Operating system
| Operating systems |
|---|
 |
| Common features |
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
For hardware functions such as
In the personal computer market, as of September 2023[update], Microsoft Windows holds a dominant market share of around 68%. macOS by Apple Inc. is in second place (20%), and the varieties of Linux, including ChromeOS, are collectively in third place (7%).[3] In the mobile sector (including smartphones and tablets), as of September 2023[update], Android's share is 68.92%, followed by Apple's iOS and iPadOS with 30.42%, and other operating systems with .6%.[4] Linux distributions are dominant in the server and supercomputing sectors. Other specialized classes of operating systems (special-purpose operating systems),[5][6] such as embedded and real-time systems, exist for many applications. Security-focused operating systems also exist. Some operating systems have low system requirements (e.g. light-weight Linux distribution). Others may have higher system requirements.
Some operating systems require installation or may come pre-installed with purchased computers (
Types of operating systems
Single-tasking and multi-tasking
A single-tasking system can only run one program at a time, while a
Single- and multi-user
Single-user operating systems have no facilities to distinguish users but may allow multiple programs to run in
Distributed
A distributed operating system manages a group of distinct, networked computers and makes them appear to be a single computer, as all computations are distributed (divided amongst the constituent computers).[8]
Embedded
Real-time
A real-time operating system is an operating system that guarantees to process events or data by a specific moment in time. A real-time operating system may be single- or multi-tasking, but when multitasking, it uses specialized scheduling algorithms so that a deterministic nature of behavior is achieved. Such an event-driven system switches between tasks based on their priorities or external events, whereas time-sharing operating systems switch tasks based on clock interrupts.
Library
A library operating system is one in which the services that a typical operating system provides, such as networking, are provided in the form of libraries and composed with the application and configuration code to construct a unikernel: a specialized, single address space, machine image that can be deployed to cloud or embedded environments[further explanation needed].
History
Early computers were built to perform a series of single tasks, like a calculator. Basic operating system features were developed in the 1950s, such as
In the 1940s, the earliest electronic digital systems had no operating systems. Electronic systems of this time were programmed on rows of mechanical switches or by jumper wires on plugboards. These were special-purpose systems that, for example, generated ballistics tables for the military or controlled the printing of payroll checks from data on punched paper cards. After programmable general-purpose computers were invented, machine languages(consisting of strings of the binary digits 0 and 1 on punched paper tape) were introduced that sped up the programming process (Stern, 1981).[full citation needed]
In the early 1950s, a computer could execute only one program at a time. Each user had sole use of the computer for a limited period and would arrive at a scheduled time with their program and data on punched paper cards or punched tape. The program would be loaded into the machine, and the machine would be set to work until the program completed or crashed. Programs could generally be debugged via a front panel using toggle switches and panel lights. It is said that Alan Turing was a master of this on the early Manchester Mark 1 machine, and he was already deriving the primitive conception of an operating system from the principles of the universal Turing machine.[9]
Later machines came with libraries of programs, which would be linked to a user's program to assist in operations such as input and output and compiling (generating machine code from human-readable symbolic code). This was the genesis of the modern-day operating system. However, machines still ran a single job at a time. At Cambridge University in England, the job queue was at one time a washing line (clothesline) from which tapes were hung with different colored clothes-pegs to indicate job priority.[citation needed]
By the late 1950s, programs that one would recognize as an operating system were beginning to appear. Often pointed to as the earliest recognizable example is GM-NAA I/O, released in 1956 on the IBM 704. The first known example that actually referred to itself was the SHARE Operating System, a development of GM-NAA I/O, released in 1959. In a May 1960 paper describing the system, George Ryckman noted:
The development of computer operating systems have materially aided the problem of getting a program or series of programs on and off the computer efficiently.[10]
One of the more famous examples that is often found in discussions of early systems is the Atlas Supervisor, running on the Atlas in 1962.[11] It was referred to as such in a December 1961 article describing the system, but the context of "the Operating System" is more along the lines of "the system operates in the fashion". The Atlas team itself used the term "supervisor",[12] which was widely used along with "monitor". Brinch Hansen described it as "the most significant breakthrough in the history of operating systems."[13]
Mainframes
Through the 1950s, many major features were pioneered in the field of operating systems on
During the 1960s, IBM's
OS/360 also pioneered the concept that the operating system keeps track of all of the system resources that are used, including program and data space allocation in main memory and file space in secondary storage, and file locking during updates. When a process is terminated for any reason, all of these resources are re-claimed by the operating system.
The alternative
In 1961,
UNIVAC, the first commercial computer manufacturer, produced a series of EXEC operating systems.[14][15][16] Like all early main-frame systems, this batch-oriented system managed magnetic drums, disks, card readers and line printers. In the 1970s, UNIVAC produced the Real-Time Basic (RTB) system to support large-scale time sharing, also patterned after the Dartmouth BC system.
