Processes

Operating Systems – CS x61 1

Dr. Noha Adly
 What is a Process?
 Sequence of instructions that executes
A program in execution

 The entity that can be assigned to and executed on
a processor
 A unit of activity characterized by a single sequential
thread of execution
 Can be traced: list the sequence of instructions that
execute
 Associated data needed by the program
 Context
 All information OS needs to manage the process
 A current state and an associated set of system
resources
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 2
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Requirements of an OS

 Interleave the execution of several processes to maximize

processor utilization while providing reasonable response time
 Allocate resources to processes
 Protect the resources of each process from other processes
 Enable processes to share and exchange information; Support
InterProcess Communication (IPC)
 Enable synchronization among processes
 Creation and termination of processes
All requirements are expressed with reference to
processes

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 5

 Process in Memory

 A Process consists of Multiple parts

 The program code, also called
text section
 Data section containing global
variables
 Current State including program
counter, processor registers
 Stack containing temporary data
Function parameters, return
addresses, local variables
 Heap containing memory
dynamically allocated during run
Dr. Noha Adly
time Operating Systems – CS x61
 Process Elements

 Program code
 A set of data
 Process Control Block
 Contains the process elements
uniquely identifying the process
 Created and managed by the OS
 contains sufficient information that
allow to interrupt a running
process and later resume
execution
 Allows OS to support multiple
processes
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 7
 Process Control Block (PCB)
Information associated with each process
 Process state – running, waiting, etc
 Program counter – location of instruction
to next execute
 CPU registers – contents of all process-
centric registers
 CPU scheduling information- priorities,
scheduling queue pointers
 Memory-management information –
memory allocated to the process
 Accounting information – CPU used,
clock time elapsed since start, time
limits
 I/O status information – I/O devices
allocated to process, list of open files
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Process Execution

 Consider three
processes being
executed
 Dispatcher is a small
program which switches
the processor from one
process to another
 All are in memory (plus
the dispatcher)

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 9

 Trace of Processes

10

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Trace from Processors point of view

Timeout
I/O

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 11

 Two-State Process Model
 Process may be in one of two states
 Running
 Not-running
 When OS creates a new process
 it creates a new Process Control Block PCB
 When Dispatcher selects a process to run
 Move Running process to Not Running state
 Move selected process from Not Running state to Running
state

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 12

 Queuing Diagram
• Each process must be represented in a structure so; OS can keep
track of it
• Could be a simple queue, managed by the dispatcher of the OS
• Each entry of Queue is a pointer to PCB of a process

Etc … processes moved by the dispatcher of the OS to the

CPU then back to the queue until the task is competed

Life of a process is bound by its creation and termination

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 13
 What Initiates Process Creation?

 Submission of a batch job

 User logs on
 Created to provide a service e.g. printing
 Process creates another process process spawning
 Parent Process is the original, creating process
 Child Process is the new process
 Ex: file server generates a process for each request
 Useful in structuring applications: Modularity
 Parent and Child processes can run simultaneously: Parallelism

Deciding how to allocate the resources is a policy that is

determined by the OS

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 14

 Process Creation
 A process may create new processes: Parent process creates
children processes, which, in turn create other processes, forming a
tree of processes
 Process is identified and managed via a process identifier (pid)
init
pid = 1

login kthreadd sshd

pid = 8415 pid = 2 pid = 3028

bash khelper pdflush sshd

pid = 8416 pid = 6 pid = 200 pid = 3610

emacs tcsch
ps
pid = 9204 pid = 4005
pid = 9298

A Tree of Processes in Linux

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Process Creation

 Resource sharing options

 Parent and children share all resources
 Children share subset of parent’s resources
 Parent and child share no resources
 Execution options
 Parent and children execute concurrently
 Parent waits until children terminate
 Address space
 Child duplicate of parent
 Child has a program loaded into it

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Ex: UNIX Forking Separate Process

 UNIX examples
 fork() system call creates new process
 exec() system call used after a fork() to
replace the process’ memory space with a
new program

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 C Program Forking Separate Process

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Process Termination

 Process executes last statement and then asks the OS to

delete it using the exit() system call.
 Returns status data from child to parent (via wait())
 Process’resources are deallocated by operating system
 Parent may terminate the execution of children processes
using the abort() system call. Some reasons for doing
so:
 Child has exceeded allocated resources
 Task assigned to child is no longer required
 The parent is exiting and the OS does not allow a child to
continue if its parent terminates

