Unix Internals: Ms. Radha Senthilkumar, Lecturer Department of IT MIT, Chromepet Anna University, Chennai

UNIX INTERNALS
Ms. Radha Senthilkumar, Lecturer

Department of IT
MIT, Chromepet
Anna University, Chennai.
1
INTERNAL REPRESENTATION
OF FILES
THE DESIGN OF THE UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM

Maurice J. bach Prentice Hall
2
Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Structure of a Regular File
Directories
Conversion of a Path Name to an Inode
Super Block
Inode Assignment to a New File
Allocation of Disk Blocks
Other File Types
Summary
CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 3

Introduction (1)
The inode contains information
necessary for a process to access a file.
Process access a file by a well defined
set of system calls by specifying the
path name
Kernel converts the path name to the
file’s inode.

Introduction (2)
How the kernel manipulates the inode
The internal structure of regular files and
how the kernel reads and writes their data
Structure of the directory
Structure of the superblock
Assignment of disk inodes and disk block to
file
file types : pipes and device file

File System Algorithms
namei
alloc free ialloc ifree
iget iput bmap

Buffer allocation algorithms
getblk brelse bread breada bwrite
Lower Level File system Algorithms

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

Definition of Inodes
Every file has a unique inode
Contain the information necessary for a
process to access a file
Exist in a static form on disk
Kernel reads them into an in-core inode
to manipulate them.

Contents of Disk Inodes
File owner identifier (individual/group owner)
File type (regular, directory,..)
File access permission (owner,group,other)
File access time
Number of links to the file
Table of contents for the disk address of data in a file
 Kernel saves the data in discontiguous disk blocks
 The Inodes identifies the disk blocks
File size
 1 greater than the highest byte offset of data
 Byte offset 1000 -> the size of the file : 1001 byte

Sample Disk Inode
File owner identifier Owner mjb
File type Group os
File access permission Type regular file
File access time Perms rwxr-xr-x
Accessed Oct 23 1984 1:45
Number of links to the P.M
file
Modified Oct 22 1984
Table of contents for 10:3 A.M
the disk address of data Inode Oct 23 1984 1:30
in a file P.M
File size Size 6030 bytes
Disk addresses

Distinction Between Writing Inode
and File
File change only when writing it.

Inode change when changing the file, or
when changing its owner, permisson,or link
settings.
Changing a file implies a change to the inode,
But, changing the inode does not imply that
the file change.

Contents of The In-core copy of The
Inode(1)
Fields of the disk inode
Status of the in-core inode, indicating
whether
 Inode is locked
 Process is waiting for the inode to become
unlocked
 Differ from the disk copy as a result of a change
to the data in the inode
 Differ from the disk copy as a result of a change
to the file data
 File is a mount point

Contents of The In-core copy of The
Inode (2)
Logical device number of the file system

Inode number (linear array on disk, disk
inode not need this field)
Pointers to other in-core inodes
Reference count

In-core Inode Vs Buffer
Header
In-core Inode
 An inode is on the free list only if its
reference count is 0
 Kernel can reallocate the in-core inode to
another disk inode
Buffer header
 No reference count
 It is on the free list if and only if it is
unlocked

Algorithm for Allocation of In-Core
Inodes (1)
algorithm iget
input: file system inode number
output: locked inode
{
while(not done){
if (inode in inode cache){
if (inode locked){
sleep(event inode becomes unlocked);
continue;
}
if (inode on inode free list) remove from free list;
increment inode reference count;
return (inode);
}

Algorithm for Allocation of In-Core
Inodes (2)
/*inode not in inode cache*/
if(no inodes on free list)
return(error);
remove new inode from free list;
reset inode number and file system;
remove inode from old hash queue,place on new one;
read inode from disk(algorithm bread);
initialize inode (e.g. reference count to 1);
return (inode);
}
}

Accessing Inodes
Kernel identifies inodes by their file system
and inode number
Allocate in-core inodes at the request of
higher-level algorithms (in-core inode, by iget
algorithm)
Kernel maps the device number & inode
number into a hash queue
Search the queue for the inode
…

Block Number
Computing logical disk block number
 Block number
= ((inode number –1) / number of inodes per block)
+ start block inode list
 Example 1
 Block 2 : beginning of the inode list

 8 inodes per block
 Inode number 8 is in disk block ?
 Inode number 9 is ?
 Example 2
 Block 2 : beginning of the inode list
 16 inodes per block
 Inode number 8 is in disk block ?

