Chapter 5: Process Synchronization: Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013 Operating System Concepts - 9 Edition
Chapter 5: Process Synchronization: Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013 Operating System Concepts - 9 Edition
Synchronization
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Chapter 5: Process Synchronization
Background
The Critical-Section Problem
Peterson’s Solution
Synchronization Hardware
Mutex Locks
Semaphores
Classic Problems of Synchronization
Monitors
Synchronization Examples
Alternative Approaches
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Objectives
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Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.4 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Background
Processes can execute concurrently
May be interrupted at any time, partially completing
execution
Concurrent access to shared data may result in data
inconsistency
Maintaining data consistency requires mechanisms to ensure
the orderly execution of cooperating processes
Illustration of the problem:
Suppose that we wanted to provide a solution to the
consumer-producer problem that fills all the buffers. We can
do so by having an integer counter that keeps track of the
number of full buffers. Initially, counter is set to 0. It is
incremented by the producer after it produces a new buffer
and is decremented by the consumer after it consumes a
buffer.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.5 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
The Producer Consumer Problem
#define BUFFER_SIZE 10
A producer process "produces" information typedef struct {
"consumed" by a consumer process. DATA data;
} item;
item nextProduced; item buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];
PRODUCER int in = 0;
int out = 0;
while (TRUE) { int counter = 0;
while (counter ==
BUFFER_SIZE);
buffer[in] = nextProduced;
in = (in + 1) % BUFFER_SIZE; item nextConsumed;
CONSUMER
counter++;
while (TRUE) {
}
while (counter == 0);
nextConsumed =
buffer[out];
out = (out + 1) %
BUFFER_SIZE;
counter--;
producer consumer
}
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.6 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Race Condition
register1 = counter
register1 = register1 + 1
counter = register1
counter-- could be implemented as
register2 = counter
register2 = register2 - 1
counter = register2
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.7 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Critical Section Problem
Consider system of n processes {p0, p1, … pn-1}
Each process has critical section segment of code
Process may be changing common variables, updating
table, writing file, etc
When one process in critical section, no other may be in its
critical section
Critical section problem is to design protocol to solve this
Each process must ask permission to enter critical section in
entry section, may follow critical section with exit section,
then remainder section
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.8 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Critical Section Problem
Critical Section Code in which only one process can execute at any one time.
Exit Section The end of the critical section, releasing or allowing others in.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.9 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Critical Section
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.10 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Algorithm for Process Pi
do {
critical section
turn = j;
remainder section
} while (true);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.11 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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 – 9th Edition 5.12 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
The critical section must ENFORCE ALL THREE of the following rules:
Mutual Exclusion: No more than one process can execute in its critical section
at one time.
Bounded Wait: All requesters must eventually be let into the critical
section.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.13 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Critical-Section Handling in OS
Two approaches depending on if kernel is preemptive or non-
preemptive
Preemptive – allows preemption of process when running
in kernel mode
Non-preemptive – runs until exits kernel mode, blocks, or
voluntarily yields CPU
Essentially free of race conditions in kernel mode
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.14 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Peterson’s Solution
Good algorithmic description of solving the problem
Two process solution
Assume that the load and store machine-language
instructions are atomic; that is, cannot be interrupted
The two processes share two variables:
int turn;
Boolean flag[2]
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.15 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Algorithm for Process Pi
do {
flag[i] = true;
turn = j;
while (flag[j] && turn = = j);
critical section
flag[i] = false;
remainder section
} while (true);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.16 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Peterson’s Solution (Cont.)
Provable that the three CS requirement are met:
1. Mutual exclusion is preserved
Pi enters CS only if:
either flag[j] = false or turn = i
2. Progress requirement is satisfied
3. Bounded-waiting requirement is met
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.17 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Hardware Solution- Interrupt Disabling
Uniprocessor system, concurrent processes cannot have overlapped
execution
Disadvantage???
Works for the Uni Processor case only. WHY?
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.18 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Solution to Critical-section Problem Using Locks
do {
acquire lock
critical section
release lock
remainder section
} while (TRUE);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.19 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Mutex Locks
Previous solutions are complicated and generally inaccessible
to application programmers
OS designers build software tools to solve critical section
problem
Simplest is mutex lock
Protect a critical section by first acquire() a lock then
release() the lock
Boolean variable indicating if lock is available or not
Calls to acquire() and release() must be atomic
Usually implemented via hardware atomic instructions
But this solution requires busy waiting
This lock therefore called a spinlock
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.20 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
acquire() and release()
acquire() {
while (!available)
; /* busy wait */
available = false;;
}
release() {
available = true;
}
do {
acquire lock
critical section
release lock
remainder section
} while (true);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.21 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Semaphore
Synchronization tool that provides more sophisticated ways (than Mutex locks)
for process to synchronize their activities.
