Unit 6 Operating systems

command, n – команда

command button – командна кнопка

command line – командний рядок

command driven – керування якого виконується за допомогою команд

command prompt - запрошення на ввід команди, підказка

operating system – операційна система

supervisor program – програма-супервізор

Unix (Unix Operating System) – операційна система Unix

brand new, adj - новенький

assembly line – конвеєр

application, n - застосунок

applications program – прикладна програма, програма спеціального застосування

wordprocessing, n – електронне опрацювання тексту

word processor – текстовий процесор

spreadsheet, n – електронна таблиця, аркуш

manage,v – організовувати, контролювати

resident program – резидент, резидентна програма

nonresident program – нерезидентна програма

disk storage – пам'ять на диску

function, n - функція

input operation – ввід, операція вводу

output operation – вивід, операція виводу

invoke, v - задіювати

carry out, v - виконувати

source, n - джерело

source code – початковий код

source data – початкові дані

availability, n – доступність, готовність

undergraduate, n – студент останнього курсу

kernel, n - ядро

graphical user interface – графічний інтерфейс користувача

menu, n - меню

menu bar – смуга меню

menu button – кнопка меню

menu item - пункт меню

menu name – назва меню

menu title – заголовок меню

An operating system (OS) is software that manages computer hardware resources and provides common services for computer programs. The operating system is an essential component of the system software in a computer system. Application programs usually require an operating system to function.

Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting software for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, printing, and other resources.

For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and will frequently make a system call to an OS function or be interrupted by it. Operating systems can be found on almost any device that contains a computerfrom - cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers.

Examples of popular modern operating systems include Android, BSD, iOS, Linux, OS X, QNX, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, and IBM z/OS. All these, except Windows, Windows Phone and z/OS, share roots in UNIX.

Vocabulary and reading comprehension exercises

Exercise 1. Read the text and answer the questions based on the text.

No more downtime due to kernel patching

By Kevin Parrish

Vojtech Pavlik of SUSE Labs said last week that the company is working on a live kernel patching solution called kGraft. Right now it's merely an unpolished prototype, but the company plans to release kGraft in March under GPLv3 for parts that touch GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) and GPLv2 for Linux kernel parts.

Pavlik paints two scenarios of when kGraft would be ideal: when scientists need kernel stability fix and are unwilling to stop a simulation that ran for several months, and for when IT and departments can't agree on a time to apply security patches.

Pavlík acknowledged in his blog that there are already two technologies that can patch kernels while they're still running applications. Ksplice will likely never make it upstream because the open source version is no longer updated. Open VZ Checkpointing will never be able to apply the patch without a short but visible interruption of service.

That's where kGraft comes in. This solution builds on technologies and ideas that are already present in the kernel, Pavlik writes, such as ftrace and its mcount-based reserved space in function headers, the INT3/IPI-NMI patching also used in jumplabels, and RCU-like update of code that does not require stopping the kernel.

"A kGraft patch is a kernel module and fully relies on the in-kernel module loader to link the new code with the kernel. Thanks to all that, the design can be nicely minimalistic," Pavlik writes.

kGraft is limited to replacing whole functions and constants they reference, but this restriction does not limit the set of code patches that can be applied. Once kGraft is launched in March, users will have the tools they need to assist in creating the live patch modules, identifying which functions need to be replaced based on a patch, and creating the patch module source code.

Although SUSE plans to release the first version in two parts (GCC, Linux), the company will eventually merge them together fully into the upstream projects. Additional information will be revealed in further postings, and at the Collaboration Summit in Napa Valley in March.

1. What is a kGraft patch?

2. Name the factors that would make it ideal?

3. What are other technologies that can patch kernels?

4. What are disadvantages of a kGraft?

5. When a kGraft is planned to be released?

Exercise 2. Read the text and decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits each space.