MSR OS Project Drawbridge : OS services as libraries

Charon of ma-config.com just wrote a blog post about a new paper from Microsoft Research Operating Systems Group, Galen Hunt etc.

Rethinking the library OS from the top down
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1950399

this paper is not available for free download yet but Charon explained the project in details:

Project Drawbridge is about apply the 'Library OS' concept in Windows to isolate the os layers, applications loads the os services as libraries, which is not depend on the underlying host os kernel. Sounds like a very lightweight sandbox or virtual machine, in the benchmarks its much less overhead than a full HyperV virtual machine. it can be a very optimal way to deliver compatibility for old or other systems in Windows or future operating systems, much better than Windows XP Mode at least.

translated by Google Translate:

This rule makes two major problems plaguing particularly Windows.

1. The first is compatibility. To give a specific example let's say Drawbridge has been integrated from Windows XP. An application that includes a bookstore XP system could operate on a host Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7. Windows 7 could be sold with XP and Vista system libraries. And finally an application that includes the library system Windows 7 could even work on an XP system and Vista. This latter mechanism is interesting because it would encourage developers to use the latest API available without waiting for the latest Windows is adopted.
2. The second major problem is that Microsoft just to make big changes on the new Windows. They typically cause a break in compatibility of multiple applications as we have seen happen with Windows Vista. As I explained previously, the interface between the library system and the host OS is extremely thin. Microsoft can replace the host system through a new system without loss of Windows compatibility. Drawbridge has been tested on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 MinWin, a pre-release version of Windows 8 and there is also a test version that is running applications in a virtual machine Drawbridge Hyper-V.

At the implementation level of the library system, a comparison is made with an application running in a virtual machine standard. The isolation brought by the use of a virtual machine includes the application but also the entire OS. The idea is to remove everything that is not necessary for an application outside of an insulated container. Drawbridge process therefore includes the application and system libraries as a normal process but it will also encompass the WIN32 subsystem that has been largely rewritten and works in user space. It also includes an emulation layer NT.

I've been toying with this idea myself for a while, I guess because it's a natural extension of protected mode and helping backwards compatibility in a way that doesn't foul-up a proper 'pure' OS design. Except I didn't invoke a display separation layer, because that would really make performance (and the quality of the user-experience) suffer. The DWM has shown that you can do display surface redirection without any issues with application compatibility, so I really don't think it's necessary.

So in effect, each app gets it's own virtual OS to run in? Could be interesting, but how to deal with inter-application communication? That could get messy real fast

@felix9:

I am a bit confused. Essentially the application is not part of the OS and it is using Remote Desktop Protocol. And you RDP to a mini OS inside your HDD to run the applications. But where does the application actually located? And what's platform adoption layer?

Hope to see the actual paper or best yet, an interview on C9. Thanks for sharing.

@felix9:

BTW, you can download the paper now. I did it, unless ACM was temporarly going kookoo and let me DL it.

Interesting, the application can be packaged with OS Libriary with like 64MB of extra data in disk and 16MB for RAM. Meaning I would be shipping Excel along with OS itself. No installation as it already has an OS. Just run it.

I hope MS put this out. I can make a game that packaged with OS Library, so I don't have to worry about DosBox and what not.

@magicalclick:From the look of it, the OS isn't actually running. It seems like they only use the APIs that the application expects to see and wraps them around the application in a self contained package with some magic sauce. RDP is probably used because it's already there and is proven to work for things like RemoteApp and XP Mode.

As far as where the application is located, that's an interesting question. Does it get installed as normal and sit in program files and automatically get the right system references at runtime? Is there a special install process? Does each package have to be built by hand?

5 hours ago, Charles wrote

Oh well, so much for the surprise.

Well, Galen Hunt's profile page used to contain such a statement: "I currently lead the Euclidian and Drawbridge projects". Now the Drawbridge paper is out, you can still surprise us on the Euclidian thing.

6 hours ago, magicalclick wrote

BTW, you can download the paper now. I did it, unless ACM was temporarly going kookoo and let me DL it.

Not working for me, ACM want $15.00 for it.

@felix9:

should I share it? I am not sure if this is ok or not.

When will the interview video go up? I wanna watch it already.

24 minutes ago, Charles wrote

*snip*

Please don't steal from ACM.
C

Ok, no sharing then. Oddly they let me DL it as visitor, I wonder if there is a shorter free version of what.

Please don't steal from ACM.

Copyright infringement isn't theft.

(and FWIW, my academics, including my profs, duplicate published articles outside of journals. Jus' saying...)

If you have an ACM membership you might be able to download the paper for free.

4 minutes ago, Bass wrote

If you have an ACM membership you might be able to download the paper for free.

I do (comes with using my university's network) but it's 0113h and I CBA