General Electric developed General Electric Comprehensive Operating Supervisor (GECOS), which primarily supported batch processing. After its acquisition by Honeywell, it was renamed General Comprehensive Operating System (GCOS).
Digital Equipment Corporation developed many operating systems for its various computer lines, including TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 time-sharing systems for the 36-bit PDP-10 class systems. Before the widespread use of UNIX, TOPS-10 was a particularly popular system in universities, and in the early ARPANET community. RT-11 was a single-user real-time OS for the PDP-11 class minicomputer, and RSX-11 was the corresponding multi-user OS.
From the late 1960s through the late 1970s, several hardware capabilities evolved that allowed similar or ported software to run on more than one system. Early systems had utilized microprogramming to implement features on their systems in order to permit different underlying computer architectures to appear to be the same as others in a series. In fact, most 360s after the 360/40 (except the 360/44, 360/75, 360/91, 360/95 and 360/195) were microprogrammed implementations.
The enormous investment in software for these systems made since the 1960s caused most of the original computer manufacturers to continue to develop compatible operating systems along with the hardware. Notable supported mainframe operating systems include:
- B5000, 1961 to UnisysClearpath/MCP, present
- IBM OS/360 – IBM System/360, 1966 to IBM z/OS, present
- IBM CP-67 – IBM System/360, 1967 to IBM z/VM, present
- UNIVAC Clearpath Dorado, present
Microcomputers
The first microcomputers did not have the capacity or need for the elaborate operating systems that had been developed for mainframes and minis; minimalistic operating systems were developed, often loaded from ROM and known as monitors. One notable early disk operating system was CP/M, which was supported on many early microcomputers and was closely imitated by Microsoft's MS-DOS, which became widely popular as the operating system chosen for the IBM PC (IBM's version of it was called IBM DOS or PC DOS). In the 1980s, Apple Computer Inc. (now Apple Inc.) abandoned its popular Apple II series of microcomputers to introduce the Apple Macintosh computer with an innovative graphical user interface (GUI); the Macintosh ran the operating system later known as the (classic) Mac OS.
The introduction of the
The
Examples
Unix and Unix-like operating systems
Unix was originally written in
The which licenses it for use with any operating system that has been shown to conform to their definitions. "UNIX-like" is commonly used to refer to the large set of operating systems which resemble the original UNIX.
Unix-like systems run on a wide variety of computer architectures. They are used heavily for servers in business, as well as workstations in academic and engineering environments. Free UNIX variants, such as Linux and BSD, are popular in these areas.
Five operating systems are certified by
Unix interoperability was sought by establishing the POSIX standard. The POSIX standard can be applied to any operating system, although it was originally created for various Unix variants.
BSD and its descendants
A subgroup of the Unix family is the
In 1974,
Steve Jobs, upon leaving Apple Inc. in 1985, formed NeXT Inc., a company that manufactured high-end computers running on a variation of BSD called NeXTSTEP. One of these computers was used by Tim Berners-Lee as the first webserver to create the World Wide Web.
Developers like Keith Bostic encouraged the project to replace any non-free code that originated with Bell Labs. Once this was done, however, AT&T sued. After two years of legal disputes, the BSD project spawned a number of free derivatives, such as NetBSD and FreeBSD (both in 1993), and OpenBSD (from NetBSD in 1995).
macOS
macOS (formerly "Mac OS X" and later "OS X") is a line of
Prior to its merging with macOS, the server edition –
z/OS UNIX System Services
First introduced as the OpenEdition upgrade to
Linux
The Linux kernel originated in 1991, as a project of Linus Torvalds, while a university student in Finland. He posted information about his project on a newsgroup for computer students and programmers, and received support and assistance from volunteers who succeeded in creating a complete and functional kernel.
Linux is Unix-like, but was developed without any Unix code, unlike BSD and its variants. Because of its open license model, the Linux kernel code is available for study and modification, which resulted in its use on a wide range of computing machinery from supercomputers to smartwatches. Although estimates suggest that Linux is used on only 2.81% of all "desktop" (or laptop) PCs,[3] it has been widely adopted for use in servers[28] and embedded systems[29] such as cell phones.
Linux has superseded Unix on many platforms and is used on most
.Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a family of proprietary operating systems designed by Microsoft Corporation and primarily targeted to x86 architecture based computers. As of 2022[update], its worldwide market share on all platforms was approximately 30%,[31] and on the desktop/laptop platforms, its market share was approximately 75%.[32] The latest version is Windows 11.
