Chapter 7: Process

Synchronization
 Background
 The Critical-Section Problem
 Synchronization Hardware
 Semaphores
 Classical Problems of Synchronization
 Critical Regions
 Monitors
 Synchronization in Solaris 2 & Windows 2000

Operating System Concepts 7.1 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Background

 Concurrent access to shared data may result

in data inconsistency.
 Maintaining data consistency requires
mechanisms to ensure the orderly execution
of cooperating processes.

Operating System Concepts 7.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded Buffer

 The statement “count++” may be implemented

in machine language as:

register1 = counter
register1 = register1 + 1
counter = register1

 The statement “count—” may be implemented

as:

register2 = counter
register2 = register2 – 1
counter = register2

Operating System Concepts 7.3 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded Buffer

 If both the producer and consumer attempt to

update the buffer concurrently, the assembly
language statements may get interleaved.

 Interleaving depends upon how the producer

and consumer processes are scheduled.

Operating System Concepts 7.4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded Buffer

 Assume counter is initially 5. One interleaving

of statements is:

producer: register1 = counter (register1 = 5)

producer: register1 = register1 + 1 (register1 =
6)
consumer: register2 = counter (register2 = 5)
consumer: register2 = register2 – 1 (register2 =
4)
producer: counter = register1 (counter = 6)
consumer: counter = register2 (counter = 4)

 The value of count may be either 4 or 6, where

the correct result should be 5.

Operating System Concepts 7.5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Race Condition

 Race condition: The situation where several

processes access – and manipulate shared
data concurrently. The final value of the
shared data depends upon which process
finishes last.

 To prevent race conditions, concurrent

processes must be synchronized.

Operating System Concepts 7.6 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 The Critical-Section Problem

 n processes all competing to use some shared

data
 Each process has a code segment, called
critical section, in which the shared data is
accessed.
 Part of program which provides access to
shared memory
 Problem – ensure that when one process is
executing in its critical section, no other
process is allowed to execute in its critical
section.

Operating System Concepts 7.7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Solution to Critical-Section
Problem
1. Mutual Exclusion. If process Pi is executing in its critical
section, then no other processes can be executing in
their critical sections.
2. Progress. If no process is executing in its critical
section and there exist some processes that wish to
enter their critical section, then the selection of the
processes that will enter the critical section next cannot
be postponed indefinitely.
3. Bounded Waiting. A bound must exist on the number of
times that other processes are allowed to enter their
critical sections after a process has made a request to
enter its critical section and before that request is
granted.
Assume that each process executes at a nonzero speed
No assumption concerning relative speed of the n
processes.

Operating System Concepts 7.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Initial Attempts to Solve Problem

 Only 2 processes, P0 and P1

 General structure of process Pi (other process
Pj)
do {
entry section
critical section
exit section
reminder section
} while (1);
 Processes may share some common variables
to synchronize their actions.

Operating System Concepts 7.9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Synchronization Hardware

 Test and modify the content of a word

atomically
.
boolean TestAndSet(boolean &target) {
boolean rv = target;
tqrget = true;

return rv;
}

Operating System Concepts 7.10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Mutual Exclusion with Test-and-
Set
 Shared data:
boolean lock = false;

 Process Pi
do {
while (TestAndSet(lock)) ;
critical section
lock = false;
remainder section
}

Operating System Concepts 7.11 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Synchronization Hardware

 Atomically swap two variables.

void Swap(boolean &a, boolean &b) {

boolean temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

Operating System Concepts 7.12 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Mutual Exclusion with Swap

 Shared data (initialized to false):

boolean lock;
boolean waiting[n];

 Process Pi
do {
key = true;
while (key == true)
Swap(lock,key);
critical section
lock = false;
remainder section
}

Operating System Concepts 7.13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Semaphores

 Synchronization tool that does not require

busy waiting.
 Semaphore S – integer variable
 can only be accessed via two indivisible
(atomic) operations
wait (S):
while S 0 do no-op;
S--;

signal (S):
S++;

Operating System Concepts 7.14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Critical Section of n Processes

 Shared data:
semaphore mutex; //initially mutex = 1

 Process Pi:

do {
wait(mutex);
critical section
signal(mutex);
remainder section
} while (1);

Operating System Concepts 7.15 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Semaphore Implementation

 Define a semaphore as a record

typedef struct {
int value;
struct process *L;
} semaphore;

 Assume two simple operations:

 block suspends the process that invokes it.
 wakeup(P) resumes the execution of a blocked
process P.

