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), 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 - 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.
 Operating System Services (Cont.)
 One set of operating-system services provides functions that are
helpful to the user (Cont.):
• 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 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.
• 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
 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
A View of Operating System Services
 Command Line interpreter

 CLI allows direct command entry

 Sometimes implemented in kernel, sometimes by
systems program
 Sometimes multiple flavors implemented – shells
 Primarily fetches a command from user and executes it
 Sometimes commands built-in, sometimes just names
of programs
• If the latter, adding new features doesn’t require
shell modification
Bourne Shell Command Interpreter
 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)
 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
The Mac OS X GUI
Chapter 3: Operating-System
Calls
 Outline

 System Calls
 System Services
 Linkers and Loaders
 Why Applications are Operating System Specific
 Design and Implementation
 Operating System Structure
 Building and Booting an Operating System
 Operating System Debugging
 Objectives

 Illustrate how system calls are used to provide operating

system services
 Compare and contrast monolithic, layered, microkernel,
modular, and hybrid strategies for designing operating
systems
 Illustrate the process for booting an operating system
 Apply tools for monitoring operating system performance
 Design and implement kernel modules for interacting with a
Linux kernel
 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
 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 is 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
 System Call Parameter Passing
 Often, more information is required than simply identity of desired
system call
• Exact type and amount of information vary according to OS and
call
 Three general methods used to pass parameters to the OS
• Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
 In some cases, may be more parameters than registers

• Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and address of

block passed as a parameter in a register
 This approach taken by Linux and Solaris

• Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program and

popped off the stack by the operating system
• Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of
parameters being passed
Parameter Passing via Table
 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 (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
 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
 Standard C Library Example
 C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write() system call
 Example: Arduino

 Single-tasking
 No operating system
 Programs (sketch) loaded via
USB into flash memory
 Single memory space
 Boot loader loads program
 Program exit -> shell
reloaded

At system startup running a program

 System Services
 System programs provide a convenient environment for program
development and execution. They can be divided into:
• File manipulation
• Status information sometimes stored in a file
• Programming language support
• Program loading and execution
• Communications
• Background services
• Application programs
 Most users’ view of the operating system is defined by system
programs, not the actual system calls
 System Services (Cont.)
 Provide a convenient environment for program development and
execution
• Some of them are simply user interfaces to system calls; others
are considerably more complex

 File management - Create, delete, copy, rename, print, dump, list,

and generally manipulate files and directories

 Status information
• Some ask the system for info - date, time, amount of available
memory, disk space, number of users
• Others provide detailed performance, logging, and debugging
information
• Typically, these programs format and print the output to the
terminal or other output devices
• Some systems implement a registry - used to store and
retrieve configuration information
 System Services (Cont.)
 File modification
• Text editors to create and modify files
• Special commands to search contents of files or perform
transformations of the text
 Programming-language support - Compilers, assemblers,
debuggers and interpreters sometimes provided
 Program loading and execution- Absolute loaders, relocatable
loaders, linkage editors, and overlay-loaders, debugging systems for
higher-level and machine language
 Communications - Provide the mechanism for creating virtual
connections among processes, users, and computer systems
• Allow users to send messages to one another’s screens, browse
web pages, send electronic-mail messages, log in remotely,
transfer files from one machine to another
 System Services (Cont.)
 Background Services
• Launch at boot time
 Some for system startup, then terminate
 Some from system boot to shutdown

• Provide facilities like disk checking, process scheduling, error

logging, printing
• Run in user context not kernel context
• Known as services, subsystems, daemons
 Application programs
• Don’t pertain to system
• Run by users
• Not typically considered part of OS
• Launched by command line, mouse click, finger poke
 Linkers and Loaders

 Source code compiled into object files designed to be loaded into any
physical memory location – relocatable object file
 Linker combines these into single binary executable file
• Also brings in libraries
 Program resides on secondary storage as binary executable
 Must be brought into memory by loader to be executed
• Relocation assigns final addresses to program parts and adjusts
code and data in program to match those addresses
 Modern general purpose systems don’t link libraries into executables
• Rather, dynamically linked libraries (in Windows, DLLs) are
loaded as needed, shared by all that use the same version of that
same library (loaded once)
 Object, executable files have standard formats, so operating system
knows how to load and start them
The Role of the Linker and Loader
 Why Applications are Operating System Specific

 Apps compiled on one system usually not executable on other

operating systems
 Each operating system provides its own unique system calls
• Own file formats, etc.
 Apps can be multi-operating system
• Written in interpreted language like Python, Ruby, and interpreter
available on multiple operating systems
• App written in language that includes a VM containing the running
app (like Java)
• Use standard language (like C), compile separately on each
operating system to run on each
 Application Binary Interface (ABI) is architecture equivalent of API,
defines how different components of binary code can interface for a
given operating system on a given architecture, CPU, etc.
 Design and Implementation

 Design and Implementation of OS is not “solvable”, but some

approaches have proven successful
 Internal structure of different Operating Systems can vary widely
 Start the design by defining goals and specifications
 Affected by choice of hardware, type of system
 User goals and System goals
• User goals – operating system should be convenient to use,
easy to learn, reliable, safe, and fast
• System goals – operating system should be easy to design,
implement, and maintain, as well as flexible, reliable, error-free,
and efficient
 Specifying and designing an OS is highly creative task of software
engineering
 Policy and Mechanism

 Policy: What needs to be done?

