Operating System Overview

Operating Systems – CS x61 1

Dr. Noha Adly
 Operating System

 A program that controls the execution of

application programs
 An interface between applications and hardware

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 2

 Operating Systems Objectives

 Convenience
 Makes the computer more convenient to use
 Efficiency
 Allows computer system resources to be used in an
efficient manner
 Ability to evolve
 Permit effective development, testing, and introduction
of new system functions without interfering with
service

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 3

 Layers and Views

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 4

Computer Hardware & Software Infrastructure

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 5

 Operating System Services

 Program development utility programs

 Editors, debuggers, frameworks, ..
 Program execution - steps
 Loading instructions and data in memory
 Initialization of I/O devices and files
 Scheduling of resources
 Access to I/O devices
 Provides Uniform interface, hides details
 Controlled access to files
 Understanding the structure of the data contained in files
 Authorization, sharing, protection, caching

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 6

 Services cont…

 System access
 Protection, authorization, resolve conflicts

 Error detection and response

 Hardware errors: memory error or device failure
 Software errors: arithmetic errors, access forbidden
memory locations, allocation errors
OS clears the error and responds: report or end program
 Accounting
 Statistics to monitor performance
 used to anticipate future enhancements and tuning
 collect statistics (billing) - multiuser

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 7

 Basic OS Organization

File
Process & Manager
Resource
Manager

Memory Device
Manager Manager

Processor(s) Main Memory Devices

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 8

 OS as a Resource Manager

 OS is a set of computer programs

 executes as ordinary computer software
 The key difference is in the intent
 OS directs the processor in the use of resources
 Relinquishes control of the processor to execute other
programs
 Built around kernel or nucleus
 Portion of OS that is in main memory
 Contains most-frequently used functions

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 9

 OS as a Resource Manager

 Resources are managed by

OS:
 I/O devices
 Memory
 Processors
 Portion of OS is in main
memory, kernel, rest on storage
 Main memory contains also
user programs and data
 Allocation of main memory is
controlled by OS and memory
management hardware

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 10

 Modes of Operation

 Considerations of memory protection and privileged instructions lead

to the concept of modes of operation
 Kernel
 Portion of operating system that is in main memory
 Contains most-frequently used functions
 Also called the nucleus
 User Mode
 User program executes in user mode
 Certain areas of memory protected from user access
 Certain instructions may not be executed
 Kernel Mode
 Monitor executes in kernel mode
 Privileged instructions may be executed, all memory accessible.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 14
 Multiprogramming

 CPU is often idle

 I/O devices are slow compared to processor
 Multiprogramming is a technique to execute many programs
simultaneously with a single processor
 The processes all reside in main memory at same time
 The OS picks and begins to executes one of the jobs in the main
memory
 The job executes until it completes or “blocks” on an I/O request at
which time the CPU switches to another job
 CPU is not idle, as long as there are requests
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 15
 Uniprogramming
 Processor must wait for I/O instruction to complete before proceeding

Multiprogramming
 When one job needs to wait for I/O, the processor can switch to another job

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 16

 Example

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 17

 Uniprogramming Multiprogramming
Processor use 22% 43%
Memory use 30% 67%
Disk use 33% 67%
Printer use 33% 67%
Elapsed time 30 min. 15 min.
Throughput rate 6 jobs/hr 12 jobs/hr
Dr. Noha Adly OperatingAvg response
Systems – CS x61 time 18 min. 10 min. 18
 Time Sharing
 Extension to multiprogramming to handle multiple interactive jobs
 Processor time shared between users: Multiple jobs are executed
simultaneously by the CPU switching between tasks according to some time
slice or Quantum
 Every time slice: current user is preempted and another user loaded in
 Allow several users to interact at the same time – transaction processing
 Users feel of virtual ownership of the computer
 Emphasizes response time over processor use
 Compatible Time Sharing System (CTSS) – 1962
 32K 36-bit words, switched users every 0.2 sec, Support up to 32 users

