.1 Introduction 67
5.2 The Process Table 68
5.3 Process States 71
5.4 Ready And Current States 72
5.5 A Scheduling Policy 72
5.6 Implementation Of Scheduling 73
Contents

5.7 Implementation Of Context Switching 76

5.8 State Saved In Memory 76
5.9 Context Switch On A MIPS Processor 77
5.10 An Address At Which To Restart A Process 80
5.11 Concurrent Execution And A Null Process 81
5.12 Making A Process Ready And The Scheduling Invariant
5.13 Deferred Rescheduling 83
5.14 Other Process Scheduling Algorithms 85
5.75 Perspective 86
5.16 Summary 86

Chapter 6 More Process Management

6.1 Introduction 89
6.2 Process Suspension And Resumption 89
6.3 Self-Suspension And Information Hiding 90
6.4 The Concept Of A System Call 91
6.5 Interrupt Control With Disable And Restore 93
6.6 A System Call Template 94
6.7 System Call Return Values SYSERR And OK 95
6.8 Implementation Of Suspend 95
6.9 Suspending The Current Process 97
6.10 Suspend Return Value 97
6.11 Process Termination And Process Exit 98
6.12 Process Creation 101
6.13 Other Process Manager Functions 106
6.14 Summary 108

Chapter 7 Coordination Of Concurrent Processes

7.1 Introduction 111

7.2 The Need For Synchronization 111
7.3 A Conceptual View
Of Counting Semaphores 113
7.4 Avoidance Of Busy Waiting 113
7.5 Semaphore Policy And Process Selection 114
7.6 The Waiting State 115
7.7 Semaphore Data Structures 116
7.8 The Wait System Call 117
7.9 The Signal System Call 118
7.70 Static And Dynamic Semaphore Allocation 119
7.11 Example Implementation Of Dynamic Semaphores 120
7.12 Semaphore Deletion 121

7.13 Semaphore Reset 123

 7.14 Coordination Across Parallel Processors (Multicore) 124
7.15 Perspective 125
7.16 Summary 125

Chapter 8 Message Passing

8.1 Introduction 129

8.2 Two Types Of Message Passing Services 129
8.3 Limits On Resources Used By Messages 130
8.4 Message Passing Functions And State Transitions 131
8.5 Implementation Of Send 132
8.6 Implementation Of Receive 134
8.7 Implementation Of Non-Blocking Message Reception 135
8.8 Perspective 135
8.9 Summary 136

Chapter 9 Basic Memory Management

9.1 Introduction 139

9.2 Types Of Memory 139
9.3 Definition Of A Heavyweight Process 140
9.4 Memory Management In A Small Embedded System 141
9.5 Program Segments And Regions Of Memory 142
9.6 Dynamic Memory Allocation In An Embedded System 143
9.7 Design Of The Low-Level Memory Manager 144
9.8 Allocation Strategy And Memory Persistence 144
9.9 Keeping Track Of Free Memory 145
9.10 Implementation Of Low-Level Memory Management 146
9.11 Allocating Heap Storage 148
9.12 Allocating Stack Storage 151
9.13 Releasing Heap And Stack Storage 153
9.14 Perspective 156
9.15 Summary 156

Chapter 10 High-Level Memory Management and Virtual Memory

10.1 Introduction 159

10.2 Partitioned Space Allocation 160
10.3 Buffer Pools ]60
10.4 Allocating A Buffer 162
J0.5 Returning Buffers To The Buffer Pool 164
10.6 Creating A Buffer Pool 165
J0.7 Initializing The Buffer Pool Table 167
 xi
Contents

