Towards a service-based middleware layer for runtime environments

Abstract

Natively compiled, binary-code application programs are typically thought of as executing on the "raw" operating system. However, they do in fact utilize a bare-bones middleware layer-the dynamic linker. This paper presents a service-based view of an expanded run-time environment in which the current dynamic linker is only a core service, and other middleware-type services are available to the application and its components (shared libraries). This paper then describes a prototype implementation of such an environment, called SBRT, or Service-Based Run-Time. SBRT also contains a unified event-based interface that allows for customized middleware services by means of an extension mechanism.

A service‐based runtime environment for native applications

“…Here, the runtime environment is thought of as a collection of dynamic services provided to the running application programs, and the dynamic linker is thought of as only a core service rather than the whole environment. Having new and novel dynamic services will create a better runtime environment for application programs [8]. Figure 1 shows a runtime environment based on this view.…”

“…A typical SBRT environment supports the idea of a unified interface through which the runtime environment can be communicated with [8]. Such an interface, as shown in Figure 3, is used by both the deployed dynamic services and the running application programs.…”