JEM-DOOS: The Java/RMI based distributed objects operating system of the JEM project

Abstract

The Java technology [1] provides support to design and develop platforms to deal with heterogeneous networks. One of the goals of the JEM project, Experimentation environMent for Java, carried out at LaBRI is to design and develop such a platform. The JEM project[2] consists in: providing a distributed platform that makes using heterogeneous networks of computers easier, using this platform as a laboratory for experimentation purpose. It is based on Java, RMI[3] and CORBA[4]. In this paper, we present an overview of the conception and the implementation of the kernel of our platform. This kernel is called JEM-DOOS for JEM- Distributed Objects Operating System. Its inspiration owes a lot to POSIX[5], especially to POSIX.1. We adapt the way this norm deals with file systems to deal with object systems, i.e. hierarchies of objects similar to POSIX hierarchies of files. In the current release, alpha 0.1, objects we have implemented provide access to system resources, such as processors, screens, etc. Furthermore, JEM-DOOS supports remote access to objects, which makes it distributed. Hence, JEM-DOOS provides a way to deal with heterogeneous objects in heterogeneous networks of computers.