Operating System Concepts 7.16 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Implementation

 Semaphore operations now defined as

wait(S):
S.value--;
if (S.value < 0) {
add this process to S.L;
block;
}

signal(S):
S.value++;
if (S.value <= 0) {
remove a process P from
S.L;
wakeup(P);
}

Operating System Concepts 7.17 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Semaphore as a General
Synchronization Tool

 Execute B in Pj only after A executed in Pi

 Use semaphore flag initialized to 0
 Code:
Pi Pj
 
A wait(flag)
signal(flag) B

Operating System Concepts 7.18 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Deadlock and Starvation

 Deadlock – two or more processes are waiting

indefinitely for an event that can be caused by only
one of the waiting processes.
 Let S and Q be two semaphores initialized to 1
P0 P1
wait(S); wait(Q);
wait(Q); wait(S);
 
signal(S); signal(Q);
signal(Q) signal(S);
 Starvation – indefinite blocking. A process may
never be removed from the semaphore queue in
which it is suspended.

Operating System Concepts 7.19 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Two Types of Semaphores

 Counting semaphore – integer value can

range over an unrestricted domain.
 Binary semaphore – integer value can range
only between 0 and 1; can be simpler to
implement.
 Can implement a counting semaphore S as
a binary semaphore.

Operating System Concepts 7.20 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Implementing S as a Binary
Semaphore
 Data structures:
binary-semaphore S1, S2;
int C:
 Initialization:
S1 = 1
S2 = 0
C = initial value of
semaphore S

Operating System Concepts 7.21 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Implementing S
 wait operation
wait(S1);
C--;
if (C < 0) {
signal(S1);
wait(S2);
}
signal(S1);

 signal operation
wait(S1);
C ++;
if (C <= 0)
signal(S2);
else
signal(S1);

Operating System Concepts 7.22 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Classical Problems of
Synchronization
 Bounded-Buffer Problem

 Readers and Writers Problem

 Dining-Philosophers Problem

Operating System Concepts 7.23 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded-Buffer Problem

 Shared data

semaphore full, empty, mutex;

Initially:

full = 0, empty = n, mutex = 1

Operating System Concepts 7.24 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded-Buffer Problem Producer
Process

do {
…
produce an item in nextp
…
wait(empty);
wait(mutex);
…
add nextp to buffer
…
signal(mutex);
signal(full);
} while (1);

Operating System Concepts 7.25 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded-Buffer Problem Consumer
Process

do {
wait(full)
wait(mutex);
…
remove an item from buffer to nextc
…
signal(mutex);
signal(empty);
…
consume the item in nextc
…
} while (1);

Operating System Concepts 7.26 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Readers-Writers Problem

 Shared data

semaphore mutex, wrt;

Initially

mutex = 1, wrt = 1, readcount = 0

Operating System Concepts 7.27 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Readers-Writers Problem Writer
Process

wait(wrt);
…
writing is performed
…
signal(wrt);

Operating System Concepts 7.28 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Readers-Writers Problem Reader
Process

wait(mutex);
readcount++;
if (readcount == 1)
wait(rt);
signal(mutex);
…
reading is performed
…
wait(mutex);
readcount--;
if (readcount == 0)
signal(wrt);
signal(mutex):

Operating System Concepts 7.29 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Dining-Philosophers Problem

 Shared data
semaphore chopstick[5];
Initially all values are 1

Operating System Concepts 7.30 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Dining-Philosophers Problem

 Philosopher i:
do {
wait(chopstick[i])
wait(chopstick[(i+1) % 5])
…
eat
…
signal(chopstick[i]);
signal(chopstick[(i+1) % 5]);
…
think
…
} while (1);

Operating System Concepts 7.31 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded Buffer Producer Process

