An operating system abstraction layer (OSAL) provides an

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

(API) to an abstract

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

making it easier and quicker to develop code for multiple

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

or hardware platforms. It can make an application less dependent on any one specific operating system. OS abstraction layers deal with presenting an abstraction of the common system functionality that is offered by any operating system by the means of providing meaningful and easy to use wrapper functions that in turn encapsulate the system functions offered by the OS to which the code needs porting. A well designed OSAL provides implementations of an API for several

real-time operating system A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system (OS) for real-time computing applications that processes data and events that have critically defined time constraints. A RTOS is distinct from a time-sharing operating system, such as Unix ...

s (such as

vxWorks VxWorks is a real-time operating system (or RTOS) developed as proprietary software by Wind River Systems, a subsidiary of Aptiv. First released in 1987, VxWorks is designed for use in embedded systems requiring real-time, Deterministic system, ...

, eCos,

RTLinux RTLinux is a hard realtime real-time operating system (RTOS) microkernel that runs the entire Linux operating system as a fully preemptive process. The hard real-time property makes it possible to control robots, data acquisition systems, man ...

, RTEMS). Implementations may also be provided for non real-time operating systems, allowing the abstracted software to be developed and tested in a developer friendly desktop environment. In addition to the OS APIs, the OS abstraction layer project may also provide a

hardware abstraction layer Hardware abstractions are sets of routines in software that provide programs with access to hardware resources through programming interfaces. The programming interface allows all devices in a particular class ''C'' of hardware devices to be acc ...

, designed to provide a portable interface to hardware devices such as memory, I/O ports, and

non-volatile memory Non-volatile memory (NVM) or non-volatile storage is a type of computer memory that can retain stored information even after power is removed. In contrast, volatile memory needs constant power in order to retain data. Non-volatile memory typ ...

. To facilitate the use of these APIs, OSALs generally include a directory structure and

build automation Build automation is the practice of building software systems in a relatively unattended fashion. The build is configured to run with minimized or no software developer interaction and without using a developer's personal computer. Build automati ...

(e.g., set of

makefile In software development, Make is a command-line interface software tool that performs actions ordered by configured Dependence analysis, dependencies as defined in a configuration file called a ''makefile''. It is commonly used for build automati ...

s) to facilitate building a project for a particular OS and hardware platform. Implementing projects using OSALs allows for development of portable embedded system software that is independent of a particular real-time operating system. It also allows for embedded system software to be developed and tested on desktop workstations, providing a shorter development and debug time.

Implementations

* TnFOX * MapuSoft Technologies - provides a commercial OS abstraction implementation allowing software to support multiple RTOS operating systems. * ClarinoxSoftFrame – middleware which provides OS abstraction targeting wireless embedded device and system development. It comprises wireless protocol stacks, development tools and memory management techniques in addition to the support of desktop and a range of real-time operating systems
IBM's Rhapsody

References

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External links

* http://opensource.gsfc.nasa.gov/projects/osal/index.php * http://osal.sf.net * https://github.com/nasa/osal * http://www.clarinox.com/index.php?id=34 * http://ntmio.com/ * https://www.mapusoft.com/mapusoft-os-abstraction-layer/ Operating system technology