SR is a language for programming distributed systems ranging from operating systems to application programs. On the basis of our experience with the initial version, the language has evolved considerably. In this paper we describe the current version of SR and give an overview of its implementation. The main language constructs are still resources and operations. Resources encapsulate processes and variables that they share; operations provide the primary mechanism for process interaction. One way in which SR has changed is that both resources and processes are now created dynamically. Another change is that inheritance is supported. A third change is that the mechanisms for operation invocation—call and send—and operation implementation—proc and in—have been extended and integrated. Consequently, all of local and remote procedure call, rendezvous, dynamic process creation, asynchronous message passing, multicast, and semaphores are supported. We have found this flexibility to be very useful for distributed programming. Moreover, by basing SR on a small number of well-integrated concepts, the language has proved easy to learn and use, and it has a reasonably efficient implementation.

Abstract This paper describes two mechanisms – reproduction sets and metafiles – that provide low‐cost, semi‐automatic file replication and location transparency facilities for an interconnected collection of machines running Berkeley Unix. A reproduction set is a collection of files that the system attempts to keep identical; this is done on a ‘best effort’ basis, with the system relying on the user to handle unusual situations. A metafile is a special file that contains symbolic pathnames of other files, each of which may be on any machine in the network; opening a metafile results in opening an available constituent file. Examples are given to illustrate the use of these mechanisms. Their implementation and performance are also described.

This paper describes the design of the Saguaro operating system for computers connected by a local-area network. Systems constructed on such an architecture have the potential advantages of concurrency and robustness. In Saguaro, these advantages are made available to the user through several mechanisms. One is channels, an interprocess communication and synchronization facility that allows the input and output of different commands to be connected to form general graphs of communicating processes. Two additional mechanisms are provided to support semitransparent file replication and access: reproduction sets and metafiles. A reproduction set is a collection of files that the system attempts to keep identical on a "best effort" basis. A metafile is a special file that contains symbolic pathnames of other files; when a metafile is opened, the system selects an available constituent file and opens it instead. The advantages of concurrency and robustness are also realized at the system level by the use of pools of server processes and decentralized allocation protocols. Saguaro also makes extensive use of a type system to describe user data such as files and to specify the types of arguments to commands and procedures. This enables the system to assist in type checking and leads to a user interface in which command-specific templates are available to facilitate command invocation.