Operating Systems Role in File Systems

Question

I am trying to better understand the operating systems role to file systems, memory management, and management of I/O devices. Can anyone answer this question for me? What is the operating systems role as it relates to file systems, memory management, and management of I/O devices?

Answer 1

Can anyone answer this question for me?

Sadly, no - at least not an authoritative answer. There's no consensus or standard definition of what "operating system" actually means, and nobody can really say what its role is without first defining what they mean by "operating system". For an example; the statement "MS-DOS used to be an operating system, but now that firmware (UEFI) comes with more functionality than MS-DOS provided, MS-DOS can't be considered an operating system any more" is arguably correct (and arguably incorrect). For another example, does "operating system" include a GUI (and does Windows 10 include a GUI, or is Windows 10 bundled with a GUI that isn't part of the OS itself)?

For system's software designed for CPUs embedded in networking equipment (routers, etc) there may be no file system at all; does that mean the system's software is not an OS, even if it provides a user interface via. telnet? In my opinion; the definition of "operating system" includes the ability for one or more end users (maybe just "admin") to install third-party applications (and if the "system software for networking equipment" doesn't allow third-party applications to be installed then it's not an OS); but a lot of people would disagree with that.

More specifically; I'd say "operating system" includes the ability for end user/s to install third-party applications, and the ability to install third-party applications implies some kind of "execution environment" that third-party applications can use, which implies various abstract interfaces; and it's the design of these abstract interfaces (that are implied but not strictly required by my definition of "operating system") that define the relationship between the operating system and file systems, memory management, and management of I/O devices. However, different people with different definitions will disagree with that too (and nobody can truly say what is/isn't "right"), and tomorrow I might be in a different mood and define "operating systems" differently (and tomorrow I might be one of the people that disagree with what I wrote today).