Inter-process communication seen as Input/Output
B H Venter
Department of Computer Science, University of Port Elizabeth
P O Box 1600
6000 Port Elizabeth
e-mail: csabhv@upe.ac.za (now hermanv@microsoft.com)
Abstract
Inter-process communication (IPC) and Input/Output (I/O) are closely related. If the classical operating system calls for Input/Output are suitably generalized, they can be used as an IPC mechanism. Not much needs to be done, apart from allowing process to ``open'' another process for I/O operations. Initiating an I/O operation corresponds to sending a request message to device driver, file system, or another process. The completion of an I/O operation corresponds to receiving a reply message. A particular set of generalized operation system calls for I/O+IPC is presented in the paper. The semantics of these calls, and their implications, are discussed in some detail, with particular reference to IPC issues. The paper argues that a generalized mechanism is useful enough in the ``raw'' form, and efficient enough, for an operating system designer to consider replacing existing I/O-only and IPC-only sets of calls with a single, general set.
Categories and Subject Descriptors: D4.4 [Operating Systems]: Communications Management - buffering, input/output, message sending.
General Terms: Design
Additional Key words and Phrases: operating systems design, inter-process communication, input/output.
Prof Herman Venter