Byte Offset
Read the block using bread
Computing byte offset of the inode in
the block
 ((inode number –1) mod (number of inodes per
block))* size of disk inode
 Example
 Each disk inode 64 bytes
 1 block : 8 inodes
 Inode 8 starts at byte offset 448 in the disk block

Inode Lock and Reference
Count
Kernel manipulates them independently
Inode lock
 Set during execution of a system call to prevent other
processes from accessing the inode while it is in use.
 Kernel releases the lock at the conclusion of the system call
 Inode is never locked across system calls.
Reference count
 Kernel increase/decrease when reference is active/inactive
 Prevent the kernel from reallocating an active in-core inode
Thus kernel can lock and unlock an allocated inode
independent of the value of the reference count.

Releasing an Inodes(1)
Using algorithm iput
 decrements in-core reference count
 Write the inode to disk
 Reference count is 0
 The in-core copy differs from the disk copy
 Add the inode on the free list of inodes
 For caching

Releasing an Inode (2)
algorithm iput /* release (put) access to in-core inode */
input: pointer to in-core inode
output: none
{
lock inode if not already locked;
decrement inode reference count;
if(reference count ==0){
if(inode link count ==0){
free disk blocks for file (algorithm free, section 4.7);
set file type to 0;
free inode (algorithm ifree, section 4.6);
}
if(file accessed or inode changed or file changed) update disk inode;
put inode on free list;
}
release inode lock; }

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

Table of contents in an inode
 Location of a file’s data on disk
 A set of disk block #
 Each block on a disk is addressable by number
 Not contiguous file allocation strategy
 Why ?
 When a file expand or contract…
 Fragmentations occur

Sample - Fragmentation
…. File A File B File C …….
40 50 60 70
…. File A Free File C File B …….
40 50 60 70 85
File B was expanded

Garbage collection – too high cost

Structure of a Regular File –
UNIX System V
13 entries in the inode table of contents
 10 direct, 1 indirect, 1 double indirect, 1 triple indirect block
Assume
 a logical block = 1K bytes
 a block number is addressable by a 32 bit (4 bytes) integer
 a block can hold up to 256 block numbers
Byte Capacity of a File
10 direct blocks with 1K bytes each= 10K bytes

1 indirect block with 256 direct blocks= 1K*256 = 256K bytes
1 double indirect block with 256 indirect blocks = 256K*256= 64M bytes
1 triple indirect block with 256 double indirect blocks=64M*256=16G bytes

Direct and Indirect Blocks in
Inode
Inode Data Blocks
direct0
direct1
direct2
direct3
direct4
direct5
direct6
direct7
direct8
direct9
single indirect
double indirect
triple indirect

Byte Offset and Block Number
Process access data in a file by byte offset.
The file starts at logical block 0 and continues
to a logical block number corresponding to
the file size
Kernel accesses the inode and converts the
logical file block into the appropriate disk
block (bmap algorithm)

Conversion of Byte Offset to Block
Number
Algorithm bmap /* block map of logical file byte offset to file system block */
Input : inode, byte offset
Output: (1) block number in file system, (2) byte offset into block,
(3) bytes of I/O in block, (4) read ahead block number
calculate logical block number in file from byte offset;
calculate start byte in block for I/O; /* output 2 */
calculate number of bytes to copy to user; /* output 3 */
check if read-ahead applicable, mark inode; /* output 4*/
determine level of indirection;
while(not at necessary level of indirection)
calculate index into inode or indirect block from logical block number in
file;
get disk block number from inode or indirect block;
release buffer from previous disk read, if any (algorithm brelse);
if(no more levels of indirection) return (block number);
read indirect disk block (algorithm bread);
adjust logical block number in file according to level of indirection;

Block Layout of a Sample File and Its
inode
0 4096
228
45423
0 Byte 9000 in a file ->
8block 808th byte
0
11111
367
0 Data block
101
8 367 75
0 816th byte
331 3333
0
3333
428 (10K+256K) Data block
331
9156 Single indirect Byte 350,000 in a file
11 9156 Double indirect
824

