Deadlocks

The Deadlock Problem

 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.
 System Model

 System consists of resources such as CPU cycles,

memory space, I/O devices (R1, R2, . . ., Rm)
 Each resource type (Ri )has number of instances(Wi).
 Each process utilizes a resource as follows:
 request
 use
 release
 Deadlock Characterization

 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:
 Waiting processes: {P0, P1, …, P0}
 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,
 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 Pi  Rj

 assignment edge – directed edge Rj  Pi

 Resource-Allocation Graph (Cont.)

 Process

 Resource Type with 4 instances

Pi
 Pi requests instance of Rj
Rj

Pi
 Pi is holding an instance of Rj
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:
 Deadlock prevention
 Deadlock avoidence
 Allow the system to enter a deadlock state and then
recover
 Deadlock Prevention

 Restrain the ways request can be made

 Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable

resources (e.g., read-only files); must hold for non-
sharable resources

 Hold and Wait –process requests a resource, it

does not hold any other resources
 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 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
 Safe State

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

1. Work = Work + Allocation i

Finish[i] = true
go to step 2

2. If Finish [i] == true for all i, then the system is in a safe state
 Resource-Request Algorithm for
Process Pi
 Requesti = 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 – Requesti;
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 2 600
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 [i][j] = 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 ABC ABC
P0 010 000 000
P1 200 202
P2 303 000
P3 211 100
P4 002 002

 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 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
 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?



 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?

1. Priority of the process
2. How long process has computed, and how much longer
to completion
3. Resources the process has used
4. Resources process needs to complete
5. How many processes will need to be terminated
6. 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