Design of the SPEEDOS operating system kernel

et al. 2007

JOT

Self Cite

The paper describes how the idea of persistent objects is integrated into the Timor programming language. The strategy adopted allows types to be instantiated at two levels: as "files", i.e. objects accessible at the operating system level, and as local objects within files, which resemble objects found in conventional object oriented programs. File objects (with associated methods) can be instantiated and manipulated via capabilities, which are accessible both internally and via the operating system. Local objects are accessible via references, which are not visible at the operating system level. PERSISTENT OBJECTS AND CAPABILITIES IN TIMOR104 J OURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY V OL. 6, NO. 4 PERSISTENT OBJECTS AND CAPABILITIES IN TIMOR 106 J OURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY V OL. 6, NO. 4 final op String name(String name); final enq String name(); and the abstract reference spouse corresponds to the methods: final op Person* spouse(Person* spouse); final enq Person* spouse(); PERSISTENT OBJECTS AND CAPABILITIES IN TIMOR 122 J OURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY

Persistent Objects and Capabilities in Timor.

Keedy¹,

Espenlaub²,

et al. 2007

JOT

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Persistent Processes and Distribution in Timor.

Keedy¹,

Espenlaub²,

et al. 2007

JOT

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Security and Protection in Timor Programs.

Keedy¹,

Espenlaub²,

et al. 2008

JOT

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Timor offers a wide variety of security and protection features which are not available in other programming languages. A basic capability mechanism allows access to the methods associated with a Timor persistent file or a local internal object to be selectively controlled. A general qualifier mechanism allows arbitrary checks to be programmed both before methods are invoked and when they attempt to invoke other methods. This enables mechanisms such as access control lists, capability revocation lists and password checking to be applied to some or all the method invocations on an object, and can also be used for example to encrypt parameters. Since such qualifiers can be arbitrarily programmed they can also easily provide rule-based access controls. Mechanisms are also provided to allow objects with which users entrust their information to be confined. Finally, it is possible to program authentication objects which can provide arbitrary checks to establish the identities of users as they log in.