Mach: a foundation for open systems (operating systems)

An alternative approach to building an entire operating system (OS) separating those parts of the OS that control the basic hardware resources (the kernel) from those that determine the unique characteristics of an OS environment, is examined, taking the Mach kernel as an example. Mach features which support OS emulation are discussed. In-kernel and out-of-kernel emulation are described. Two instances of the latter approach, the multithreaded Unix server and the multiserver Unix, are considered. Related work and Mach availability are addressed.<
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