Chapter 2: Operating-System
Structures
Operating System Concepts Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Operating System Services
Operating systems provide an environment for execution of programs
and services to programs and users
A set of operating-system services provides functions that are helpful
to the user:
User interface - Almost all operating systems have a user interface (UI).
4 Varies between Command-Line Interface (CLI), Graphical User Interface
(GUI), Touch-screen
Program execution - The system must be able to load a program into
memory, to run that program, and 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
Operating System Concepts 4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Operating System Services (Cont.)
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.
Communications – Processes may exchange information, on the same
computer or between computers over a network
4 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
4 May occur in the CPU and memory, hardware, in I/O devices, in user program
4 For each type of error, OS should take the appropriate action to ensure correct
and consistent computing
4 Debugging facilities can greatly enhance the user’s and programmer’s
abilities to efficiently use the system
Operating System Concepts 5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
4 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
4 Protection involves ensuring that all access to system resources is controlled
4 Security of the system from outsiders requires user authentication, extends to
defending external I/O devices from invalid access attempts
Operating System Concepts 6 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
A View of Operating System Services
Operating System Concepts 7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
User Operating System Interface - CLI
CLI or command interpreter allows direct command entry
Sometimes implemented in kernel, sometimes by system programs
Sometimes multiple flavors implemented – shells
Primarily fetches a command from user and executes it
Sometimes commands built-in, sometimes just names of programs
4 If the latter, adding new features doesn’t require shell modification
Operating System Concepts 8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Bourne Shell Command Interpreter
Operating System Concepts 9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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 providing information, options, execute function, open directory
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 (e.g., CDE, KDE,
GNOME)
Operating System Concepts 10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
Operating System Concepts 11 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
The Mac OS X GUI
Operating System Concepts 12 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
System Calls
Programming interface to the services provided by the OS
Typically written in a high-level language (e.g., 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)
Operating System Concepts 13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Example of System Calls
System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another file
Operating System Concepts 14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
System Call Implementation
Typically, a number 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 are hidden from programmer by API
4 Managed by run-time support library (set of functions built into libraries
included with compiler)
Operating System Concepts 16 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
API – System Call – OS Relationship
Index of open()
Index table
Operating System Concepts 17 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
4 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
4 This approach taken by Linux and Solaris
Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack (see Memory structure) by
the program and popped off the stack by the operating system
4 Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of parameters
being passed
Operating System Concepts 18 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Parameter Passing via Table
Operating System Concepts 19 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Types of System Calls
Process control
create process, terminate process
end, abort process execution
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
Operating System Concepts 20 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
Operating System Concepts 21 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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 using message passing model to host name or
process name
Shared-memory model create and gain access to memory regions
transfer status information
attach and detach remote devices
Operating System Concepts 22 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Types of System Calls (Cont.)
Protection
Control access to resources
Get and set permissions
Allow and deny user access
Operating System Concepts 23 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls
Operating System Concepts 24 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Standard C Library Example
C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write()
system call
Operating System Concepts 25 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
Operating System Concepts 28 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Linkers and Loaders
Source code compiled into object files designed to be loaded into any
physical memory location – relocatable object file
Linker combines these (also, brings in libraries) into single binary
executable file
Program resides on secondary storage as binary executable and
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
Object, executable files have standard formats, so
operating system knows how to load and start them
Operating System Concepts 32 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
The Role of the Linker and Loader
Operating System Concepts 33 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
Operating System Concepts 38 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
Kernel
4 Consists of everything below the system-call interface and above the physical
hardware
4 Provides the file system, CPU scheduling, memory management, and other
operating-system functions; a large number of functions for one level
Operating System Concepts 39 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Traditional UNIX System Structure
Beyond simple but not fully layered
Operating System Concepts 40 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Linux System Structure
Monolithic plus modular design
Operating System Concepts 41 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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
Operating System Concepts 42 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Microkernels
Moves as much from the kernel into user space
Mach is an example of microkernel
Mac OS X kernel (i.e., Darwin) partly based on Mach
Communication takes place between user modules using message
passing model
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
Operating System Concepts 43 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Microkernel System Structure
Operating System Concepts 44 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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.
Operating System Concepts 45 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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)
Operating System Concepts 46 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
macOS and iOS Structure
Operating System Concepts 47 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Darwin
Operating System Concepts 48 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
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”
Operating System Concepts 53 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Performance Tuning
Improve performance by removing bottlenecks
OS must provide means of computing and displaying measures of
system behavior
For example, “top” Linux program or Windows Task Manager
Operating System Concepts 56 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