Semaphore S – integer variable
Can only be accessed via two indivisible (atomic) operations
wait() and signal()
Originally called P() and V()
Definition of the wait() operation
wait(S) {
while (S <= 0)
; // busy wait
S--;
}
Definition of the signal() operation
signal(S) {
S++;
}
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.22 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Semaphore Usage
Counting semaphore – integer value can range over an unrestricted
domain
Binary semaphore – integer value can range only between 0 and 1
Same as a mutex lock
Can solve various synchronization problems
Consider P1 and P2 that require S1 to happen before S2
Create a semaphore “synch” initialized to 0
P1:
S1;
signal(synch);
P2:
wait(synch);
S2;
Can implement a counting semaphore S as a binary semaphore
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.23 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Semaphore Usage
P1: P2:
statement 1; wait ( synch );
signal ( synch ); statement 2;
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.24 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Semaphore Implementation
Must guarantee that no two processes can execute the wait()
and signal() on the same semaphore at the same time
Thus, the implementation becomes the critical section problem
where the wait and signal code are placed in the critical
section
Could now have busy waiting in critical section
implementation
But implementation code is short
Little busy waiting if critical section rarely occupied
Note that applications may spend lots of time in critical sections
and therefore this is not a good solution
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.25 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Semaphore Implementation with no Busy waiting
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.26 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Implementation with no Busy waiting (Cont.)
wait(semaphore *S) {
S->value--;
if (S->value < 0) {
add this process to S->list;
block();
}
}
signal(semaphore *S) {
S->value++;
if (S->value <= 0) {
remove a process P from S->list;
wakeup(P);
}
}
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.27 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Implementation with no Busy waiting (Cont.)
typedef struct {
int value;
struct process *list; /* linked list of PTBL waiting on S */
} SEMAPHORE;
SEMAPHORE s; SEMAPHORE s;
wait(s) { signal(s) {
s.value = s.value - 1; s.value = s.value + 1;
if ( s.value < 0 ) { if ( s.value <= 0 ) {
add this process to s.L; remove a process P from s.L;
block(); wakeup(P);
} }
} }
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.28 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
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);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.29 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Classical Problems of Synchronization
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Bounded-Buffer Problem
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Bounded Buffer Problem (Cont.)
THE BOUNDED BUFFER ( PRODUCER / CONSUMER ) PROBLEM:
This is the same producer / consumer problem as before. But now we'll do it with signals and
waits. Remember: a wait decreases its argument and a signal increases its argument.
producer: consumer:
do { do {
/* produce an item in nextp */ wait (full);
wait (empty); /* Do action */ wait (mutex);
wait (mutex); /* Buffer guard*/ /* remove an item from buffer to nextc */
/* add nextp to buffer */ signal (mutex);
signal (mutex); signal (empty);
signal (full); /* consume an item in nextc */
} while(TRUE); } while(TRUE);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.32 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Readers-Writers Problem
A data set is shared among a number of concurrent processes
Readers – only read the data set; they do not perform any updates
Writers – can both read and write
Problem – allow multiple readers to read at the same time
Only one single writer can access the shared data at the same time
Several variations of how readers and writers are considered – all
involve some form of priorities
Shared Data
Data set
Semaphore rw_mutex initialized to 1
Semaphore mutex initialized to 1
Integer read_count initialized to 0
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.33 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Readers-Writers Problem (Cont.)
do {
wait(rw_mutex);
...
/* writing is performed */
...
signal(rw_mutex);
} while (true);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.34 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Readers-Writers Problem (Cont.)
The structure of a reader process
do {
wait(mutex);
read_count++;
if (read_count == 1)
wait(rw_mutex);
signal(mutex);
...
/* reading is performed */
...
wait(mutex);
read count--;
if (read_count == 0)
signal(rw_mutex);
signal(mutex);
} while (true);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.35 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Readers-Writers Problem (Cont.)
Writer:
THE READERS/WRITERS PROBLEM:
do {
BINARY_SEMAPHORE wrt = 1; wait( wrt );
BINARY_SEMAPHORE mutex = 1; /* writing is performed */
int readcount = 0; signal( wrt );
} while(TRUE);
Reader:
do {
wait( mutex ); /* Allow 1 reader in entry*/ WAIT ( S ):
readcount = readcount + 1; while ( S <= 0 );
if readcount == 1 then wait(wrt ); /* 1st reader locks writer */ S = S - 1;
signal( mutex ); SIGNAL ( S ):
/* reading is performed */ S = S + 1;
wait( mutex );
readcount = readcount - 1;
if readcount == 0 then signal(wrt ); /*last reader frees writer */
signal( mutex );
} while(TRUE);
6: Process Synchronization 36
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.36 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Readers-Writers Problem Variations
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Dining-Philosophers Problem
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.38 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Dining-Philosophers Problem Algorithm
The structure of Philosopher i:
do {
wait (chopstick[i] );
wait (chopStick[ (i + 1) % 5] );
// eat
signal (chopstick[i] );
signal (chopstick[ (i + 1) % 5] );
// think
} while (TRUE);
What is the problem with this algorithm?
