Process Identification Blocks

The PIB is the ID badge for each user. It tells the system all the internal administrative information it needs to track, such as what account the user is in, what kind of permissions are allowed, and how much time has been used. Some of the D3 commands display PIB status bytes, which are described below:

PIB Major Byte (XX…)

0

 

Sleeping

Page Fault

Echo not Enabled

I/O Bound

Outputting

Inputting

Active

1

Activatible

 

 

Full Duplex

 

 

 

Comatose

 

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

PIB Minor Byte (…XX)

0

 

Sleeping

Page Fault

Echo not Enabled

Debug Attention Codes

1

In Vir. Debugger

XOFF in effect

Typeahead enabled

XON/XOF supported

Debug Attention Codes

 

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Examples

3Fxx = Sleeping

5Fxx = Page Fault (Waiting for Disk I/O

7Bxx = Terminal is outputting

FBxx = Terminal is outputting

FDxx = Terminal is inputting

7Fxx = Active, or Ready to Go

FFxx = Active, or Ready to Go

PIBs need additional space to store information about the processes it is running, and a place to store the process data and variables. This area is called the Process Control Block (PCB).

See Also

Frames

Linking Frames

I/O Devices

Monitor

Memory Management

Frame Requests and Frame Faults

Concept of a Process

User Pibs and Phantom Pibs

Scheduler

Scheduling Algorithm

Super High Priority Process