Batch Multiprogramming vs. Time Sharing

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 19
 Problems and Issues with Time Sharing

 Multiple jobs in memory must be protected from

interfering with each other’s data
 File system must be protected so that only
authorised users can access
 Contention for resources must be handled
 Printers, storage etc

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 20

 Major Achievements

 Operating Systems are among the most

complex pieces of software ever developed
 Major advances in development include:
Processes

Memory management
Information protection and security
Scheduling and resource management
System structure

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Process
 Fundamental to the structure of OS

A process can be defined as:

a program in execution
an instance of a running program
the entity that can be assigned to, and executed on, a
processor
a unit of activity characterized by a single sequential thread of
execution, a current state, and an associated set of system
resources

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 22

 Processes
 Three major lines of computer system development created
problems in timing and synchronization that contributed to the
development:
 Multiprogramming batch operations: processor is switched among
the various programs residing in main memory – maximize
resource efficiency
 Time sharing be responsive to the individual user but be able to
support many users simultaneously
 Real-time transaction processing systems a number of users are
entering queries or updates against a database
 Principle tool available to system programmers in developing
multiprogramming and time sharing systems was the interrupt!
 Process is suspended due to a defined event, e.g. I/O completion
 CPU has to save context (PC, registers, etc..)
 CPU branch to interrupt handler routine, process the interrupt
 CPU resume processing another job
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 23
 Processes
 Coordination of processes turned out difficult due to errors caused by
 Improper synchronization
 Improper design of the signaling mechanism can result in signals being
lost or duplicate signals being received
 Failed mutual exclusion
 attempt to make use of a shared resource at the same time e.g. two
users trying to edit same file - OS has to permit only one
 Non-determinate program operation
 Programs may overwrite common memory area since they share
memory and their execution is interleaved by the processor
 Deadlocks
 Two or more programs can hang waiting for each other
 Systematic way to of coordination among programs executing on the
processor is essential

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 24

 Process
Consists of three components
1. executable program
2. associated data (variables,
workspace, buffers, stacks)
3. execution context: internal data used
by OS to be able to control the
process e.g. PC, registers, priority
 The execution context/ Process State is
essential:
 it is the internal data by which the OS is
able to supervise and control the
process
 includes the contents of the various
process registers
 includes information such as the priority
of the process and whether the process
is waiting for the completion of a
Dr. Noha Adly particular
Operating Systems – CS x61 I/O event 25
 Process
Example
 Two processes A, B exists in main
memory, B is executing
 Each recorded in process list
 Process index register points to
index of current running process
 Program counter: points to next
instruction
 Base and limit register: define region
in memory occupied by process
 Later OS perform context switch to A
 Context: contains entire state of a
process

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 26

 Memory Management
 Five principal storage management responsibilities
1. Process isolation prevents interference among programs; data +
instruction
2. Automatic allocation and management transparent to the
user
3. Support for modular programming (e.g. dynamic process
creation and elimination)
4. Protection and access control for sharing
5. Long-term storage
 These requirements typically met by
 Virtual memory: allows programs to address memory from a
logical point of view without regard to the limits of physical
memory
 File system facilities: implements long-term store with named
objects: files
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 27
 Paging
 Process is divided into a
number of fixed-size
blocks, called pages
 Virtual address is a page
number and an offset within
the page
 MM provides dynamic
mapping between virtual
and real address
 Each page may be located
anywhere in main memory
 If reference made to a page
not in main memory, MM
detects this and load it from
disk

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 28

 Virtual Memory Addressing
Address translation hardware
(Memory Management Unit) is
interposed between the processor and
memory
• Programs reference locations
using virtual addresses, which are
mapped into real main memory
addresses.
• If a reference is made to a virtual
address not in real memory, then a
the desired block of data is brought The OS designer needs to develop
in from auxiliary storage into main
memory • an address translation mechanism
• During this activity, the process that generates little overhead
that generated the address • storage allocation policy that
reference must be suspended. minimizes the traffic between memory
levels.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 29
 Data Protection and Security

