Chapter 2: Operating-System Structures: Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018 Operating System Concepts - 10 Edition

Chapter 2: Operating-System
Structures
Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Chapter 2: Operating-System Structures
 Operating System Services

 User and Operating System-Interface
 System Calls
 System Services
 Linkers and Loaders
 Why Applications are Operating System Specific
 Operating System Structure
 Operating System Debugging
Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Objectives
 Identify services provided by an operating system
 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
 Apply tools for monitoring operating system performance
Operating System Services
 Operating systems provide an environment for execution of programs and
services to programs and users
 Some operating-system services provide functions that are helpful to the user:
 User interface - Almost all operating systems have a user interface (UI) such as
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
 I/O operations - A running program may require I/O (file or I/O device)
 File-system manipulation - Programs need to read and write files and directories,
create and delete them, search them, list file Information, permission management.
 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
User Operating System Interface - CLI
CLI or command interpreter allows direct command entry

 Sometimes implemented in kernel, sometimes by systems
program
 On systems with multiple command interpreters, the interpreters
are known as shells such as C shell, Bourne-Again shell,
Korn shell on UNIX and Linux.
 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
CLI Advantages
 More efficient, giving them faster access

 On some systems, only a subset of system functions is available
via the GUI
 Command-line interfaces usually make repetitive tasks easier.
 If a frequent task requires a set of commandline steps, those
steps can be recorded into a file, and that file can be run just
like a program.
 he program is not compiled into executable code but rather is
interpreted by the command-line interface.
 These shell scripts are very common on systems that are
command-line oriented, such as UNIX and Linux.
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 research facility
 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
System Calls
 Programming interface to the services provided by the OS
 Typically written in a high-level language (C or C++)
 Certain low-level tasks (for example, tasks where
hardware must be accessed directly) may have to be
written using assembly-language instructions.
Example of System Calls
 System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another file
cp in.txt ou.txt
Open the input file

if file doesn't exist, abort
Create output file
if file exists, abort
Loop
Read from input file
Write to output file
Until read fails
Close output file
Write completion message to screen
Terminate normally
Application Programming Interface (API)
 Each operating system has its own name for each system
call. Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level
Application Programming Interface (API) rather than
direct system call
 The API specifies a set of functions that are available to
an application programmer, including the parameters that
are passed to each function and the return values.
 Three of the most common APIs
 Windows API for Windows
 POSIX API for POSIX-based systems (UNIX, Linux,
and macOS)
 Java API for Java virtual machine (JVM)
Example of Standard API
System Call Implementation
 Run-Time Environment (RTE): is the full suite of software
needed to execute applications in a given language, including its
compilers or interpreters as well as other software, such as
libraries and loaders.
 Typically, a number is associated with each system call
 RTE provides a System-call interface that 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 of that system call
 Most details of OS interface hidden from programmer by API
and managed by RTE support library
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
 There may be more parameters than registers. In this caser,
parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and address
of block passed as a parameter in a register
 This approach used in 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
 System calls can be grouped roughly into six major categories:
1. process control
2. fil management
3. device management
4. information maintenance
5. communications
6. protection
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
Example: FreeBSD
 Unix variant
 Multitasking
 User login -> invoke user’s choice of shell
 Shell executes fork() system call to create
process
 Executes exec() to load program into
process
 Shell waits for process to terminate or
continues with user commands
 Process exits with:
 code = 0 – no error
 code > 0 – error code
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 operation 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
Operating System Structure
 General-purpose OS is very large program
 Various ways to structure ones
 Simple structure – MS-DOS
 More complex -- UNIX
 Layered – an abstrcation
 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
Layered Approach
 The operating system is divided

into a number of layers (levels),
each built on top of lower
layers. The bottom layer (layer
0), is the hardware; the highest
(layer N) is the user interface.
 With modularity, layers are
selected such that each uses
functions (operations) and
services of only lower-level
layers
Microkernels
 Moves as much from the kernel into user space
 Mach 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
Hybrid Systems
 Most modern operating systems are actually not one pure model
 Hybrid combines multiple approaches to address performance,
security, usability needs
 Linux and Solaris kernels in kernel address space, so
monolithic, plus modular for dynamic loading of functionality
 Windows mostly monolithic, plus microkernel for different
subsystem personalities
 Apple Mac OS X hybrid, layered, Aqua UI plus Cocoa
programming environment
 Below is kernel consisting of Mach microkernel and BSD Unix
parts, plus I/O kit and dynamically loadable modules (called
kernel extensions)
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 than runs in Dalvik VM
 Libraries include frameworks for web browser (webkit), database
(SQLite), multimedia, smaller libc
Android Architecture
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
BCC
 Debugging interactions between user-level and kernel code nearly

impossible without toolset that understands both and an instrument
their actions
 BCC (BPF Compiler Collection) is a rich toolkit providing tracing
features for Linux
 See also the original DTrace
 For example, disksnoop.py traces disk I/O activity
 Many other tools (next slide)
Linux bcc/BPF Tracing Tools

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Chapter 2: Operating-System

 Operating System Services

CLI or command interpreter allows direct command entry

 More efficient, giving them faster access

 User-friendly desktop metaphor interface

 Touchscreen devices require new

Open the input file

At system startup running a program

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

 Apps compiled on one system usually not executable on other

UNIX – limited by hardware functionality, the original UNIX

 The operating system is divided

 When power initialized on system, execution starts at a fixed memory

 Debugging is finding and fixing errors, or bugs

 Improve performance by removing bottlenecks

 Collects data for a specific event, such as steps involved in a system

 Debugging interactions between user-level and kernel code nearly

 Many other tools (next slide)

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