Support Technologies for Parallel Programming Environments

Operating system-level research is a strong focus of the Program. The principal objective is to design a rich operating environment for parallel programs which combines all the features normally available in modern operating systems together with efficient facilities for parallel programs. In the past year, this theme has been broadened to include research on SMP systems in addition to multicomputer systems such as the AP3000.

These developments use both Solaris and Linux as the base operating systems. Solaris is the operating system officially supported by Fujitsu for the AP3000. Linux is a free-software Unix clone which is enjoying rapidly increasing popularity. The CAP Program has been using Linux as a research base since 1995 because its open-source nature makes it ideal for experimentation.

Specific areas of development include:

• Porting Linux to the AP3000.
• Performance analysis for Solaris on the AP3000.
• Development of an enhanced parallel runtime for the AP3000.
• Scheduling facilities allowing multiple parallel programs running concurrently to share the machine efficiently.

Research Group

Paul Mackerras (Project leader)


Andrew Tridgell


David Gibson


David Sitsky