Unix i-nodes - Example
Byte number 9200 is in direct block 8
228
#1008th byte in block 367
4542
Byte number 355,000 is calculated
as follows: 3
a. 1st byte of the double indirect block is 0
367 data block
256k+10k = 272,384 0
b. byte number 355,000 is number 1111
82,616 in the double indirect block
0
c. every single indirect block has 256k
bytes --> byte 355,000 is in the 101
0th single indirect block - 231 367 123
231 80
123
d. Every entry is 1k, so byte 82,616 is 0
in the 80th block - 123 231
428
e. within block 123 it is byte #696
9156 9156
824

Block Entry in the Inode is 0
Logical block entry contain no data.
Process never wrote data into the file at that
byte offset
No disk space is wasted
Cause by using the lseek and write system
call

Two Extensions to the inode
Structure
4.2 BSD file system
 The more data the kernel can access on the disk in
a single operation, the faster file access becomes
 But it increase block fragmentation
 Solution : One disk block can contain fragments
belonging to several files
To store file data in the inode
 By expanding the inode to occupy an entire disk
block
 The remainder can store the entire file

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

Directories
A directory is a file
Its data is a sequence of entries, each
consisting of an inode number and the name of
a file contained in the directory
Path name is a null terminated character string
divided by “/”
Each component except the last must be the
name of a directory, last component may be a
non-directory file

Directory Layout for /etc
Byte Offset Inode Number File Names
in Directory (2 bytes)
0 83 .
16 2 ..
32 1798 init
48 1276 fsck
... ... …
224 0 crash
240 95 mkfs
256 188 inittab

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

conversion of path name to an inode
if (path name starts with root)

 working inode= root inode
else
 working inode= current directory inode
while (there is more path name)
 read next component from input
 read directory content
 if (component matches an entry in directory)
 get inode number for matched component
 release working inode
 working inode=inode of matched component
 else
 return no inode
return (working inode)

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

Super block
File System
boot block super block inode list data blocks
Consists of
 the size of the file system
 the number of free blocks in the file system
 a list of free blocks available on the file system
 the index of the next free block in the free block list
 the size of the inode list
 the number of free inodes in the file system
 a list of free inodes in the file system
 the index of the next free inode in the free inode list
 lock fields for the free block and free inode lists
 a flag indicating that the super block has been modified

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

Inode Assignment to a New
File
File system contains a linear list of inodes
Inode is free : its type field is zero (0)
Super block contains an array to cache the
numbers of free inodes in the file system (to
improve performance)

Algorithm for Assigning New
Algorithm ialloc
Inodes(1)
/* allocate inode */
Input : file system
Output : locked inode
{
while(not done){
if(super block locked) {
sleep(event super block becomes free); continue;
}
if(inode list in super block is empty){
lock super block;
get remembered inode for free inode search;
search disk for free inodes until super block full,
or no more free inodes (bread and brelese);
unlock super block;
wake up (event super block becomes free);
if(no free inodes found on disk) return (no inode);
set remembered inode for next free inode search;
}

Algorithm for Assigning New
Inodes(2)
/* there are inodes in super block inode list */
get inode number from super block inode list;
get inode (algorithm iget);
if(inode not free after all) {
write inode to disk;
release inode (algorithm iput);
continue; /* while loop */
}
/* inode is free */
initialize inode;
write inode to disk;
decrement file system free inode count;
return (inode);
} // end of while
}

Assigning Free Inode from Middle
of List
Super Block Free Inode List

free inodes 83 48 empty
18 19 20 array
index

free inodes 83 empty
18 19 20 array
index

Assigning Free Inode – Super Block List
Empty

470 empty
0 array1
remembered
index inode
Super Block Free Inode List array2

535 free inodes 476 475 471
0
48 49 50
index

Algorithm for Freeing Inode
Algorithm ifree /* inode free */
Input : file system inode number
Output : none
{
increment file system free inode count;
if(super block locked) return;
if(inode list full){
if(inode number less than remembered inode for search)
set remembered inode for search = input inode number;
} else
store inode number in inode list;
return;
}

Placing Free Inode Numbers Into the Super
Block
535 476 475
471
free inodes
remembered inode index
Original Super Block List of Free Inodes
499 476 475

471
free inodes
Free Inode 499
499 476 475

471
free inodes
Free Inode 601

Race Condition in Assigning
Inodes
Process A Process B Process C
Assigns inode I from

super block
Sleeps while reading

inode(a)
Tries to assign inode from
super block
Super block empty(b)
Search for free inodes on
disk, puts inode I in super
block (c)
Inode I in core
Does usual
activity Completes search,
assigns another
inode(d) Assigns inode I from
super block
I is in use!
Assign another inode(e)

