SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

21CSC202J - OPERATING SYSTEMS

Unit- I
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY,CHENNAI.

UNIT I SYLLABUS

Computer-System Organization, Computer-System Architecture, Operating-System

Structure, Operating-System Operations, Process Management, Memory
Management, Storage Management, Protection and Security, Kernel Data Structures,
Computing Environments, Open-Source Operating Systems, Operating-System
Services, User and Operating-System Interface, System Calls, Types of System Calls,
System Programs, Operating-System Design and Implementation, Operating-System
Structure, Operating-System Debugging, Operating-System Generation, System Boot.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

What is an Operating System?

 It is a software program that manages computer hardware and
software resources and provides common services for computer
programs.

❑ Operating system goals:

❖ Execute user programs and make solving user problems easier
❖ Make the computer system convenient to use
❖ Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
The primary functions of an operating system include:
 Process Management: Allocating system resources to running processes,
scheduling them for execution, and managing their interactions.
 Memory Management: Allocating and deallocating memory space as
needed to programs and processes, ensuring efficient use of available
memory.
 File System Management: Organizing and managing files and directories
on storage devices, including reading, writing, and accessing files.
 Device Management: Managing communication between hardware
devices (such as printers, keyboards, and disks) and the computer system,
ensuring proper operation and control.
 User Interface: Providing a user-friendly interface for interaction with the
computer system, which can include command-line interfaces (CLI) or
graphical user interfaces (GUI).
 Security: Implementing security measures to protect the system and its
data from unauthorized access, viruses, and other malicious threats.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computer System Structure

Computer system can be divided into four components:

✔ Hardware – provides basic computing resources

CPU, memory, I/O devices
✔ Operating system
Controls and coordinates use of hardware among various
applications and users
✔ Application programs – define the ways in which the system
resources are used to solve the computing problems of the users
Word processors, compilers, web browsers, database systems,
video games
✔ Users
People, machines, other computers
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Four Components of a Computer System
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Definition

✔ OS is a resource allocator
Manages all resources
Decides between conflicting requests for efficient and fair resource use

✔ OS is a control program
Controls execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of
the computer
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Definition (Cont.)

• No universally accepted definition

“Everything a vendor ships when you order an operating
system” is a good approximation
But varies wildly
“The one program running at all times on the computer” is
the kernel.
• Everything else is either
a system program (ships with the operating system) , or
an application program.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computer Startup
• Bootstrap program is loaded at power-up or reboot
• Typically stored in ROM or EPROM, generally known as firmware
• Initializes all aspects of system
• Loads operating system kernel and starts execution
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computer System Organization

✔ Computer-system operation
✔ One or more CPUs, device controllers connect through common bus
providing access to shared memory
✔ Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices competing for memory
cycles
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computer-System Operation

❖ I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently

❖ Each device controller is in charge of a particular device type
❖ Each device controller has a local buffer
❖ CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers
❖ I/O is from the device to local buffer of controller
❖ Device controller informs CPU that it has finished its operation
by causing an interrupt
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Common Functions of Interrupts

❑ Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine generally,
through the interrupt vector, which contains the addresses of all
the service routines
❑ Interrupt architecture must save the address of the interrupted
instruction
❑ A trap or exception is a software-generated interrupt caused either
by an error or a user request
❑ An operating system is interrupt driven
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Interrupt Handling

❑ The operating system preserves the state of the CPU by storing

registers and the program counter
❑ Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:
❑ polling
❑ vectored interrupt system
❑ Separate segments of code determine what action should be taken
for each type of interrupt
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Interrupt Timeline
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

