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 {P , P , …, P }
0 1 0
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 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 multi-set
consisting of all resource types in the
system.
 request edge – directed edge P  R
1 j
 assignment edge – directed edge R  P
j i
 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

 Prevention/Avoidance
 Ensure that the system will never enter a
deadlock state.
 Detection/Correction
 Allow system to enter a deadlock state and then
recover.
 Ignorance
 Ignore problem and pretend that deadlocks
never occur
 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.

 Cons: Lower resource utilization
 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 is 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 P resource needs are not immediately available, then P
i i
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.
Safe, Unsafe , Deadlock State
 Basic Facts
 System is in a safe state  no deadlocks
 If system is deadlocked  state is unsafe

 System is in unsafe state  possibility of

deadlock.
 OS cannot prevent processes from

requesting resources in a sequence that

leads to deadlock

 Deadlock Avoidance
 Ensures system will never enter an unsafe
state
 Thereby avoids the possibility of deadlock
 Safe States: An Example

 Suppose processes P0, P1, and P2 share 12 magnetic tape

drives
 Currently 9 drives are held among the processes and 3 are
available
 Question: Is this system currently in a safe state?
 Answer: Yes!
 Safe Sequence: <P1, P0, P2>
 How to reach an Unsafe State

3
 Suppose process P2 requests and is allocated 1 more tape
drive.
 Question: Is the resulting state still safe?
 Answer: No! Because there does not exist a safe sequence
anymore.
 Only P1 can be allocated its maximum needs.
 IF P0 and P2 request 5 more drives and 6 more drives,
respectively, then the resulting state will be deadlocked.
 Deadlock Avoidance - Concepts
 Key Ideas:
 Initially the system is in a safe state
 Whenever a process requests an
available resource, system will allocate
resource immediately only if the
resulting state is still safe!
 Otherwise, requesting process must
wait.
 Why does this work?
 By induction, all reachable states are
safe states
 By definition, all safe states are not
deadlocked
 Avoidance Algorithms

 Single instance of a resource type.

 Use a resource-allocation graph
 Cycles are necessary are sufficient for deadlock

 Multiple instances of a resource type.

 Use the banker’s algorithm
 Cycles are necessary, but not sufficient for
deadlock
Resource-Allocation Graph Scheme

 Claim edge Pi  Rj indicates 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

 P2 requesting R1, but R1 is already allocated to P1.

 Both processes have a claim on resource R2
 What happens if P2 now requests resource R2?
Unsafe State In Resource-Allocation Graph

 Cannot allocate resource R2 to process P2

 Why? Because resulting state is unsafe
 P1 could request R2, thereby creating deadlock!
Resource-Allocation Graph Algorithm

 Use only when there is a single instance of

each resource type

 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 claims maximum

resource needs a priori.

 When a process requests a resource it

may have to wait.

 When a process gets all of its

resources it must return them in a
finite amount of time.
 Data Structures for the Banker’s Algorithm

Let n = number of processes

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 and 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 – 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
 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 010 753 332
P1 200 322
P2 302 902
P3 211 222
P4 002 433
 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 302 020
P2 301 600
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 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 [ij] = 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 0 1 0 000 000
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 1
P2 001
P3 100
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?

 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?
 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.