Towards a Service-Based Middleware Layer for Runtime Environments

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.