Microsoft Windows was first released in 1985, as an
Server editions of Windows are widely used, however, Windows' usage on servers is not as widespread as on personal computers as Windows competes against Linux and BSD for server market share.[37][38]
ReactOS is a Windows-alternative operating system, which is being developed on the principles of Windows – without using any of Microsoft's code.
Other
There have been many operating systems that were significant in their day but are no longer so, such as
The
Yet other operating systems are used almost exclusively in academia, for operating systems education or to do research on operating system concepts. A typical example of a system that fulfills both roles is
Other operating systems have failed to win significant market share, but have introduced innovations that have influenced mainstream operating systems, not least Bell Labs' Plan 9.
Components
The components of an operating system all exist in order to make the different parts of a computer work together. All user software needs to go through the operating system in order to use any of the hardware, whether it be as simple as a mouse or keyboard or as complex as an Internet component.
Kernel
With the aid of
Program execution
The operating system provides an interface between an application program and the computer hardware, so that an application program can interact with the hardware only by obeying rules and procedures programmed into the operating system. The operating system is also a set of services which simplify development and execution of application programs. Executing an application program typically involves the creation of a process by the operating system kernel, which assigns memory space and other resources, establishes a priority for the process in multi-tasking systems, loads program binary code into memory, and initiates execution of the application program, which then interacts with the user and with hardware devices. However, in some systems an application can request that the operating system execute another application within the same process, either as a subroutine or in a separate thread, e.g., the LINK and ATTACH facilities of OS/360 and successors.
Interrupts
An interrupt (also known as abort, exception, fault, signal[39] and trap)[40] provides an efficient way for most operating systems to react to the environment. Interrupts cause the central processing unit (CPU) to have a control flow change away from the currently running program to an interrupt handler, also known as an interrupt service routine (ISR).[41][42] An interrupt service routine may cause the central processing unit (CPU) to have a context switch.[43][d] The details of how a computer processes an interrupt vary from architecture to architecture, and the details of how interrupt service routines behave vary from operating system to operating system.[44] However, several interrupt functions are common.[44] The architecture and operating system must:[44]
- transfer control to an interrupt service routine.
- save the state of the currently running process.
- restore the state after the interrupt is serviced.
Software interrupt
A software interrupt is a message to a process that an event has occurred.[39] This contrasts with a hardware interrupt — which is a message to the central processing unit (CPU) that an event has occurred.[45] Software interrupts are similar to hardware interrupts — there is a change away from the currently running process.[46] Similarly, both hardware and software interrupts execute an interrupt service routine.
Software interrupts may be normally occurring events. It is expected that a time slice will occur, so the kernel will have to perform a context switch.[47] A computer program may set a timer to go off after a few seconds in case too much data causes an algorithm to take too long.[48]
Software interrupts may be error conditions, such as a malformed machine instruction.[48] However, the most common error conditions are division by zero and accessing an invalid memory address.[48]
Users can send messages to the kernel to modify the behavior of a currently running process.[48] For example, in the command-line environment, pressing the interrupt character (usually Control-C) might terminate the currently running process.[48]
To generate software interrupts for x86 CPUs, the INT assembly language instruction is available.[49] The syntax is INT X, where X is the offset number (in hexadecimal format) to the interrupt vector table.
Signal
To generate software interrupts in Unix-like operating systems, the kill(pid,signum) system call will send a signal to another process.[50] pid is the process identifier of the receiving process. signum is the signal number (in mnemonic format)[e] to be sent. (The abrasive name of kill was chosen because early implementations only terminated the process.)[51]
In Unix-like operating systems, signals inform processes of the occurrence of asynchronous events.[50] To communicate asynchronously, interrupts are required.[52] One reason a process needs to asynchronously communicate to another process solves a variation of the classic reader/writer problem.[53] The writer receives a pipe from the shell for its output to be sent to the reader's input stream.[54] The command-line syntax is alpha | bravo. alpha will write to the pipe when its computation is ready and then sleep in the wait queue.[55] bravo will then be moved to the ready queue and soon will read from its input stream.[56] The kernel will generate software interrupts to coordinate the piping.[56]
Signals may be classified into 7 categories.[50] The categories are:
- when a process finishes normally.
- when a process has an error exception.
- when a process runs out of a system resource.
- when a process executes an illegal instruction.
- when a process sets an alarm event.
- when a process is aborted from the keyboard.
- when a process has a tracing alert for debugging.
Hardware interrupt
Some computers require an interrupt for each character or word, costing a significant amount of CPU time. Direct memory access (DMA) is an architecture feature to allow devices to bypass the CPU and access main memory directly.[58] (Separate from the architecture, a device may perform direct memory access[f] to and from main memory either directly or via a bus.)[59][g]
Input/Output
Interrupt-driven I/O
![[icon]](/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2022) |
When a computer user types a key on the keyboard, typically the character appears immediately on the screen. Likewise, when a user moves a mouse, the cursor immediately moves across the screen. Each keystroke and mouse movement generates an interrupt called Interrupt-driven I/O. An interrupt-driven I/O occurs when a process causes an interrupt for every character[59] or word[60] transmitted.