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Reasons for Process Termination

 User logs off  I/O failure

 Normal completion  Invalid instruction
 Batch issues Halt  tried to execute data

 Time limit exceeded  Privileged instruction

 Memory unavailable  Data misuse

 Bounds violation  OS intervention

 e.g. when deadlock occurs
 Protection error
 e.g. write to read-only file  Parent terminates; so
child processes terminate
 Arithmetic error
 Parent request
 Time overrun
 event timeout
20
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Process Termination
 Some OS do not allow child to exist if its parent has
terminated. If a process terminates, then all its children must
also be terminated.
 cascading termination. All children, grandchildren, etc.
are terminated.
 The termination is initiated by the OS.
 The parent process may wait for termination of a child process
by using the wait()system call. The call returns status
information and the pid of the terminated process
pid = wait(&status);
 If no parent waiting (did not invoke wait()) process is a
zombie
 If parent terminated without invoking wait , process is an
orphan
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Multiprocess Architecture – Chrome Browser

 Many web browsers ran as single process (some still do)

 If one web site causes trouble, entire browser can hang or crash
 Google Chrome Browser is multiprocess with 3 different types of processes:
 Browser process manages user interface, disk and network I/O. Only
one browser process is created per session
 Renderer process renders web pages, deals with HTML, Javascript etc.
A new renderer process is created for each website opened in a new tab
 Plug-in process for each type of plug-in e.g. Flash, Quicktime etc..
 Adv: websites runs un isolation from one another, if one crashes, only its
renderer process is affected and other processes are unharmed.

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Five-State Process Model
• Blocked: waiting for I/O, semaphore – cannot run
• Using a single Queue, Dispatcher cannot just select the process
that has been in the queue the longest because it may be
blocked – has to scan the queue
• Split Not Running into Ready and Blocked

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 23

 Five-State Process Model
Running: The process that is currently being executed.
Ready: A process ready to execute when given the opportunity
Blocked/Waiting: A process that cannot execute until some event
occurs, such as the completion of an I/O operation
New: A process just created but not yet admitted to the pool of
executable processes by the OS. (not yet loaded in main memory,
although its PCB has been created)
Exit: A process released from the pool of executable processes

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 24

 Five-state Model Transitions

 Null  New: Process is created

 New  Ready: OS is ready to handle the process
(Ǝ limit on # processes for memory constraints)
 Ready  Running: Process is selected by OS to run
 Running  Exit: Process has terminated
 Running  Ready: End of time slice or higher-priority
process is ready
 Running  Blocked: Process is waiting for an event
 Blocked  Ready: The event a process is waiting for
has occurred, can continue
 Ready  Exit: Process terminated by O.S. or parent
 Blocked  Exit: Same reasons
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 25
 Process States

26
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Using Two Queues

But when an event occurs the dispatcher must scan the entire
Blocked Queue to see which process is waiting for the event

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 27

 Multiple Blocked Queues

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 28

 Suspended Processes

 Processor is faster than I/O so all processes

could be waiting for I/O
 Running, Ready and Blocked processes are
resident in main memory
 Swap these processes to disk to free up more
memory and use processor on more processes
 Blocked state becomes suspend state when
swapped to disk
 Two new states
 Blocked/Suspend
 Ready/Suspend

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 29

 One Suspend State

But this only allows processes which are blocked to be

swapped out.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 30
 Two Suspend States
Allow all processes which are not actually running to be swapped
Ready: in main memory and available for execution
Blocked: in main memory and awaiting an event
Blocked/Suspend: in secondary memory and awaiting an event
Ready/Suspend: in secondary memory, available for execution when
loaded in main memory

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 31

 Reason for Process Suspension

Reason Comment
Swapping The OS needs to release sufficient main memory to
bring in a process that is ready to execute OR increase
the memory allocated to other Ready processes

Other OS Reason OS suspects process of causing a problem e.g. deadlock

Interactive User e.g. debugging or in connection with the use of a
Request resource e.g. Background monitor to be turned on/off

Timing A process may be executed periodically (e.g., an

accounting or system monitoring process) and may be
suspended while waiting for the next time.

Parent Process A parent process may wish to suspend execution of a

Request descendent to examine or modify the suspended process,
or to coordinate the activity of various descendants.

