System for multiple co-existing operating system personalities on a microkernel

• US 5,764,984 A
• Filed: 12/03/1996
• Issued: 06/09/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Loucks, Larry Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Kriess, Kevin A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chavis, John Q.
• Application Number:
  US08/760,158
• Time in Patent Office: 553 Days
• Field of Search: 395/682
• US Class Current: 719/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

A system and method for concurrently operating multiple operating system environments on a hardware platform. A dominant personality server is provided to control basic system configuration and resources. Subdominant servers are provided to support applications for other operating systems. Binary compatibility is supported for each dominant and subdominant operating system personality. Personality neutral services are extracted from each operating system environment and coalesced in personality neutral servers. Interprocess communications are implemented using defined object oriented and procedural interfaces. Server response and conflict resolution are handled by the dominant personality neutral server. Any supported operating system can be the dominant server by selection of the operator.

Claims

1. A method of concurrently operating multiple operating system environments, each of said operating system environments accessible to any of a plurality of application tasks, said operating system environments interacting with a processor system having a computer processor means and memory, said method comprising the steps of:

booting a first operating system as a dominant operating environment process providing physical system coordination services to all sub-dominant operating system personalities;

loading a plurality of sub-dominant operating system environments as separate processes independent of said first dominant operating environment process;

executing an application program as an application process; and

servicing interprocess communication requests between said application process and said dominant operating environment process, said sub-dominant operating system environments using kernel services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said kernel services are microkernel services.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

loading one or more personality neutral servers responsive to messages from said dominant operating environment and said plurality of sub-dominant operating system environments.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said means for performing basic kernel services is a microkernel operating environment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said interface means includes:

means for evaluating and acting on object oriented messages; and

means for evaluating and acting on procedural calls.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the dominant personality means is a UNIX operating environment.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the secondary personality means is selected from the following operating system personalities:

an OS/2 operating environment, a DOS operating environment, and a MacIntosh operating environment.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the dominant personality means is an OS/2 operating environment.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the secondary personality means is selected from the following operating system personalities:

a UNIX operating environment, a DOS-based operating environment, and a MacIntosh operating environment.

4. A system for concurrently executing multiple cooperating operating systems in a computer system executing a plurality of processes, the system comprising:

means for performing basic kernel services for a plurality of operating system personalities and including at least interprocess communication;

dominant personality means for controlling system operation and providing operating system services according to a first operating system protocol;

application interface means for receiving a request for operating system services from an application program;

secondary personality means for providing operating systems services according an operating system protocol different from said first operating system protocol, said secondary personality means cooperating with said dominant personality means to obtain one or more physical system services, said secondary personality means operating in response to said request for operating system services; and

interface means for linking for interprocess communication said dominant personality means, said application interface means, and said secondary personality means to said means for performing basic kernel services, and to each other through said means for performing basic kernel services.

11. A computer program product for use with a computer system, said computer program product comprising:

computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing concurrent execution of multiple operating systems, said computer program product having;

computer readable program code means for causing said computer system to perform basic kernel services for a plurality of operating system personalities and including at least interprocess communication;

computer readable program code dominant personality means for causing said computer system to provide operating system services according to a first operating system protocol;

computer readable program code application interface means for causing said computer system to receive requests for operating system services from one or more application programs;

computer readable program code secondary personality means for causing said computer system to provide operating systems services according one or more operating system protocols different from said first operating system protocol said secondary personality means cooperating with said dominant personality means to obtain one or more physical system operation services, said secondary personality means being responsive to said requests for operating system services; and

computer readable program code interface means for causing said computer system to link for interprocess communication said operating system services according to a first operating system protocol, said application programs, said operating system services according to said one or more operating system protocols different from said first operating system protocol to said basic kernel services, and to each other through said basic kernel services.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said computer readable program code means for performing basic kernel services is a Mach based microkernel.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said computer readable program code interface means includes:

computer readable program code means for causing said computer system to evaluate and act on object oriented messages; and

computer readable program code means for causing said computer system to evaluate and act on procedural calls.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program code dominant personality means is a UNIX operating environment.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code secondary personality means include an OS/2 operating environment, a DOS operating environment, and a MacIntosh operating environment.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program code dominant personality means is an OS/2 operating environment.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code secondary personality means include a UNIX operating environment, a DOS-based operating environment, and a MacIntosh operating environment.