iOS Operating System Process Management

Question

Is there some resource out there that describes low-level OS information for iOS? Looking over the apple docs, it seems as if they don't go into too much detail about how the kernel might manage processes, etc.

So, to be more precise, I suppose I am interested in learning about how processes are handled by iOS.

Where might I go to look for documentation on this? Is it even out there? Or is it encompassed in some other information (i.e. since it is based on Unix, the kernel implements similar process management)?

Answer 1

This is pretty much undocumented, because Apple wants the freedom to tune the system at a low-level, and you can't do that if a lot of apps start using low-level interfaces.

That said, since iOS is based on Mac OS X, you might learn a lot by studying the open-sourced parts of Mac OS X.

The book Mac OS X Internals gives a lot of deep system level info about Mac OS X, too.

Answer 2

No deflections please. It’s never ok or acceptable to prevent security audits by blocking access to required information. iOS devices are used by many different people and organizations with a variety of security policies and needs. This becomes a trust issue. Needing a far better explanation of why Apple should be trusted by default. Don’t be quick to leap into a “if you don’t trust Apple then don’t use their products” posture. For many orgs that would trigger a “use or possession of any IOS based product is forbidden on premises”.