UNIT-III

Deadlocks & Memory Management

Deadlocks
 System Model
 Deadlock Characterization
 Methods for Handling Deadlocks
 Deadlock Prevention
 Deadlock Avoidance
 Deadlock Detection
 Recovery from Deadlock
The Deadlock Problem
 A set of processes is deadlocked if each process in the set is
waiting for an event that only another process in the set can cause
(including itself).
 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 tape drives.
◦ P1 and P2 each hold one tape drive and each needs another one.
 Example
◦ semaphores A and B, initialized to 1

P0 P1
wait (A); wait(B)
wait (B); wait(A)
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.
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
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 P1  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
Resource Allocation 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
 We can use a protocol to prevent or avoid deadlocks,
Ensure that the system will never enter a deadlock
state.

 We can Allow the system to enter a deadlock state and

then recover.

 We can ignore the problem altogether and pretend that

deadlocks never occur in the system; used by most
operating systems, including UNIX.
Deadlock Prevention
Restrain the ways request can be made.

 Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable resources;

must hold for non-sharable 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.
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 safe sequence of all processes.

 Sequence <P1, P2, …, Pn> is safe if 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.
◦ 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.
Example for Safe State
 Consider a system with 12 tape drives. Assume there are three processes
P1,P2,P3.Assume we know the maximum number of tape drives that each
process may request.
 P1=10, P2=4, P3=9
 Suppose at time tnow ,9 tape drives are allocated as follows p1 : 5, p2 : 2,
p3 : 2
 So, we have three more tape drives which are free.
 This system is in a safe state because it we sequence processes as: <p2, p1,
p3>, then p2 can get two more tape drives and it finishes its job, and returns
four tape drives to the system.
 Then the system will have 5 free tape drives. Allocate all of them to p1, it
gets 10 tape drives and finishes its job. p1 then returns all 10 drives to the
system.
 Then p3 can get 7 more tape drives and it does its job.
Example of Unsafe State
 Consider the above example. At time tnow+1,, p3 requests one
more tape drive and gets it. Now, the system is in an unsafe
state.
 There are two free tape drives, so only p2 can be allocated all
its tape drives. When it finishes and returns all 4 tape drives,
the system will have four free tape drives.
 p1 is allocated 5, may request 5 more →has to wait
 p3 is allocated 3, may request 6 more →has to wait
 We allocated p3 one more tape drive and this caused a
deadlock
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
Resource-Allocation Graph Algorithm
 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.

 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 For Deadlock Avoidance
Unsafe State In 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 = 1,2, …, n.
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

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 - 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 T :
0

Allocation Max Available Total Allocated

ABCABCABCA B C ABC
P0 0 1 0 7 5 3 3 3 2 10 5 7 7 2 5
P1 2 0 0 3 2 2
P2 3 0 2 9 0 2
P3 2 1 1 2 2 2
P4 0 0 2 4 3 3
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.
Example P1 Request (1,0,2) (Cont.)
 Check that Request  Available (that is, (1,0,2)  (3,3,2)  true.
Allocation Need Available
ABCABC ABC
P0 0 1 0 7 4 3 2 3 0
P1 3 0 2 0 2 0
P2 3 0 1 6 0 0
P3 2 1 1 0 1 1
P4 0 0 2 4 3 1
 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.

 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 [ij] = k, then process Pi is
requesting k more instances of resource type. Rj.
Detection Algorithm
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 T :
0

Allocation Request Available

ABCABCABC
P0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
P1 2 0 0 2 0 2
P2 3 0 3 0 0 0
P3 2 1 1 1 0 0
P4 0 0 2 0 0 2
 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 1
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?
 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
 Resource Preemption
 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?
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.
 Combined Approach to Deadlock Handling

 Combine the three basic approaches

◦ prevention
◦ avoidance
◦ detection
allowing the use of the optimal approach for each of
resources in the system.

 Partition resources into hierarchically ordered classes.

 Use most appropriate technique for handling deadlocks

within each class.