I/O Structure
❑ After I/O starts, control returns to user program only upon I/O
completion
❑ Wait instruction idles the CPU until the next interrupt
❑ Wait loop (contention for memory access)
❑ At most one I/O request is outstanding at a time, no simultaneous I/O processing
❑ After I/O starts, control returns to user program without waiting for I/O
completion
❑ System call – request to the OS to allow user to wait for I/O completion
❑ Device-status table contains entry for each I/O device indicating its type, address,
and state
❑ OS indexes into I/O device table to determine device status and to modify table
entry to include interrupt
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Storage Definitions and Notation Review
The basic unit of computer storage is the bit. A bit can contain one of two values, 0 and 1.
All other storage in a computer is based on collections of bits. Given enough bits, it is
amazing how many things a computer can represent: numbers, letters, images, movies,
sounds, documents, and programs, to name a few. A byte is 8 bits, and on most computers
it is the smallest convenient chunk of storage. For example, most computers don’t have an
instruction to move a bit but do have one to move a byte. A less common term is word,
which is a given computer architecture’s native unit of data. A word is made up of one or
more bytes. For example, a computer that has 64-bit registers and 64-bit memory
addressing typically has 64-bit (8-byte) words. A computer executes many operations in its
native word size rather than a byte at a time.

Computer storage, along with most computer throughput, is generally measured and
manipulated in bytes and collections of bytes.
A kilobyte, or KB, is 1,024 bytes
a megabyte, or MB, is 1,0242 bytes
a gigabyte, or GB, is 1,0243 bytes
a terabyte, or TB, is 1,0244 bytes
a petabyte, or PB, is 1,0245 bytes

Computer manufacturers often round off these numbers and say that a megabyte is 1 million
bytes and a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. Networking measurements are an exception to this
general rule; they are given in bits (because networks move data a bit at a time).
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Storage Structure
❑ Main memory – only large storage media that the CPU can
access directly
❑ Random access
❑ Typically volatile
❑ Secondary storage – extension of main memory that provides
large nonvolatile storage capacity
❑ Hard disks – rigid metal or glass platters covered with
magnetic recording material
❑ Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which are subdivided into sectors
❑ The disk controller determines the logical interaction between the device and
the computer
❑ Solid-state disks – faster than hard disks, nonvolatile
❑ Various technologies
❑ Becoming more popular
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Storage Hierarchy

❑ Storage systems organized in hierarchy

❑ Speed
❑ Cost
❑ Volatility
❑ Caching – copying information into faster storage
system; main memory can be viewed as a cache for
secondary storage
❑ Device Driver for each device controller to manage
I/O
❑ Provides uniform interface between controller and kernel
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Storage-Device Hierarchy
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Caching
✔ Important principle, performed at many levels in a computer (in
hardware, operating system, software)
✔ Information in use copied from slower to faster storage temporarily
✔ Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if information is
there
✔ If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast)
✔ If not, data copied to cache and used there
✔ Cache smaller than storage being cached
✔ Cache management important design problem
✔ Cache size and replacement policy
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Direct Memory Access Structure

o Used for high-speed I/O devices able to transmit information at
close to memory speeds
o Device controller transfers blocks of data from buffer storage
directly to main memory without CPU intervention
o Only one interrupt is generated per block, rather than the one
interrupt per byte
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
How a Modern Computer Works

A von Neumann architecture

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computer-System Architecture

⮚ Most systems use a single general-purpose processor

⮚ Most systems have special-purpose processors as well
⮚ Multiprocessors systems growing in use and importance
⮚ Also known as parallel systems, tightly-coupled systems
⮚ Advantages include:
⮚ Increased throughput
⮚ Economy of scale
⮚ Increased reliability – graceful degradation or fault tolerance
⮚ Two types:
⮚ Asymmetric Multiprocessing – each processor is assigned a specie task.
⮚ Symmetric Multiprocessing – each processor performs all tasks
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
A Dual-Core Design
Multi-chip and multicore
Systems containing all chips
Chassis containing multiple separate systems
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Clustered Systems
✔ Like multiprocessor systems, but multiple systems working
together
✔ Usually sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)
✔ Provides a high-availability service which survives failures
✔ Asymmetric clustering has one machine in hot-standby mode
✔ Symmetric clustering has multiple nodes running applications,
monitoring each other
✔ Some clusters are for high-performance computing (HPC)
✔ Applications must be written to use parallelization
✔ Some have distributed lock manager (DLM) to avoid conflicting
operations
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Clustered Systems
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Structure

