Multiprogramming

CSE451
Andrew Whitaker
Overview
 Multiprogramming: Running multiple programs
“at the same time”
Requires multiplexing (sharing) the CPU

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time

 Transfer of control is called a context switch

The Process
 The process is an OS
kernel space
abstraction for a running
program stack
(dynamic allocated mem)
SP
 Process is associated
with an address space
heap
(dynamic allocated mem)
 Preview: Thread is a static data
running program without (data segment)
its own address space code PC
(text segment)
How Do Processes Share the CPU?

The OS maintains a per-process Process

Control Block (PCB)
Which stores state for non-running processes
On a context switch
Save state of the old process
Restore state of the new process
Old PCB
CPU
New PCB
What’s in the PCB?
 The PCB is a data structure with many fields:
process ID (PID)
execution state (Ready, Running, Blocked)
program counter, stack pointer, registers
memory management info
UNIX username of owner
scheduling priority
accounting info
 In linux:
defined in task_struct (include/linux/sched.h)
over 95 fields!!!
States of a process
running

dispatch interrupt
(unschedule)

ready blocking I/O

interrupt
(I/O complete)

blocked
State queues

The OS maintains a set of queues that

represent the state of processes in the
system
e.g., ready queue: all runnable processes
e.g., wait queue: processes blocked on some
condition
As a process changes state, its PCB is
unlinked from one queue, and linked onto
another
 State queues
Ready queue header

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tail ptr

Wait queue header

head ptr cat pcb netscape pcb

tail ptr

 There may be many wait queues, one for each

type of wait (particular device, timer, message,
…)
Walking Through a Context Switch
 Process A enters the kernel
 Due to a system call, interrupt, or exception
 The kernel scheduler is invoked:
 Is it time to context switch?
 If so, which is the next process to run?
 Assembly routine exchanges hardware state
 Save process A’s state to its PCB
 Load process B’s state from its PCB
 (Process B now running)
 OS returns control to user mode
 The Guts of Context Switching (x86)

1. define switch_to(prev,next,last) do {
2. unsigned long esi,edi;
3. asm volatile("pushl %%ebp\n\t"
4. "movl %%esp,%0\n\t /* save stackptr */
5. "movl %5,%%esp\n\t /* restore stackptr */
6. "movl $1f,%1\n\t" /* save instr_ptr */
7. "pushl %6\n\t" /* restore instr_ptr */
8. "jmp __switch_to\n” /* Return to C */
9. "1:\t" /* 1: is $1f*/
10. "popl %%ebp\n\t"
11. :"=m" (prev->thread.esp), /* %0 */
12. "=m" (prev->thread.eip), /* %1 */
13. "=a" (last), /* %2 */
14. "=S" (esi),"=D" (edi)
15. :"m" (next->thread.esp), /* %5 */
16. "m" (next->thread.eip), /* %6 */
17. "2" (prev), "d" (next));
18. } while (0)
UNIX Process API

How do user programs interact with

processes?
Fork: create a new process
Exec: run a program
Kill: destroy a process
Wait: wait for a process to exit
UNIX process creation
 Via the fork() system call
 Fork essentially clones the parent process
Child receives identical (but separate) address space
Child inherits open files from its parent
 The fork() system call “returns twice”
Returns the child’s PID to the parent
Returns 0 to the child
Fork example
int value = 5;

int main () {
pid_t pid ; What value is printed to
the screen?
value = 7;

pid = fork();
if (pid == 0) { /* Child */
value += 15;
}
else { /* Parent */
wait (NULL); /* Wait for child to terminate */
printf("PARENT: value = %d\n",value );
}
}
Exec vs. fork
 So how do we start a new program, instead of
just forking the old program?
the exec() system call!
int exec(char *prog, char ** argv)
 exec()
stops the current process
loads program ‘prog’ into the address space
initializes hardware context, args for new program
places PCB onto ready queue
note: does not create a new process!
UNIX shells
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
while (1) {
char *cmd = get_next_command();
int child_pid = fork();
if (child_pid == 0) {
exec(cmd);
panic(“exec failed!”);
} else {
waitpid(child_pid);
}
}
}