Direct Memory Access
Devices such as
If a computer program executes a system call to perform a block I/O write operation, then the system call might execute the following instructions:
- Set the contents of the CPU's registers (including the program counter) into the process control block.[62]
- Create an entry in the device-status table.[63] The operating system maintains this table to keep track of which processes are waiting for which devices. One field in the table is the memory address of the process control block.
- Place all the characters to be sent to the device into a memory buffer.[52]
- Set the memory address of the memory buffer to a predetermined device register.[64]
- Set the buffer size (an integer) to another predetermined register.[64]
- Execute the machine instruction to begin the writing.
- Perform a context switch to the next process in the ready queue.
While the writing takes place, the operating system will context switch to other processes as normal. When the device finishes writing, the device will interrupt the currently running process by asserting an
- Push the contents of the program counter (a register) followed by the status register onto the call stack.[44]
- Push the contents of the other registers onto the call stack. (Alternatively, the contents of the registers may be placed in a system table.)[65]
- Read the integer from the data bus. The integer is an offset to the interrupt vector table. The vector table's instructions will then:
- Access the device-status table.
- Extract the process control block.
- Perform a context switch back to the writing process.
When the writing process has its time slice expired, the operating system will:[66]
- Pop from the call stack the registers other than the status register and program counter.
- Pop from the call stack the status register.
- Pop from the call stack the address of the next instruction, and set it back into the program counter.
With the program counter now reset, the interrupted process will resume its time slice.[44]
Modes
Modern computers support multiple modes of operation. CPUs with this capability offer at least two modes:
At power-on or reset, the system begins in supervisor mode. Once an operating system kernel has been loaded and started, the boundary between user mode and supervisor mode (also known as kernel mode) can be established.
Supervisor mode is used by the kernel for low level tasks that need unrestricted access to hardware, such as controlling how memory is accessed, and communicating with devices such as disk drives and video display devices. User mode, in contrast, is used for almost everything else. Application programs, such as word processors and database managers, operate within user mode, and can only access machine resources by turning control over to the kernel, a process which causes a switch to supervisor mode. Typically, the transfer of control to the kernel is achieved by executing a
TRAP instruction. The software interrupt causes the processor to switch from user mode to supervisor mode and begin executing code that allows the kernel to take control.
In user mode, programs usually have access to a restricted set of processor instructions, and generally cannot execute any instructions that could potentially cause disruption to the system's operation. In supervisor mode, instruction execution restrictions are typically removed, allowing the kernel unrestricted access to all machine resources.
The term "user mode resource" generally refers to one or more CPU registers, which contain information that the running program is not allowed to alter. Attempts to alter these resources generally cause a switch to supervisor mode, where the operating system can deal with the illegal operation the program was attempting; for example, by forcibly terminating ("killing") the program.
Memory management
Among other things, a multiprogramming operating system kernel must be responsible for managing all system memory which is currently in use by the programs. This ensures that a program does not interfere with memory already in use by another program. Since programs time share, each program must have independent access to memory.
Cooperative memory management, used by many early operating systems, assumes that all programs make voluntary use of the kernel's memory manager, and do not exceed their allocated memory. This system of memory management is almost never seen any more, since programs often contain bugs which can cause them to exceed their allocated memory. If a program fails, it may cause memory used by one or more other programs to be affected or overwritten. Malicious programs or viruses may purposefully alter another program's memory, or may affect the operation of the operating system itself. With cooperative memory management, it takes only one misbehaved program to crash the system.
In both segmentation and paging, certain
Windows versions 3.1 through ME had some level of memory protection, but programs could easily circumvent the need to use it. A general protection fault would be produced, indicating a segmentation violation had occurred; however, the system would often crash anyway.
Virtual memory
The use of virtual memory addressing (such as paging or segmentation) means that the kernel can choose what memory each program may use at any given time, allowing the operating system to use the same memory locations for multiple tasks.
If a program tries to access memory that is not in its current range of accessible memory, but nonetheless has been allocated to it, the kernel is interrupted in the same way as it would if the program were to exceed its allocated memory. (See section on memory management.) Under UNIX this kind of interrupt is referred to as a page fault.
When the kernel detects a page fault it generally adjusts the virtual memory range of the program which triggered it, granting it access to the memory requested. This gives the kernel discretionary power over where a particular application's memory is stored, or even whether or not it has actually been allocated yet.
