M. D Janssens
Abstract
Existing Unix data protection and synchronization mechanisms present difficulties when adapting Unix to a multiprocessor environment, but solutions do exist.
- 1 Annot. J.K. and Janssens. M.D. Multiprocessor UNIX. Master's thesis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Delft Univ. of Technology, The Netherlands. 1985. Research on the architecture and operating system of a tightly coupled multiprocessor system with separate I/O processors, based on the VME bus and MC 68OXX processor. running the Unix operating system.Google Scholar
- 2 Bach, M.J., and Buroff. S.J. Multiprocessor UNIX operating systems. Bell Sysf. Tech. J. 63. 8 (Oct. 1984) 1733-1749. A description of multiprocessor Unix developed through careful analysis and subtle modification of the critical sections in single-processor Unix.Google Scholar
- 3 de Brito Meyer. W., and Hawley, J.A. III. Munix. a multiprocessor version of UNIX. Master's thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. 1975. Description of dual processor Unix.Google Scholar
- 4 Gait, J. Semaphores outside the kernel. SIGPLAN Not. 19. 10 (1984). 12-21. Presentation of three implementations of semaphores in Unix V7 user programs, other than the canonical Unix semaphore method using link() in a spin loop. None of them requires kernel modification. Google ScholarDigital Library
- 5 Holt. R.C. A Preliminary Overview of TUNIS: A UNIX Look-Alike Wriften in Com.mo~t Euclid, Draft Computer Science Research Group, Univ. of Toronto, 1981. Description of an attempt to rewrite Unix in a highly structured way. taking into account implementation on a multiprocessor system.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Adapting UNIX for a multiprocessor environment
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Reviews
Haim S. Gabrieli
This is an interesting, but not a very profound, paper. The title is somewhat misleading; a reader who expects to find solutions to the implementation of UNIX in a multiprocessing environment will be quite disappointed. Aside from a rather brief, simplistic review of three such solutions, all of which basically amount to a major rewrite of UNIX, the paper is largely a high-level review of the UNIX kernel- and shell-based architecture, coupled with two examples that illustrate the difficulties associated with shared data in a multiprocessing UNIX environment. While several UNIX-based multiprocessor and parallel-processing systems have been announced recently, the great majority of UNIX users still (and will for quite some time) operate in a uniprocessor environment. Nonetheless, the need for a multiprocessing UNIX is very real indeed. The real issue has to do with how to adapt existing UNIX systems, in a cost-effective manner, to multiprocessor hardware, as opposed to building new UNIX software. The paper, while not providing the answer, succeeds in bringing the question to the forefront, and highlights some of the technical difficulties involved. I hope that the authors continue to work on this problem, and will provide some workable answers to a very real and highly relevant question.
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