Deadlocks

Dr. Raghunath Dey

School of Computer Engineering
KIIT University
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
• 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
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, …, Pn–1 is waiting for a
resource that is held by Pn, and Pn 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 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
1. Ensure that the system will never enter a
deadlock state:
– Deadlock prevention
• It blocks at least one of the conditions necessary for
deadlock to occur.
– Deadlock avoidance
• It ensures that system does not go in unsafe state
2. Allow the system to enter a deadlock state
and then recover
3. Ignore the problem and pretend that
deadlocks never occur in the system; used by
most operating systems, including UNIX
 Deadlock Prevention
Deadlock prevention ensures that at least one of the necessary
condition must not hold

• Eliminate Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable resources

(e.g., read-only files); must hold for non-sharable resources.
– Not possible to dis-satisfy the mutual exclusion because some
resources, such as the tape drive and printer, are inherently non-
shareable.
• Eliminate 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 allocated to it.
– Low resource utilization; starvation possible
• Eliminate 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
• Eliminate Circular Wait – impose a total ordering of all
resource types, and require that each process requests
resources in an increasing order of enumeration or list.
– This condition means F(R0)<F(R1)<…<F(Rn)<F(R0).
– By transitionally, F(R0)<F(R0)  Impossible
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.
1. 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
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.
Avoidance Algorithms

• Single instance of a resource type

– Use a resource-allocation graph

• Multiple instances of a resource type

– Use the banker’s algorithm
2. 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
3. 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

• The name was chosen as Banker's algorithm because

the algorithm could be used in a banking system to
ensure that the bank never allocates its available cash
in such a way that it could no longer satisfy the needs
of all its customers.
• 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
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

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;
l If safe  the resources are allocated to Pi
l 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:

• The content of the matrix Need is defined
to be Max – Allocation

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

Old New

• 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?
Practice Questions

Problem-1

Problem-2
A single processor system has three resource types X, Y and Z, which
are shared by three processes. There are 5 units of each resource type.
Consider the following scenario, where the column alloc denotes the
number of units of each resource type allocated to each process, and
the column request denotes the number of units of each resource type
requested by a process in order to complete execution. Which of these
processes will finish LAST?
P0
P1
P2
None of the above since the system is in a deadlock
• An operating system uses the banker’s algorithm for deadlock avoidance
when managing the allocation of three resource types X, Y and Z to three
processes P0, P1 and P2. The table given below presents the current system
state. Here, the Allocation matrix shows the current number of resources of
each type allocated to each process and the Max matrix shows the maximum
number of resources of each type required by each process during its
execution.
• There are 3 units of type X, 2 units of type Y and 2 units of type Z still
available. The system is currently in safe state. Consider the following
independent requests for additional resources in the current state-
• REQ1: P0 requests 0 units of X, 0 units of Y and 2 units of Z
• REQ2: P1 requests 2 units of X, 0 units of Y and 0 units of Z

• Which of the following is TRUE?

• Only REQ1 can be permitted
• Only REQ2 can be permitted
• Both REQ1 and REQ2 can be permitted
• Neither REQ1 nor REQ2 can be permitted
• A system has 4 processes and 5 allocatable
resource. The current allocation and
maximum needs are as follows-

• If Available = [ 0 0 X 1 1 ], what is the smallest

value of x for which this is a safe state?
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
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

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
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
• P2 requests an additional instance of type C
Request
ABC
P0 000
P1 202
P2 001
P3 1 0 0
P4 002

• 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?
• 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?

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
End...