In modern operating systems, memory which is accessed less frequently can be temporarily stored on a disk or other media to make that space available for use by other programs. This is called
"Virtual memory" provides the programmer or the user with the perception that there is a much larger amount of RAM in the computer than is really there.[67]
Multitasking
 |
Multitasking refers to the running of multiple independent computer programs on the same computer, giving the appearance that it is performing the tasks at the same time. Since most computers can do at most one or two things at one time, this is generally done via time-sharing, which means that each program uses a share of the computer's time to execute.
An operating system kernel contains a scheduling program which determines how much time each process spends executing, and in which order execution control should be passed to programs. Control is passed to a process by the kernel, which allows the program access to the CPU and memory. Later, control is returned to the kernel through some mechanism, so that another program may be allowed to use the CPU. This so-called passing of control between the kernel and applications is called a context switch.
An early model which governed the allocation of time to programs was called cooperative multitasking. In this model, when control is passed to a program by the kernel, it may execute for as long as it wants before explicitly returning control to the kernel. This means that a malicious or malfunctioning program may not only prevent any other programs from using the CPU, but it can hang the entire system if it enters an infinite loop.
Modern operating systems extend the concepts of application preemption to device drivers and kernel code, so that the operating system has preemptive control over internal run-times as well.
The philosophy governing
On many single user operating systems cooperative multitasking is perfectly adequate, as home computers generally run a small number of well tested programs. AmigaOS is an exception, having preemptive multitasking from its first version. Windows NT was the first version of Microsoft Windows which enforced preemptive multitasking, but it did not reach the home user market until Windows XP (since Windows NT was targeted at professionals).
Disk access and file systems
|
Access to data stored on disks is a central feature of all operating systems. Computers store data on disks using files, which are structured in specific ways in order to allow for faster access, higher reliability, and to make better use of the drive's available space. The specific way in which files are stored on a disk is called a file system, and enables files to have names and attributes. It also allows them to be stored in a hierarchy of directories or folders arranged in a directory tree.
Early operating systems generally supported a single type of disk drive and only one kind of file system. Early file systems were limited in their capacity, speed, and in the kinds of file names and directory structures they could use. These limitations often reflected limitations in the operating systems they were designed for, making it very difficult for an operating system to support more than one file system.
While many simpler operating systems support a limited range of options for accessing storage systems, operating systems like
A connected
When the kernel has an appropriate device driver in place, it can then access the contents of the disk drive in raw format, which may contain one or more file systems. A file system driver is used to translate the commands used to access each specific file system into a standard set of commands that the operating system can use to talk to all file systems. Programs can then deal with these file systems on the basis of filenames, and directories/folders, contained within a hierarchical structure. They can create, delete, open, and close files, as well as gather various information about them, including access permissions, size, free space, and creation and modification dates.
Various differences between file systems make supporting all file systems difficult. Allowed characters in file names, case sensitivity, and the presence of various kinds of file attributes makes the implementation of a single interface for every file system a daunting task. Operating systems tend to recommend using (and so support natively) file systems specifically designed for them; for example, NTFS in Windows and ReiserFS, Reiser4, ext3, ext4 and Btrfs in Linux. However, in practice, third party drivers are usually available to give support for the most widely used file systems in most general-purpose operating systems (for example, NTFS is available in Linux through NTFS-3g, and ext2/3 and ReiserFS are available in Windows through third-party software).
Support for file systems is highly varied among modern operating systems, although there are several common file systems which almost all operating systems include support and drivers for. Operating systems vary on file system support and on the disk formats they may be installed on. Under Windows, each file system is usually limited in application to certain media; for example, CDs must use ISO 9660 or UDF, and as of Windows Vista, NTFS is the only file system which the operating system can be installed on. It is possible to install Linux onto many types of file systems. Unlike other operating systems, Linux and UNIX allow any file system to be used regardless of the media it is stored in, whether it is a hard drive, a disc (CD, DVD...), a USB flash drive, or even contained within a file located on another file system.
Device drivers
|
A device driver is a specific type of computer software developed to allow interaction with hardware devices. Typically this constitutes an interface for communicating with the device, through the specific computer bus or communications subsystem that the hardware is connected to, providing commands to or receiving data from the device, and on the other end, the requisite interfaces to the operating system and software applications. It is a specialized hardware-dependent computer program which is also operating system specific that enables another program, typically an operating system or applications software package or computer program running under the operating system kernel, to interact transparently with a hardware device, and usually provides the requisite interrupt handling necessary for any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interfacing needs.
The key design goal of device drivers is
Under versions of Windows before Vista and versions of Linux before 2.6, all driver execution was co-operative, meaning that if a driver entered an infinite loop it would freeze the system. More recent revisions of these operating systems incorporate kernel preemption, where the kernel interrupts the driver to give it tasks, and then separates itself from the process until it receives a response from the device driver, or gives it more tasks to do.
