Chapter 8: Deadlocks

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Outline
• System Model
• Deadlock Characterization
• Methods for Handling Deadlocks
• Deadlock Prevention
• Deadlock Avoidance
• Deadlock Detection
• Recovery from Deadlock

2
 Chapter Objectives
• Illustrate how deadlock can occur when mutex locks are used
• Define the four necessary conditions that characterize deadlock
• Identify a deadlock situation in a resource allocation graph
• Evaluate the four different approaches for preventing deadlocks
• Apply the banker’s algorithm for deadlock avoidance
• Apply the deadlock detection algorithm
• Evaluate approaches for recovering from deadlock

3
 System Model
• System consists of resources
• Resource types R1, R2, . . ., Rm
– CPU cycles, memory space, I/O devices
• Each resource type Ri has Wi instances.
• Each process utilizes a resource as follows:
– request
– use
– release

4
 Deadlock with Semaphores
• Data:
– A semaphore S1 initialized to 1
– A semaphore S2 initialized to 1
• Two threads T1 and T2
• T1:
wait(s1)
wait(s2)
• T2:
wait(s2)
wait(s1)

5
 Deadlock Characterization
Deadlock can arise if four conditions hold simultaneously.
• Mutual exclusion: only one thread at a time can use a resource
• Hold and wait: a thread holding at least one resource is waiting to
acquire additional resources held by other threads
• No preemption: a resource can be released only voluntarily by the
thread holding it, after that thread has completed its task
• Circular wait: there exists a set {T0, T1, …, Tn} of waiting threads such
that T0 is waiting for a resource that is held by T1, T1 is waiting for a resource
that is held by T2, …, Tn–1 is waiting for a resource that is held by Tn, and Tn is
waiting for a resource that is held by T0.

6
 Resource-Allocation Graph
• V is partitioned into two types: A set of vertices V and a set of edges E.
– T = {T1, T2, …, Tn}, the set consisting of all the threads in the system.

– R = {R1, R2, …, Rm}, the set consisting of all resource types in the system

• request edge – directed edge Ti  Rj

• assignment edge – directed edge Rj  Ti

7
 Resource Allocation Graph Example
• One instance of R1
• Two instances of R2
• One instance of R3
• Three instance of R4
• T1 holds one instance of R2 and is waiting for an instance of R1
• T2 holds one instance of R1, one instance of R2, and is waiting for an instance
of R3
• T3 is holds one instance of R3

8
Resource Allocation Graph with a Deadlock

9
Graph with a Cycle But no Deadlock

10
 Basic Facts
• If graph contains no cycles  no deadlock
• If graph contains a cycle 
– if only one instance per resource type, then deadlock
– if several instances per resource type, possibility of deadlock

11
 Methods for Handling Deadlocks
• Ensure that the system will never enter a deadlock state:
– Deadlock prevention
– Deadlock avoidance
• Allow the system to enter a deadlock state and then recover
• Ignore the problem and pretend that deadlocks never occur in the system.

12
 Deadlock Prevention

Invalidate one of the four necessary conditions for deadlock:

• Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable resources (e.g., read-only

files); must hold for non-sharable resources
• Hold and Wait – must guarantee that whenever a thread requests a
resource, it does not hold any other resources
– Require threads to request and be allocated all its resources before it begins execution
or allow thread to request resources only when the thread has none allocated to it.
– Low resource utilization; starvation possible

13
 Deadlock Prevention (Cont.)
• No Preemption:
– If a process that is holding some resources requests another resource that cannot be
immediately allocated to it, then all resources currently being held are released
– Preempted resources are added to the list of resources for which the thread is waiting
– Thread will be restarted only when it can regain its old resources, as well as the new
ones that it is requesting
• Circular Wait:
– Impose a total ordering of all resource types, and require that each thread requests
resources in an increasing order of enumeration

14
 Circular Wait
• Invalidating the circular wait condition is most common.
• Simply assign each resource (i.e., mutex locks) a unique number.
• Resources must be acquired in order.
• If:

first_mutex = 1
second_mutex = 5

code for thread_two could not be

written as follows:

