Question

OPERATING SYSTEMS QUESTION:

In what kernel data structure is process context stored?

explain in a few sentences

Answer 1

The kernel needs to store information per process.Processes have attributes for keep track of process.

Process attributes:

1->Process id

2->program counter

3->process state

4->priority

5->General purpose register

6->List of open files

7->List of open open devices

8->protection

This attributes are information about a process.This information is called process context.This attribute is typically stored as a list in "Procss control block".It is a data structure that contains information of the process related to it.In kernel data structure it is called "process table" that store information of the process related to it.

This list is allocated in the kernel address space(inaccessible to other process).The "handlers" consult these data structures to decide what action to take on any interrupt/exception.