Chapter 3: Processes

Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018

 Chapter 3: Processes
 Process Concept
 Process Scheduling
 Operations on Processes
 Interprocess Communication
 IPC in Shared-Memory Systems
 IPC in Message-Passing Systems
 Examples of IPC Systems

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 Objectives
 Identify the separate components of a process and illustrate how they are
represented and scheduled in an operating system.
 Describe how processes are created and terminated in an operating system,
including developing programs using the appropriate system calls that
perform these operations.
 Describe and contrast interprocess communication using shared memory
and message passing.
 Design kernel modules that interact with the Linux operating system.

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 Process Concept
 An operating system executes a variety of programs that run as a process.
 Process – a program in execution; process execution must progress in sequential fashion
 Multiple parts of a process:
 The program code, also called text section
 Current activity including program counter, processor registers
 Stack containing temporary data
 Function parameters, return addresses, local variables
 Data section containing global variables
 Heap containing memory dynamically allocated during run time

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 Process Concept (Cont.)
 Program is passive entity stored on disk (executable file); process is
active
 Program becomes process when executable file loaded into memory
 Execution of program started via GUI mouse clicks, command line entry
of its name, etc
 One program can be several processes
 Consider multiple users executing the same program

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Process in Memory

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Memory Layout of a C Program

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 Process State

 As a process executes, it changes state

 New: The process is being created
 Running: Instructions are being executed
 Waiting: The process is waiting for some event to occur
 Ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor
 Terminated: The process has finished execution

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 Process Control Block (PCB)
Information associated with each process
(also called task control block)
 Process state – running, waiting, etc
 Program counter – location of instruction to next execute
 CPU registers – contents of all process-centric registers
 CPU scheduling information- priorities, scheduling queue pointers
 Memory-management information – memory allocated to the
process
 Accounting information – CPU used, clock time elapsed since
start, time limits
 I/O status information – I/O devices allocated to process, list of
open files

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 Threads
 So far, process has a single thread of execution
 Consider having multiple program counters per process
 Multiple locations can execute at once
 Multiple threads of control -> threads
 Must then have storage for thread details, multiple program counters in PCB
 Explore in detail in Chapter 4

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 Process Representation in Linux

Represented by the C structure task_struct

pid t_pid; /* process identifier */

long state; /* state of the process */
unsigned int time_slice /* scheduling information */
struct task_struct *parent;/* this process’s parent */
struct list_head children; /* this process’s children */
struct files_struct *files;/* list of open files */
struct mm_struct *mm; /* address space of this process */

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 Process Scheduling

 Maximize CPU use, quickly switch processes onto CPU core

 Process scheduler selects among available processes for next execution on CPU core
 Maintains scheduling queues of processes
 Ready queue – set of all processes residing in main memory, ready and waiting to
execute
 Wait queues – set of processes waiting for an event (i.e. I/O)
 Processes migrate among the various queues

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Ready and Wait Queues

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Ready Queue And Various I/O Device Queues

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Representation of Process Scheduling

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 Schedulers

 When a process is created: OS allocates a PCB for it, initializes it, and puts its PCB on
the correct queue
 As a process computes OS moves its PCB from queue to queue
 When a process is terminated OS deallocates its PCB
 Process migrates between various queues: OS must select processes from queues
according to some scheduling policy.
 Process selection is done by schedulers.
 Long-term scheduler (job scheduler) – selects processes to be loaded into memory
(into the ready queue).
 Short-term scheduler (CPU scheduler) – selects a process (from the ready-queue) to
be executed on the CPU.
 Short-term scheduler is invoked very frequently (milliseconds)  (must be fast).
 Long-term scheduler is invoked very infrequently (seconds, minutes)  (may be slow).

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 Medium Term Scheduling
 Some OSs introduce intermediate level of scheduling. Sometimes it is
needed to swap out processes from memory (to reduce the
multiprogramming degree). At some time later, those processes can be
swapped in memory to resume execution.
 This scheme is called swapping. The process is swapped out and swapped in
by the medium-term scheduler. Swapping may improve process mix.

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 Schedulers (Cont.)
 Processes can be described as either:
 I/O-bound process – spends more time doing I/O; with many short CPU bursts.
 CPU-bound process – spends more time doing computations; with very long CPU
bursts.

