Semi-automated process of adaptation of platform dependent parts of embedded operating systems

Martin Vojtko – Tibor Krajčovič

   Each year manufacturers develop new processors. As a reaction to this continuous development, the developers of software have to adapt their software to those new processors. As a minimal requirement, the code of an operating system has to be changed to enable the execution of other user applications. This change is a complicated process during which incompatible parts of an operating system have to be redesigned and missing parts have to be implemented. Complications arise when there is a need to adapt an operating system to completely different processor architecture. In this paper we present a novel adaptation process that has preconditions to reduce the impact of these complications. This process uses a file for the formal description of a processor, which is also described in this paper. The formal description could act as a standard for processor manufacturers and could allow the generation of a platform dependent code of an operating system. This paper presents concepts, definitions and ideas of the adaptation process and shows possible solutions for an automatic generation of code parts of an operating system.

Keywords: formal description of embedded operating systems, formal description of processors, automatic source code generation, platform dependent code

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