Networking
|
Currently most operating systems support a variety of networking protocols, hardware, and applications for using them. This means that computers running dissimilar operating systems can participate in a common network for sharing resources such as computing, files, printers, and scanners using either wired or wireless connections. Networks can essentially allow a computer's operating system to access the resources of a remote computer to support the same functions as it could if those resources were connected directly to the local computer. This includes everything from simple communication, to using networked file systems or even sharing another computer's graphics or sound hardware. Some network services allow the resources of a computer to be accessed transparently, such as SSH which allows networked users direct access to a computer's command line interface.
Client/server networking allows a program on a computer, called a client, to connect via a network to another computer, called a server. Servers offer (or host) various services to other network computers and users. These services are usually provided through ports or numbered access points beyond the server's IP address. Each port number is usually associated with a maximum of one running program, which is responsible for handling requests to that port. A daemon, being a user program, can in turn access the local hardware resources of that computer by passing requests to the operating system kernel.
Many operating systems support one or more vendor-specific or open networking protocols as well, for example,
Security
A computer being secure depends on a number of technologies working properly. A modern operating system provides access to a number of resources, which are available to software running on the system, and to external devices like networks via the kernel.[68]
The operating system must be capable of distinguishing between requests which should be allowed to be processed, and others which should not be processed. While some systems may simply distinguish between "privileged" and "non-privileged", systems commonly have a form of requester identity, such as a user name. To establish identity there may be a process of authentication. Often a username must be quoted, and each username may have a password. Other methods of authentication, such as magnetic cards or biometric data, might be used instead. In some cases, especially connections from the network, resources may be accessed with no authentication at all (such as reading files over a network share). Also covered by the concept of requester identity is authorization; the particular services and resources accessible by the requester once logged into a system are tied to either the requester's user account or to the variously configured groups of users to which the requester belongs.[citation needed]
In addition to the allow or disallow model of security, a system with a high level of security also offers auditing options. These would allow tracking of requests for access to resources (such as, "who has been reading this file?"). Internal security, or security from an already running program is only possible if all possibly harmful requests must be carried out through interrupts to the operating system kernel. If programs can directly access hardware and resources, they cannot be secured.[citation needed]
External security involves a request from outside the computer, such as a login at a connected console or some kind of network connection. External requests are often passed through device drivers to the operating system's kernel, where they can be passed onto applications, or carried out directly. Security of operating systems has long been a concern because of highly sensitive data held on computers, both of a commercial and military nature. The United States
Network services include offerings such as file sharing, print services, email, web sites, and
An alternative strategy, and the only sandbox strategy available in systems that do not meet the Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements, is where the operating system is not running user programs as native code, but instead either emulates a processor or provides a host for a p-code based system such as Java.
Internal security is especially relevant for multi-user systems; it allows each user of the system to have private files that the other users cannot tamper with or read. Internal security is also vital if auditing is to be of any use, since a program can potentially bypass the operating system, inclusive of bypassing auditing.
User interface
Every computer that is to be operated by an individual requires a
Graphical user interfaces
Most of the modern computer systems support graphical user interfaces (GUI), and often include them. In some computer systems, such as the original implementation of the classic Mac OS, the GUI is integrated into the kernel.
While technically a graphical user interface is not an operating system service, incorporating support for one into the operating system kernel can allow the GUI to be more responsive by reducing the number of context switches required for the GUI to perform its output functions. Other operating systems are modular, separating the graphics subsystem from the kernel and the Operating System. In the 1980s UNIX, VMS and many others had operating systems that were built this way. Linux and macOS are also built this way. Modern releases of Microsoft Windows such as Windows Vista implement a graphics subsystem that is mostly in user-space; however the graphics drawing routines of versions between Windows NT 4.0 and Windows Server 2003 exist mostly in kernel space. Windows 9x had very little distinction between the interface and the kernel.
Many computer operating systems allow the user to install or create any user interface they desire. The
Numerous Unix-based GUIs have existed over time, most derived from X11. Competition among the various vendors of Unix (HP, IBM, Sun) led to much fragmentation, though an effort to standardize in the 1990s to COSE and CDE failed for various reasons, and were eventually eclipsed by the widespread adoption of GNOME and K Desktop Environment. Prior to free software-based toolkits and desktop environments, Motif was the prevalent toolkit/desktop combination (and was the basis upon which CDE was developed).
Graphical user interfaces evolve over time. For example, Windows has modified its user interface almost every time a new major version of Windows is released, and the Mac OS GUI changed dramatically with the introduction of Mac OS X in 1999.[69]
Real-time operating systems
A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system intended for applications with fixed deadlines (real-time computing). Such applications include some small embedded systems, automobile engine controllers, industrial robots, spacecraft, industrial control, and some large-scale computing systems.