• Example: Interrupt after every 100 seconds
 Mechanism: How to do something?
• Example: timer
 Important principle: separate policy from mechanism
 The separation of policy from mechanism is a very
important principle, it allows maximum flexibility if policy
decisions are to be changed later.
• Example: change 100 to 200
 Implementation
 Much variation
• Early OSes in assembly language
• Then system programming languages like Algol, PL/1
• Now C, C++
 Actually usually a mix of languages
• Lowest levels in assembly
• Main body in C
• Systems programs in C, C++, scripting languages like PERL,
Python, shell scripts
 More high-level language easier to port to other hardware
• But slower
 Emulation can allow an OS to run on non-native hardware
 Operating System Structure

 General-purpose OS is very large program

 Various ways to structure ones
• Simple structure – MS-DOS
• More complex – UNIX
• Layered – an abstraction
• Microkernel – Mach
 Monolithic Structure – Original UNIX
 UNIX – limited by hardware functionality, the original UNIX operating
system had limited structuring.
 The UNIX OS consists of two separable parts
• Systems programs
• The kernel
 Consists of everything below the system-call interface and
above the physical hardware
 Provides the file system, CPU scheduling, memory
management, and other operating-system functions; a large
number of functions for one level
Traditional UNIX System Structure
Beyond simple but not fully layered
 Linux System Structure
Monolithic plus modular design
 Microkernels
 Moves as much from the kernel into user space
 Mach is an example of microkernel
• Mac OS X kernel (Darwin) partly based on Mach
 Communication takes place between user modules using
message passing
 Benefits:
• Easier to extend a microkernel
• Easier to port the operating system to new architectures
• More reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
• More secure
 Detriments:
• Performance overhead of user space to kernel space
communication
Microkernel System Structure
 Modules
 Many modern operating systems implement loadable kernel
modules (LKMs)
• Uses object-oriented approach
• Each core component is separate
• Each talks to the others over known interfaces
• Each is loadable as needed within the kernel
 Overall, similar to layers but with more flexible
• Linux, Solaris, etc.
macOS and iOS Structure
Darwin
 Android
 Developed by Open Handset Alliance (mostly Google)
• Open Source
 Similar stack to iOS
 Based on Linux kernel but modified
• Provides process, memory, device-driver management
• Adds power management
 Runtime environment includes core set of libraries and Dalvik
virtual machine
• Apps developed in Java plus Android API
 Java class files compiled to Java bytecode then translated
to executable thnn runs in Dalvik VM
 Libraries include frameworks for web browser (webkit), database
(SQLite), multimedia, smaller libc
Android Architecture
 Building and Booting an Operating System

 Operating systems generally designed to run on a class of systems

with variety of peripherals
 Commonly, operating system already installed on purchased
computer
• But can build and install some other operating systems
• If generating an operating system from scratch
 Write the operating system source code
 Configure the operating system for the system on which it will
run
 Compile the operating system
 Install the operating system
 Boot the computer and its new operating system
 Building and Booting Linux

 Download Linux source code (http://www.kernel.org)

 Configure kernel via “make menuconfig”
 Compile the kernel using “make”
• Produces vmlinuz, the kernel image
• Compile kernel modules via “make modules”
• Install kernel modules into vmlinuz via “make
modules_install”
• Install new kernel on the system via “make install”
 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
• Sometimes two-step process where boot block at fixed location
loaded by ROM code, which loads bootstrap loader from disk
• Modern systems replace BIOS with Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface (UEFI)
 Common bootstrap loader, GRUB, allows selection of kernel from
multiple disks, versions, kernel options
 Kernel loads and system is then running
 Boot loaders frequently allow various boot states, such as single user
mode
 Operating-System Debugging

 Debugging is finding and fixing errors, or bugs

 Also performance tuning
 OS generate log files containing error information
 Failure of an application can generate core dump file capturing
memory of the process
 Operating system failure can generate crash dump file containing
kernel memory
 Beyond crashes, performance tuning can optimize system performance
• Sometimes using trace listings of activities, recorded for analysis
• Profiling is periodic sampling of instruction pointer to look for
statistical trends
Kernighan’s Law: “Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the
first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you
are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.”
 Performance Tuning

 Improve performance by removing bottlenecks

 OS must provide means of computing and displaying measures of
system behavior
 For example, “top” program or Windows Task Manager
 Tracing
 Collects data for a specific event, such as steps involved
in a system call invocation
 Tools include
• strace – trace system calls invoked by a process
• gdb – source-level debugger
• perf – collection of Linux performance tools
• tcpdump – collects network packets