Deadlocks

Chapter 7: Deadlocks
■ System Model
■ Deadlock Characterization
■ Methods for Handling
Deadlocks
■ Deadlock Prevention
■ Deadlock Avoidance
■ Deadlock Detection
■ Recovery from Deadlock

7.2 07/18/2025
 System Model

■ System consists of resources

■ Resource types R1 , R2 , ... , Rm
CPU cycles, memory space, I/O devices
■ Each resource type Ri has Wi instances
■ A lock mechanism (e.g., mutex, semaphore) is assigned
its own resource class; locks are also system resources
■ Each process utilizes a resource as follows:
● request
● use
● release
■ request and release may be system calls; a system table
records if a resource is free or allocated, and if so, to
which process; a queue of waiting processes for one
resource

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 Deadlock Characterization
■ Deadlock can arise if all four conditions hold simultaneously
● Mutual exclusion
 only one process at a time can use a resource ; other
processes requesting this resource must be delayed
● Hold and wait
 a process holding at least one resource is waiting to
acquire additional resources held by other processes

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 Deadlock Characterization (cont.)
■ Deadlock can arise if all four conditions hold simultaneously
● 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

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 Resource-Allocation Graph
■ Directed graph: a set of vertices V and a set of edges E
■ V is partitioned into two sets:
● P = { P1 , P2 , …, Pn }, set of all the processes in the
system
● R = { R1 , R2 , …, Rm }, set 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
Rj
■ Pi holds an instance of Rj

Pi
Rj

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Example of a Resource Allocation Graph

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Resource Allocation Graph with a Deadlock

two minimal
cycles

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Graph with a Cycle But No Deadlock

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 Basic Facts

■ If graph contains no cycles  no deadlocks

■ If graph contains a cycle  a deadlock may or may not

exist
● if only one instance per resource type, then deadlock
 necessary and sufficient condition
● if several instances per resource type, possibility of
deadlock
 necessary but not sufficient condition

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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 and
Windows

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 Deadlock Prevention
■ Restrain the ways request can be made (release at least 1
of the 4 necessary conditions)
● Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable resources, but
must hold for nonsharable resources

● Hold and Wait – must guarantee that whenever a process

requests a resource, it does not hold any other
resources
1. Require process to request and be allocated all its
resources
before it begins execution, or
2. Allow process to request resources only when the
process has
none
– it must release its current resources before
requesting them back again
 Disadvantages:
– low resource utilization:
7.13 unnecessarily 07/18/2025
unused
 Deadlock Prevention (cont.)
■ No Preemption –
● If a process, that is holding some resources, does request
another resource that cannot be immediately
allocated to it, then all its 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

● require that each process requests resources in an
increasing order of enumeration, or release
resources of higher or equal order
 several instances of one resource type must be
requested in a single request
● a witness may detect a wrong
7.14 order and emit07/18/2025
a warning
 Deadlock Avoidance
■ Requires that the system has some additional a priori
information available
● Simplest and most useful model requires that each process
declares 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 system 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
7.16 can obtain its needed
07/18/2025
 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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 Avoidance Algorithms

■ Single instance of a resource

type
● Use a resource-allocation
graph

■ Multiple instances of a resource

type
● Use the banker's algorithm

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 Resource-Allocation Graph Scheme

■ Claim edge Pi  Rj indicates that process Pj may request

resource
Rj ; represented by a dashed line

■ Claim edge is converted to request edge when a process

requests a resource

■ Request edge is converted to an assignment edge

when the resource is allocated to the process

■ When a resource is released by a process, assignment

edge is reconverted to a claim edge

■ Resources must be claimed a priori in the system, i.e., from

the start, claim edges must be entered

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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 (an O(n2 ) task)

safe allocate R2 to P2
state if P1 requests R2 , unsafe
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 Banker’s Algorithm

■ Multiple instances

■ Less efficient than the resource-allocation graph algorithm

■ Each process must a priori claim maximum number of

instances of each resource type

■ 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 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 ]

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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 (Pi needs less resources than still
(b)no
If Need
suchi i Work
exists, go to available)
step 4
3. Work = Work + Allocationi (release resources of Pi back into
Finish[ i ] = true available)
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 Pi requests resources:
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 Banker’s Algorithm

■ 5 processes P0 through

P4; 3 resource types:

A (10 instances), B (5 instances), and C (7
instances) Snapshot at time T0:
Allocation Max Available
ABC ABC ABC
P0 010 753 332
P1 200 322
P2 302 902
P3 211 222
P4 002 433

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 Example (cont.)

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

Allocation

Need Available
3 /3/2
P1 ok; releases 2 / 0 /
ABC
0
P0 743 5/3/2
P3 ok; releases 2 / 1 /
1
P1 122 7/4/3
P4 ok; releases 0 / 0 /
P2 6 0 0 2
4 7/4/5
P3 011 P2 ok ; releases 3 /
0/2
P 4 3 1 10 / 4 / 7
■ The system is in a safe state since the sequence
P0 < , P3 , P 4 , 0 /
okP;1 releases
P2 , P0 > satisfies safety criteria 1/0
10 / 5 / 7

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 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 010 743 230
P1 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 no, (2,3,0) <

granted? (3,3,0)
■ Can request for (0,2,0) by P0 be no, further state
granted? unsafe
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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 (collapse resources nodes in
resource- allocation graph)
● Pi  Pj if Pi is waiting for Pj (to release a requested
resource)

■ 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 nodes in the
graph

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Resource-Allocation Graph and Wait-for Graph

Resource-allocation Corresponding wait-for

graph 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

7.32 07/18/2025
 Detection Algorithm (Cont.)

3. Work = Work + Allocationi (hoping Pi will return soon its

Finish[ i ] = true resources)
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 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 , > will result in Finish[i] == true for

P4 all i

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 Example (cont.)
■ P2 requests an additional instance of
type C
Request
P0 A0
0 B0
C
P1 202
P2 001
P3 100
P4 002

■ State of system?
● Can reclaim resources held by process P0 , but
insufficient resources to fulfill requests of the
other processes
● 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
■ Ask the operator to resolve manually the deadlock
■ 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?

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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, but must keep data on the states of running
processes

■ Starvation – same process may always be picked as

victim, include number of rollbacks in cost factor

7.38 07/18/2025