Chapter 2: Operating-System
Structures
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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
To explain how operating systems are installed and
customized and how they boot
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.3 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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 Concepts – 9th Edition 2.4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Operating System Services (Cont.)
One set of operating-system services provides functions that are helpful to
the user (Cont.):
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 Concepts – 9th Edition 2.5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Operating System Services (Cont.)
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
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.6 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
A View of Operating System Services
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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)
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Touchscreen Interfaces
n Touchscreen devices require new
interfaces
l Mouse not possible or not desired
l Actions and selection based on
gestures
l Virtual keyboard for text entry
l Voice commands.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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)
Note that the system-call names used throughout this
text are generic
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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 – 9th Edition 2.13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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 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
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.15 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Types of System Calls (Cont.)
Protection
Control access to resources
Get and set permissions
Allow and deny user access
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.16 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Standard C Library Example
C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write() system call
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 2.17 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
End of Chapter 2
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
