SPIN PAPERS

Conference papers

• Dynamic Binding for an Extensible System,
  Przemyslaw Pardyak, Brian Bershad, in Proceedings of the Second USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI), Seattle, WA, pp. 201-212, October 1996.
  Describes an event-based invocation mechanism that enables dynamic binding of extensions into exectuting code in a flexible, transparent, safe, and efficient way.
  Abstact. Paper (postscript),

• An Extensible Protocol Architecture for Application-Specific Networking,
  Marc Fiuczynski, Brian Bershad, in Proceedings of the 1996 Winter USENIX Conference, San Diego, CA., pp. 55-64, January 1996.
  Describes an extensible protocol architecture that allows anyone to customize an in-kernel protocol stack, enabling applications to achieves better performance compared to similar applications running on conventional operating systems.
  Abstract, Paper (postscript).

• Extensibility, Safety and Performance in the SPIN Operating System,
  Brian Bershad, Stefan Savage, Przemyslaw Pardyak, Emin Gun Sirer, David Becker, Marc Fiuczynski, Craig Chambers, Susan Eggers, in "Proceedings of the 15th ACM Symposium on Operating System Principles (SOSP-15)", Copper Mountain, CO. pp. 267--284.
  A design, implementation and performance paper.
  Abstract, Paper (postscript),

• Fast, Effective Dynamic Compilation,
  J. Auslander, M. Philipose, C. Chambers, S.J. Eggers, and Brian Bershad, in Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation, May 1996.
  Describes a framework for optimizing code at runtime based on values available only at runtime: applications which could benefit include interpreters, simulators, graphics renderers and extensible OS kernels
  Abstract, Paper (compressed postscript).

Workshop papers

• Writing an Operating System Using Modula-3 ,
  Emin Gun Sirer, Stefan Savage, Przemyslaw Pardyak, Greg DeFouw, Mary Ann Alapat, Brian Bershad, Appeared in the Workshop on Compiler Support for System Software, February 1996.
  Describes our experiences using Modula-3 to build a high performance extensible system. Makes clear the distinction between a language and its implementation.
  Paper (postscript),

• Language Support for Extensible Operating Systems ,
  Wilson Hsieh, Marc Fiuczynski, Charles Garrett, Stefan Savage, David Becker, Brian Bershad, Appeared in the Workshop on Compiler Support for System Software, February 1996.
  We've been pretty happy with M3, but we've had to deal with a few shortcomings in order to use the language in a safe extensible operating system. This paper describes how we've addressed those shortcomings.
  Abstract, Paper (postscript),

• Safe Dynamic Linking in an Extensible Operating System ,
  Emin Gun Sirer, Marc Fiuczynski, Przemyslaw Pardyak, Brian Bershad, Appeared in the Workshop on Compiler Support for System Software, February 1996.
  Describes the dynamic linker we use to load code into the kernel. Key point is the ability to create and manage linkable namespaces that describe interfaces and collections of interfaces.
  Paper (postscript),

• Automatic Dynamic Compilation Support for Event Dispatching in Extensible Systems, C. Chambers, S.J. Eggers, J. Auslander, M. Philipose, M. Mock, P. Pardyak, Appeared in the Workshop on Compiler Support for Systems Software, February 1996.
  Describes how our dynamic compilation framework can be used in speeding up the SPIN event dispatcher.
  Abstract, Paper (postscript).

• Protection is a Software Issue,
  Brian Bershad, Stefan Savage, Przemyslaw Pardyak, David Becker, Marc Fiuczynski, Emin Gun Sirer, in "Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems (HotOS-V)", Orcas Island, WA. pp. 62-65.
  A position paper comparing software and hardware protection mechanisms.
  Abstract, Paper (postscript),

• SPIN - An Extensible Microkernel for Application-specific Operating System Services,
  Brian Bershad, Craig Chambers, Susan Eggers, Chris Maeda, Dylan McNamee, Przemyslaw Pardyak, Stefan Savage, Emin Gun Sirer, University of Washington, Technical Report TR-94-03-03, extended abstract appears in "Proceedings of the Sixth SIGOPS European Workshop on Matching Operating Systems to Application Needs", Operating Systems Review, January 1995, v 29, no 1.
  The SPIN White Paper. This techinical report written in the early phase of the project includes motivation, goals, and preliminary design overview. See our SOSP'95 paper for more up-to-date and detailed design.
  Abstract, Technical Report (postscript), Extended Abstract (postscript).

Unpublished papers

• Language and Runtime Support for Dynamic Interposition of System Code,
  Przemyslaw Pardyak, Stefan Savage, Brian Bershad, submitted for publication.
  Describes the kernel's internal communication and extension facilities. Shows use of dynamic code generation to improve the performance of a critical kernel service.
  Paper (postscript).

• Issues in the Design of an Extensible Operating System,
  Stefan Savage, Brian Bershad, in "Proceedings of the First USENIX Symposium on Operating System Design and Implementation", November 1994.
  A position paper discussing some issues in the design for extensibility. The short version appeared in OSDI proceedings as a part of panel on new kernel architectures. The panel talk given by Brian Bershad presents an overview of SPIN, concentrating on the safety issues that are addressed with various mechanisms.
  Abstract, Position paper (postscript), Extended version (postscript),

Technical Reports

• A User-Level Unix Server for the SPIN Operating System,
  David Dion,
  University of Washington Technical Report UW-CSE-96-11-01.
  Paper (postscript),