The Spring Nucleus: A Microkernel for Objects

Abstract

The Spring system is a distributed operating system that supports a distributed, object-oriented application framework. Each individual Spring system is based around a microkernel known as the nucleus, which is structured to support fast cross-address-space object invocations. This paper discusses the design rationale for the nucleus's IPC facilities and how they fit into the overall Spring programming model. We then describe how the internal structure of the nucleus is organized to support fast crossaddress -space calls, including some specific details and performance information on the current implementation. 1. Introduction Currently there is considerable interest in both industry and academia in structuring operating systems as sets of cooperating services rather than as single monolithic programs. This trend is driven by two main motivations. First, there is a belief that it will be easier (and faster) to develop and modify OS components if they are required to be cleanly isolate...