Race Condition in Assigning
Inodes
Time
(a) I
empty
(b)
(c) Free inodes

J I K
Free inodes
(d) J I
(e) Free inodes L

Table of Contents
Inodes
Directories
Super Block
Other File Types
Summary

Linked List of Free Disk Block Numbers
Super block list
109 106 103 100 …………………………..
109
211 208 205 202 …………………… 112
211
310 307 304 301 …………………… 214
310
409 406 403 400 …………………… 313

Algorithm for Allocating Disk
Block
algorithm alloc
- The kernel wants to allocate a block from a file system
it allocates the next available block in the super block list
- Once allocated , the block cannot be reallocated until it becomes free
- If the allocated block is the last block , the kernel treats it as a pointer
to a block that contains a list of free blocks
• The kernel locks super block, reads block just taken from
free list, copies block numbers in block into super
block, releases block buffer,and unlocks super block
- Otherwise,
• The kernels gets buffer for block removed from super
block list , zero buffer contents, decrements total count
of free blocks, and marks super block modified

Requesting and Freeing Disk
Blocks
super block list
109 …………………………………………………………
109
211 208 205 202 ……………………………..
112
original configuration
109 949 …………………………………………………..
109
211 208 205 202 ……………………………….
112
After freeing block number 949

Requesting and Freeing Disk
Blocks
109 ………………………………………………………..
109
211 208 205 202 ……………………………….
112
After assigning block number(949)
211 208 205 202 ………………………………

112
211
344 341 338 335 ……………………………….
243
After assigning block number(109)
replenish super block free list

ALLOCATION OF DISK BLOCK
The reason of maintaining a linked list of block
number comparing with inodes.
1. The kernel requires an external method to identify
free blocks, but inodes don’t need.
2. Disk blocks lend themselves to the use of linked lists:
a disk block easily holds large lists of free block
numbers. But inodes aren’t.
3. Users tend to consume disk block resources more
quickly than they consume inodes.
Internal representation of files

56
Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Structure of a regular file
Directories
Conversion of a path name to an Inode
Super block
Inode assignment to a new file
Allocation of disk blocks
Other file types
Summary

Other File Types
Pipe
 fifo(first-in-first-out)
 Its data is transient: once data is read from a pipe, it
cannot be read again
 Use only direct block (not the indirect block)
Special file
 block device, character device
 The inode contains the major and minor device number
 Major number indicates a device type such as terminal or
disk
 Minor number indicates the unit number of the device

Table of Contents
Introduction
Inodes
Structure of a regular file
Directories
Conversion of a path name to an Inode
Super block
Inode assignment to a new file
Allocation of disk blocks
Other file types
Summary

Summary
Inode is the data structure that describes the attributes of a
file, including the layout of its data on disk.
Two version of the inode
 Disk copy : store the inode information when file is not in use
 In-core copy : record the information about active files.
ialloc/ifree : assignment of a disk inode
iget/iput : allocation of in-core inodes
bmap : locate disk blocks of a file, according to byte offset
Directories : files that correlate file name components to
inode numbers
namei : convert file names to inodes
alloc/free : assignment of new disk blocks to a file

Unix Internals: Ms. Radha Senthilkumar, Lecturer Department of IT MIT, Chromepet Anna University, Chennai

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UNIX INTERNALS

Ms. Radha Senthilkumar, Lecturer

THE DESIGN OF THE UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 3

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 4

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 5

iget iput bmap

Lower Level File system Algorithms

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 6

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 7

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 8

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 9

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 10

File change only when writing it.

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 11

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 12

Logical device number of the file system

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 13

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 14

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 15

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 16

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 17

 Block 2 : beginning of the inode list

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 18

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 19

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 20

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 21

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 22

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 23

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 24

…. File A File B File C …….

…. File A Free File C File B …….

File B was expanded

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 25

10 direct blocks with 1K bytes each= 10K bytes

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 26

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 27

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 28

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 29

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 30

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if (path name starts with root)

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 38

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 39

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 40

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 41

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Super Block Free Inode List

Super Block Free Inode List

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 45

Super Block Free Inode List

Super Block Free Inode List array2

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 46

CS502 / IT524 Internal representation of files 47

499 476 475