Week 02

CST2555 2022/23
Operating Systems and Computer
Networks
 What we will learn today

• 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

2.2
After this lecture you should:

• 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

2.3
 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

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.

2.4
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
• Debugging facilities can greatly enhance the user’s and programmer’s abilities to
efficiently use the system

2.5
 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

2.6
A View of Operating System Services

2.7
Command Line interpreter

• CLI allows direct command entry

• Sometimes implemented in kernel, sometimes by systems program
• A command interpreter is the part of a computer operating system that
understands and executes commands that are entered interactively by a
human being or from a program. In some operating systems, the
command interpreter is called the shell. Primarily fetches a command
from user and executes it.

2.8
Bourne Shell Command Interpreter

2.9
Common
Commands
in Linux

2.10
 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
• Aqua is the graphical user interface, design language and visual theme of
Apple’ with UNIX kernel underneath and shells available
• Unix and Linux have CLI with optional GUI interfaces (CDE, KDE, GNOME)

2.11
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

• A touch screen is a display device that allows

users to interact with a computer using their
finger or stylus. They're a useful alternative to
a mouse or keyboard for navigating a GUI
(graphical user interface). Touch screens are
used on various devices, such as computer
and laptop displays, smartphones, tablets,
cash registers, and information kiosks.

2.12
The Mac OS GUI

2.13
 System Calls
• In computing, a system call is the programmatic way in which a computer
program requests a service from the kernel of the operating system it is
executed on. A system call is a way for programs to interact with the operating
system. A computer program makes a system call when it makes a request to
the operating system’s kernel. System call provides the services of the
operating system to the user programs via Application Program Interface(API).
It provides an interface between a process and operating system to allow
user-level processes to request services of the operating system.
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

2.14
Example of System Calls

2.15
Example of Standard API

2.16
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)

2.17
API – System Call – OS Relationship

2.18
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

2.19
Parameter Passing via Table

2.20
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

2.21
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

2.22
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

2.23
Types of System Calls (Cont.)

• Protection
• Control access to resources
• Get and set permissions
• Allow and deny user access

2.24
Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

2.25
Standard C Library Example
• C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write() system
call

2.26
Example: Arduino
The Arduino board is connected to a computer
via USB, where it connects with the Arduino
development environment (IDE). The user
writes the Arduino code in the IDE, then
uploads it to the microcontroller which
executes the code, interacting with inputs and
outputs such as sensors, motors, and lights.

• An Arduino is based on a microcontroller

which is a simple easy to use computer
designed for beginners to run 1 program at a
time, repeatedly.

• Single-tasking
• No operating system
• Programs (sketch) loaded via USB into flash
At system startup running a program
memory
• Single memory space
• Boot loader loads program
• The bootloader is a small piece of software
that allows uploading of sketches onto the
Arduino board. It comes preprogrammed on
the microcontrollers on Arduino boards.

2.27
Example: FreeBSD
• Unix variant : is a free Unix-like operating
system descended from Research Unix via
the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD),
also known as “Berkeley Unix.”
• 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

2.28
System Services
• System programs provide a convenient environment for program
development and execution.
• A modern operating system includes system programs such as an
assembler, compiler, editor, loader, etc. These programs enable
programmers to create and run new programs.
• There are mainly six types of system programs. These are classified as
follows:
1.File Management
2.Status Information
3.File Modification
4.Programming-Language support
5.Program Loading and Execution
6.Communication
Some examples of system programs are: Compilers, Loaders, Macro processors
etc.

2.29
System Services (Cont.)

• 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

2.30
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. It provides all support to users. We can run any
programming language.
• Program loading and execution- When the program is ready after Assembling and
compilation, it must be loaded into memory for execution. A loader is part of an
operating system that is responsible for loading programs and libraries. It is one of
the essential stages for starting a program. Loaders, relocatable loaders, linkage
editors, and Overlay loaders are provided by the system.
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
• ftp, browsers, ssh etc

2.31
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, etc

2.32
Linkers and Loaders
• In the execution of the program, major role is played by two utility programs known as
Linker and Loader.