 It is important that the long-term scheduler selects a good process mix to ensure that the
system is balanced.
 If all processes selected are IO-bound, the ready-queue will be empty and CPU
idles. If all processes selected are CPU-bound, IO device queues will be empty and
in both cases the system will be unbalanced.

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 CPU Switch From Process to Process
A context switch occurs when the CPU switches from one process to
another.

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 Context Switch
 When CPU switches to another process, the system must save the
state of the old process and load the saved state for the new process
via a context switch
 Context of a process represented in the PCB
 Context-switch time is overhead; the system does no useful work while
switching
 The more complex the OS and the PCB  the longer the context
switch
 Time dependent on hardware support
 Some hardware provides multiple sets of registers per CPU 
multiple contexts loaded at once

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 Multitasking in Mobile Systems
 Some mobile systems (e.g., early version of iOS) allow only one process to run, others
suspended
 Due to screen real estate, user interface limits iOS provides for a
 Single foreground process- controlled via user interface
 Multiple background processes– in memory, running, but not on the display, and with
limits
 Limits include single, short task, receiving notification of events, specific long-running
tasks like audio playback
 Android runs foreground and background, with fewer limits
 Background process uses a service to perform tasks
 Service can keep running even if background process is suspended
 Service has no user interface, small memory use

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 Operations on Processes

 System must provide mechanisms for:

 process creation
 process termination

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 Process Creation
 Parent process create children processes, which, in turn create other processes,
forming a tree of processes
 Generally, process identified and managed via a process identifier (pid)
 Resource sharing options
 Parent and children share all resources
 Children share subset of parent’s resources
 Parent and child share no resources
 Execution options
 Parent and children execute concurrently
 Parent waits until children terminate

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A Tree of Processes in Linux

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 Process Creation (Cont.)
 Address space
 Child duplicate of parent
 Child has a program loaded into it
 UNIX examples
 fork() system call creates new process
 exec() system call used after a fork() to replace the process’ memory space with
a new program
 Parent process calls wait() for the child to terminate

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C Program Forking Separate Process

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 YouTube - References
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwxTbksJ2fo&t=637s
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kUiH8DG-Ao
 Tutorial

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 Process Termination

 Process executes last statement and then asks the operating system to delete it
using the exit() system call.
 Returns status data from child to parent (via wait())
 Process’ resources are deallocated by operating system
 Parent may terminate the execution of children processes using the abort()
system call. Some reasons for doing so:
 Child has exceeded allocated resources
 Task assigned to child is no longer required
 The parent is exiting and the operating systems does not allow a child to
continue if its parent terminates

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 Process Termination
 Some operating systems do not allow child to exists if its parent has terminated. If a process
terminates, then all its children must also be terminated.
 cascading termination. All children, grandchildren, etc. are terminated.

 The termination is initiated by the operating system.

 The parent process may wait for termination of a child process by using the wait()system call.
The call returns status information and the pid of the terminated process
pid = wait(&status);
 A process that has terminated, but whose parent has not yet called wait(), is known as a zombie
process
 If a parent terminated with executing wait(), its children processes are orphans

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 Android Process Importance Hierarchy
 Mobile operating systems often have to terminate processes to reclaim system resources
such as memory. From most to least important: (Reference: https://
www.howtogeek.com/161225/htg-explains-how-android-manages-processes/)
o Foreground process
o Visible process
o Service process
o Background process
o Empty process
 Android will begin terminating processes that are least important.

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 Interprocess Communication
 Processes within a system may be independent or cooperating
 Cooperating process can affect or be affected by other processes, including sharing data
 Reasons for cooperating processes:
 Information sharing: e.g., shared file requires concurrent access
 Computation speedup: parallel execution
 Modularity: dividing the system into several processes/threads
 Convenience: user can run and work on several applications at the same time
 Cooperating processes need interprocess communication (IPC)
 Two models of IPC
 Shared memory
 Message passing

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 Communications Models
(a) Shared memory. (b) Message passing.

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 Cooperating Processes
 Independent process cannot affect or be affected by the execution of another process
 Cooperating process can affect or be affected by the execution of another process
 Advantages of process cooperation
 Information sharing
 Computation speed-up
 Modularity
 Convenience

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 Producer-Consumer Problem
 Paradigm for cooperating processes, producer process produces information
that is consumed by a consumer process
 unbounded-buffer places no practical limit on the size of the buffer
 bounded-buffer assumes that there is a fixed buffer size

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 Interprocess Communication – Shared Memory

 An area of memory shared among the processes that wish to communicate

 The communication is under the control of the users processes not the
operating system.
 Major issues is to provide mechanism that will allow the user processes to
synchronize their actions when they access shared memory.
 Synchronization is discussed in great details in Chapters 6 & 7.