10.8 Virtual Memory And Memory Multiplexing 168

10.9 Real And Virtual Address Spaces 169

10.10 Hardware For Demand Paging 171

10.11 Address Translation With A Page Table 171

10.12 Metadata In A Page Table Entry 173

10.13 Demand Paging And Design Questions 173

10.14 Page Replacement And Global Clock 174

10.15 Perspective 175

10.16 Summary 175

179
Chapter 11 High-Level Message Passing

11.1 Introduction 179

112 Inter-Process Communication Ports 179

11.3 The Implementation Of Ports 180

11.4 Port Table Initialization 181

11.5 Port Creation 183

11.6 Sending A Message To A Port 184

11.7 Receiving A Message From A Port 186

/ / .8 Port Deletion And Reset 188

11.9 Perspective 191

11.10 Summary 191

Chapter 12 Interrupt Processing 195

12.1 Introduction 195

12.2 The Advantage Of Interrupts 196
12.3 Interrupt Dispatching 196
12.4 Vectored Interrupts 197

72.5 Assignment Of Interrupt Vector Numbers 197

12.6 Interrupt Hardware 198

12.7 IRQ Limits And Interrupt Multiplexing 199

12.8 Interrupt Software And Dispatching 199

12.9 The Lowest Level Of The Interrupt Dispatcher 202

12.10 The High-Level Interrupt Dispatcher 204

12.11 Disabling Interrupts 208

12.12 Constraints On Functions That Interrupt Code Invokes 208

12.13 The Need To Reschedule During An Interrupt 209

12.14 Rescheduling During An Interrupt 210

12.15 Perspective 211

12.16 Summary 211
xii Contents

Real-Time Clock Management 215

Chapter 13

13.1 Introduction 215

13.2 Timed Events 216

13.3 Real-Time Clocks And Timer Hardware 216

13.4 Handling Real-Time Clock Interrupts 217

13.5 Delay And Preemption 218

13.6 Emulating A Real-Time Clock With A Timer 219

13.7 Implementation Of Preemption 219

13.8 Efficient Management Of Delay With A Delta List 220

13.9 Delta List Implementation 221

13.10 Putting A Process To Sleep 223

13.11 Timed Message Reception 226

13.12 Awakening Sleeping Processes 230

13.13 Clock Interrupt Processing 231

13.14 Clock Initialization 232

13.15 Interval Timer Management 233

13.16 Perspective 235

13.17 Summary 235

Chapter 14 Device-Independent Input and Output 239

14.1 Introduction 239

14.2 Conceptual Organization Of I/O And Device Drivers 240

14.3 Interface And Driver Abstractions 241

14.4 An Example I/O Interface 242

14.5 The Open-Read-Write-Close Paradigm 243

14.6 Bindings For I/O Operations And Device Names 244

14.7 Device Names In Xinu 245

14.8 The Concept Of A Device Switch Table 245

14.9 Multiple Copies Of A Device And Shared Drivers 246

14.10 The Implementation Of High-Level I/O Operations 249

14.11 Other High-Level I/O Functions 251

14.12 Open, Close, And Reference Counting 255

14.13 Null And Error Entries In Devtab 257

14.14 Initialization Of The I/O System 258
14.15 Perspective 262

14.16 Summary 263

Chapter 15 An Example Device Driver 267

15.1 Introduction 267

15.2 The Tty Abstraction 267
Contents xiii

15.3 Organization Of A Tty Device Driver 269

15.4 Request Queues And Buffers 270
15.5 Synchronization Of Upper Half And Lower Half 271
15.6 Hardware Buffers And Driver Design 272
15.7 Tty Control Block And Data Declarations 273
15.8 Minor Device Numbers 276
15.9 Upper-Half Tty Character
Input (ttyGetc) 277
15.10 Generalized Upper-Half Try Input (ttyRead) 278
15.11 Upper-Half Tty Character Output (ttyPutc) 280
15.12 Starting Output (ttyKickOut) 281
15.13 Upper-Half Tty Multiple Character Output (ttyWrite) 282
15.14 Lower-Half Tty Driver Function (ttylnterrupt) 283
15.15 Output Interrupt Processing (ttyInter_out) 286
15.16 Tty Input Processing {ttyInterJn) 288
15.17 Tty Control Block Initialization (ttylnit) 295
15.18 Device Driver Control 297
15.19 Perspective 299
75.20 Summary 300

