labuda@endot.UUCP (Dave Labuda) (02/15/85)
This is a posting of information on operating system sizes.
First, I would like to thank everyone for their contributions.
Second, I would like to disclaim any connection to these numbers.
Most of the information was given to me, and I accept it as truth unless
someone claims otherwise. The UNIX info I compiled myself - it includes
all device drivers at our installation. If I missed anyone's info,
I apologize - our net connection was broken for a couple of weeks.
The number of system calls for the OS's was left out due to many flames on
the usefulness of that factor. Also, several people complained that UNIX
does not provide equal functionality as other OS's. This is somewhat true,
but I still think the chart is interesting (one can also argue that the
OS for a PDP-11 SHOULD be smaller than that for an IBM 370).
If anyone has better numbers or other systems they would like to add, feel
free to mail me the information.
Here it is, I think it shows that V7 is the clear winner :
OS MACHINE SOURCE EXECUTABLE
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UNIX V7 PDP-11 ~18,000 lines (C) ~64K
UNIX 4.1 bsd VAXEN ~33,000 lines (C) ~200K
UNIX 4.2 bsd VAXEN ~75,000 lines (C) ~300K
VMS VAXEN ~2,000,000 lines (Ass) ?
DCTS Honeywell ~50,000 lines (PL1) ~500K
TOPS-10 DEC-10 ~500,000 lines (Ass) ~500K
MTS IBM 370 ~800,000 lines (Ass) ?
B6500 Burroughs 6500 ~1,000,000 lines (Ass) ?
OS/1100 Sperry 1100 ~1,000,000 lines (Ass) ?
MVS IBM 370 >2,000,000 lines (Ass) ?
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One last thing, the literary award of the season goes to John Muth at Sun
for comparing MVS to "kicking a dead whale down the beach".
OK - flame away folks, I'm sure no one is happy with the numbers....
dave labuda
decvax!cwruecmp!labuda
*There are no opinions here, so no one is represented.
*These numbers may be wrong, but at least they're not a trademark of ATT.muth@amdahl.UUCP (John A. Muth) (02/20/85)
<<>> In <115@endot.UUCP>, dave labuda writes: > > One last thing, the literary award of the season goes to John Muth at Sun > for comparing MVS to "kicking a dead whale down the beach". > I thank Dave for the compliment, however I must make two minor corrections. 1) I wish I had originated the comparision of MVS to "kicking a dead whale down the beach". This saying had been around for a number of years before I heard it. 2) I work for Amdahl, not Sun. -- John Muth (408) 746-6069 ...{nsc,hplabs,ihnp4}!amdahl!muth [The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Amdahl Corporation, its management, or employees.]
ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) (02/26/85)
> > One last thing, the literary award of the season goes to John Muth at > > [Amdahl] for comparing MVS to "kicking a dead whale down the beach". > > I thank Dave for the compliment, however I must make two minor > corrections. > > 1) I wish I had originated the comparision of MVS to "kicking a dead > whale down the beach". This saying had been around for a number > of years before I heard it. > -- > John Muth The original, by Steve Johnson (I believe), was "TSO is like kicking a dead whale down the beach". -- Ed Gould mt Xinu, 739 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 USA {ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed +1 415 644 0146
hjb%cl-steve.cam@UCL-CS.ARPA (Harry Barman) (03/12/85)
Posting for a friend....
-------------- forwarded message ---------------
> From jpb@uk.ac.cam.cl Mon Mar 11 14:11:40 1985
Further to the discussion on operating system sizes readers may be interested
to know about the TRIPOS operating system, developed at Cambridge University
England in the late seventies, and in use at a number of British Laboratories.
It was intended to be a small, portable operating system for real time
applications. It is used experimentally, and there are a large number of
versions in use for different purposes, which makes the figures I give below
very approximate. It also does not provide some of the features found on large
operating systems, notably any form of memory protection. However it is still
in widespread use, to some extent for teaching, but mainly for research into
distibuted computing on high speed local area networks.
I shall give figures for two versions. The first runs on Computer Automation
LSI4's, in a disributed environment (there is only one I/O device, the LAN
interface). This comprises of the order of 10 000 lines of code (half BCPL,
half assembler), and produces about 40-50K of object code.
The second version is a standalone version which runs on a BBC micro (an 8 bit
6502 based micro, with 32K RAM, and OS and BCPL run-time system in ROM). This
although a very rudimentary system (it has a simple command line interpreter
and floppy disc device drver only), provides full multi-tasking facilities on
the micro (about 200 - 300 task switches per second). It comprises about 3500
lines of code (BCPL and Assembler), producing 12K of object code (but bear in
mind there is also the BCPL run-time system in ROM).
Readers may be interested in this example of a small operating system which is
still useful in 1985. Further information can be found in:
M. Richards, A.R. Aylward, P.B. Bond, R.D. Evans and B.J. Knight "TRIPOS - A
portable operating system for mini-computers", Software Practice and
Experience, 9, 513 - 526 (1979).
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