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Unix Internals Tutorial 1

The document describes the high-level architecture of UNIX systems. It depicts the system as having layers, with the hardware at the bottom layer interacting with the operating system kernel. The kernel provides common services to programs and isolates them from hardware idiosyncrasies. Above the kernel are programs like shells and editors that interact with the kernel through system calls. At the top layer are application programs that can build on lower-level programs. The kernel defines the services that all application programs rely on.

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Prathamesh Davande
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74 views

Unix Internals Tutorial 1

The document describes the high-level architecture of UNIX systems. It depicts the system as having layers, with the hardware at the bottom layer interacting with the operating system kernel. The kernel provides common services to programs and isolates them from hardware idiosyncrasies. Above the kernel are programs like shells and editors that interact with the kernel through system calls. At the top layer are application programs that can build on lower-level programs. The kernel defines the services that all application programs rely on.

Uploaded by

Prathamesh Davande
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SYSTEM STRUCTURE Figure 1.1 depicts the high-level architecture of the UNIX system.

The hardware at
the center of the diagram provides the operating system with basic services that will be described in
Section 1.5. The operating system interacts directly 3 with the hardware, providing common services to
programs and insulating them from hardware id iosyncrasies. Viewing the system as a set of layers, the
operating system is commonly called the system kernel, or just the kernel, emphasizing its 3. In some i m
plementations of the UNIX system, the operating system interacts with a native operating system that,
in turn, interacts with the underlying hardware and provides necessary services to the system. Such
configurations allow installations to run other operating systems and their applications in parallel to the
UNIX system. The classic example of such a configuration is the MERT system [Lycklama 78a1. More
recent c onfigurations include imp lementations for IBM System/370 computers [Felton 841 and for
UNIVAC 1100 Series computers [Bodenstab 841. 1.2 SYSTEM STRUCTURE Figure 1.1. Architecture of
UNIX Systems isolation from user programs. Because programs are independent of the underlying
hardware, it is easy to move them between UNIX systems running on different hardware if the programs
do not make assumptions about the underlying hardware. For instance, programs that assume the size
of a machine word are more difficult to move to other machines than programs that do not make this
assumption. Programs such as the shell and editors (ed and vi) shown in the outer layers interact with
the kernel by invoking a well defined set of system calls. The system calls instruct the kernel to do
various operations for the calling program and exchange data between the kernel and the program.
Several programs shown in the figure are in standard system configurations and are known as
commands, but private user programs may also exist in this layer as indicated by the program whose
name is a.out, the standard name for executable files produced by the C compiler. Other application
programs can build on top of lower-level programs, hence the existence of the outermost layer in the
figure. For example, the standard C compiler, cc, is in the outermost layer of the figure: it invokes a C
preprocessor, 6 GENERAL OVER VIEW OF THE SYSTEM two-pass compiler, assembler, and loader (link-
editor), all separate lower-I programs. Although the figure depicts a two-level hierarchy of applica
programs, users can extend the hierarchy to whatever levels are appropri Indeed, the style of
programming favored by the UNIX system encourages combination of existing programs to accomplish a
task. Many application subsystems and programs that provide a high-level view of system such as the
shell, editors, SCCS (Source Code Control System), document preparation packages, have gradually
become synonymous with the na "UNIX system." However, they all use lower-level services ultimately
provided the kernel, and they avail themselves of these services via the set of system ca There are about
64 system calls in System V, of which fewer than 32 are w frequently. They have simple options that
make them easy to use but provide t user with a lot of power. The set of system calls and the internal
algorithms implement them form the body of the kernel, and the study of the UNIX operati system
presented in this book reduces to a detailed study and analysis of the syste calls and their interaction
with one another. In short, the kernel provides t services upon which all application programs in the
UNIX system rely, and defines those services. This book will frequently use the terms "UNIX system
"kernel," or "system," but the intent is to refer to

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