Chapter 7: Deadlocks

Operating System Concepts 8th Edition

Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2009

Chapter 7: Deadlocks

The Deadlock Problem

System Model

Deadlock Characterization

Methods for Handling Deadlocks

Deadlock Prevention

Deadlock Avoidance

Deadlock Detection

Recovery from Deadlock

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Chapter 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

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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);

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wait(B) wait (B);

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wait(A)

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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
Note Most OSes do not prevent or deal with deadlocks

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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

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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, , Pn} 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, , Pn1 is waiting for a resource that is held by Pn, and Pn is
waiting for a resource that is held by P0.

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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 Pi Rj

assignment edge directed edge Rj Pi

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Resource-Allocation Graph (Cont.)

Process

Resource Type with 4 instances

Pi requests instance of Rj

Pi
Pi is holding an instance of Rj

Rj

Pi
Rj
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Example of a Resource Allocation Graph

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Resource Allocation Graph With A Deadlock

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Graph With A Cycle But No Deadlock

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 in 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

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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.

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Safe, Unsafe, Deadlock State

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Avoidance algorithms
Single instance of a resource type

Use a resource-allocation graph

Multiple instances of a resource type

Use the bankers algorithm

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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

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Resource-Allocation Graph

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Unsafe State In Resource-Allocation Graph

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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

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Bankers 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

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Data Structures for the Bankers 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]

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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

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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

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Example of Bankers Algorithm

5 processes P0 through P4;

3 resource types:
A (10 instances), B (5instances), and C (7 instances)
Snapshot at time T0:
Allocation
ABC

Max
ABC

010

753

P1 2 0 0

322

P2 3 0 2

902

P3 2 1 1

222

P4 0 0 2

433

P0

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Available
ABC
332

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Example (Cont.)
The content of the matrix Need is defined to be Max Allocation

Need
ABC
P0 7 4 3
P1 1 2 2
P2 6 0 0
P3 0 1 1
P4 4 3 1
The system is in a safe state since the sequence < P1, P3, P4, P2, P0>

satisfies safety criteria

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Example: P1 Request (1,0,2)

Check that Request Available (that is, (1,0,2) (3,3,2) true

Allocation
P0
P1

Need

Available

ABC

ABC

ABC

010

743

230

302

020

P2

302

600

P3

211

011

P4

002

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?
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Deadlock Detection
Allow system to enter deadlock state
Detection algorithm
Recovery scheme

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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

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Resource-Allocation Graph and

Wait-for Graph

Resource-Allocation Graph

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Corresponding wait-for graph

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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 [i][j] = k, then process Pi is requesting k more

instances of resource type.Rj.

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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

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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

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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
ABC

Request Available

ABC ABC
010

P0

000 000

200

P1

202

303

P2
P3

211

100

P4

002

002

000

Sequence <P0, P2, P3, P1, P4> will result in Finish[i] = true for all i

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Example (Cont.)
P2 requests an additional instance of type C

Request
ABC
P0 0 0 0
P1 2 0 2
P2 0 0 1
P3 1 0 0
P4 0 0 2
State of system?

Can reclaim resources held by process P0, but insufficient

resources to fulfill other processes; requests
Deadlock exists, consisting of processes P1, P2, P3, and P4

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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.

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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?

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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

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End of Chapter 7

Operating System Concepts 8th Edition

Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne 2009