Chapter 16 DMA Devices And Drivers (Ethernet) 303

16.1 Introduction 303

16.2 Direct Memory Access And Buffers 303
16.3 Multiple Buffers And Rings 304
16.4 An Example Ethernet Driver Using DMA 305
16.5 Device Hardware Definitions And Constants 305
16.6 Rings And Buffers In Memory 309
16.7 Definitions Of An Ethernet Control Block 310
16.8 Device And Driver Initialization 313
76.9 Allocating An Input Buffer 318
16.10 Reading From An Ethernet Device 320
76.77 Writing To An Ethernet Device 322
76.72 Handling Interrupts From An Ethernet Device 324
76.73 Ethernet Control Functions 328
76.74 Perspective 330
76.75 Summary 330

Chapter 17 A Minimal Internet Protocol Stack 333

17.1 Introduction 333

77.2 Required Functionality 334
17.3 Simultaneous Conversations, Timeouts, And Processes 335
17.4 ARP Functions 336
xiv Contents

17.5 Definition Of A Network Packet 346

17.6 The Network Input Process 347

17.7 Definition Of The UDP Table 351

17.8 UDP Functions 352

17.9 Internet Control Message Protocol 362

17.10 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol 363

17.11 Perspective 368'
17.12 Summary 368

A Remote Disk Driver 371

Chapter 18

18.1 Introduction 371

18.2 The Disk Abstraction 371

18.3 Operations A Disk Driver

Supports 372

18.4 Block Transfer And High-Level I/O Functions 372

18.5 A Remote Disk Paradigm 373

18.6 Semantics Of Disk Operations 374

18.7 Definition Of Driver Data Structures 375

18.8 Driver Initialization (rdslnit) 381

18.9 The Upper-Half Open Function (rdsOpen) 384

18.10 The Remote Communication Function (rdscomm) 386
18.11 The Upper-Half Write Function (rdsWrite) 389
18.12 The Upper-Half Read Function (rdsRead) 391
18.13 Flushing Pending Requests 395

18.14 The Upper-Half Control Function (rdsControl) 396

18.15 Allocating A Disk Buffer {rdsbufalloc) 399

18.16 The Upper-Half Close Function (rdsClose) 400

18.17 The Lower-Half Communication Process (rdsprocess) 402

18.18 Perspective 407

18.19 Summary 407

File 411
Chapter 19 Systems

79./ What Is A FileSystem? 411

19.2 An Example Set
Of File Operations 412

19.3 Design Of A Local File System 413

19.4 Data Structures For The Ximt File System 413
19.5 Implementation Of The Index Manager 415

19.6 Clearing An Index Block (Ifibclear) 420

19.7 Retrieving An Index Block (Ifibget) 420
19.8 Storing An Index Block (Ifibput) 421
19.9 Allocating An Index Block From The Free List (Ifiballoc) 423

