Deadlocks

Deadlocks
• The Deadlock Problem
• System Model
• Deadlock Characterization
• Methods for Handling Deadlocks
• Deadlock Prevention
• Deadlock Avoidance
• Deadlock Detection
• Recovery from Deadlock
 Objectives
• To develop a description of
deadlocks, which prevent sets of
concurrent processes from
completing their tasks
• To present a number of different
methods for preventing or
avoiding deadlocks in a computer
system.
 The Deadlock Problem
• A set of blocked processes each holding a
resource and waiting to acquire a resource
held by another process in the set.
• Example
– System has 2 disk drives.
– P1 and P2 each hold one disk drive and each
needs another one.
• Example
– semaphores A and B, initialized to 1
P0 P1
wait (A); wait(B)
wait (B); wait(A)
 Bridge Crossing Example

• Traffic only in one direction.

• Each section of a bridge can be viewed as a resource.
• If a deadlock occurs, it can be resolved if one car
backs up (preempt resources and rollback).
• Several cars may have to be backed up if a deadlock
occurs.
• Starvation is possible.
 System Model
• 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
 Deadlock Characterization
Deadlock can arise if four conditions hold simultaneously.
• Mutual exclusion: only one process at a time can use
a resource.
• Hold and wait: a process holding at least one
resource is waiting to acquire additional resources
held by other processes.
• No preemption: a resource can be released only
voluntarily by the process holding it, after that
process has completed its task.
• Circular wait: there exists a set {P0, P1, …, P0} of
waiting processes such that P0 is waiting for a
resource that is held by P1, P1 is waiting for a resource
that is held by
P2, …, Pn–1 is waiting for a resource that is held by
Pn, and P0 is waiting for a resource that is held by P0.
 Resource-Allocation Graph
A set of vertices V and a set of edges E.

• V is partitioned into two types:

– P = {P1, P2, …, Pn}, the set consisting of all the
processes in the system.

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

types in the system.
• request edge – directed edge P1  Rj
• assignment edge – directed edge Rj  Pi
 Resource-Allocation Graph (Cont.)
• Process

• Resource Type with 4 instances

• Pi requests instance of Rj
Pi
Rj

• Pi is holding an instance of Rj
Pi

Rj
Example of a Resource Allocation
Graph
Resource Allocation Graph With A Deadlock
Graph With A Cycle But No Deadlock
 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.
Methods for Handling Deadlocks
• Ensure that the system will never enter a
deadlock state.

• Allow the system to enter a deadlock state

and then recover.

• Ignore the problem and pretend that

deadlocks never occur in the system; used
by most operating systems, including UNIX.
 Deadlock Prevention
Restrain the ways request can be made.

• Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable

resources; must hold for nonsharable
resources.

• Hold and Wait – must guarantee that

whenever a process requests a resource, it
does not hold any other resources.
– Require process to request and be allocated all its
resources before it begins execution, or allow
process to request resources only when the
process has none.
– Low resource utilization; starvation possible.
 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 process is waiting.
– Process 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 process requests
resources in an increasing order of enumeration.
 Deadlock Avoidance
Requires that the system has some additional a priori information
available.

• Simplest and most useful model requires that each

process declare the maximum 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.
 Safe State
• When a process 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 <P1, P2, …,

Pn> of ALL the processes is the systems such that for each
Pi, the resources that Pi can still request can be satisfied by
currently available resources + resources held by all the Pj,
with j < i.
• That is:
– If Pi resource needs are not immediately available, then Pi can
wait until all Pj have finished.
– When Pj is finished, Pi can obtain needed resources, execute,
return allocated resources, and terminate.
– When Pi terminates, Pi +1 can obtain its needed resources, and
so on.
 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.
Safe, Unsafe , Deadlock State
 Avoidance algorithms
• Single instance of a resource type.
Use a resource-allocation graph

• Multiple instances of a resource

type. Use the banker’s algorithm
Resource-Allocation Graph Scheme
• Claim edge Pi  Rj indicated that process Pj may
request resource Rj; represented by a dashed line.

• Claim edge converts to request edge when a process

requests a resource.

• Request edge converted to an assignment edge when

the resource is allocated to the process.

• When a resource is released by a process, assignment

edge reconverts to a claim edge.

• Resources must be claimed a priori in the system.

