Homework 4: Address Conversion Utility

Multiple addressing techniques are used on IBM PC-compatible hard drives and in FAT file systems to both simplify addressing mechanisms and to reduce the number of bits necessary to locate all areas within a logical space, like a partition.

For this assignment, you are to write a Unix-like command line utility that will convert between three different address types when an address of a different type is given. This will require you to have a sound understanding of the following principles:

  1. Hard drive geometry and layout.

  2. Sectors.

  3. Partition creation.

  4. FAT tables and clusters.

  5. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

The code you write for this project should be in a Linux-compatible language (e.g. C/C++, Java, Python, Perl, etc.). Use the following usage specifications for your utility:

addrconv logical [-b offset] [-B [-s bytes]] [-p address] [-c address -k sectors -r sectors -t tables -f sectors]
addrconv physical [-b offset] [-B [-s bytes]] [-l address] [-c address -k sectors -r sectors -t tables -f sectors]
addrconv cluster [-b offset] [-B [-s bytes]] [-l address] [-p address]

Where the parameters must conform to the following specifications:

logical

Calculate the logical address from either the cluster address or the physical address. Either -c or -p must be given.

physical

Calculate the physical address from either the cluster address or the logical address. Either -c or -l must be given.

cluster

Calculate the cluster address from either the logical address or the physical address. Either -l or -p must be given.

-b offset, --partition-start=offset

This specifies the physical address (sector number) of the start of the partition, and defaults to 0 for ease in working with images of a single partition. The offset value will always translate into logical address 0.

-B, --byte-address

Instead of returning sector values for the conversion, this returns the byte address of the calculated value, which is the number of sectors multiplied by the number of bytes per sector.

-s bytes, --sector-size=bytes

When the -B option is used, this allows for a specification of bytes per sector other than the default 512. Has no affect on output without -B.

-l address, --logical-known=address

This specifies the known logical address for calculating either a cluster address or a physical address. When used with the -L option, this simply returns the value given for address.

-p address, --physical-known=address

This specifies the known physical address for calculating either a cluster address or a logical address. When used with the -P option, this simply returns the value given for address.

-c address, --cluster-known=address

This specifies the known cluster address for calculating either a logical address or a physical address. When used with the -C option, this simply returns the value given for address. Note that options -k, -r, -t, and -f must be provided with this option.

-k sectors, --cluster-size=sectors

This specifies the number of sectors per cluster.

-r sectors, --reserved=sectors

This specifies the number of reserved sectors in the partition.

-t tables, --fat-tables=tables

This specifies the number of FAT tables, which is usually 2.

-f sectors, --fat-length=sectors

This specifies the length of each FAT table in sectors.

One of the objectives of this assignment is to help you familiarize yourself with how to read and understand command line specifications, such as the above. Take your time to understand each option, what it does, and the other options it interacts with, and you’ll do fine.

Example

An example of this in use would be the following, where the desired number is the logical address of physical sector 12345678 in a partition that begins at physical sector 128:

$ addrconv -L -b 128 --physical-known=12345678
12345550

Another example shows the utility getting the physical address of cluster 58, in a partition that begins at physical sector 128, has 2 FAT tables that are each 16 sectors long, 6 reserved sectors, and 4 sectors per cluster:

$ addrconv -P --partition-start=128 -c 58 -k 4 -r 6 -t 2 -f 16
390

Implementation

Your program must work on Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit with the default packages installed. You may find it helpful to set up a virtual machine to do your development. VirtualBox is a free and open-source VM system.

If you wish to use packages that are not installed on Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit by default, please submit a file with your code named packages, with a list of packages that you would like installed before calling make. Each line of packages must be a valid package name, one package per line. The submission system will automatically install all the dependencies that the package lists.

For example, if you were going to write your assignment in Haskell, you could install the GHC compiler with the following packages file:

ghc
ghc-dynamic

We’ve created a test script called test.sh to help you test your program before compiling.

  1. Download test.sh to the directory where your code lives (including README and Makefile).

  2. Ensure that test.sh is executable: chmod +x test.sh

  3. Run: ./test.sh

Submission Instructions

You will need to submit your source code, along with a Makefile and README. The Makefile must create your executable, called addrconv, when the command make is run. Your README file must be plain text and should contain your name, ASU ID, and a description of how your program works.

A prior TA compiled some resources on how to write a Makefile which might be helpful:

https://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~newhall/unixhelp/howto_makefiles.html

Submission Site

Create an account to submit your assignment for all parts on the course submission site: https://cse469s19.mikemabey.com/