Student: Alen Stojanov
Mentor: David van Moolenbroek
SVN branch name: src.20090525.r4372.astojanov

The goal of this project is to add /dev and /proc file systems to MINIX3.

• The purpose of the /dev file system is to provide a dynamically populated /dev directory. The high-level goal of this part of the project is to let device drivers dynamically register device nodes based on the hardware available in the system.
• The purpose of the /proc file system is to provide a /proc directory that offers information about the system and processes running on it. The high-level goal of this part of the project is to provide an interface cleaner than getsysinfo(2) for retrieval of system information by userland utilities like ps(1) and top(1), and to provide a more consistent and extensible way of exposing system information in general.

Design document (under construction)

TBD

TBD

Familiarizing with the anticipated project work. Analysis and discussion with the mentor on the project design. Setting up the programming environment and the MINIX3 virtual box. Used programming enivronment – Eclipse with Remote System Explorer plug-in. The plug-in provides remote access to the MINIX3 file system, as well as remote compiling.

Graduation 2009 at Jacobs University. No implementation provided, The time spent during this week will be compensated with work during the weekends.

• Implemented the initial skeleton of software design.
• Full implementation of the VTreeFS tree structure (as specified in the design document). The implemented functions include (without specifying the function arguments):
  • add_inode ()
  • delete_inode ()
  • get_inode_by_name ()
  • get_inode_by_index ()
  • get_inode_name ()
  • get_inode_index ()
  • get_inode_cbdata ();
  • get_root_inode ()
  • get_parent_inode ()
  • get_first_inode ()
  • get_next_inode ()
  • get_inode_stat ()
  • set_inode_stat ()
  • start_vtreefs ()
• Provided tests files for the initial tree structure.

Use of the SMDB algorithm for creating the hash tables for (parent,name)→inode lookup. The method provides excellent distribution of the inodes in the hash-table.

ToDo

• Full implementation of the VTreeFS file server handling all the necessary requests.

• Full implementation of the function handlers for all the necessary file system requests. Most of the code was written from scratch and some parts are implemented with revision of the current code of the MFS. The implemented requests include:
  • REQ_PUTNODE
  • REQ_STAT
  • REQ_FSTATFS
  • REQ_UNMOUNT
  • REQ_SYNC
  • REQ_NEW_DRIVER
  • REQ_READ_S
  • REQ_READSUPER_S
  • REQ_RDLINK_S

• Revised and improved the code of the following requests:
  • REQ_GETDENTS
  • REQ_LOOKUP_S
• Complete and detailed testing of the requests.

• Design of the procfs server. Implementation of the hooks defined in the VTreeFS library:
  • read_hook
  • lookup_hook
  • getdents_hook
  • rdlink_hook
• Added init_hook in the VTreeFS library used for initalization of the Virtual Tree server, right after REQ_READSUPER_S request has been issued
• Implementation of the system calls getuname(), getloadavg(), getuptime() and sys_hz(). The following files are provided in the procfs:
  • /proc/hz
  • /proc/version
  • /proc/uptime
  • /proc/loadavg
• Design of an optimal structure able to represent all the available pids (still in the initial version): /proc/[pid#]/

• Complete implementation of an optimal structure to represent all the available processes.
• Small changes to the delete_inode and put_inode functions in the VTreeFS library. The delete_inode function uses INODE_DELETED flag to delete an inode which is being used by the VTreeFS server at the same moment. put_inode deletes the inode, after fs_putnode is being executed.
• Design of the /proc/[pid]/status and /proc/[pid]/psinfo.
• Full analysis of top.c and ps.c commands and implemented the necessary informations in /proc/[pid]/psinfo

The most important part of the procfs is the /proc/[pid]/psinfo entry. All the informations concerning one process are presented in this file, and the data is very easy to be parsed. The current format of the psinfo has the following form (C programming language):

If the process is a kernel task:

"%d %d %d %s %d %c %d %ld %ld %d %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld" 

Otherwise (a normal process):

"%d %d %d %s %d %c %d %ld %ld %d %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %ld %d %d %d %d %d %d %d %d" 

.

There is no difference between the two entries, except that a normal process has an extra data of 8 entries. The data represented by those entries is the following (given by the same order as in the control string):

  %d 	(p_pid) 	- pid number
  %d 	(p_nr) 		- kernel slot number
  %d 	(p_endpoint)	- kernel endpoint number
  %s 	(p_name) 	- process name
  %d 	(p_rts_flags)	- process flags set by kernel
  %c 	(state)		- state of the process
  %d 	(p_priority)	- process priority
  %ld 	(p_user_time)	- process user time
  %ld 	(p_sys_time)	- process system time
  %d 	(p_getfrom_e)	- the endpoint of the p_getfrom_e - "recv" field
  %ld 	(t_mem_len)	- length of T process segment
  %ld 	(d_mem_len)	- length of D process segment
  %ld 	(s_mem_len)	- length of S process segment
  %ld 	(t_mem_vir)	- virtual address of segment T
  %ld 	(d_mem_vir)	- virtual address of segment D
  %ld 	(s_mem_vir)	- virtual address of segment S
  %ld 	(t_mem_phys)	- physical address of segment T
  %ld 	(d_mem_phys)	- physical address of segment D
  %ld 	(s_mem_phys)	- physical address of segment S
  %d 	(mp_nice)	- the process nice value
  %d 	(mp_flags)	- process PM flags
  %d 	(mp_ppid)	- PPID (parent PID)
  %d 	(mp_procgrp)	- PID of the process group
  %d 	(mp_realuid)	- REALUID
  %d 	(mp_effuid)	- EFFUID
  %d 	(fp_tty)	- the process tty
  %d 	(fp_task)	- print which task is proc suspended on

Having the entries above, partial implementation of top and ps is provided. Missing implementation of the methods to show the process arguments.

I had some difficulties understanding the process frame of the individual processes. After couple of days of code analysis, I manged to get back on track.

• Full implementation of ps and top
• Implementation of other entries in the /proc/[pid]/:
  • /proc/[pid]/environ
  • /proc/[pid]/exe
  • /proc/[pid]/cmdline
  • /proc/[pid]/cwd

• Completed the full structure of the /proc file system
• Performed tests of the whole /proc tree, as well as top and ps and corrected some minor errors
• Starting with the implementation of the DevFS

Reading week. The design document of David C. van Moolenbroek required knowledge of the other OS modules, including the RS and DS. No implementation provided this week.

• Added RS_REG_NODE to <minix/com.h> to support node registration in the RS
• Implemented rs_register_node in lib/syslib/rs.c
• Implemented the RS_REG_NODE request in the RS - do_register_node
• service.c was modfied such that the drivers are started with extra parameters: -devtype and -devnr. The parameter -dev was exclded.
• /etc/rc and /etc/usr/rc are changed to comply with the new “service” implementation
• Inital implementation of the DevFS.

I lost couple of days of coding, since I was moving to Swtizerland.

• vtreefs.h was changed such that an extra hook was added - vfs_req_hook. This hook was necessary for mknod implementation of the DevFS. If the hook is defined as NULL, it won't be used by the VTreeFS.
• DevFS was completed
• Changing drivers. So far the following drivers are changed:
  • floppy
  • printer
  • random
• Final evaluation submitted