15
 Deadlock Avoidance
Requires that the system has some additional a priori
• Simplest and
information
most useful model requires that each thread declare the
maximumavailable
number of resources of each type that it may need
• The deadlock-avoidance algorithm dynamically examines the resource-
allocation state to ensure that there can never be a circular-wait condition
• Resource-allocation state is defined by the number of available and allocated
resources, and the maximum demands of the processes

16
 Safe State
• When a thread requests an available resource, system must decide if
immediate allocation leaves the system in a safe state
• System is in safe state if there exists a sequence <T1, T2, …, Tn> of ALL
the threads in the systems such that for each Ti, the resources that Ti can
still request can be satisfied by currently available resources + resources
held by all the Tj, with j < I
• That is:
– If Ti resource needs are not immediately available, then Ti can wait until all Tj have
finished
– When Tj is finished, Ti can obtain needed resources, execute, return allocated resources,
and terminate
– When Ti terminates, Ti +1 can obtain its needed resources, and so on

17
 Basic Facts
• If a system is in safe state  no deadlocks

• If a system is in unsafe state  possibility of deadlock

• Avoidance  ensure that a system will never enter an unsafe state.

18
Safe, Unsafe, Deadlock State

19
 Avoidance Algorithms
• Single instance of a resource type
– Use a resource-allocation graph

• Multiple instances of a resource type

– Use the Banker’s Algorithm

20
 Resource-Allocation Graph Scheme
• Claim edge Ti  Rj indicated that process Tj may request resource Rj;
represented by a dashed line
• Claim edge converts to request edge when a thread requests a resource
• Request edge converted to an assignment edge when the resource is
allocated to the thread
• When a resource is released by a thread, assignment edge reconverts to a
claim edge
• Resources must be claimed a priori in the system

21
Resource-Allocation Graph

22
Unsafe State In Resource-Allocation Graph

23
 Resource-Allocation Graph Algorithm
• Suppose that thread Ti requests a resource Rj
• The request can be granted only if converting the request edge to an
assignment edge does not result in the formation of a cycle in the resource
allocation graph

24
 Banker’s Algorithm
• Multiple instances of resources
• Each thread must a priori claim maximum use
• When a thread requests a resource, it may have to wait
• When a thread gets all its resources it must return them in a finite amount of
time

25
 Data Structures for the Banker’s Algorithm
Let n = number of processes, and m = number of resources types.
• Available: Vector of length m. If available [j] = k, there are k instances of
resource type Rj available
• Max: n x m matrix. If Max [i,j] = k, then process Ti may request at most k
instances of resource type Rj

• Allocation: n x m matrix. If Allocation[i,j] = k then Ti is currently allocated k

instances of Rj

• Need: n x m matrix. If Need[i,j] = k, then Ti may need k more instances of Rj

to complete its task
Need [i,j] = Max[i,j] – Allocation [i,j]

26
 Safety Algorithm
1. Let Work and Finish be vectors of length m and n, respectively. Initialize:
Work = Available
Finish [i] = false for i = 0, 1, …, n- 1

2. Find an i such that both:

(a) Finish [i] = false
(b) Needi  Work
If no such i exists, go to step 4

3. Work = Work + Allocationi

Finish[i] = true
go to step 2
4. If Finish [i] == true for all i, then the system is in a safe state

27
 Resource-Request Algorithm for Process Pi

Requesti = request vector for process Ti. If Requesti [j] = k then process Ti
wants k instances of resource type Rj
1. If Requesti  Needi go to step 2. Otherwise, raise error condition, since process has
exceeded its maximum claim
2. If Requesti  Available, go to step 3. Otherwise Ti must wait, since resources are not
available
3. Pretend to allocate requested resources to Ti by modifying the state as follows:
Available = Available – Requesti;
Allocationi = Allocationi + Requesti;
Needi = Needi – Requesti;
• If safe  the resources are allocated to Ti
• If unsafe  Ti must wait, and the old resource-allocation state is restored