Resource-Allocation Graph
Unsafe State In Resource-Allocation Graph
Resource-Allocation Graph Algorithm
• Suppose that process Pi 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
 Banker’s Algorithm
• Multiple instances.

• Each process must a priori claim

maximum use.

• When a process requests a resource it

may have to wait.

• When a process gets all its resources it

must return them in a finite amount of
time.
 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 Pi
may request at most k instances of resource type Rj.
• Allocation: n x m matrix. If Allocation[i,j] = k then Pi
is currently allocated k instances of Rj.
• Need: n x m matrix. If Need[i,j] = k, then Pi may need
k more instances of Rj to complete its task.
Need [i,j] = Max[i,j] – Allocation [i,j].
 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 and 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.
 Resource-Request Algorithm for Process Pi

Request = request vector for process Pi. If

Requesti [j] = k then process Pi 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 Pi
must wait, since resources are not available.
3. Pretend to allocate requested resources to Pi by
modifying the state as follows:
Available = Available – Request;
Allocationi = Allocationi + Requesti;
Needi = Needi – Requesti;
 If safe  the resources are allocated to Pi.
 If unsafe  Pi must wait, and the old resource-
allocation state is restored
 Example of Banker’s Algorithm
• 5 processes P0 through P4;
3 resource types:
A (10 instances), B (5instances), and C (7 instances).
• Snapshot at time T0:
Allocation Max Available
ABC ABC ABC
P0 0 1 0 753 332
P1 2 0 0 322
P2 3 0 2 902
P3 2 1 1 222
P4 0 0 2 433
 Example (Cont.)
• The content of the matrix Need is defined to be Max –
Allocation.

Need
ABC
P0 743
P1 122
P2 600
P3 011
P4 431

• The system is in a safe state since the sequence < P1, P3, P4, P2,
P0> satisfies safety criteria.
 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
P0 0 1 0 743 230
P1 3 0 2 020
P2 3 0 1 600
P3 2 1 1 011
P4 0 0 2 431
• Executing safety algorithm shows that sequence < P1, P3, P4, P0,
P2> satisfies safety requirement.
• Can request for (3,3,0) by P4 be granted?
• Can request for (0,2,0) by P0 be granted?
 Deadlock Detection
• Allow system to enter deadlock state

• Detection algorithm

• Recovery scheme
 Single Instance of Each Resource
Type
• Maintain wait-for graph
– Nodes are processes.
– Pi  Pj if Pi is waiting for Pj.

• 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.
Resource-Allocation Graph and Wait-for Graph

Resource-Allocation Graph Corresponding wait-for graph

 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 process.

• Request: An n x m matrix indicates the current

request of each process. If Request [ij] = k, then
process Pi is requesting k more instances of
resource type. Rj.
 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.

 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 Pi is
deadlocked.

Algorithm requires an order of O(m x n2)operations to detect whether the

system is in deadlocked state.
 Example of Detection Algorithm
• Five processes P0 through P4; three resource types
A (7 instances), B (2 instances), and C (6 instances).
• Snapshot at time T0:
Allocation Request Available
ABC ABCABC
P0 010000 000
P1 200202
P2 3 0 30 0 0
P3 211100
P4 002002
• Sequence <P0, P2, P3, P1, P4> will result in Finish[i] = true for
all i.
 Example (Cont.)
• P2 requests an additional instance of type C.
Request
ABC
P0 0 0 0
P1 2 0 1
P2 0 0 1
P3 1 0 0
P4 0 0 2
• State of system?
– Can reclaim resources held by process P1, but insufficient
resources to fulfill other processes; requests.
– Deadlock exists, consisting of processes P1, P2, P3, and P4.
 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 processes
“caused” the deadlock.
 Recovery from Deadlock: Process Termination

• Abort all deadlocked processes.

• Abort one process at a time until the deadlock cycle is

eliminated.

• In which order should we choose to abort?

– Priority of the process.
– How long process has computed, and how much longer to
completion.
– Resources the process has used.
– Resources process needs to complete.
– How many processes will need to be terminated.
– Is process interactive or batch?
 Recovery from Deadlock: Resource Preemption

• Selecting a victim – minimize cost.

• Rollback – return to some safe state,

restart process for that state.

• Starvation – same process may always

be picked as victim, include number of
rollback in cost factor.
Thank You