❑ Multiprogramming (Batch system) needed for efficiency
❑ Single user cannot keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times
❑ Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always has one to
execute
❑ A subset of total jobs in system is kept in memory
❑ One job selected and run via job scheduling
❑ When it has to wait (for I/O for example), OS switches to another job
❑ Timesharing (multitasking) is logical extension in which CPU switches jobs
so frequently that users can interact with each job while it is running, creating
interactive computing
❑ Response time should be < 1 second
❑ Each user has at least one program executing in memory 🢡 process
❑ If several jobs ready to run at the same time 🢡 CPU scheduling
❑ If processes don’t fit in memory, swapping moves them in and out to run
❑ Virtual memory allows execution of processes not completely in memory
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Memory Layout for Multiprogrammed System

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating-System Operations
❑ Interrupt driven (hardware and software)
❑Hardware interrupt by one of the devices
❑Software interrupt (exception or trap):
❑Software error (e.g., division by zero)
❑Request for operating system service
❑Other process problems include infinite loop,
processes modifying each other or the operating
system
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating-System Operations (cont.)

❖ Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and other system
components
❖ User mode and kernel mode
❖ Mode bit provided by hardware
❖ Provides ability to distinguish when system is running user code or kernel
code
❖ Some instructions designated as privileged, only executable in kernel mode
❖ System call changes mode to kernel, return from call resets it to user
❖ Increasingly CPUs support multi-mode operations
❖ i.e. virtual machine manager (VMM) mode for guest VMs
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Transition from User to Kernel Mode

▪ Timer to prevent infinite loop / process hogging resources
▪ Timer is set to interrupt the computer after some time period
▪ Keep a counter that is decremented by the physical clock.
▪ Operating system set the counter (privileged instruction)
▪ When counter zero generate an interrupt
▪ Set up before scheduling process to regain control or terminate program
that exceeds allotted time
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Process Management
❖ A process is a program in execution. It is a unit of work within the
system. Program is a passive entity, process is an active entity.
❖ Process needs resources to accomplish its task
❖ CPU, memory, I/O, files
❖ Initialization data
❖ Process termination requires reclaim of any reusable resources
❖ Single-threaded process has one program counter specifying location
of next instruction to execute
❖ Process executes instructions sequentially, one at a time, until completion
❖ Multi-threaded process has one program counter per thread
❖ Typically system has many processes, some user, some operating
system running concurrently on one or more CPUs
❖ Concurrency by multiplexing the CPUs among the processes / threads
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Process Management Activities

The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection
with process management:
⮚ Creating and deleting both user and system processes
⮚ Suspending and resuming processes
⮚ Providing mechanisms for process synchronization
⮚ Providing mechanisms for process communication
⮚ Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Memory Management
To execute a program all (or part) of the instructions must be in
memory
All (or part) of the data that is needed by the program must be in
memory.
Memory management determines what is in memory and when
Optimizing CPU utilization and computer response to users
Memory management activities
Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by whom
Deciding which processes (or parts thereof) and data to move into and out of
memory
Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Storage Management
✔ OS provides uniform, logical view of information storage
✔ Abstracts physical properties to logical storage unit - file
✔ Each medium is controlled by device (i.e., disk drive, tape drive)
✔ Varying properties include access speed, capacity, data-transfer rate, access
method (sequential or random)
✔ File-System management
✔ Files usually organized into directories
✔ Access control on most systems to determine who can access what
✔ OS activities include
✔ Creating and deleting files and directories
✔ Primitives to manipulate files and directories
✔ Mapping files onto secondary storage
✔ Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Mass-Storage Management
✔ Usually disks used to store data that does not fit in main memory or data
that must be kept for a “long” period of time
✔ Proper management is of central importance
✔ Entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk subsystem and its
algorithms
✔ OS activities
✔ Free-space management
✔ Storage allocation
✔ Disk scheduling
✔ Some storage need not be fast
✔ Tertiary storage includes optical storage, magnetic tape
✔ Still must be managed – by OS or applications
✔ Varies between WORM (write-once, read-many-times) and RW (read-write)
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Performance of Various Levels of Storage

Movement between levels of storage hierarchy can be explicit or

implicit
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Migration of data “A” from Disk to Register

Multitasking environments must be careful to use most recent
value, no matter where it is stored in the storage hierarchy

Multiprocessor environment must provide cache coherency in

hardware such that all CPUs have the most recent value in
their cache
Distributed environment situation even more complex
Several copies of a datum can exist
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