An early example of a large-scale real-time operating system was
Embedded systems that have fixed deadlines use a
Some embedded systems use operating systems such as Palm OS, BSD, and Linux, although such operating systems do not support real-time computing.
Operating system development as a hobby
A hobby operating system may be classified as one whose code has not been directly derived from an existing operating system, and has few users and active developers.[citation needed]
In some cases, hobby development is in support of a "homebrew" computing device, for example, a simple single-board computer powered by a 6502 microprocessor. Or, development may be for an architecture already in widespread use. Operating system development may come from entirely new concepts, or may commence by modeling an existing operating system. In either case, the hobbyist is her/his own developer, or may interact with a small and sometimes unstructured group of individuals who have like interests.
Examples of a hobby operating system include Syllable and TempleOS.
Diversity of operating systems and portability
If an application is written for use on a specific operating system, and is
This cost in supporting operating systems diversity can be avoided by instead writing applications against
Another approach is for operating system vendors to adopt standards. For example, POSIX and OS abstraction layers provide commonalities that reduce porting costs.
See also
- Comparison of operating systems
- Crash (computing)
- Hypervisor
- Interruptible operating system
- List of important publications in operating systems
- List of operating systems
- List of pioneers in computer science
- Live CD
- Glossary of operating systems terms
- Microcontroller
- Mobile device
- Mobile operating system
- Network operating system
- Object-oriented operating system
- Operating System Projects
- System Commander
- System image
- Timeline of operating systems
Notes
- ^ A combination of DOS/360 and emulation software was known as Compatibility Operating System (COS).
- ^ However, ESPOL did allow source programs to specify all of the operations of the instruction repertoire.
- ^ Bell Labs quickly dropped out, leaving GE and MIT.
- ^ Modern CPUs provide instructions (e.g. SYSENTER) to invoke selected kernel services without an interrupts. Visit https://wiki.osdev.org/SYSENTER for more information.
- SIGBUS.
- ^ often in the form of a DMA chip for smaller systems and I/O channels for larger systems
- ^ Modern motherboards have a DMA controller. Additionally, a device may also have one. Visit SCSI RDMA Protocol.
References
- ^ Stallings (2005). Operating Systems, Internals and Design Principles. Pearson: Prentice Hall. p. 6.
- ^ Dhotre, I.A. (2009). Operating Systems. Technical Publications. p. 1.
- ^ a b "Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide". StatCounter Global Stats. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
- ^ "Mobile & Tablet Operating System Market Share Worldwide". StatCounter Global Stats. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ^ "VII. Special-Purpose Systems - Operating System Concepts, Seventh Edition [Book]". www.oreilly.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Special-Purpose Operating Systems - RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems - English". www.acs.eonerc.rwth-aachen.de. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ISBN 089791872X.
- S2CID 13887160.
- ^ ISBN 0-387-95113-X. Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- S2CID 30745551.
- ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5.
- from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ Brinch Hansen, Per (2000). Classic Operating Systems: From Batch Processing to Distributed Systems. Springer-Verlag.
- Sperry Rand. UP-2577. Archived(PDF) from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- Sperry Rand. 1966. UP-4058. Archived(PDF) from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- Sperry Rand. 1968. UP-4144. Archived(PDF) from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ "Intel® Microprocessor Quick Reference Guide - Year". www.intel.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ^ Ritchie, Dennis. "Unix Manual, first edition". Lucent Technologies. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
- ^ "OS X Mountain Lion – Move your Mac even further ahead". Apple. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "Openedition Services on MVS/ESA SP Version 4 Release 3 Announced and Availability of MVS/ESA SP Version 4 Release 3 With Additional Enhancements". Announcement Letters. IBM. 9 February 1993. 293-060. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ Introducing OpenEdition MVS. First Edition. IBM. December 1993. GC23-3010-00.
- ^ OpenEdition MVS POSIX.1 Conformance Document. First Edition. IBM. February 1993. GC23-3011-00.
- ^ OpenEdition MVS POSIX.2 Conformance Document. First Edition. IBM. December 1993. GC23-3012-00.
- ^ "Twenty Years of Linux according to Linus Torvalds". ZDNet. April 13, 2011. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
- ^ Linus Benedict Torvalds (5 October 1991). "Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT". Newsgroup: comp.os.minix. Archived from the original on 2 March 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ "What Is Linux: An Overview of the Linux Operating System". Medium. 11 April 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ Linux Online (2008). "Linux Logos and Mascots". Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
- ^ "IDC report into Server market share". Idc.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ LinuxDevices Staff (23 April 2008). "Linux still top embedded OS". LinuxGizmos.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
- ^ "Operating system Family / Linux | TOP500". www.top500.org. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Operating System Market Share Worldwide Jan–Dec 2022". 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ^ "Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide Jan–Dec 2022". 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
- ^ "Troubleshooting MS-DOS Compatibility Mode on Hard Disks". Microsoft Support. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "Using NDIS 2 PCMCIA Network Card Drivers in Windows 95". Microsoft Support. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "INFO: Windows 95 Multimedia Wave Device Drivers Must be 16 bit". Microsoft Support. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ Arthur, Charles (5 January 2011). "'Windows 8' will run on ARM chips - but third-party apps will need rewrite". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016.
