Formal Refinement for Operating System Kernels - Paperback

Book in our database since 2011-11-18T00:06:36+00:00 (London)
Detail page last modified on 2023-12-20T03:48:47+00:00 (London)
ISBN/EAN: 9781849966894

ISBN - alternate spelling:
1-84996-689-3, 978-1-84996-689-4

Information from Publisher

Author: Iain D. Craig
Title: Formal Refinement for Operating System Kernels
Publisher: Springer; Springer London
332 Pages
Publishing year: 2010-10-13
London; GB
Printed / Made in
Weight: 0,534 kg
Language: English
106,99 € (DE)
109,99 € (AT)
118,00 CHF (CH)
POD
XV, 332 p.

BC; Software Engineering/Programming and Operating Systems; Hardcover, Softcover / Informatik, EDV/Informatik; Software Engineering; Verstehen; Kernels; Refinement; Separation Kernel; kernel; operating system; security; user interface; Software Engineering; BB

The kernel of any operating system is its most critical component, as the rest of the system depends on it. This book shows how the formal specification of kernels can be followed by a completely formal refinement process that leads to the extraction of executable code. This formal refinement process ensures that the code precisely meets the specification. The author documents the complete process, including proofs.

1 Introduction.- 1.1. Reasons for Selecting the Examples.- 1.2. Refinement Method.- 1.3 Code Production.- 1.4 Organisation of this Book.- 1.5 Relationship to Other Work.- 2 The Simple Kernel’s Organisation.- 3 A Simple Kernel.- 3.1 Types.- 3.2 Hardware.- 3.3 The Process Table.- 3.3.1 Top Level.- 3.3.2 Refinement One.- 3.3.3 Refinement Two.- 3.4 Process Queue.- 3.4.1 Top Level.- 3.4.2 Refinement One.- 3.4.3 Refinement Two.- 3.5 Priority Queue.- 3.5.1 Top Level.- 3.5.2 Refinement One.- 3.5.3 Refinement Two.- 3.6 The Scheduler.- 3.6.1 Top Level.- 3.6.2 Refinement One.- 3.6.3 Refinement Two.- 3.7 Semaphores.- 3.7.1 Top Level.- 3.7.2 Refinement.- 3.8 Semaphore Table.- 3.8.1 Top Level.- 3.8.2 Refinement One.- 3.8.3 Refinement One-Again.- 3.9 Synchronous Messages.- 3.9.1 Preliminaries.- 3.9.2 Top Level.- 3.9.3 Refinement One.- 3.9.4 Refinement Two.- 3.10 The Clock.- 3.11 Sleepers.- 3.11.1 Top Level.- 3.11.2 Refinement One.- 3.11.3 Refinement Two.- 3.12 User Interface.- 3.12.1 System Initialisation.- 3.12.2 Process Creation.- 3.12.3 Process Management.- 3.12. 4 Inter-process Communication and Synchronisation.- 3.12. 5 Clock Operations and the Clock ISR.- 4 The Separation Kernel.- 4.1 Basic Architecture.- 4.2 Extending the Architecture.- 4.3 Summary.- 4.4 An Overview of the Formal Specification.- 5 A Separation Kernel.- 5.1 Basic Types.- 5.2 Hardware Issues.- 5.3 Security Exits and Return Values.- 5.4 The Process Table.- 5.4.1 Top Level.- 5.4.2 Refinement One.- 5.4.3 Refinement Two.- 5.5 Process Queues.- 5.5.1 Top Level.- 5.5.2 Refinement.- 5.6. The Scheduler.- 5.7 Storage Pools.- 5.7.1 Top Level.- 5.7.2 Refinement One.- 5.8 Raw Storage.- 5.8.1 Top Level.- 5.8.2 Message Buffering.- 5.9 Message Queues.- 5.9.1 Top Level.- 5.9.2 Refinement One.- 5.10 Kernel Interface-User Processes.- 5.10.1 Auxiliary Operations.- 5.10.2 Initialisation.- 5.10.3 Process Management.- 5.10.4 Message Passing.- 5.11 Devices-Trusted Code.- 5.11.1 Device Replies.- 5.11.2 Device Numbers.- 5.11.3 Device Process Creation.- 5.12 Process Interface to the Kernel.- 5.13 Final Thoughts.- 5.14 Closing Thoughts.- References.- List of Definitions.-

The kernel of any operating system is its most critical component. The remainder of the system depends upon a correctly functioning and reliable kernel for its operation.

The purpose of this book is to show that the formal specification of kernels can be followed by a completely formal refinement process that leads to the extraction of executable code. The formal refinement process ensures that the code meets the specification in a precise sense.

Two kernels are specified and refined. The first is small and of the kind often used in embedded and real-time systems. It closely resembles the one modelled in our Formal Models of Operating System Kernels. The second is a Separation Kernel, a microkernel architecture devised for cryptographic and other secure applications. Both kernels are refined to the point at which executable code can be extracted. Apart from documenting the process, including proofs, this book also shows how refinement of a realistically sized specification can be undertaken.

Iain Craig is a Chartered Fellow of the BCS and has a PhD in Computer Science.

Contains the formal refinement of two small kernels