Tobias,
That looks good. The only piece missing is “controls access”, managing access to kernel mode and protecting memory from unauthorized access.
From: open-regulatory-compliance <open-regulatory-compliance-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Tobias Frech via open-regulatory-compliance
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2025 5:47 AM
To: open-regulatory-compliance@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Tobias Frech <tobias@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [open-regulatory-compliance] Important and Critical product categories - Operating systems
Hi,
I agree. With the current definition it's very close to something that does task scheduling, even if it is completely in user space.
If I try to parse the sentence "Software products with digital elements that control the execution of programs and that may provide services such as resource allocation, scheduling, input-output control, and data management." it sounds like "control the execution of programs" is the only hard criteria given. The parts after may are just additional hints at what an operating system may additionally do. Is that correct?
From a security point of view I would say the separation of execution between kernel space and user space or more generally different levels of hardware security boundaries (rings?) is a key part of modern operation systems. I am not sure if this holds true in the embedded space though.
Best,
Tobias
Am 25.03.25 um 21:02 schrieb Marta Rybczynska via open-regulatory-compliance:
I think that this definition requires some work. It does not mention hardware support and access control (including access control to hardware) and those are related to security. The definition "as-is" could be interpreted to include things like task scheduling systems (in CI, job scheduling in scientific systems and the like). It also gives no boundary between the OS and included tools. In the case of a Linux distribution, does it apply to the kernel, or to the whole distribution?
Software products with digital elements that control the execution of programs and manage hardware access. They may provide services such as resource allocation, scheduling, input-output control, and data management, and might run directly on hardware or use a hypervisor.
Hi folks,
This is the definition of operating systems in the draft implementing act:
Software products with digital elements that control the execution of programs and that may provide services such as resource allocation, scheduling, input-output control, and data management.
This category includes but is not limited to real-time operating systems, operating systems for servers, mainframes and mobile devices, network operating systems and general-purpose operating systems.
Are you all comfortable with this definition or do you have concerns with it? If so, what are those concerns and how would you modify the definition to address them?
--tobie
---
Tobie Langel
Tech Lead ORC WG, Eclipse Foundation
Principal, UnlockOpen
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