I/O Subsystem

⮚ One purpose of OS is to hide peculiarities of hardware

devices from the user
⮚ I/O subsystem responsible for
⮚ Memory management of I/O including buffering (storing data
temporarily while it is being transferred), caching (storing parts of
data in faster storage for performance), spooling (the overlapping
of output of one job with input of other jobs)
⮚ General device-driver interface
⮚ Drivers for specific hardware devices
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Protection and Security

⮚ Protection – any mechanism for controlling access of processes or users
to resources defined by the OS
⮚ Security – defense of the system against internal and external attacks
⮚ Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms, viruses, identity theft,
theft of service
⮚ Systems generally first distinguish among users, to determine who can do
what
⮚ User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and associated
number, one per user
⮚ User ID then associated with all files, processes of that user to
determine access control
⮚ Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined and
controls managed, then also associated with each process, file
⮚ Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID with more
rights
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Kernel Data Structures
✔ Many similar to standard programming data structures
✔ Singly linked list

✔ Doubly linked list

✔ Circular linked list

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Kernel Data Structures

Binary search tree
left <= right
Search performance is O(n)
Balanced binary search tree is O(lg n)
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Kernel Data Structures

Hash function can create a hash map

Bitmap – string of n binary digits representing the status of n items

Linux data structures defined in
include files <linux/list.h>, <linux/kfifo.h>,
<linux/rbtree.h>
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments - Traditional

Stand-alone general purpose machines

But blurred as most systems interconnect with others
(i.e., the Internet)
Portals provide web access to internal systems
Network computers (thin clients) are like Web terminals
Mobile computers interconnect via wireless networks
Networking becoming ubiquitous – even home systems use
firewalls to protect home computers from Internet attacks
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments - Mobile

Handheld smartphones, tablets, etc

What is the functional difference between them and a “traditional”
laptop?
Extra feature – more OS features (GPS, gyroscope)
Allows new types of apps like augmented reality
Use IEEE 802.11 wireless, or cellular data networks for connectivity
Leaders are Apple iOS and Google Android
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Computing Environments – Distributed
⮚ Distributed computing
⮚ A distributed system is a collection of independent computers or nodes
that work together as a unified computing resource. In a distributed
system, these nodes are connected through a network and coordinate
their actions to achieve a common goal.
⮚ Network is a communications path, TCP/IP most common
⮚ Local Area Network (LAN)
⮚ Wide Area Network (WAN)
⮚ Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
⮚ Personal Area Network (PAN)
⮚ Network Operating System provides features between systems across
network.
⮚ Communication scheme allows systems to exchange messages
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments – Client-Server

• Client-Server Computing
• Dumb terminals supplanted by smart PCs
• Many systems now servers, responding to requests generated by
clients
4 Compute-server system provides an interface to client to
request services (i.e., database)
4 File-server system provides interface for clients to store and
retrieve files
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments - Peer-to-Peer

❖ Another model of distributed system
❖ In a P2P network, each node acts both
as a client and a server, contributing its
resources and services to the network
while also utilizing resources and
services provided by other nodes.
❖ Node must join P2P network
❖ Registers its service with central
lookup service on network, or
❖ Broadcast request for service and
respond to requests for service via
discovery protocol
❖ Examples include Napster and Gnutella,
Voice over IP (VoIP) such as Skype
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments - Virtualization

✔ A virtual machine behaves like an independent, isolated system with its
own virtual hardware and resources, including CPU, memory, storage,
and network interfaces.
✔ It allows multiple operating systems to coexist and run concurrently on
a single physical machine.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments - Virtualization

✔ Use cases involve laptops and desktops running multiple OSes
for exploration or compatibility
✔ Apple laptop running Mac OS X host, Windows as a guest
✔ Developing apps for multiple OSes without having multiple
systems
✔ QA testing applications without having multiple systems
✔ Executing and managing compute environments within
data centers
✔ VMM can run natively, in which case they are also the host
✔ There is no general purpose host then (VMware ESX and
Citrix XenServer)
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments - Virtualization

