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Unit II Lecture 2 System Calls

System calls are mechanisms for programs to request services from the operating system's kernel, enabling user-level processes to perform tasks like file access and process management. They are implemented through a system call interface that maps system call numbers to their corresponding routines in the kernel, allowing users to interact with the OS without needing to understand the underlying implementation. Examples include prompting for file names, opening files, and reading/writing data, all of which are executed through predefined function calls.

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24 views3 pages

Unit II Lecture 2 System Calls

System calls are mechanisms for programs to request services from the operating system's kernel, enabling user-level processes to perform tasks like file access and process management. They are implemented through a system call interface that maps system call numbers to their corresponding routines in the kernel, allowing users to interact with the OS without needing to understand the underlying implementation. Examples include prompting for file names, opening files, and reading/writing data, all of which are executed through predefined function calls.

Uploaded by

Abhay Mishra
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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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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Operating System

COMP301TH

Unit-II
Lecture: 2
(System Calls)
System calls are basically a way in which a program requests a service from
the kernel of the OS which may include hardware-related services like
accessing files form hard disk, creation and execution of new processes, etc.
System calls provide the interface between a running program and the
operating system.
System calls allow user-level processes to request some services from the
operating system which process itself is not allowed to do.
System calls may be available as assembly language instructions or even high-
level language calls.
They resemble pre-defined function calls.

Fig: System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another

The above figure shows the sequence of system calls that will be invoked when
the contents of one file is copied to another.
 Prompting to the screen and asking the user to enter the name of a file is
a system call.
 Getting the name of a source file as input is a system call.
 Again, asking the user for the name of the destination file, reading as
input the destination file name, opening the source file, creating the
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Operating System
COMP301TH

destination file, reading from the source file, writing to the destination
file etc. are all system calls.
 So, any program written by any user will have a number of system calls
in it. However, most users never see this level of details.
System Call Implementation:
 Typically, a system call number is associated with each system call. A
system-call interface maintains a table indexed according to these
numbers. This system call table has the address of the routine where the
system call is implemented in the operating system kernel.
 The system call interface invokes the intended system call in the OS
kernel and returns the status of the system call and any return values.
 The caller/user need not know anything about how the system call is
implemented.
 The user just needs to obey the Application Program Interface (API) and
understand what the OS will do as a result of the call.
 Most details of the system call are hidden from the programmer by
the API.
 The system calls are managed by a run-time support library (set of
functions built into libraries included with compiler).

Fig: Relationship between API, system call and OS

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Operating System
COMP301TH

Fig above shows a user application using the open () call to open a file.

 The open () call invokes the system call interface. There is a system call
number corresponding to the open () call.

 The system call interface uses this number as an index into the system
call table to find the address of the open () routine in the kernel.

 Using this address, the open () routine in the kernel is now invoked. The
open routine in the kernel does whatever is necessary for opening a file
and returns a file handle.

 The file handle (return value) is returned to the user.

Some examples of different types of system calls are provided by an operating


system:

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