 Availability
 Concerned with protecting the system against interruption
 Confidentiality
 Assuring that users cannot read data for which access is
unauthorized
 Data integrity
 Protection of data from unauthorized modification
 Authenticity
 Concerned with the proper verification of the identity of users
and the validity of messages or data

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 30

 Scheduling and Resource Management
 OS has to
 Manage resources e.g. main memory, CPU, I/O devices
 Schedule their use among active processes
 Resource allocation and scheduling policy must consider
3 factors
 Fairness
 Give equal and fair access to resources
 Differential responsiveness
 Discriminate among different classes of jobs
 Efficiency
 Maximize
throughput, minimize response time, and
accommodate as many uses as possible - conflict

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 31

  OS maintains 3 types of Queues
 Short term queue: Key Elements of OS
 processes in (or partially) main
memory ; ready to run
in Scheduling
 Short term scheduler picks a
process (RR, priority)
 Long term queue:
 new jobs waiting to use processor
 OS allocate a portion of main
memory to a process and transfer
it from long to short term queue
 OS must not over commit
memory or CPU with many
requests
 I/O queue for each I/O device
 OS must decide which process to
assign to an available I/O device
 A process invokes a service by a
service call: entry point into OS
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 32
 System Structure

 Layered architecture - design the OS as a series of

levels where each level is performing a related subset of
functions
 Each layer provides services to the layer above and
relies on the functions provided by the layer below
 A change in one layer should not affect other layers
 Modular design - decomposes a problem into a number
of more manageable sub problems
 Ideally, lower levels deal with a far shorter time scale
(10-9 of a second)

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 33

 Model of a Hierarchical OS
Level Name Objects Example Operations
7 Virtual Memory Segments, pages Read, write, fetch
6 Local secondary Blocks of data, device Read, write, allocate, free
store channels
5 Primitive processes Primitive process, Suspend, resume, wait, signal
semaphores

4 Interrupts Interrupt-handling Invoke, mask, unmask,

retry programs
3 Procedures Procedures, call stack, Mark stack, call, return
display
2 Instruction Set Evaluation stack, Load, store, add, subtract,
scalar and array data branch(m/c language)
1 Electronic circuits Registers, buses, etc. Clear, transfer, activate

* Shaded area  represents Hardware

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 34
 Model of a Hierarchical OS
Level Name Objects Example Operations
13 Shell User programming Statements in shell language
environment
12 User processes User processes Quit, kill, suspend, resume
11 Directories Directories Create, destroy, attach, detach,
search, list
10 Devices External devices read, write, Open, close
such as printer, displays
and keyboards
9 File system Files Create, destroy, open, close
read, write
8 Communications Pipes Create, destroy, open. close,
read, write

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 35

 Developments Leading to Modern OS
 Microkernel architecture more to come …
 Multithreading
 processes divided into threads that can share data and run
simultaneously
 Symmetric multiprocessing
 multiple processors share same main memory and I/O facilities
 All processors can perform the same functions
 Distributed OS
 provides the illusion of a single primary and secondary memory;
 has a distributed file system
 Object-oriented design
 Facilitates the process of adding modular extensions to a small
kernel
 enables programmers to customize an OS without disrupting
system integrity
 Eases the development of distributed OS.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 36
 Multithreading
Technique in which a process, executing an application, is
divided into threads that can run concurrently

Thread Process
A collection of one or
Dispatchable unit more threads and
of work associated system
resources e.g. memory
(code, data), open files
Includes a and devices
processor context
(PC and Stack Ptr)
and its own data By breaking a single
area for a stack application into multiple
threads, a programmer
has greater control over
Executes the modularity of the
sequentially and is application and the
interruptible timing of application-
related events
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Multiprogramming & Multiprocessing
 Multiprogramming: only one
process can execute at a
time; meanwhile all other
processes are waiting for
the processor
 Multiprocessing: more than
one process can be running
simultaneously, each on a
different processor.
 Multithreading and SMP are
independent:
 Multithreading is useful,
even on a uniprocessor
 SMP is useful even for non-
threaded processes
 They complement each
other
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 38
 Microkernel Architecture
 Monolithic kernel
 large kernel including scheduling, file system, networking, device
drivers, memory management
 single process with all elements sharing the same address space
 Modern OS use microkernel approach

