Operating system(s) on top of persistent object systems-the BirliX approach

Abstract

While many persistent object systems are built on top of conventional operating systems, the BirliX approach has followed the opposite direction: it has built a Unix compatible operating system by emulating the Unix system interface on top of a persistent object system. The BirliX kernel is basically an abstract data type management system. Its basic services are the definition of abstract data types, their instantiation, their identification, and the communication between instances. All abstract data types share a common set of type-independent attributes and methods inherited from the kernel-defined primary type. These methods have been designed to provide mechanisms that are considered useful to build fault tolerant and secure applications in a distributed environment. The Unix emulation on top of the kernel takes advantage of the underlying persistent abstract data type management system.<>