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 32

 Two Suspend States

Blocked Blocked/Suspend make room for another process that is not blocked
OR if currently running/ready process requires more main memory
Blocked/SuspendReady/Suspend: when the event occurs
Ready/SuspendReady: When there are no ready processes in main memory, or
if a suspended process has a higher priority
Ready Ready/Suspend: if that is the only way to free up a sufficiently large
block of main memory OR suspend a lower priority ready process for a higher
priority blocked process expected to unblock soon
New  Ready/Suspend and New Ready: OS creates PCB for process and
move to Ready if enough main memory or ready/Suspend otherwise
Blocked/Suspend  Blocked: seem to be poor design. But useful in case of high
priority blocked process expected to unblock soon
Running  Ready/Suspend: free some main memory.
Any State  Exit
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 33
 Processes and Resources
 OS manages the use of system resources by processes
 Processes (P1, . . ., Pn,) created and exist in memory
 Each process needs access to certain system resources
 P1 is running; part in main memory and has control of 2 I/O
devices
 P2 in main memory; blocked waiting for I/O device allocated to P1
 Pn has been swapped out and suspended
Q: what information does OS need to control processes
and manages resources for them

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 34

 Operating System Control Structures

 To manage processes /
resources, OS must
have information about
the current status of
each process and
resource
 Tables are constructed
for each entity OS
manage
 Memory
 I/O
 File
 process

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 35

 Memory Tables

 Memory tables are used to keep track of both main and

secondary memory
 Some of main memory is reserved for use by OS; the
remainder is available for processes
 Must include this information:
 Allocation of main memory to processes
 Allocation of secondary memory to processes
 Protection attributes for access to shared memory
regions
 Information needed to manage virtual memory

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 36

 I/O Tables

 Used by the OS to manage the I/O devices and channels

of the computer.
 The OS needs to know
 Whether the I/O device is available or assigned
 The status of I/O operation
 The location in main memory being used as the source
or destination of the I/O transfer

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 37

 File Tables

 These tables provide information about:

 Existence of files
 Location on secondary memory
 Current Status
 other attributes
 This information is maintained by a File Management
System

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 38

 Process Table

 Where process is located

 Main memory: location of each page (non-contiguous)
 Secondary storage
 Attributes necessary for management of a process
 Process ID
 Process status
 etc

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 39

 Process Image

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 40

 Process Control Block (PCB)
 PCB holds attributes of a process necessary for OS to
manage the process
 Information can be grouped in three categories
 Process identification
 Process state information
 Process control information
 Process Identification
 Identifier of this process
 An index in primary process table
 Cross referenced by other tables
 Passed on when a process communicate with another
 Identifier of the process that created it (parent process)
 User identifier: user responsible for the job
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 41
 PCB: Processor State Information

 Consists of contents of processor registers

 User-Visible Registers
 Typically, 16 to 32 registers that can be referenced by user
programs directly
 Control and Status Registers
 Program counter: contains the address of the next instruction
 Condition codes: Result of the most recent arithmetic or logical
operation (e.g., sign, zero, carry, equal, overflow)
 Status information: interrupt enabled/disabled flags, execution
mode etc.
 Stack Pointers
 each process has one or more LIFO system stacks which is used to store
parameters and calling addresses for procedure and system calls.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 42
 Program Status Word (PSW)
 All processor designs include a PSW register
 PSW contain condition codes plus other status information
 A good example of a PSW is x86 EFLAGS register
31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
I
V V
I A V R N O O D I T S Z A P C
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I I 0 0 0 1
D C M F T P F F F F F F F F F
P F
L

X ID = Identification flag C DF = Direction flag

X VIP = Virtual interrupt pending X IF = Interrupt enable flag
X VIF = Virtual interrupt flag X TF = Trap flag
X AC = Alignment check S SF = Sign flag
X VM = Virtual 8086 mode S ZF = Zero flag
X RF = Resume flag S AF = Auxiliary carry flag
X NT = Nested task flag S PF = Parity flag
X IOPL = I/O privilege level S CF = Carry flag
S OF = Overflow flag

S Indicates a Status Flag

C Indicates a Control Flag
X Indicates a System Flag
Shaded bits are reserved
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 PCB: Processor Control Information
 Info needed by OS to Control/coordinate the active processes
 Scheduling and State Information
needed by the OS to perform its scheduling function:
 Process state: (e.g., running, ready, waiting/blocked, halted).
 Priority: scheduling priority of the process.
 Scheduling-related information: that the scheduling algorithm may
need (e.g. the amount of time spent in waiting, the amount of time used
during the last time it was running, etc.)
 Event: Id of event the process is awaiting before it can run again
 Data Structuring
 A process may be linked to other processes in a queue, ring, etc
 Ex: all processes in a waiting state for a particular priority level may be linked
in a queue
 Ex A process may exhibit a parent-child (creator-created) relationship with
another process
 PCB contain pointers to other processes to support these structures
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 44
 PCB: Processor Control Information