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Computing Environments – Cloud Computing
✔ Cloud computing is a model for delivering on-demand computing resources and
services over the internet.
✔ Instead of relying on local servers and infrastructure, cloud computing allows users
to access and utilize a shared pool of computing resources, including servers,
storage, databases, networking, software, and more, hosted by cloud service
providers.
✔ These resources are typically offered on a pay-as-you-go or subscription-based
pricing model. Many types
✔ Public cloud – available via Internet to anyone willing to pay
✔ Private cloud – run by a company for the company’s own use
✔ Hybrid cloud – includes both public and private cloud components
✔ Software as a Service (SaaS) – one or more applications available via the
Internet (i.e., word processor)
✔ Platform as a Service (PaaS) – software stack ready for application use via the
Internet (i.e., a database server)
✔ Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – servers or storage available over Internet
(i.e., storage available for backup use)
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments – Cloud Computing

⮚ Cloud computing environments composed of traditional OSes,
plus VMMs, plus cloud management tools
⮚ Internet connectivity requires security like firewalls
⮚ Load balancers spread traffic across multiple applications
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Computing Environments – Real-Time Embedded Systems

⮚ A real-time system is a type of computer system or software that is designed
to respond to external events or inputs within a predetermined time constraint.
⮚ Hard Real-Time Systems: In hard real-time systems, meeting the specified
deadlines is of utmost importance. If a deadline is missed, it can lead to
catastrophic consequences.
⮚ Examples Flight control systems, medical devices like pacemakers, and
automotive airbag deployment systems.
⮚ Soft Real-Time Systems: In soft real-time systems, meeting the deadlines is
essential but not mandatory. If a deadline is missed in a soft real-time system,
the system's performance or user experience may degrade, but it does not lead
to critical failures. Examples of soft real-time systems include streaming
video applications, online gaming
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Open-Source Operating Systems

✔ Operating systems made available in source-code format rather than
just binary closed-source.
✔ Counter to the copy protection and Digital Rights Management
(DRM) movement
✔ Started by Free Software Foundation (FSF), which has “copyleft”
GNU Public License (GPL)
✔ Examples include GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX (including core of
Mac OS X), and many more
✔ Can use VMM like VMware Player (Free on Windows), Virtualbox
(open source and free on many platforms -
http://www.virtualbox.com)
✔ Use to run guest operating systems for exploration
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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), 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Services (Cont.)

⮚ One set of operating-system services provides functions that are helpful to the user
(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
⮚ 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
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.
❖ Accounting - 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

A View of Operating System Services

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

User Operating System Interface - CLI

CLI or command interpreter 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Bourne Shell Command Interpreter

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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)
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

The Mac OS X GUI

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

System Calls
▪ System calls are the fundamental interfaces provided by an
operating system (OS) to allow user-level programs to interact with
the operating system's kernel.
▪ They provide a way for applications to request services from the
OS, such as performing I/O operations, managing processes,
accessing hardware, and more.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Example of System Calls

System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another
file
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Example of Standard API

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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 hidden from programmer by API
▪ Managed by run-time support library (set of functions built into libraries
included with compiler)
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

API – System Call – OS Relationship

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Parameter Passing via Table

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Types of System Calls

❖ 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Types of System Calls (Cont.)

❑ Protection
❑ Control access to resources
❑ Get and set permissions
❑ Allow and deny user access
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Standard C Library Example
C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write()
system call
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Example: MS-DOS
▪ Single-tasking
▪ Shell invoked when
system booted
▪ Simple method to run
program
▪ No process created
▪ Single memory space
▪ Loads program into
memory, overwriting all
but the kernel
▪ Program exit -> shell
reloaded
At system startup running a program
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

System Programs
⮚ 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 modification
⮚ 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.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

System Programs
System programs are software applications that facilitate the proper
functioning of the computer system and assist users in managing the
hardware and software resources.
⮚ File management - Create, delete, copy, rename, print, dump, list,
and generally manipulate files and directories
⮚ Device Drivers: Device drivers are software components that
enable the OS to communicate with hardware devices like printers,
scanners, graphics cards, etc.
⮚ Task Schedulers: Task schedulers manage the execution of
processes and allocate system resources (such as CPU time and
memory) to different processes.
⮚ Memory Management Programs: These programs handle the
allocation and deallocation of memory for processes. They manage
virtual memory, ensuring that each process has access to the
memory it needs without interfering with other processes.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

System Programs (Cont.)

