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Module 2

Dr. Manas Ranjan Prusty, SCOPE

VIT Chennai
System Calls 2

 Programming interface to the services provided by the

OS
 Typically written in a high-level language (C or C++)
 Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level
Application Programming Interface (API) rather than
direct system call use
 Three most common APIs are Win32 API for Windows,
POSIX API for POSIX-based systems (including virtually
all versions of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X), and Java
API for the Java virtual machine (JVM)
System Calls - Example 3

 System call sequence to copy the contents of one file

to another file
Example of a Standard API 4
System Call – Implementation 5

 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)
API – System Call – OS 6

Relationship Standard API

System Call – Parameter Passing 7

 Often, more information is required than simply identity

of desired system call
 Exact type and amount of information vary according to OS
and call
 Three general methods used to pass parameters to the OS
 Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
• In some cases, may be more parameters than registers
 Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and
address of block passed as a parameter in a register
• This approach taken by Linux and Solaris
 Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program
and popped off the stack by the operating system
 Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of
parameters being passed
Parameter Passing via Table 8
System Call – Types 9

 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
System Call – Types (Cont.) 10

 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
System Call – Types (Cont.) 11

 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
System Call – Types (Cont.) 12

 Protection
Control access to resources
Get and set permissions
Allow and deny user access
Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls
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Standard C Library Example 14

C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write() system call
Protection - Modes 15

 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
Protection – Modes (Cont.) 16
 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
Interrupt 17

 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
 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
Interrupt Handling 18

 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
A von Neumann Architecture 19
 Process Concept 20
 An operating system executes a variety of programs:
 Batch system – jobs
 Time-shared systems – user programs or tasks
 Textbook uses the terms job and process almost interchangeably
 Process – a program in execution; process execution must progress in sequential
fashion
 Multiple parts
 The program code, also called text section
 Current activity including program counter, processor registers
 Stack containing temporary data
• Function parameters, return addresses, local variables
 Data section containing global variables
 Heap containing memory dynamically allocated during run time
 Program is passive entity stored on disk (executable file), process is active
 Program becomes process when executable file loaded into memory
 Execution of program started via GUI mouse clicks, command line entry of its name, etc
 One program can be several processes
 Consider multiple users executing the same program
Process in Memory 21
 Process States 22

 As a process executes, it changes state

new: The process is being created
running: Instructions are being executed
waiting: The process is waiting for some event to occur
ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor
terminated: The process has finished execution
Process Control Block (PCB) 23

Information associated with each process

(also called task control block)
 Process state – running, waiting, etc
 Program counter – location of instruction to next execute
 CPU registers – contents of all process-centric registers
 CPU scheduling information- priorities, scheduling queue
pointers
 Memory-management information – memory allocated to
the process
 Accounting information – CPU used, clock time elapsed
since start, time limits
 I/O status information – I/O devices allocated to process, list
of open files
CPU Switch From Process to Process 24
Threads 25
 So far, process has a single thread of execution
 Consider having multiple program counters per process
 Multiple locations can execute at once
• Multiple threads of control -> threads
 Must then have storage for thread details, multiple program
counters in PCB
 Process creation is heavy-weight while thread creation is light-
weight
 Kernels are generally multithreaded
 Multiple tasks with the application can be implemented by
separate threads
 Update display
 Fetch data
 Spell checking
 Answer a network request
Threads - Benefits 26

 Responsiveness – may allow continued execution if part

of process is blocked, especially important for user
interfaces
 Resource Sharing – threads share resources of process,
easier than shared memory or message passing
 Economy – cheaper than process creation, thread
switching lower overhead than context switching
 Scalability – process can take advantage of
multiprocessor architectures
Single and Multithreaded Processes 27
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User and Kernel Threads 29
 User threads - management done by user-level threads
library
 Three primary thread libraries:
 POSIX Pthreads
 Windows threads
 Java threads
 Kernel threads - Supported by the Kernel
 Examples – virtually all general purpose operating systems,
including:
 Windows
 Solaris
 Linux
 Tru64 UNIX
 Mac OS X
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n s ?
s t i o
Q u e
A n y
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References

 Silberschatz, Gagne, Galvin: Operating System Concepts, 6th Edition

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