19.10 Allocating A Data Block From The Free List (Ifdballoc) 424
Contents xv

19.11 Using The Device-Independent I/O Functions For Files 426

19.12 File System Device Configuration And Function Names 426

19.13 The Local File System Open Function (IfsOpen) All

19.14 Closing A File Pseudo-Device (IflClose) 435

19.15 Flushing Data To Disk (l/flush) 436

19.16 Bulk Transfer Functions For A File (IflWrite, IflRead) 437

19.17 Seeking To A New Position In the File (IflSeek) 439

19.18 Extracting One Byte From A File (IflGetc) 440

19.19 Changing One Byte In A File (IflPutc) 442

19.20 Loading An Index Block And A Data Block (Ifsetup) 443

19.21 Master File System Device Initialization (Ifslnit) 447

/9.22 Pseudo-Device Initialization (Ifllnit) 448

19.23 File Truncation (Iftnmcate) 449

19.24 Initial File System Creation (Ifscreate) 452

19.25 Perspective 454

19.26 Summary 455

Chapter 20 A Remote File Mechanism 459

20.1 Introduction 459

20.2 Remote File Access 459

20.3 Remote File Semantics 460
20.4 Remote File Design And Messages 460

20.5 Remote File Server Communication 468

20.6 Sending A Basic Message 470

20.7 Network Byte Order 472

20.8 A Remote File System Using A Device Paradigm All

20.9 Opening A Remote File 474
20.10 Checking The File Mode All

20.11 Closing A Remote File 478

20.12 Reading From A Remote File 479
20.13 Writing To A Remote File 482

20.14 Seek On A Remote File 485

20.15 Character I/O On A Remote File 486
20.16 Remote File System Control Functions 487
20.17 Initializing The Remote File Data Structure 491
20.18 Perspective 493
20.19 Summary 493

Chapter 21 A Syntactic Namespace 497

21.1 Introduction 497

21.2 Transparency And A Namespace Abstraction 497
 21.3 Myriad Naming Schemes 498
21.4 Naming System Design Alternatives 500
21.5 A Syntactic Namespace 500
21.6 Patterns And Replacements 501
21.7 Prefix Patterns 501
21.8 Implementation Of A Namespace 502
21.9 Namespace Data Structures And Constants 502

21.10 Adding Mappings To The Namespace Prefix Table 503

21.11 Mapping Names With The Prefix Table 505

21.12 Opening A Named File 509

21.13 Namespace Initialization 510
21.14 Ordering Entries In The Prefix Table 513
21.15 Choosing A Logical Namespace 514
21.16 A Default Hierarchy And The Null Prefix 515
21.17 Additional Object Manipulation Functions 515

21.18 Advantages And Limits Of The Namespace Approach 51

21.19 Generalized Patterns 517

21.20 Perspective 518
21.21 Summary 518

Chapter 22 System Initialization

22.1 Introduction 521

22.2 Bootstrap: Starting From Scratch 521
22.3 Operating System Initialization 522
22.4 Booting An Alternative Image On The E2100L 523

22.5 Xinu Initialization 524

22.6 System Startup 527
22.7 Transforming A Program Into A Process 531

22.8 Perspective 532

22.9 Summary 532

Chapter 23 Exception Handling

23.1 Introduction 535

23.2 Exceptions, Traps, And Illegal Interrupts 535

23.3 Implementation Of Panic 536

23.4 Perspective 537
23.5 Summary 538
Contents xvit

Chapter 24 System Configuration 541

24.1 Introduction 541

24.2 The Need For Multiple Configurations 541
24.3 Configuration In Xinu 542
24.4 Contents Of The Xinu Configuration File 543
24.5 Computation Of Minor Device Numbers 545
24.6 Steps In Configuring A Xinu System 546
24.7 Perspective 547
24.8 Summary 547

Chapter 25 An Example User Interface: The Xinu Shell 549

25. J Introduction 549

25.2 What Is A User Interface? 550
25.3 Commands And Design Principles 550
25.4 Design Decisions For A Simplified Shell 551
25.5 Shell Organization And Operation 551
25.6 lire Definition Of Lexical Tokens 552
25.7 The Definition Of Command-Line Syntax 552
25.8 Implementation Of The Xinu Shell 553
25.9 Storage Of Tokens 555
25.10 Code For The Lexical Analyzer 556
25.7/ The Heart Of The Command Interpreter 561
25.12 Command Name Lookup And Builtin Processing 569
25.75 Arguments Passed To Commands 570
25.14 Passing Arguments To A Non-BuiItin Command 571
25.75 I/O Redirection 575
25.16 An Example Command Function (sleep) 575
25.17 Perspective 577
25.78 Summary 578

Appendix 1 Porting An Operating System 580

Al.l Introduction 580

A7.2 Motivation:
Evolving Hardware 581
A1.3 Steps Taken WhenPorting An Operating System 581
A 1.4 Programming To Accommodate Change 587
A1.5 Summary 589
xviii

Appendix 2 Xinu Design Notes

A2.1 Introduction 590

A2.2 Overview 590

A2.3 XinuDesign Notes 591

A2.4 XinuImplementation 592
A2.5 Major Concepts And Implementation

Index