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The OS is a BIG program

Advanced Operating
The operating system is a large program
Systems composed of many modules.

Writing and updating an OS requires careful
Chapter 04 software engineering techniques.
OS Structure
Errors in the OS can cause the whole system
to fail.

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System Implementation

Once written in assembly language, operating
systems are now written in higher-level languages

Code written in a high-level language:
– Can be written faster
– Is more compact.
– Is easier to understand and debug

An operating system is far easier to port (move to
some other hardware) if it is written in a high-level
language
System Design 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
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System Components OS kernel

Process management
The kernel of the OS is the portion providing privileged high
priority functions.

Memory management – Dispatcher
– Interrupt handling

File management
– I/O control

I/O management – Memory management

Some parts of the operating system do not reside in the kernel.

Security manager

Shell
It is the main component of most computer operating systems;

OR it is a bridge between applications and the actual data
processing done at the hardware level.
– The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the
communication between hardware and software components).

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Microkernel System Structure

Moves as much from the kernel into “user”
space

Communication takes place between user
modules using message passing
Microkernel System Structure

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
The overhead of user space to kernel 9 10

space communication includes

Shell Interface Program
1. Interrupt processing
The shell is the user interface.

It is part of the OS
2. Address space differences
Runs at the user level (not kernel level)
3. Both
The shell reads the user’s commands and then
causes the applications to be loaded and executed.

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Shell Features

Reads user input and executes programs.

Provides the prompt.

Implements redirection

Implements parallel execution with ‘&’

May implement simple commands

Shells may provide a graphical user interface
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Human Interface

The shell is the part of the OS that is most
important to most users.

Considerable effort has gone into trying to
make the interface intuitive and easy to use
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Popular Shells Shell Outline

command.com in DOS do forever
{

C shell in Unix print prompt;

Korn shell in Unix read command;
if (fork()==0)

Borne shell in Unix
{ // child process

explorer.exe – Windows user interface use exec() to load program;

Cygwin – Unix shell for Windows }
wait for child process to terminate;
}

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execv function Member functions of Process.h

int _execv( const char *cmdname, const char *argv[ ] );

where:
– cmdname is the name of the program file.
– argv is an array of pointer to strings containing the parameters.
By convention argv[0] = cmdname; The last argv entry must be NULL.

The execv function causes the specified program to overlay the

calling program. This function does not return if successful.

This “execv” function is the member function of “process.h”

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Standard I/O Streams
When a program is started, it has three I/O streams
open:
stdin – Standard input usually keyboard
stdout – Standard output usually screen
stderr – Standard error usually screen
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Multiple Processes

If you put a “&” at the end of a command, the shell
will not wait for the process to terminate before
printing the next prompt.

You can run a process “in the background” by putting
a “&” at the end of the line.

You can put a “&” between commands to execute

them in parallel.

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Example Multiple Processes Shell Outline
makefile bigthing & do forever
{
print prompt;
xterm & read command;
if (fork()==0)
{ // child process
ls & cc myprog.c use exec() to load program;
}
if (no “&”)
ls & cc myprog.c & ps wait for child to terminate;
}
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Scripts

The shell can execute script files to produce
commands for the shell.

Scripts are a program whose output is a series of
commands to the shell.

DOS batch files are a simple example of scripting.

Unix scripts can be much more elaborate.
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Utilities

An operating system is more than just the kernel,
there are many utilities.

The utilities are just user applications.

Different user interfaces require different utilities

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DOS Commands Unix Commands
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Windows Utilities Process Management

A process is a program in execution
– A process needs certain resources, including CPU time,
memory, files, and I/O devices, to accomplish its task

The operating system is responsible for the following
activities in connection with process management
creation, deletion
suspension, resumption
synchronization, communication

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Main-Memory Management File Management

Memory is a large array of words or bytes, each with
The operating system is responsible for the
its own address following activities in connections with file

RAM is a volatile storage device. It loses its contents management:
without power.
– File creation and deletion

The operating system is responsible for the following
– Directory creation and deletion
activities in connection with memory management
– Keep track of which parts of memory are currently being used and – Support of primitives for manipulating files and
by whom directories
– Decide which processes to load when memory space becomes – Mapping files onto secondary storage
available
– Allocate and de-allocate memory space as needed
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Secondary-Storage Management I/O System Management

Since RAM is volatile and too small to accommodate
The I/O system consists of:
all data and programs permanently, the computer – A buffer-caching system
system must provide secondary storage to back up
– A general device-driver interface
main memory
– Drivers for specific hardware devices

Most modern computer systems use disks as the
primary on-line storage medium, for both programs
and data

The operating system is responsible for:
– Free space management
– Storage allocation
– Disk scheduling

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Security manager OS Services

The Security manager provides a mechanism for
Program Execution
controlling access by programs, processes, or users

I/O control
to both system and user resources

The protection mechanism must:
Communications
– distinguish between authorized and unauthorized usage
Error detection
– specify the controls to be imposed

Resource allocation
– provide a means of enforcement

Protection
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Supervisor Calls

Supervisor Calls (SVC) are a means of making a
function call to an OS service.

The normal function call mechanism will not work
since you have to change to the OS environment.

An SVC or INT call generates an interrupt. The OS
gets control and executes the desired function.
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Virtual Machines (Cont.)

The resources of the physical computer are shared to
create the virtual machines
– CPU scheduling can create the appearance that users have
their own processor
– Spooling and a file system can provide virtual card readers
and virtual line printers
– A normal user time-sharing terminal serves as the virtual
machine operator’s console
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Virtual Machines

A virtual machine takes the layered approach to its
logical conclusion. It treats hardware and the
operating system kernel as though they were all
hardware

A virtual machine provides an interface identical to
the underlying bare hardware

The operating system creates the illusion of multiple
processes, each executing on its own processor with
its own (virtual) memory
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Advantages/Disadvantages
of Virtual Machines

The virtual-machine concept provides
complete protection of system resources
since each virtual machine is isolated from all
other virtual machines. This isolation,
however, permits no direct sharing of
resources.
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Pros / Cons of Virtual Machines System Generation (SYSGEN)

A virtual-machine system is a perfect vehicle for
Older OS had to be recompiled whenever you
operating-systems research and development. made a configuration change.

The virtual machine concept is difficult to implement

due to the effort required to provide an exact
Most modern OS contain code for every
duplicate to the underlying machine possible configuration. Code is dynamically
added when new hardware is found.

The OS on a virtual machine cannot change the real
page tables. Paging is sometimes handled
completely by the host OS.