Processes and the Kernel 1

Processes and System Calls

key concepts
process,system call,processor exception,fork/execv,multiprocessing

reading
Three Easy Pieces: Chapter 4 (Processes), Chapter 5 (Process API), Chapter 6
(Direct Execution)

CS350 Operating Systems Fall 2017

Processes and the Kernel 2

What is a Process?

A process is an environment in which an application program runs.

• a process includes virtualized resources that its program can use:

– one (or more) threads
– virtual memory, used for the program’s code and data
– other resources, e.g., file and socket descriptors

• processes are created and managed by the kernel

• each program’s process isolates it from other programs in other processes

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Processes and the Kernel 3

System Calls

• System calls are the interface between processes and the kernel.
• A process uses system calls to request operating system services.

• Some examples:

Service OS/161 Examples

create,destroy,manage processes fork,execv,waitpid,getpid
create,destroy,read,write files open,close,remove,read,write
manage file system and directories mkdir,rmdir,link,sync
interprocess communication pipe,read,write
manage virtual memory sbrk
query,manage system reboot, time

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System Call Software Stack

Application

Syscall Library unprivileged

code

privileged
code
Kernel

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Kernel Privilege

• Kernel code runs at a higher level of execution privilege than application code
– privilege levels are implemented by the CPU
• The kernel’s higher privilege level allows it to do things that the CPU prevents
less-privileged (application) programs from doing. For example:
– application programs cannot modify the page tables that the kernel uses to
implement process virtual memories
– application programs cannot halt the CPU

• These restrictions allow the kernel to keep processes isolated from one another -
and from the kernel.

Application programs cannot directly call kernel functions or access kernel

data structures.

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How System Calls Work (Part 1)

Since application programs can’t directly call the kernel, how does a program
make a system call?

• There are only two things that make kernel code run:
– Interrupts
∗ interrupts are generated by devices
∗ an interrupt means a device (hardware) needs attention
– Exceptions
∗ exceptions are caused by instruction execution
∗ an exception means that a running program needs attention

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Interrupts, Revisited

• We have described interrupts already. Remember:

– An interrupt causes the hardware to transfer control to a fixed location in
memory, where an interrupt handler is located
• Interrupt handlers are part of the kernel
– If an interrupt occurs while an application program is running, control will
jump from the application to the kernel’s interrupt handler

• When an interrupt occurs, the processor switches to privileged execution mode

when it transfers control to the interrupt handler
– This is how the kernel gets its execution privilege

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Exceptions

• Exceptions are conditions that occur during the execution of a program

instruction.
– Examples: arithmetic overflows, illegal instructions, or page faults (to be
discussed later).
• Exceptions are detected by the CPU during instruction execution

• The CPU handles exceptions like it handles interrupts:

– control is transferred to a fixed location, where an exception handler is
located
– the processor is switched to privileged execution mode

• The exception handler is part of the kernel

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MIPS Exception Types

EX_IRQ 0 /* Interrupt */
EX_MOD 1 /* TLB Modify (write to read-only page) */
EX_TLBL 2 /* TLB miss on load */
EX_TLBS 3 /* TLB miss on store */
EX_ADEL 4 /* Address error on load */
EX_ADES 5 /* Address error on store */
EX_IBE 6 /* Bus error on instruction fetch */
EX_DBE 7 /* Bus error on data load *or* store */
EX_SYS 8 /* Syscall */
EX_BP 9 /* Breakpoint */
EX_RI 10 /* Reserved (illegal) instruction */
EX_CPU 11 /* Coprocessor unusable */
EX_OVF 12 /* Arithmetic overflow */

On the MIPS, the same mechanism handles exceptions and interrupts, and
there is a single handler for both in the kernel. The handler uses these codes
to determine what triggered it to run.

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How System Calls Work (Part 2)

• To perform a system call, the application program needs to cause an exception

to make the kernel execute:
– on the MIPS, EX SYS is the system call exception
• To cause this exception on the MIPS, the application executes a special purpose
instruction: syscall
– other processor instruction sets include similar instructions, e.g., syscall
on x86
• The kernel’s exception handler checks the exception code (set by the CPU when
the exception is generated) to distinguish system call exceptions from other
types of exceptions.

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System Call Software Stack (again)

Application

1 5
Syscall Library unprivileged
code
4
2
privileged
3 code
Kernel

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System Call Timeline

1. application calls library wrapper function for desired system call

2. library function performs syscall instruction

3. kernel exception handler runs

• creates trap frame to save application program state
• determines that this is a system call exception
• determines which system call is being requested
• does the work for the requested system call
• restores the application program state from the trap frame
• returns from the exception
4. library wrapper function finishes and returns from its call

5. application continues execution

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Which System Call?

• Q. There are many different system calls, but only one syscall exception.
How does the kernel know which system call the application is requesting?

• A. system call codes

– the kernel defines a code for each system call it understands
– the kernel expects the application to place a code in a specified location
before executing the syscall instruction
∗ for OS/161 on the MIPS, the code goes in register v0
– the kernel’s exception handler checks this code to determine which system
call has been requested
– the codes and code location are part of the kernel ABI (Application Binary
Interface)

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Some OS/161 System Call Codes

...
#define SYS_fork 0
#define SYS_vfork 1
#define SYS_execv 2
#define SYS__exit 3
#define SYS_waitpid 4
#define SYS_getpid 5
...