 Interprocess Communication info

 Various flags, signals, and messages associated with communication
between processes.
 Process Privileges
 Processes are granted privileges in terms of the memory that may be
accessed, the types of instructions that may be executed, the system
utilities and services that may be used, etc.
 Memory Management
 includes pointers to segment and/or page tables that describe the virtual
memory assigned to this process.
 Resource Ownership and Utilization
 Resources controlled by the process such as opened files are indicated.
 A history of utilization of the processor or other resources may also be
included (may be needed by the scheduler)

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 45

 Structure of Process Image in Virtual Memory

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 46

 Process
Control Block
Running

Ready

Blocked

Figure 3.14 Process List Structures

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 Role of the Process Control Block

 The most important data structure in an OS

 Contains all of the information about a process that is needed by
the OS
 PCBs are read and/or modified by every module in the OS
(scheduling, interrupt processing, performance monitoring, etc..)
 Defines the state of the OS
 Direct access from OS routines to PCBs raises problems
 A bug in a single routine could damage PCBs, which could
destroy the system’s ability to manage the corresponding
processes
 A design change in the structure or semantics of the PCB could
affect a number of modules in the OS
 One solution is to require all routines in OS to access PCBs through a
handler routine, which is responsible for the protection of PCBs. But
this solution raises performance issues

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Modes of Execution
 Most processors support at least two execution modes
 User mode
 Less-privileged mode
 User programs typically execute in this mode
 Kernel mode (system/control mode) more-privileged mode
• reading or altering a control register, e.g. PSW
• primitive I/O instructions
• Instructions that relate to memory management
• regions of memory are accessed only in Kernel mode
 Q: How does the processor know in which mode it is to be executing?

 A: a flag (single bit) in PSW; changed in response to certain events

e.g. Interrupt, service call to OS, etc..

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 49

 Functions of OS Kernel

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 50

 Steps of Process Creation
 Assign a unique process identifier
 Add entry to primary process table
 Allocate space for the process
 Program, data, user stack, PCB
 Initialize Process Control Block
 Set up appropriate linkages
 add new process to linked list/queue of Ready or
ready/ Suspend
 Create or expand other data structures
 Ex: maintain an accounting file for billing or
performance assessment
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 51
 Process Switching: When to Switch a Process
 System interrupt : event external to the running process
 Clock interrupt process has executed the maximum time slice
 I/O interrupt e.g. I/O completion
 Memory fault refer to address which is in virtual memory
 OS issue I/O request to bring block into main memory
 Current process moved to Blocked and OS switch to a Ready process
 Control is transferred to interrupt handler, then branch to OS
routine concerned with type of interrupt that occurred
 Trap: error/exception generated within the running process
 e.g. illegal file access attempt
 may cause process to be moved to Exit state and switch
 Supervisor call eg running process issue file open call to OS
 switch to OS routine and user process is blocked

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 52

 Change of Process State …
 Process switch involves the following steps
1. Save context of processor including PC and other registers
2. Update the PCB of the Running process (new state, reason for
change, duration - for accounting, etc..)
3. Move PCB to appropriate queue – Ready; Blocked; etc
4. Select another process for execution
5. Update the PCB of the process selected (state = Running)
6. Update memory management data structures
7. Restore context of the selected process (PC, registers, etc..)
 Mode switch: involves less overhead
 Upon interrupt, interrupt handler to execute does not need full
process switch. Only set PC and change mode to Kernel
 Only Processor State Info must be saved and restored when handler
is done

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 53

 CPU Switch From Process to Process

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Is the OS a Process?
 If the OS is just a collection
of programs and if it is
executed by the processor
just like any other program,
is the OS a process?
 If so, how is it controlled?
 Who (what) controls it?
 There are a number of
design approaches
 Non-process Kernel
 Execution within User
Processes
 Process –Based OS