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 39

 Microkernels
 Kernel includes only essential core
functions (IPC, basic scheduling, ….)
 Other OS services are provided by
processes, called servers, run in user
mode and treated like any other
application by the microkernel
 Device drivers
 File systems
 Virtual memory manager
 Windowing system
 Security services
 This approach decouples kernel and
server development
 Servers may be customized to specific
application or environment
requirements

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 40

 Microkernel Benefits
 Uniform interface on request made by a process
 Do not distinguish between kernel-level and user-level
 All services are provided by means of message passing

 Extensibility
 Allows the addition of new services
 Flexibility
 New features added, Existing features can be subtracted
 Portability
 Changes to port the system to a new processor is limited to the microkernel
 Reliability
 Modular design allows rigorous testing
 Distributed system support
 A microkernel interacts with local and remote server processes in the same way,
facilitating construction of distributed systems.
 Object-oriented operating system

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 41

 Virtual Machines and Virtualization

 Enables a single PC/server to simultaneously run multiple

OSs or multiple sessions of a single OS
 A machine can host numerous applications, including
those that run on different operating systems, on a single
platform
 A host operating system can support a number of virtual
machines (VM)
 Each has the characteristics of a particular OS and,
 The characteristics of a particular hardware platform
 Commercial VM e.g. Vmware & Microsoft are widely used
 VM technologies are used in
 Server environments
 desktop environments to run multiple operating systems, typically
Windows, Linux and Mac OS

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 42

 Virtual Machines and Virtualization

 Allows operating systems to run applications within other OSes

 Virtualization includes Emulation used when source CPU type
is different from target type (i.e. PowerPC to Intel x86)
 slowest method: Every native m/c instruction must be
translated to one or several target instructions
 When computer language not compiled to native code –
Interpretation
 Virtualization – OS natively compiled for CPU, running guest
OSes also natively compiled
 Consider VMware running WinXP guests, each running
applications, all on native WinXP host OS
 VMM (Virtual Machine Manager) provides virtualization
services
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Virtualization

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 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)

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Cloud Computing

 Delivers computing, storage, even apps as a service across a network

 Logical extension of virtualization because it uses virtualization as the base
for its functionality.
 Amazon EC2 has thousands of servers, millions of virtual machines,
petabytes of storage available across the Internet, pay based on usage
 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 (e.g., word processor, payroll)
 Platform as a Service (PaaS) – software stack ready for application use
via the Internet (e.g., a database server)
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – servers or storage available over
Internet (e.g., storage available for backup use)

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Cloud Computing

 Cloud computing environments composed of

 traditional Operating systems
 VMMs managing virtual machines
 Cloud management tools e.g. Vware, vCloud Director, Eucalyptus
 Internet connectivity requires security like firewalls
 Load balancers spread traffic across multiple applications

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Fault Tolerance

 Refers to the ability of a system or component to continue

normal operation despite the presence of hardware or software
faults
 Typically involves some degree of redundancy
 Intended to increase the reliability of a system
 Typically comes with a cost in financial terms or performance
 The extent adoption of fault tolerance measures must be
determined by how critical the resource is

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Fundamental Concepts

 The basic measures are:

 Reliability
– R(t)
– Defined as the probability of its correct operation up to time t
given that the system was operating correctly at time t=0
 Mean Time To Failure (MTTF)
– the average time it takes between failures
 Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
– the average time it takes to repair or replace a faulty element
 Availability
– Defined as the fraction of time the system is available to
service users’ requests

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Class Availability Annual Downtime
Continuous 1.0 0
Fault Tolerant 0.99999 5 minutes
Fault Resilient 0.9999 53 minutes
High Availability 0.999 8.3 hours
Normal Availability 0.99 - 0.995 44-87 hours