This comes from kern/include/kern/syscall.h. The files in

kern/include/kern define things (like system call codes) that must be
known by both the kernel and applications.

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System Call Parameters

• Q. System calls take parameters and return values, like function calls. How
does this work, since system calls are really just exceptions?

• A. The application places parameter values in kernel-specified locations before

the syscall, and looks for return values in kernel-specified locations after the
exception handler returns
– The locations are part of the kernel ABI
– Parameter and return value placement is handled by the application system
call library functions
– On the MIPS
∗ parameters go in registers a0,a1,a2,a3
∗ result success/fail code is in a3 on return
∗ return value or error code is in v0 on return

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Processes and the Kernel 16

User and Kernel Stacks

• Every OS/161 process thread has two stacks, although it only uses one at a time
– User (Application) Stack: used while application code is executing
∗ this stack is located in the application’s virtual memory
∗ it holds activation records for application functions
∗ the kernel creates this stack when it sets up the virtual address memory
for the process
– Kernel Stack: used while the thread is executing kernel code, after an
exception or interrupt
∗ this stack is a kernel structure
∗ in OS/161, the t stack field of the thread structure points to this
stack
∗ this stack holds activation records for kernel functions
∗ this stack also holds trap frames and switch frames (because the kernel
creates trap frames and switch frames)

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Exception Handling in OS/161

• first to run is careful assembly code that

– saves the application stack pointer
– switches the stack pointer to point to the thread’s kernel stack
– carefully saves application state and the address of the instruction that was
interrupted in a trap frame on the thread’s kernel stack
– calls mips trap, passing a pointer to the trap frame as a parameter

• after mips trap is finished, the handler will

– restore application state (including the application stack pointer) from the
trap frame on the thread’s kernel stack
– jump back to the application instruction that was interrupted, and switch
back to unprivileged execution mode
• see kern/arch/mips/locore/exception-mips1.S

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mips trap

• mips trap determines what type of exception this is by looking at the

exception code: interrupt? system call? something else?

• there is a separate handler in the kernel for each type of exception:

– interrupt? call mainbus interrupt
– address translation exception? call vm fault (important for later
assignments!)
– system call? call syscall (kernel function), passing it the trap frame
pointer
– syscall is in kern/arch/mips/syscall/syscall.c

• see kern/arch/mips/locore/trap.c

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Multiprocessing

• Multiprocessing (or multitasking) means having multiple processes existing at

the same time

• All processes share the available hardware resources, with the sharing
coordinated by the operating system:
– Each process’ virtual memory is implemented using some of the available
physical memory. The OS decides how much memory each process gets.
– Each process’ threads are scheduled onto the available CPUs (or CPU cores)
by the OS.
– Processes share access to other resources (e.g., disks, network devices, I/O
devices) by making system calls. The OS controls this sharing.
• The OS ensures that processes are isolated from one another. Interprocess
communication should be possible, but only at the explicit request of the
processes involved.

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Multiprocessing Example

Process A Kernel Process B

timer interrupt

interrupt return
Key:

ready thread

running thread

context
switches

Two process’ threads timesharing a single CPU.

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System Calls for Process Management

Linux OS/161
Creation fork,execv fork,execv
Destruction exit,kill exit
Synchronization wait,waitpid,pause,. . . waitpid
Attribute Mgmt getpid,getuid,nice,getrusage,. . . getpid

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fork, exit, and waitpid

• fork creates a new process (the child) that is a clone of the original (the
parent)
– after fork, both parent and child are executing copies of the same program
– virtual memories of parent and child are identical at the time of the fork, but
may diverge afterwards
– fork is called by the parent, but returns in both the parent and the child
∗ parent and child see different return values from fork
• exit terminates the process that calls it
– process can supply an exit status code when it exits
– kernel records the exit status code in case another process asks for it (via
waitpid)
• waitpid lets a process wait for another to terminate, and retrieve its exit status
code

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Processes and the Kernel 23

The fork, exit, getpid and waitpid system calls

main() {
rc = fork(); /* returns 0 to child, pid to parent */
if (rc == 0) { /* child executes this code */
my_pid = getpid();
x = child_code();
_exit(x);
} else { /* parent executes this code */
child_pid = rc;
parent_pid = getpid();
parent_code();
p = waitpid(child_pid,&child_exit,0);
if (WIFEXITED(child_exit))
printf("child exit status was %d\n",
WEXITSTATUS(child_exit))
}
}
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The execv system call

• execv changes the program that a process is running

• The calling process’s current virtual memory is destroyed

• The process gets a new virtual memory, initialized with the code and data of the
new program to run
• After execv, the new program starts executing

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execv example

int main()
{
int rc = 0;
char *args[4];

args[0] = (char *) "/testbin/argtest";

args[1] = (char *) "first";
args[2] = (char *) "second";
args[3] = 0;

rc = execv("/testbin/argtest", args);
printf("If you see this execv failed\n");
printf("rc = %d errno = %d\n", rc, errno);
exit(0);
}

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Combining fork and execv

main()
{
char *args[4];
/* set args here */
rc = fork(); /* returns 0 to child, pid to parent */
if (rc == 0) {
status = execv("/testbin/argtest",args);
printf("If you see this execv failed\n");
printf("status = %d errno = %d\n", status, errno);
exit(0);
} else {
child_pid = rc;
parent_code();
p = waitpid(child_pid,&child_exit,0);
}
}
CS350 Operating Systems Fall 2017