28
 Example of Banker’s Algorithm
• 5 threads T0 through T4;
3 resource types:
A (10 instances), B (5instances), and C (7 instances)
• Snapshot at time T0:
Allocation Max Available
ABC ABC ABC
T0 010 753 332
T1 200 322
T2 302 902
T3 211 222
T4 002 433
29
 Example (Cont.)
• The content of the matrix Need is defined to be Max – Allocation

Need
ABC
T0 743
T1 122
T2 600
T3 011
T4 431

• The system is in a safe state since the sequence < T1, T3, T4, T2, T0> satisfies
safety criteria
30
 Example: P1 Request (1,0,2)
• Check that Request  Available (that is, (1,0,2)  (3,3,2)  true
Allocation Need Available
ABC ABC ABC
T0 010 743 230
T1 302 020
T2 302 600
T3 211 011
T4 002 431
• Executing safety algorithm shows that sequence < T1, T3, T4, T0, T2> satisfies
safety requirement
• Can request for (3,3,0) by T4 be granted?
31
 Deadlock Detection
• Allow system to enter deadlock state

• Detection algorithm

• Recovery scheme

32
 Single Instance of Each Resource Type
• Maintain wait-for graph
– Nodes are threads
– Ti  Tj if Ti is waiting for Tj

• Periodically invoke an algorithm that searches for a cycle in the graph. If

there is a cycle, there exists a deadlock

• An algorithm to detect a cycle in a graph requires an order of n2 operations,

where n is the number of vertices in the graph

33
Resource-Allocation Graph and Wait-for Graph

Resource-Allocation Graph
Corresponding wait-for graph

34
 Several Instances of a Resource Type
• Available: A vector of length m indicates the number of available resources
of each type
• Allocation: An n x m matrix defines the number of resources of each type
currently allocated to each thread.
• Request: An n x m matrix indicates the current request of each thread. If
Request [i][j] = k, then thread Ti is requesting k more instances of resource
type Rj.

35
 Detection Algorithm
1. Let Work and Finish be vectors of length m and n, respectively Initialize:
a) Work = Available
b) For i = 1,2, …, n, if Allocationi  0, then
Finish[i] = false; otherwise, Finish[i] = true

2. Find an index i such that both:

a) Finish[i] == false
b) Requesti  Work

If no such i exists, go to step 4

36
 Detection Algorithm (Cont.)
3. Work = Work + Allocationi
Finish[i] = true
go to step 2

4. If Finish[i] == false, for some i, 1  i  n, then the system is in deadlock

state. Moreover, if Finish[i] == false, then Ti is deadlocked

Algorithm requires an order of O(m x n2) operations

to detect whether the system is in deadlocked state

37
 Example of Detection Algorithm
• Five threads T0 through T4; three resource types
A (7 instances), B (2 instances), and C (6 instances)

• Snapshot at time T0:

Allocation Request Available
ABC ABC ABC
T0 010 000 000
T1 200 202
T2 303 000
T3 211 100
T4 002 002

38
 Example (Cont.)
• T2 requests an additional instance of type C
Request
ABC
T0 000
T1 202
T2 001
T3 100
T4 002
• State of system?
– Can reclaim resources held by thread T0, but insufficient resources to fulfill other
processes; requests
– Deadlock exists, consisting of processes T1, T2, T3, and T4
39
 Detection-Algorithm Usage
• When, and how often, to invoke depends on:
– How often a deadlock is likely to occur?
– How many processes will need to be rolled back?
• one for each disjoint cycle

• If detection algorithm is invoked arbitrarily, there may be many cycles in the

resource graph and so we would not be able to tell which of the many
deadlocked threads “caused” the deadlock.

40
 Recovery from Deadlock: Process Termination

• Abort all deadlocked threads

• Abort one process at a time until the deadlock cycle is eliminated
• In which order should we choose to abort?
1. Priority of the thread
2. How long has the thread computed, and how much longer to completion
3. Resources that the thread has used
4. Resources that the thread needs to complete
5. How many threads will need to be terminated
6. Is the thread interactive or batch?

41
 Recovery from Deadlock: Resource Preemption

• Selecting a victim – minimize cost

• Rollback – return to some safe state, restart the thread for that state
• Starvation – same thread may always be picked as victim, include number
of rollback in cost factor

42
 End of Chapter 8

Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018