Table 2.4 Availability Classes

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Faults

 Are defined by the IEEE Standards Dictionary as an erroneous

hardware or software state resulting from:
 Component failure
 Operator error
 Physical interference from the environment
 Design error
 Program error
 Data structure error
 The standard also states that a fault manifests itself as:
 A defect in a hardware device or component
 An incorrect step, process, or data definition in a computer program

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Fault Categories

 Permanent
• A fault that, after it occurs, is always present
• The fault persists until the faulty component is replaced or
repaired
 Temporary
• A fault that is not present all the time for all operating
conditions
• Can be classified as
» Transient – a fault that occurs only once
» Intermittent – a fault that occurs at multiple,
unpredictable times

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Methods of Redundancy

Spatial
Temporal Information
(physical)
redundancy redundancy
redundancy
Involves
Involves the use of
repeating a
multiple components function or
operation when Provides fault
that either perform tolerance by
the same function an error is
replicating or
simultaneously or detected coding data in
are configured so
that one component such a way that
is available as a Is effective with bit errors can be
backup in case of temporary faults both detected
the failure of another but not useful and corrected
component for permanent
faults

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Windows Architecture
 Modular Structure, Object-oriented design
 Kernel Mode Components
 Executive core OS services: Memory
management, Process and thread
management, Security, I/O,
Interprocess communication
 Kernel controls execution of
processors. Scheduling, process
switching, synch,..
 Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
isolates the OS from platform-specific
hardware differences
 Device Drivers translate user I/O calls
into hardware device I/O requests
 Windowing and graphics system:
Implements GUI functions
 Remaining software runs in user mode,
access Executive functions thru API
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 55
 Windows Architecture
User-Mode Processes
 Special system processes: User mode
services needed to manage the system
 session manager, authentication
system, service manager, logon
process, ….
 Service processes: The printer spooler,
the event logger, network services, ….
 Environnent subsystems:
 Provide different OS personalities
(environments)
 supported Win32/WinFX and POSIX.
 DLL convert user application calls to
LPC calls and/or native Windows calls
 User applications: Executables (EXEs)
and DLLs that provide the functionality
users run to make use of the system.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 56
 Threads and SMP

 Two important characteristics of Windows are its support

for threads and for symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
 OS routines can run on any available processor, and different
routines can execute simultaneously on different processors
 Windows supports the use of multiple threads of execution within
a single process. Multiple threads within the same process may
execute on different processors simultaneously
 Server processes may use multiple threads to process requests
from more than one client simultaneously
 Windows provides mechanisms for sharing data and resources
between processes and flexible interprocess communication
capabilities

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 58

 UNIX

 Hardware is
surrounded by the
OS kernel
 Kernel isolates
users and
applications
 Comes with a
number of user
services and
interfaces
 Shell
 C compiler
 vi editor

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 59

 Traditional UNIX Kernel
 System call interface is the user
boundary to gain access to kernel
functions
 OS contains primitive routines that
interact directly with the hardware
 Between these two interfaces, the
system is divided into two main parts
 Process control subsystem responsible
for memory management, scheduling
processes, synchronization and IPC
 File system
 exchanges data between memory and
external devices using device drivers
 For block-oriented transfers, a disk
cache approach is used
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 60
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 System V Release 4 (SVR4)

 Developed jointly by AT&T and Sun Microsystems

 Combines features from SVR3, 4.3BSD, Microsoft Xenix
System V, and SunOS
 New features in the release include:
Real-time processing support
Process scheduling classes
Dynamically allocated data structures
Virtual memory management
Virtual file system
Preemptive kernel

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 System V Release 4 (SVR4)

 Almost a complete
rewrite of the System V
kernel
 Small core of facilities
providing basic functions
 Each of the outer circles
represents functions and
an interface that may be
implemented in a variety
of ways.

