Chapter 2:

Operating-System Services
 Outline
▪ Operating System Services
▪ User and Operating System-Interface
▪ 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

▪ 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
▪ 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
 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
 Debuggingfacilities 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
 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
At system startup running a program
reloaded
 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 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