Chapter 2: Operating-System

Services

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Operating System Services
• User interface
 Varies between Command-Line (CLI), Graphics User
Interface (GUI), touch-screen, 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
• File-system manipulation - Programs need to read and write
files and directories, create and delete them, search them, list file
Information, permission management.
• 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.
Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Operating System Services (Cont.)
• 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.
• Logging - 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.

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.3 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 A View of Operating System Services

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Command Line interpreter

▪ CLI allows direct command entry

▪ Sometimes multiple flavors implemented – shells
▪ Primarily fetches a command from user and executes it
▪ Sometimes commands built-in, sometimes just names
of programs

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Bourne Shell Command Interpreter

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 User Operating System Interface - GUI

▪ User-friendly desktop 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)

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 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

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 The Mac OS X GUI

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 System Calls

▪ System calls provide an interface to the services made available by an

Operating System.
▪ System call is the programmatic way in which a computer program
request a service from the Kernel of the Operating System.
▪ 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)

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Example of System Calls

▪ System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another file

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 API – System Call – OS Relationship

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 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

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Types of System Calls (Cont.)

▪ 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

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Types of System Calls (Cont.)

▪ 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

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 Types of System Calls (Cont.)

▪ Protection
• Control access to resources
• Get and set permissions
• Allow and deny user access

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 Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

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 System Boot
▪ When power initialized on system, execution starts at a fixed memory
location
▪ Operating system must be made available to hardware so hardware
can start it
• Small piece of code – bootstrap loader, BIOS, stored in ROM or
EEPROM locates the kernel, loads it into memory, and starts it
• Modern systems replace BIOS with Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface (UEFI)
▪ Kernel loads and system is then running
▪ Boot loaders frequently allow various boot states, such as single user
mode

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.18 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 End of Chapter 2

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018