android system server and service manager

# ps


USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME


root      1     0     280    188   c009a694 0000c93c S /init


root      2     0     0      0     c004dea0 00000000 S kthreadd


root      3     2     0      0     c003f778 00000000 S ksoftirqd/0


root      4     2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S events/0


root      5     2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S khelper


root      6     2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S suspend


root      7     2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S kblockd/0


root      8     2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S cqueue


root      9     2     0      0     c017bb3c 00000000 S kseriod


root      10    2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S kmmcd


root      11    2     0      0     c006ecac 00000000 S pdflush


root      12    2     0      0     c006ecac 00000000 S pdflush


root      13    2     0      0     c007349c 00000000 S kswapd0


root      14    2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S aio/0


root      21    2     0      0     c017933c 00000000 S mtdblockd


root      22    2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S hid_compat


root      23    2     0      0     c004aaf4 00000000 S rpciod/0


root      24    1     728    228   c01537e8 afe0c7dc S /system/bin/sh


system    25    1     796    240   c019a810 afe0ca7c S /system/bin/servicemanager


root      26    1     820    312   c009a694 afe0cba4 S /system/bin/vold


radio     28    1     5420   540   ffffffff afe0d0ec S /system/bin/rild


root      29    1     99496  25764 c009a694 afe0cba4 S zygote


media     30    1     20944  2464  ffffffff afe0ca7c S /system/bin/mediaserver


root      31    1     784    252   c0209468 afe0c7dc S /system/bin/installd


keystore  32    1     1616   244   c01a65a4 afe0d40c S /system/bin/keystore


root      33    1     728    232   c003d444 afe0d6ac S /system/bin/sh


root      34    1     824    312   c00b7dd0 afe0d7fc S /system/bin/qemud


root      36    1     3368   176   ffffffff 0000eca4 S /sbin/adbd


root      44    33    780    288   c0209468 afe0c7dc S /system/bin/qemu-props


system    53    29    186560 37408 ffffffff afe0ca7c S system_server


app_4     96    29    135656 20080 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.inputmethod.pinyin


radio     98    29    142656 22640 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.phone


app_4     101   29    151340 27684 ffffffff afe0da04 S android.process.acore


system    116   29    133432 19404 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.settings


app_6     135   29    128688 18812 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.alarmclock


app_1     149   29    131412 19444 ffffffff afe0da04 S android.process.media


app_12    158   29    138320 19452 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.mms


app_21    173   29    131768 19820 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.email


app_1     191   29    136672 21000 ffffffff afe0da04 S com.android.gallery


root      200   36    728    324   c003d444 afe0d6ac S /system/bin/sh


root      204   1     656    248   c01a65a4 afe0d40c S /system/bin/debuggerd

 

The process /system/bin/servicemanager is created before the system_server,  they are combined to provide

service management feature like addService, checkService etc. All of these components follow the client-binder-server model, they are named system services, like camera service, bluetooth service etc. But even

the service manager itself follow this model too, and since the serviceManager is the server it must be created before the creation of system_server.