- ^ "Operating System Share by Groups for Sites in All Locations January 2009". Archived from the original on 6 July 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
- ^ "Behind the IDC data: Windows still No. 1 in server operating systems". ZDNet. 26 February 2010. Archived from the original on 1 March 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59327-220-3.
A signal is a notification to a process that an event has occurred. Signals are sometimes described as software interrupts.
- ^ Hyde, Randall (1996). "Chapter Seventeen: Interrupts, Traps and Exceptions (Part 1)". The Art Of Assembly Language Programming. No Starch Press. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
The concept of an interrupt is something that has expanded in scope over the years. The 80x86 family has only added to the confusion surrounding interrupts by introducing the int (software interrupt) instruction. Indeed, different manufacturers have used terms like exceptions, faults, aborts, traps and interrupts to describe the phenomena this chapter discusses. Unfortunately there is no clear consensus as to the exact meaning of these terms. Different authors adopt different terms to their own use.
- ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
Like the trap, the interrupt stops the running program and transfers control to an interrupt handler, which performs some appropriate action. When finished, the interrupt handler returns control to the interrupted program.
- ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
When an interrupt (or trap) occurs, the hardware transfers control to the operating system. First, the operating system preserves the state of the CPU by storing registers and the program counter. Then, it determines which type of interrupt has occurred. For each type of interrupt, separate segments of code in the operating system determine what action should be taken.
- ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
Switching the CPU to another process requires saving the state of the old process and loading the saved state for the new process. This task is known as a context switch.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
- ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
Hardware may trigger an interrupt at any time by sending a signal to the CPU, usually by way of the system bus.
- ISBN 978-1-59327-220-3.
Signals are analogous to hardware interrupts in that they interrupt the normal flow of execution of a program; in most cases, it is not possible to predict exactly when a signal will arrive.
- ISBN 978-1-59327-220-3.
Among the types of events that cause the kernel to generate a signal for a process are the following: A software event occurred. For example, ... the process's CPU time limit was exceeded[.]
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59327-220-3.
- Intel Corporation. September 2016. p. 610. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0-13-201799-7.
- ISBN 978-1-59327-220-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
- ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
- ISBN 0-201-12919-1.
- ISBN 0-201-12919-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-201-12919-1.
- ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
- ^ IBM (September 1968), "Main Storage" (PDF), IBM System/360 Principles of Operation (PDF), Eighth Edition, p. 7, archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2022, retrieved 13 April 2022
- ^ a b
Tanenbaum, Andrew S. (1990). Structured Computer Organization, Third Edition. Prentice Hall. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
- ^ "Program Interrupt Controller (PIC)" (PDF). Users Handbook - PDP-7 (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. 1965. pp. 48. F-75. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
- ^ PDP-1 Input-Output Systems Manual (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. pp. 19–20. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
- ISBN 978-0-201-50480-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
- ISBN 978-0-13-854662-5.
- ISBN 978-81-203-2962-1.
- ^ "Operating Systems: Security". www.cs.uic.edu. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ Polsson, Ken (8 February 2007). "Chronology of Personal Computer Software (1998-1999)". islandnet.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
- ^ "Reading: Operating System". Lumen. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-9856735-2-9.
- Auslander, M. A.; Larkin, D. C.; Scherr, A. L. (September 1981). "The Evolution of the MVS Operating System". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 25 (5): 471–482. .
- Deitel, Harvey M.; Deitel, Paul; Choffnes, David (25 December 2015). Operating Systems. Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-092641-8.
- Bic, Lubomur F.; Shaw, Alan C. (2003). Operating Systems. Pearson: Prentice Hall.
- Silberschatz, Avi; Galvin, Peter; Gagne, Greg (2008). Operating Systems Concepts. ISBN 978-0-470-12872-5.
- O'Brien, J. A., & Marakas, G. M.(2011). Management Information Systems. 10e. McGraw-Hill Irwin.
- Leva, Alberto; Maggio, Martina; Papadopoulos, Alessandro Vittorio; Terraneo, Federico (2013). Control-based Operating System Design. ISBN 978-1-84919-609-3.
- Arpaci-Dusseau, Remzi; Arpaci-Dusseau, Andrea (2015). Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
External links
- Operating Systems at Curlie
- Multics History and the history of operating systems