Exploring issues of operating systems structuring

Abstract

The microkernel concept has once been the most advocated approach for operating system development. Unfortunately, before its publicized advantages have been fully realized in an operating system implementation, current operating system researchers claim its weaknesses and make their ways to develop "extensible" operating systems. New operating systems like SPIN, Ageis, Cache Kernel, Apertos and Scout, employ new concepts to support application specific customization and optimal allocation of system resource, in order to boost up the performance of certain applications. The microkernel concept in itself never contradicts with this purpose, as it is to provide basic efficient primitives for construction of system services. Probably, the crucial problem is that the OS architecture of most current microkernel implementations cannot suitably meet with the new requirements of extensibility. In this paper, we try to explore issues in developing a better OS architecture that can fully enhance OS extensibility. Moreover, we investigate how microkernel abstraction can be remodeled to support better reconfiguration in operating systems. To cope with the conflicting issues of efficiency, flexibility and ease of reconfiguration, we suggest and discuss an approach of structuring operating systems. The approach is characteristed by lightweight meta-abstraction mechanism and progressive reflective reconfiguration.