⮚ Input/Output (I/O) Management Programs: I/O
management programs control the communication between
the computer and its peripheral devices. They handle data
transfer between memory and devices such as keyboards,
mice, disks, and network interfaces.
⮚ Security Programs: Security programs protect the system
from unauthorized access and malicious software. Examples
include antivirus software, firewalls, and encryption utilities.
⮚ Shell: The shell is an interactive command-line interface that
allows users to communicate with the operating system. It
interprets user commands and passes them to the OS for
execution.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

System Programs (Cont.)

⮚ Utilities: These are various system tools that perform specific
tasks, such as disk cleanup, disk defragmentation, system backup,
system monitoring, and performance optimization.
⮚ Compiler and Interpreter: Although not strictly part of the OS,
compilers and interpreters are essential for running programs.
Compilers translate high-level programming languages into
machine code, while interpreters execute code directly without
creating an intermediate file.
⮚ Bootloader: The bootloader is the initial program that starts the
operating system during the system boot process. It loads the OS
kernel into memory and initiates its execution.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Design and Implementation

✔ Design and Implementation of OS 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Design and Implementation (Cont.)

⮚ Important principle to separate
⮚ Policy: What will be done?
Mechanism: How to do it?
⮚ Mechanisms determine how to do something, policies decide what will
be done
⮚ The separation of policy from mechanism is a very important principle,
it allows maximum flexibility if policy decisions are to be changed later
(example – timer)
⮚ Specifying and designing an OS is highly creative task of software
engineering
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Simple Structure -- MS-DOS

⮚ MS-DOS – written to provide

the most functionality in the
least space
⮚ Not divided into modules
⮚ Although MS-DOS has some
structure, its interfaces and
levels of functionality are not
well separated
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Non Simple Structure -- 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Traditional UNIX System Structure

Beyond simple but not fully layered
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Microkernel System Structure

⮚ 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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Microkernel System Structure

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Modules
⮚ Many modern operating systems implement loadable kernel modules
⮚ 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
SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Solaris Modular Approach

 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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)
SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Mac OS X Structure
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

iOS

⮚ Apple mobile OS for iPhone, iPad

⮚ Structured on Mac OS X, added functionality
⮚ Does not run OS X applications natively
⮚ Also runs on different CPU architecture (ARM vs.
Intel)
⮚ Cocoa Touch Objective-C API for developing apps
⮚ Media services layer for graphics, audio, video
⮚ Core services provides cloud computing, databases
⮚ Core operating system, based on Mac OS X kernel
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Android Architecture
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.
Operating-System Debugging
⮚ Debugging is finding and fixing errors, or bugs
⮚ 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.”
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

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
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

DTrace
● DTrace tool in Solaris, FreeBSD,
Mac OS X allows live
instrumentation on production
systems
● Probes fire when code is
executed within a provider,
capturing state data and
sending it to consumers of
those probes

● Example of following
XEventsQueued system call
move from libc library to kernel
and back
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Dtrace (Cont.)
● DTrace code to record amount
of time each process with
UserID 101 is in running mode
(on CPU) in nanoseconds
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Operating System Generation

⮚ Operating System Generation, also known as OS Generation
or System Generation, is the process of creating a complete
and functional operating system software from its source
code or configuration files.
⮚ This process involves multiple steps, including
⮚ compiling the source code,
⮚ linking modules,
⮚ configuring system parameters,
⮚ selecting components, and
⮚ creating bootable images.
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

System Boot
✔ When power initialized on system, execution starts at a fixed
memory location
✔ Firmware ROM used to hold initial boot code
✔ Operating system must be made available to hardware so hardware
can start it
✔ Small piece of code – bootstrap loader, 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
✔ Common bootstrap loader, GRUB, allows selection of kernel from
multiple disks, versions, kernel options
✔ Kernel loads and system is then running
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

References
1. Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin, Greg Gagne,
Operating systems, 10th ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2018.

2. William Stallings, Operating Systems-Internals and Design

Principles, 6th ed., Prentice Hall, 2018.
SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY, CHENNAI.

Thank You!