An Object Model for Conventional Operating Systems

We have developed an object model for conventional (UNIX-like) systems. It can be used for extending such systems with persistent, shared, protected, and distributed objects. It allows objects to coexist with, access, and be accessed by existing components of the operating system, and has been developed by applying much of the work done in naming, organization, access, and protection of conventional resources to support naming, organization, access, and protection of objects. Objects are created as combinations of conventional processes and files. Like processes, they are active agents capable of executing code on different hosts and communicating with other objects. Like files, they are persistent, have a protected name in a network file system, and are opened and closed for access. The model has been implemented in Suite, which is an extension of UNIX and supports a large part of the functionality provided by unconventional object-based operating systems. The paper presents the motivation for the object model, describes its distinguishing features together with the rationale for our decisions, outlines its implementation in Suite, describes the results of our preliminary experience with building and using objects in Suite, and presents conclusions and future directions for research.