 Producer process inserts nextp into the

shared buffer

region buffer when( count < n) {

pool[in] = nextp;
in:= (in+1) % n;
count++;
}

Operating System Concepts 7.32 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Bounded Buffer Consumer
Process
 Consumer process removes an item from the
shared buffer and puts it in nextc

region buffer when (count > 0) {

nextc = pool[out];
out = (out+1) % n;
count--;
}

Operating System Concepts 7.33 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitors
 High-level synchronization construct that allows the safe sharing of
an abstract data type among concurrent processes.

monitor monitor-name
{
shared variable declarations
procedure body P1 (…) {
...
}
procedure body P2 (…) {
...
}
procedure body Pn (…) {
...
}
{
initialization code
}
}

Operating System Concepts 7.34 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitors

 To allow a process to wait within the monitor,

a condition variable must be declared, as
condition x, y;
 Condition variable can only be used with the
operations wait and signal.
 The operation
x.wait();
means that the process invoking this operation
is suspended until another process invokes
x.signal();
 The x.signal operation resumes exactly one
suspended process. If no process is suspended,
then the signal operation has no effect.

Operating System Concepts 7.35 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Schematic View of a Monitor

Operating System Concepts 7.36 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitor With Condition Variables

Operating System Concepts 7.37 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Dining Philosophers Example
monitor dp
{
enum {thinking, hungry, eating} state[5];
condition self[5];
void pickup(int i) // following
slides
void putdown(int i) // following slides
void test(int i) // following slides
void init() {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
state[i] = thinking;
}
}

Operating System Concepts 7.38 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Dining Philosophers
void pickup(int i) {
state[i] = hungry;
test[i];
if (state[i] != eating)
self[i].wait();
}

void putdown(int i) {
state[i] = thinking;
// test left and right neighbors
test((i+4) % 5);
test((i+1) % 5);
}

Operating System Concepts 7.39 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Dining Philosophers
void test(int i) {
if ( (state[(I + 4) % 5] != eating) &&
(state[i] == hungry) &&
(state[(i + 1) % 5] != eating)) {
state[i] = eating;
self[i].signal();
}
}

Operating System Concepts 7.40 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitor Implementation Using
Semaphores
 Variables
semaphore mutex; // (initially = 1)
semaphore next; // (initially = 0)
int next-count = 0;

 Each external procedure F will be replaced by

wait(mutex);
…
body of F;
…
if (next-count > 0)
signal(next)
else
signal(mutex);

 Mutual exclusion within a monitor is ensured.

Operating System Concepts 7.41 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitor Implementation

 For each condition variable x, we have:

semaphore x-sem; // (initially = 0)
int x-count = 0;

 The operation x.wait can be implemented as:

x-count++;
if (next-count > 0)
signal(next);
else
signal(mutex);
wait(x-sem);
x-count--;

Operating System Concepts 7.42 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitor Implementation

 The operation x.signal can be implemented

as:

if (x-count > 0) {
next-count++;
signal(x-sem);
wait(next);
next-count--;
}

Operating System Concepts 7.43 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Monitor Implementation
 Conditional-wait construct: x.wait(c);
 c – integer expression evaluated when the wait
operation is executed.
 value of c (a priority number) stored with the name
of the process that is suspended.
 when x.signal is executed, process with smallest
associated priority number is resumed next.
 Check two conditions to establish correctness
of system:
 User processes must always make their calls on
the monitor in a correct sequence.
 Must ensure that an uncooperative process does
not ignore the mutual-exclusion gateway provided
by the monitor, and try to access the shared
resource directly, without using the access
protocols.

Operating System Concepts 7.44 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Solaris 2 Synchronization

 Implements a variety of locks to support

multitasking, multithreading (including real-time
threads), and multiprocessing.

 Uses adaptive mutexes for efficiency when

protecting data from short code segments.

 Uses condition variables and readers-writers

locks when longer sections of code need access
to data.

 Uses turnstiles to order the list of threads waiting

to acquire either an adaptive mutex or reader-
writer lock.

Operating System Concepts 7.45 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002

 Windows 2000 Synchronization

 Uses interrupt masks to protect access to

global resources on uniprocessor systems.

 Uses spinlocks on multiprocessor systems.

 Also provides dispatcher objects which may

act as wither mutexes and semaphores.

 Dispatcher objects may also provide events.

An event acts much like a condition variable.

Operating System Concepts 7.46 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2002