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 Bounded-Buffer – Shared-Memory Solution

 Shared data
#define BUFFER_SIZE 10
typedef struct {
. . .
} item;

item buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];
int in = 0;
int out = 0;

 Solution is correct, but can only use BUFFER_SIZE-1 elements

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 Producer Process – Shared Memory

item next_produced;

while (true) {
/* produce an item in next produced */
while (((in + 1) % BUFFER_SIZE) == out)
; /* do nothing */
buffer[in] = next_produced;
in = (in + 1) % BUFFER_SIZE;
}

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 Consumer Process – Shared Memory
item next_consumed;

while (true) {
while (in == out)
; /* do nothing */
next_consumed = buffer[out];
out = (out + 1) % BUFFER_SIZE;

/* consume the item in next consumed */

}

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 Interprocess Communication – Message Passing

 Mechanism for processes to communicate and to synchronize their actions

 Message system – processes communicate with each other without resorting to

shared variables
 IPC facility provides two operations:
 send(message)
 receive(message)
 The message size is either fixed or variable

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 Message Passing (Cont.)

 If processes P and Q wish to communicate, they need to:

 Establish a communication link between them
 Exchange messages via send/receive
 Implementation issues:
 How are links established?
 Can a link be associated with more than two processes?
 How many links can there be between every pair of communicating processes?
 What is the capacity of a link?
 Is the size of a message that the link can accommodate fixed or variable?
 Is a link unidirectional or bi-directional?

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 Message Passing (Cont.)

 Implementation of communication link

 Physical:
 Shared memory
 Hardware bus
 Network
 Logical:
 Direct or indirect
 Synchronous or asynchronous
 Automatic or explicit buffering

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 Direct Communication
 Processes must name each other explicitly:
 send (P, message) – send a message to process P
 receive(Q, message) – receive a message from process Q
 Properties of communication link
 Links are established automatically
 A link is associated with exactly one pair of communicating processes
 Between each pair there exists exactly one link
 The link may be unidirectional, but is usually bi-directional

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 Indirect Communication

 Messages are directed and received from mailboxes (also referred to as ports)
 Each mailbox has a unique id
 Processes can communicate only if they share a mailbox
 Properties of communication link
 Link established only if processes share a common mailbox
 A link may be associated with many processes
 Each pair of processes may share several communication links
 Link may be unidirectional or bi-directional

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 Indirect Communication
 Operations
 create a new mailbox (port)
 send and receive messages through mailbox
 destroy a mailbox
 Primitives are defined as:
send(A, message) – send a message to mailbox A
receive(A, message) – receive a message from mailbox A

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 Indirect Communication
 Mailbox sharing
 P1, P2, and P3 share mailbox A
 P1, sends; P2 and P3 receive
 Who gets the message?
 Solutions
 Allow a link to be associated with at most two processes
 Allow only one process at a time to execute a receive operation
 Allow the system to select arbitrarily the receiver. Sender is notified who
the receiver was.

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 Synchronization
 Message passing may be either blocking or non-blocking
 Blocking is considered synchronous
 Blocking send -- the sender is blocked until the message is received
 Blocking receive -- the receiver is blocked until a message is available
 Non-blocking is considered asynchronous
 Non-blocking send -- the sender sends the message and continue
 Non-blocking receive -- the receiver receives:
 A valid message, or
 Null message
 Different combinations possible
 When both send() and receive() are blocking, we have a rendezvous between the
sender and the receiver.
 If both send and receive are blocking, we have a rendezvous

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 Producer – Shared Memory

message next_produced;

while (true) {
/* produce an item in next_produced */

send(next_produced);
}

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 Consumer– Shared Memory

message next_consumed;

while (true) {
receive(next_consumed)

/* consume the item in next_consumed */

}

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 Buffering

 Queue of messages attached to the link.

 Implemented in one of three ways
1. Zero capacity – no messages are queued on a link.
Sender must wait for receiver (rendezvous)
2. Bounded capacity – finite length of n messages
Sender must wait if link full
3. Unbounded capacity – infinite length
Sender never waits

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End of Chapter 3

Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018