6.828: Learning by doing
6.828 teaches the fundamentals of engineering operating systems.
You will study, in detail, virtual memory, kernel and user mode, system
calls, threads, context switches, interrupts, interprocess
communication, coordination of concurrent activities, and the
interface between software and hardware. Most importantly, you will
study the interactions between these concepts, and how to manage the
complexity introduced by the interactions.
To master the concepts, 6.828 is organized in three parts: lectures,
readings, and a major lab. The lectures and readings familiarize you
with the main concepts. The lab forces you to understand the concepts
at a deep level, since you will build an operating system from the
ground up. After the lab you will appreciate the meaning of design
goals such "reducing complexity" and "conceptual integrity".
The lectures are organized in two main blocks. The first block
introduces one operating system, xv6 (x86 version 6), which is
a re-implementation of Unix version 6, which was
developed in the 1970s. In each lecture we will take one part of xv6
and study its source code; home work assignments will help you prepare
for these lectures. At the end of the first block (about half-way the
term), you will understand the source code for one well-designed
operating system for an Intel-based PC, which help you building your
own operating system.
The second block of lectures covers important operating systems
concepts invented after Unix v6. We will study the more modern
concepts by reading research papers and discussing them in lecture.
You will also implement some of these newer concepts in your operating
system.
You may wonder why we are studying an operating system that
resembles Unix v6 instead of the latest and greatest version of Linux,
Windows, or BSD Unix. One reason is that v6 is simple and small, but
contains the important concepts and clean organization of modern
Unixes. Many modern Unix versions have an internal structure identical
to v6 and many of their data structures are still named as in v6, but
are cluttered with additional features. Furthmore, almost all modern
operating systems have adopted ideas from v6 (including the C
programming language). In short, because v6 is old, it doesn't mean it
is irrelevant. (The laws of Newton are still relevant and Einstein's
papers on relativity theory are still well worth reading too.)
xv6 is our re-implementation of v6 for an Intel x86-based
multiprocessor. The reason we are studying xv6 instead
of the original v6 code is that learning v6
requires understanding an arcane C and an out-of-date computer
(PDP-11); xv6 follows the structure of v6, but is implemented for a
modern x86-based multiprocessor.
The lab is the place where the rubber meets the road. In the lab
you will internalize the details of the concepts and their
interactions. For example, although you have seen virtual memory in
6.004, 6.033, and again in 6.828 lectures, you will soon discover,
during the labs, that you didn't really understand virtual memory, and
how it interacts with other concepts.
The lab is split into 6 major parts that built on top of each
other, accumulating in a primitive operating systems on top which you
can run simple commands through your own shell. (We reserve the last
lecture for you to demo your operating system to the rest of the
class.)
The operating system you will build, called JOS, will have
Unix-like functions (e.g., fork, exec), but is implemented in an
exokernel style (i.e., the Unix functions are implemented mostly as
user-level library instead of built-in to the kernel). The major parts
of the JOS operating system are: - Booting
- Memory management
- User-level environments
- Preemptive multitasking
- File system
and spawn
- A shell
We will provide skeleton code for pieces of JOS, but most you will have to do
all the hard work.
The first 5 assignments are done individually. The last assignment
is a team assignment. The first set of assignments have design
freedom in the details; the last assignments have a lot of design
freedom. You will never be able to pattern match from xv6; you
internalize the concepts by building similar functions in a radical
different way.
You will develop your JOS operating system for a standard x86-based
personal computer, the same one used for xv6. To simplify development
we will use a complete machine simulator (Bochs) in the class for
development and debugging. This simulator is real enough, however,
that you will be able to boot your own operating system on physical
hardware if you wish.
At the end of the lab you will be able to find your way around the
source code of most operating systems, and more generally, be
comfortable with system software. You will understand many operating
systems concepts in detail and will adapt them to other
environments. You will also under the x86 processor and the C
programming language well.
Acknowledgements
6.828 would not exist today had it not been for a wonderful set of TAs
(Josh Cates, Russ Cox, Bryan Ford, and Emil Sit). They made this class
a reality. Collectively we dedicate 6.828 to the memory of Josh Cates;
We hope that many students will be inspired by Josh's enthusiasm for
operating systems, and have named the operating system
JOS.
We are also grateful to the students and teaching staff at MIT, UCLA,
and NYU for the many contributions.
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