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 63

 BSD

 Berkeley Software Distribution

 4.xBSD is widely used in academic installations and has
served as the basis of a number of commercial UNIX products
 4.4BSD was the final version of BSD to be released by
Berkeley
 There are several widely used, open-source versions of BSD
 FreeBSD
» Popular for Internet-based servers and firewalls
» Used in a number of embedded systems
 NetBSD
» Available for many platforms
» Often used in embedded systems
 OpenBSD
» An open-source OS that places special emphasis on security

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Solaris 11

 Oracle’s SVR4-based UNIX release

 Provides all of the features of SVR4 plus a number of
more advanced features such as:
A fully preemptable, multithreaded kernel
Full support for SMP
An object-oriented interface to file systems

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 LINUX Overview

 Started out as a UNIX variant for the IBM PC

 Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student of computer science,
wrote the initial version
 Linux was first posted on the Internet in 1991
 Today it is a full-featured UNIX system that runs on
several platforms
 Is free and the source code is available
 Key to success has been the availability of free software
packages
 Highly modular and easily configured

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 66

 Modular Monolithic Kernel
 Includes all OS functionality in one large block running as a single process
 Does not microkernel but achieves advantages due to modular architecture
 Structured as a collection of modules loaded and unloaded on demand
 Loadable Modules
 Relatively independent blocks
 A module is an object file which linked/unlinked from kernel at runtime
 Have two important characteristics:
 Dynamic linking:
– A kernel module can be loaded/ linked while the kernel is executing
– A module can be unlinked and removed from memory at any time.
– Saves kernel memory
 Stackable modules
– The modules are arranged in a hierarchy with defined dependencies
– Common code can be moved into a single module
– Do not unload a module on which other running modules depend
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 67
 Linux Kernel Components

 Several processes / threads run on top of kernel

 Kernel consists of interacting collections of components
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 68
 Android Operating System

 A Linux-based system originally designed for mobile phones

 The most popular mobile OS
 Development was done by Android Inc., which was bought by
Google in 2005
 1st commercial version (Android 1.0) was released in 2008
 Most recent version 13.0 (Tiramisu) Aug 2022 (12.0 (Snow
cone) 11.0, 10.0, Android 9.0 (Pie))
 Android has an active community of developers and
enthusiasts who use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)
source code to develop and distribute their own modified
versions of the operating system
 The open-source nature of Android has been the key to its
success
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Android Software Architecture

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Application Framework

 Provides high-level building blocks accessible through standardized

API’s that programmers use to create new apps
 Architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components
 Key components:

Activity Window Package Telephony

Manager Manager Manager Manager
Manages Java abstraction
lifecycle of of the underlying
applications Surface Manager Allows
interaction
Installs and
with phone,
Responsible for Allows removes
starting, applications to SMS, and
applications
stopping, and declare their MMS
resuming the client area and services
various use features like
applications the status bar

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Application Framework (cont.)

Content Resource View Location Notification

XMPP
Providers Manager System Manager Manager

These Allows
functions developers
encapsulat to tap into Manages Provides
Manages Provides
e location- events, standardiz
application the user
application based such as ed
resources, interface
data that services, arriving messaging
such as (UI)
need to be whether by messages functions
localized primitives
shared GPS, cell and between
strings and as well as
between tower IDs, appointme application
bitmaps UI Events
application or local Wi- nts s
s such as Fi
contacts databases

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 System Libraries

 Collection of useful system functions written in C or C++ and

used by various components of the Android system
 Called from the application framework and applications
through a Java interface
 Exposed to developers through the Android application
framework
 Some of the key system libraries include:
 Surface Manager
 OpenGL
 Media Framework
 SQL Database
 Browser Engine
 Bionic LibC
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Android System Architecture
Applications and Framework

Binder IPC

Android System Services

Media Server System Server

Power
AudioFlinger MediaPlayer Window
Manager
Service Manager
Service

Camera Activity
Other Media
Service Manager Other Services
Services

Android Runtime/Dalvik

Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)

Camera HAL Audio HAL Graphics HAL

Other HALs

Linux Kernel

Audio Driver
Camera Driver Display Drivers
(ALSA, OSS, etc) Other Drivers

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61