• 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. With Windows, EXE is the file extension for an
executable file. All EXE files are executable files, but not all executable files are EXE files. Executable files
commonly have an EXE file extension, but there are hundreds of other executable file formats. Executable
files contain binary machine code that has been compiled from source code. This low-level code instructs
a computer's central processing unit on how to run a program.
• Also brings in libraries
• Program resides on secondary storage as binary executable
• Must be brought into memory by loader to be executed
Loader is the program of the operating system which loads the executable from the disk into the primary
memory(RAM) for execution. It allocates the memory space to the executable module in main memory and
then transfers control to the beginning instruction of the program .
• 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
• Object, executable files have standard formats, so operating system knows how to load and start them

2.33
The Role of the Linker and Loader

2.34
 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
• 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.

2.35
 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

2.36
 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

2.37
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

2.38
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

2.39
Monolithic Structure
– Original UNIX
• UNIX – limited by hardware functionality,
the original UNIX operating system had
limited structuring.
• Unix is a monolithic kernel because all the
functionality is compiled into one big chunk
of code, including substantial
implementations for networking, file
systems, and devices.
• 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

2.40
Traditional UNIX System Structure
Beyond simple but not fully layered

2.41
Linux System Structure
Monolithic plus modular design

2.42
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

2.43
Microkernels
• Moves as much from the kernel into user space
• Mach is an example of microkernel
• 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

2.44
Microkernel System Structure

2.45
Modules
• Many modern operating systems implement loadable kernel
modules (LKMs)
• You can also add code to the Linux kernel while it is running. A
chunk of code that you add in this way is called a loadable
kernel module.
• 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.

2.46
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)

2.47
macOS Structure

2.48
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 then
runs in Dalvik VM
• The DVM is a virtual machine to run Android applications
• Libraries include frameworks for web browser (webkit),
database (SQLite), multimedia, smaller libc

2.50
Android Architecture

2.51
 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

2.52
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
BIOS: Stands for Basic Input/Output System and is mainly responsible for loading
the bootloader. When the computer starts, it runs a Power On Self Test (POST) to
make sure that core hardware such as the memory and hard disk is working
properly. BIOS detects the bootable device and if it finds the bootable device, it
will load the bootloader which will eventually load the operating system.
• Bootloader: Loads the kernel into the RAM with a set of kernel parameters.
• Modern systems replace BIOS with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB), a powerful and highly flexible boot loader
program allows selection of kernel from multiple disks, versions, kernel options;
The BIOS locates the bootloader and hands over control, which then locates the
OS and begins loading it into memory.
• Kernel loads and system is then running
• Boot loaders frequently allow various boot states, such as single user mode

2.53
 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
• A core dump is the printing or the copying to a more permanent medium (such as a hard
disk ) the contents of random access memory ( RAM ) at one moment in time. One can
think of it as a full-length "snapshot" of RAM. A core dump is taken mainly for the purpose
of debugging a program.
• Operating system failure can generate crash dump file containing kernel memory
• Among other things, it shows what processes and drivers that were running at the time
of the crash
• Beyond crashes, performance tuning can optimize system performance
Proper OS tuning improves system performance by preventing the occurrence of error
conditions. Operating system error conditions always degrade 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.”

2.54
 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

2.55
Tracing
 Collects data for a specific event, such as steps involved
in a system call invocation
 Tools include ( diagnostic )
• strace – trace system calls invoked by a process I
linux
• gdb – source-level debugger
• perf – collection of Linux performance tools
• tcpdump – collects network packets

2.56
BCC(Dynamic Tracing Tools for Linux Performance Monitoring, Networking and More)

 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 powerful set of appropriate
tools and example files for creating resourceful kernel tracing and
manipulation programs.
 For example, disksnoop.py traces disk I/O activity

 Many other tools (next slide)

2.57
Linux bcc/BPF Tracing Tools

2.58
End of Week 2