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.39 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Dining-Philosophers Problem Algorithm (Cont.)
Deadlock handling
Allow at most 4 philosophers to be sitting
simultaneously at the table.
Allow a philosopher to pick up the forks only if both
are available (picking must be done in a critical
section.
Use an asymmetric solution -- an odd-numbered
philosopher picks up first the left chopstick and then
the right chopstick. Even-numbered philosopher picks
up first the right chopstick and then the left chopstick.
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.40 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Problems with Semaphores
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.41 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Monitors
A high-level abstraction that provides a convenient and effective
mechanism for process synchronization
Abstract data type, internal variables only accessible by code within the
procedure
Only one process may be active within the monitor at a time
But not powerful enough to model some synchronization schemes
monitor monitor-name
{
// shared variable declarations
procedure P1 (…) { …. }
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.42 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Schematic view of a Monitor
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.43 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Condition Variables
condition x, y;
Two operations are allowed on a condition variable:
x.wait() – a process that invokes the operation is
suspended until x.signal()
x.signal() – resumes one of processes (if any) that
invoked x.wait()
If no x.wait() on the variable, then it has no effect on
the variable
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.44 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Monitor with Condition Variables
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.45 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Condition Variables Choices
If process P invokes x.signal(), and process Q is suspended in
x.wait(), what should happen next?
Both Q and P cannot execute in paralel. If Q is resumed, then P
must wait
Options include
Signal and wait – P waits until Q either leaves the monitor or it
waits for another condition
Signal and continue – Q waits until P either leaves the monitor or it
waits for another condition
Both have pros and cons – language implementer can decide
Monitors implemented in Concurrent Pascal compromise
P executing signal immediately leaves the monitor, Q is
resumed
Implemented in other languages including Mesa, C#, Java
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.46 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Monitor Solution to Dining Philosophers
monitor DiningPhilosophers
{
enum { THINKING; HUNGRY, EATING) state [5] ;
condition self [5];
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.47 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Solution to Dining Philosophers (Cont.)
void test (int i) {
if ((state[(i + 4) % 5] != EATING) &&
(state[i] == HUNGRY) &&
(state[(i + 1) % 5] != EATING) ) {
state[i] = EATING ;
self[i].signal () ;
}
}
initialization_code() {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
state[i] = THINKING;
}
}
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.48 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Solution to Dining Philosophers (Cont.)
DiningPhilosophers.pickup(i);
EAT
DiningPhilosophers.putdown(i);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.49 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Monitor Implementation Using Semaphores
Variables
wait(mutex);
…
body of F;
…
if (next_count > 0)
signal(next)
else
signal(mutex);
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.50 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Monitor Implementation – Condition Variables
x_count++;
if (next_count > 0)
signal(next);
else
signal(mutex);
wait(x_sem);
x_count--;
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.51 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Monitor Implementation (Cont.)
if (x_count > 0) {
next_count++;
signal(x_sem);
wait(next);
next_count--;
}
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.52 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Resuming Processes within a Monitor
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.53 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Single Resource allocation
Allocate a single resource among competing processes using
priority numbers that specify the maximum time a process
plans to use the resource
R.acquire(t);
...
access the resurce;
...
R.release;
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.54 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
A Monitor to Allocate Single Resource
monitor ResourceAllocator
{
boolean busy;
condition x;
void acquire(int time) {
if (busy)
x.wait(time);
busy = TRUE;
}
void release() {
busy = FALSE;
x.signal();
}
initialization code() {
busy = FALSE;
}
}
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.55 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Synchronization Examples
Solaris
Windows
Linux
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.56 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Solaris 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
Starts as a standard semaphore spin-lock
If lock held, and by a thread running on another CPU, spins
If lock held by non-run-state thread, block and sleep waiting for signal of
lock being released
Uses condition variables
Uses 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
Turnstiles are per-lock-holding-thread, not per-object
Priority-inheritance per-turnstile gives the running thread the highest of
the priorities of the threads in its turnstile
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.57 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Windows Synchronization
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.58 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
Linux Synchronization
Linux:
Prior to kernel Version 2.6, disables interrupts to
implement short critical sections
Version 2.6 and later, fully preemptive
Linux provides:
Semaphores
atomic integers
spinlocks
reader-writer versions of both
On single-cpu system, spinlocks replaced by enabling and
disabling kernel preemption
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition 5.59 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013
End of Chapter 5
Operating System Concepts – 9th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2013