Description
Assignment
Please perform the following tasks and write a report at the end.
1. Read the first 2 chapters of the textbook this week.
2. Install Linux as soon as possible. Install the following Linux distribution
and release on your own computer: Ubuntu Desktop 64-bit 22.04 (latest
long term supported distribution). It is essential that you install this
distribution and release so that you will not have problems like “was
working on my machine”. You can install Linux on bare hardware, i.e., on a
partition of your hard-disk. In this case, make sure you first backup all
your important data so that you will not lose your data in case your
computer does not boot up after installation.
You can also install Linux in a virtual machine created in your computer.
For this, you first need to install a virtualization software, VMware or
VirtualBox (or some other virtualization software), on your computer.
VirtualBox is free to use.
You can help each other in installing Linux.
You can download Ubuntu 22.04 LTS from:
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Write briefly about your installation choices and experiences in your
report. After installing Linux, start Linux and learn basic Linux usage.
There are lots of guides and tutorials in Internet teaching basic Linux
usage. You can benefit from them. In your report, write down the names
of 10 Linux commands that you learned.
3. Find out and write down the location (pathname) where the kernel
executable resides in the default local directory tree (starting with “/ “) of
your Linux installation. Find out the version of your running kernel by
2
using the “uname -r” command. Write the version number in your
report.
4. Download the source code of the Linux kernel (from kernel.org, for
example). Download the version that is close to the version of your
running kernel. After opening the tar package, change into the root
directory of the downloaded kernel source code (it is in the directory
where you downloaded the tar package), and in your report write the
names of the subdirectories you see there.
5. In the source code of the kernel, find out the definition of the system call
table (for 64 bit architecture). Write the pathname where you found it.
Then, examine the table. Find out the system call names corresponding to
system call numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 39, 120, and 150.
6. Use the strace command of Linux to trace the system calls made by
some simple programs like cp, ls, etc. Use the manual page of strace to
learn more about it (type man strace). Include sample output in your
report. The “man” command provides help pages about Linux commands,
system calls, and C library functions.
7. Use the time command to measure the time required to execute some
programs like cp, ls, etc. It reports different times: real, user and sys.
What are they? Write those values for different program executions.
8. Learn C Programming [1, 2]. Write a simple C program that implements a
doubly linked list of integers, kept in sorted order (ascending). Generate
and insert 10000 random integers into the list. Make sure you use pointers
and malloc(). In your program, measure the total time it takes to insert
10000 numbers, using the gettimeofday() system call. This system call
gives the current time in microseconds granularity.
Write a simple Makefile to compile your program. A Makefile is a set of
directives and commands specified in a file to compile a project. The
following can be a starting point for your Makefile content. Be careful
about TAB characters.
all: list
list: list.c
gcc –Wall –g -o list list.c
clean:
rm -fr list list.o *~
This program is useful for you to warm up with C and set up your Linux
environment to develop C programs. Make sure you do it yourself.
Otherwise, it will be very difficult to do the projects. You will develop
your programs in C and Linux. You will use the gcc compiler. Include
the source code of your program in your report.
3
Submission
Submit a pdf file as your report which will include the information required
for each question above.
Your report (pdf) should include your program C code and Makefile listing
(even though we will not compile and run your program). Put your report
into a directory named with your Student Id, and tar and gzip the directory.
For example a student with ID 21404312 will create a directory named
“21404312” and will put the report there. Then he/she will tar the directory
(package the directory) as follows:
tar cvf 21404312.tar 21404312
Then he will gzip the tar file as follows:
gzip 21404312.tar
In this way he will obtain a file called 21404312.tar.gz. Then he will upload
this file in Moodle.
Late submission will not be accepted (no exception). A late submission will
get 0 automatically (you will not be able to argue it). Make sure you make a
submission one day before the deadline. You can then overwrite it.
References
[1] The C Programming Language. B. Kernighan and D. Ritchie. Second
Edition. Prentice Hall. 1998. A must have C book; very useful.
[2] Any Book on C.
Tips and Clarifications
• Make sure you learn a debugger like gdb, xxgdb, or the debugger of the
IDE (integrated development environment) that you are using to develop
programs (for example Eclipse IDE). Learn how you analyze core
(memory) image dumped when a memory error occurs. For core image to
be dumped you may need to set a core limit in the bash configuration file.
• There are a lot of documents and pages in Internet about how to develop,
compile, run, and debug C programs in Linux OS. You can benefit from
them.
