15
votes
Accepted
Why does linux require that newly added syscalls be supported permanently?
This doesn't really have anything particular to do with Linux or with syscalls. This is true for any interface that wants to be backwards-compatible: once you add something, you can never take it out ...
- 105k
5
votes
Accepted
How does disk wiping software access my hard disk?
The kernel has a very defined API for file handling
Right. And that API includes other more granular capabilities. There is an API to allow access to e.g. format a drive, get model and serial ...
- 27.7k
4
votes
Accepted
What is a unikernel?
A Unikernel is a special type of a Library OS. A library OS offer all of it's functionality as a libraries, typically linked into the application compile-time.
The distinction is not really clear, ...
- 156
4
votes
Why does linux require that newly added syscalls be supported permanently?
The short answer is backwards compatibility. Otherwise, old software would no longer work on a new version, which tends to be a massive setback for companies and developers alike.
- 59.5k
3
votes
Accepted
On hanging Desktop-applications
Theoretically, it is the responsibility of the OS to stop any single application from impacting the rest of the system through resource starvation. However, this is a complicated problem and as you ...
- 857
3
votes
Is an OS compiled every time it boots?
Is an OS compiled every time it boots?
Not normally.
Or is it compiled once and is the result used each time the OS is (re)booted?
Usually.
When users change any setting, is the compiled kernel ...
- 120k
3
votes
Accepted
Critical view of a particular application design
The Dead Letter Collector seems to be doing two things: handling undeliverable messages, and handling messages that need to be retried (delayed delivery). This could be split into two collectors, ...
- 1,559
2
votes
Are there similarities between operating system kernels and programming language kernels?
Yes, originally Smalltalk was its own operating system, written in itself (the 'kernel'), with a graphical user interface featuring windows and the use of a 3-button mouse. Although Alan Kay did not ...
- 31
2
votes
How can Monolithic kernel based OS are faster the Microkernels?
It depends on who you ask.
Proponents of microkernels say: "in microkernels, everything is separated and segregated into small components, whereas in monolithic kernels, everything is tightly ...
- 105k
2
votes
How do ISRs and user threads synchronize and share data?
For synchronization:
The very problem and the main design reason with such activities, as interrupt processing in ISR, is that they can not be put waiting on releasing of some common lock (mutex, ...
- 1,560
2
votes
On hanging Desktop-applications
Perhaps a list of possible ways a program can hang itself and/or the system would help:
CPU overload -- but usually the OS gives other things time slices too, unless you have grabbed real time ...
- 390
1
vote
How can Monolithic kernel based OS are faster the Microkernels?
The performance issue with microkernel operating systems is related to the overhead of switching from user mode to privileged kernel mode, which is a slight overhead.
In a microkernel architecture, ...
- 82.2k
1
vote
Is an OS compiled every time it boots?
Put simply, compilation is the process of turning human-readable source code into machine-readable binary instructions. Once you have those instructions in place, you generally want to reuse them as ...
- 5,957
1
vote
Is an OS compiled every time it boots?
Absolutely not. For Windows, you can't even have source code to compile, because it's closed-source. For Linux, do you have any idea how long it takes to compile the Linux kernel using GCC? And that's ...
- 111
1
vote
What is a unikernel?
"Embedded" does not specify the software architecture, it merely implies software and hardware are packaged together and inseparable from the user's point of view.
In most modern computer systems you ...
- 18.6k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible