Network of networks in Linux operating system

• A network of networks about Linux operating system is constructed.
• Degree distribution similarity among the whole and component networks is observed.
• Manifestations in topology and function for the components have been observed.
• System failures make some nodes unreachable and visit new nodes at the same time.

Operating system represents one of the most complex man-made systems. In this paper, we analyze Linux Operating System (LOS) as a complex network via modeling functions as nodes and function calls as edges. It is found that for the LOS network and modularized components within it, the out-degree follows an exponential distribution and the in-degree follows a power-law distribution. For better understanding the underlying design principles of LOS, we explore the coupling correlations of components in LOS from aspects of topology and function. The result shows that the component for device drivers has a strong manifestation in topology while a weak manifestation in function. However, the component for process management shows the contrary phenomenon. Moreover, in an effort to investigate the impact of system failures on networks, we make a comparison between the networks traced from normal and failure status of LOS. This leads to a conclusion that the failure will change function calls which should be executed in normal status and introduce new function calls in the meanwhile.