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 55

 Non-process Kernel

 Execute kernel outside of any process

 Common on many older operating systems
 OS has its own region of memory and own system stack
 When a process is interrupted
 mode context is saved and control is passed to the kernel
 Later, OS restores the context of interrupted process
 Key point
 The concept of process is considered to apply only to user
programs
 OS code is executed as a separate entity that runs in privileged
mode

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 56

 Execution Within
User Processes
 Common on small computers (PCs, WS)
 OS runs within context of a user process
 Process image structure
• A separate kernel stack to manage calls/returns while the process is
in kernel mode
• OS code and data are in the shared address space by all processes
• When an interrupt, trap, or supervisor call occurs, the processor is
placed in kernel mode and control is passed to the OS
• the mode context is saved and a mode switch occur to an OS
routine
• However, execution continues within the current user process.
Thus, no need for process switch, just mode switch within the same
process
• If OS upon completion, determines that current process should
resume, then a mode switch resumes the interrupted process.
• key advantages: A user program has been interrupted to
employ some OS routine, and then resumed, without incurring
the penalty of two process switches.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 57
Process-based OS

 Implement the OS as a collection of system processes

 As before, the software of the kernel executes in a kernel mode
 But, major kernel functions are organized as separate
processes
 There may be a small amount of process switching code
 Advantages.
• imposes a program design discipline that encourages the use of a
modular OS with minimal, clean interfaces between the modules.
• noncritical OS functions are implemented as separate processes
• useful in a multiprocessor or multicomputer environment, in which
some OS services can be shipped out to dedicated processors,
improving performance.

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 58

 Unix SVR4 System V Release 4

 Most of the OS executes within the environment of a user

process
 System Processes
 run in Kernel mode
 Execute OS code e.g. Memory allocation, process swapping
 User Processes operates in
 User mode to execute user programs and utilities
 Kernel mode to execute instructions belonging to the kernel
 A user process enters kernel mode
 by issuing a system call
 when exception is generated
 when an interrupt occurs

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 59

 Process Representation in Linux

PCB is Represented by the C structure task_struct

pid t_pid; /* process identifier */
long state; /* state of the process */
unsigned int time_slice /* scheduling information */
struct task_struct *parent; /* this process’s parent */
struct list_head children; /* this process’s children */
struct files_struct *files; /* list of open files */
struct mm_struct *mm; /* address space of this process */
 all active processes are represented using a doubly linked list of
task_struct
 The kernel maintains a pointer current to the process currently
executing

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 UNIX Process State Transition Diagram

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 61

 UNIX Process States

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 62

 UNIX Process Image

64

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 Process Creation in Unix
 Process creation is by means of the system call fork()
 This causes the OS, in Kernel Mode, to:
1. Allocate a slot in the process table for the new process.
2. Assign a unique process ID to the child process.
3. Copy of process image of the parent, with the exception
of any shared memory.
4. Increment the counters for any files owned by the
parent, to reflect that an additional process now also
owns those files.
5. Assign the child process to the Ready to Run state.
6. Returns the ID number of the child to the parent process,
and a 0 value to the child process.

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61 65

 After Creation

 After creating the process the Kernel can do one of the

following, as part of the dispatcher routine:
 Stay in the parent process. Control returns to user
mode at the point of the fork call of the parent.
 Transfer control to the child process. The child
process begins executing at the same point in the
code as the parent, namely at the return from the fork
call.
 Transfer control to another process. Both parent and
child are left in the Ready to Run state.

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61

 UNIX Process Table Entry

Process status Current state of process.

Pointers To U area and process memory area (text, data, stack).

Process size Enables the operating system to know how much space to allocate
the process.

User identifiers The real user ID identifies the user who is responsible for the
running process. The effective user ID may be used by a process
to gain temporary privileges associated with a particular program;
while that program is being executed as part of the process, the
process operates with the effective user ID.

Process identifiers ID of this process; ID of parent process. These are set up when the
process enters the Created state during the fork system call.

Event descriptor Valid when a process is in a sleeping state; when the event occurs,
the process is transferred to a ready-to-run state.

Priority Used for process scheduling.

Signal Enumerates signals sent to a process but not yet handled.

Timers Include process execution time, kernel resource utilization, and

user-set timer used to send alarm signal to a process.

P_link Pointer to the next link in the ready queue (valid if process is ready
to execute).

Memory status Indicates whether process image is in main memory or swapped

out. If it is in memory, this field also indicates whether it may be
swapped out or is temporarily locked into main memory.
Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61
 UNIX User Area

Dr. Noha Adly Operating Systems – CS x61