Module 10: File-System Interface

• File Concept
• Access :Methods
• Directory Structure
• Protection
• Consistency Semantics
• Pg 371

Operating System Concepts 10.1 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 File Concept

• Contiguous logical address space

• Types:
– Data
 numeric
 character
 binary
– Program

Operating System Concepts 10.2 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 File Structure

• None - sequence of words, bytes

• Simple record structure
– Lines
– Fixed length
– Variable length
• Complex Structures
– Formatted document
– Relocatable load file
• Can simulate last two with first method by inserting appropriate control
characters.
• Who decides:
– Operating system
– Program

Operating System Concepts 10.3 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 File Attributes

• Name – only information kept in human-readable form.

• Type – needed for systems that support different types.
• Location – pointer to file location on device.
• Size – current file size.
• Protection – controls who can do reading, writing, executing.
• Time, date, and user identification – data for protection,
security, and usage monitoring.
• Information about files are kept in the directory structure, which is
maintained on the disk.

Operating System Concepts 10.4 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 File Operations

• create
• write
• read
• reposition within file – file seek
• delete
• truncate
• open(Fi) – search the directory structure on disk for entry Fi, and
move the content of entry to memory.
• close (Fi) – move the content of entry Fi in memory to directory
structure on disk.

Operating System Concepts 10.5 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 File Types – name, extension
File Type Usual extension Function
Executable exe, com, bin or ready-to-run machine-
none language program
Object obj, o complied, machine
language, not linked
Source code c, p, pas, 177, source code in various
asm, a languages
Batch bat, sh commands to the
command interpreter
Text txt, doc textual data documents
Word processor wp, tex, rrf, etc. various word-processor
formats
Library lib, a libraries of routines
Print or view ps, dvi, gif ASCII or binary file
Archive arc, zip, tar related files grouped
into one file, sometimes
compressed.
Operating System Concepts 10.6 Silberschatz and Galvin1999
 Access Methods

• Sequential Access
read next
write next
reset
no read after last write
(rewrite)
• Direct Access
read n
write n
position to n
read next
write next
rewrite n
n = relative block number

Operating System Concepts 10.7 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Directory Structure

• A collection of nodes containing information about all files.

Directory

Files
F1 F2 F4
F3
Fn

• Both the directory structure and the files reside on disk.

• Backups of these two structures are kept on tapes.
Operating System Concepts 10.8 Silberschatz and Galvin1999
 Information in a Device Directory

• Name
• Type
• Address
• Current length
• Maximum length
• Date last accessed (for archival)
• Date last updated (for dump)
• Owner ID (who pays)
• Protection information (discuss later)

Operating System Concepts 10.9 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Operations Performed on Directory

• Search for a file

• Create a file
• Delete a file
• List a directory
• Rename a file
• Traverse the file system

Operating System Concepts 10.10 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Organize the Directory (Logically) to Obtain

• Efficiency – locating a file quickly.

• Naming – convenient to users.
– Two users can have same name for different files.
– The same file can have several different names.
• Grouping – logical grouping of files by properties, (e.g., all Pascal
programs, all games, …)

Operating System Concepts 10.11 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Single-Level Directory

• A single directory for all users.

• Naming problem
• Grouping problem

Operating System Concepts 10.12 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Two-Level Directory

• Separate directory for each user.

• Path name
• Can have the saem file name for different user
• Efficient searching
• No grouping capability

Operating System Concepts 10.13 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Tree-Structured Directories

Operating System Concepts 10.14 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Tree-Structured Directories (Cont.)

• Efficient searching
• Grouping Capability
• Current directory (working directory)
– cd /spell/mail/prog
– type list

Operating System Concepts 10.15 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Tree-Structured Directories (Cont.)
• Absolute or relative path name
• Creating a new file is done in current directory.
• Delete a file
rm <file-name>
• Creating a new subdirectory is done in current directory.
mkdir <dir-name>
Example: if in current directory /spell/mail
mkdir count

mail

prog copy prt exp count

• Deleting “mail”  deleting the entire subtree rooted by “mail”.

Operating System Concepts 10.16 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Acyclic-Graph Directories

• Have shared subdirectories and files.

Operating System Concepts 10.17 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Acyclic-Graph Directories (Cont.)

• Two different names (aliasing)

• If dict deletes list  dangling pointer.
Solutions:
– Backpointers, so we can delete all pointers.
Variable size records a problem.
– Backpointers using a daisy chain organization.
– Entry-hold-count solution.

Operating System Concepts 10.18 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 General Graph Directory

Operating System Concepts 10.19 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 General Graph Directory (Cont.)

• How do we guarantee no cycles?

– Allow only links to file not subdirectories.
– Garbage collection.
– Every time a new link is added use a cycle detection
algorithm to determine whether it is OK.

Operating System Concepts 10.20 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Protection

• File owner/creator should be able to control:

– what can be done
– by whom
• Types of access
– Read
– Write
– Execute
– Append
– Delete
– List

Operating System Concepts 10.21 Silberschatz and Galvin1999

 Access Lists and Groups
• Mode of access: read, write, execute
• Three classes of users
RWX
a) owner access 7  111
RWX
b) groups access 6  110
RWX
c) public access 1  001
• Ask manager to create a group (unique name), say G, and add
some users to the group.
• For a particular file (say game) or subdirectory, define an
appropriate access. owner group public

chmod 761 game

• Attach a group to a file

chgrp G game
Operating System Concepts 10.22 Silberschatz and Galvin1999