Project 1b: xv6 Intro

We'll be doing kernel hacking projects in xv6, a port of a classic version of unix to a modern processor, Intel's x86. It is a clean and beautiful little kernel.

This first project is just a warmup, and thus relatively light.

The goal of the project is simple: to add one system call to xv6 and create one user-level application that calls it.

The system call is:

• int getnumsyscallp(void) returns the total number of system calls that have been issued by the calling process, not including calls to getnumsyscallp() itself. The count should be incremented before a system call is issued, not after. The system call will simply return the value of a counter that is associated with the calling process.

• syscallptest N. This program takes one argument, N, which is the number of system calls (excluding getnumsyscallp()) it makes between calls to getnumsyscallp(). Before it calls exit(), it should print out two values: the value returned by getnumsyscallp() when it is called first within main() and the value returned by getnumsyscallp() after the N system calls have been made.

The Code

The source code for xv6 (and associated README) can be found in ~cs537-1/ta/xv6/ . Everything you need to build, run, and even debug the kernel is in there; start by reading the README.

After you have un-tarred the xv6.tar.gz file, you can run make qemu-nox to compile all the code and run it using the QEMU emulator. Test out the unmodified code by running a few of the existing user-level applications, like ls and forktest. To quit the emulator, type Ctl-a x.

Using gdb (the debugger) may be helpful in understanding code. Look at the Makefile to see how to start up the debugger. Get familiar with this fine tool!

You will not write many lines of code for this project. Instead, a lot of your time will be spent learning where different routines are located in the existing source code. You will end up modifying files that are mostly in the kernel subdirectory. The primary files you will want to examine in detail include syscall.c, sysproc.c, proc.h, and proc.c.

You may also find the following book about xv6 useful, written by the same team that ported xv6 to x86: book . Particularly useful for this project: Chapters 0 and 3 (and maybe 4). Note that our version of xv6 is slightly older than the book's, so you may encounter a difference here and there.

Tips

To add a system call, find some other very simple system call, like getpid(), copy it in all the ways you think are needed, and modify it to havethe name getnumsyscallp(). Compile the code to see if you found everything you need to copy and change.

Then think about the changes that you will need to make so getnumsyscallp() acts like itself instead of getpid().

• You need a counter per process. What is the data structure that is associated with each process? Try adding a new field to this structure.
• You need to initialize the counter when the process is first created. Where is a good place to initialize a per-process counter? In xv6, a process is created using the fork() routine.
• You need to increment the counter in the right place. As the video from discussion section described in detail, the syscall() procedure is where you want to look. Be sure you don't increment the counter if the system call number corresponds to getnumsyscallp()!

For this project, you do not need to worry about concurrency or locking.

You also need to create a user-level application syscallptest that calls getnumsyscallp() exactly two times. Again, we suggest copying one of the straight-forward utilities that exist in the user subdirectory.

Some things to watch out for:

• Calling variants of printf() in your application involves making system calls! Therefore, make sure you save the values returned by getnumsyscallp() before your program prints out any values!
• You will see that the initial value returned by getnumsyscallp() is not zero (big hint: it should be TWO). Creating a new process from the shell involves making system calls. If you are curious, you can determine what these system calls are by looking through sh.c. You will see that one is exec() and one is sbrk(), which allocates memory to this new process.
• For invoking a number of system calls equal to the argument N passed to this application, we recommend invoking a simple system call like getpid().