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System Call

System calls allow programs to request services from the operating system kernel. They provide the interface between user programs and operating system resources like file and process management. Common system calls include opening and closing files, allocating memory, process creation and termination, and device input/output. System calls are accessed through APIs rather than being directly called by programs.

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272 views12 pages

System Call

System calls allow programs to request services from the operating system kernel. They provide the interface between user programs and operating system resources like file and process management. Common system calls include opening and closing files, allocating memory, process creation and termination, and device input/output. System calls are accessed through APIs rather than being directly called by programs.

Uploaded by

Shamila
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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System Call

System Call
• A system call is the programmatic way in which a computer program
requests a service from the kernel of the operating system it is
executed on.

• System call provides the services of the operating system to the user
programs via Application Program Interface(API).

• System calls are the only entry points into the kernel system.

• All programs needing resources must use system calls.


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 (set of functions built into libraries
included with compiler)
API – System Call – OS Relationship
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 (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
Types of System Calls (Cont.)

• Protection
• Control access to resources
• Get and set permissions
• Allow and deny user access
Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

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