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
 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
 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
Note that the system-call names used throughout this text are
▪ Three mostgeneric
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)
 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
 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
 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 is an 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 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
thnn runs in Dalvik VM
▪ Libraries include frameworks for web browser (webkit), database (SQLite),
multimedia, smaller libc
Android Architecture
 Building and Booting an Operating System

▪ Operating systems generally designed to run on a class of systems with variety

of peripherals
▪ Commonly, operating system already installed on purchased computer
• But can build and install some other operating systems
• If generating an operating system from scratch
Write the operating system source code
Configure the operating system for the system on which it will run
Compile the operating system
Install the operating system
Boot the computer and its new operating system
 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”
 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
End of OS Services