Module 7: Deadlocks

• System Model
• Deadlock Characterization
• Methods for Handling Deadlocks
• Deadlock Prevention
• Deadlock Avoidance
• Deadlock Detection
• Recovery from Deadlock
• Combined Approach to Deadlock Handling

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.1
 The Deadlock Problem

• 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)

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.2
 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 upif a deadlock
occurs.
• Starvation is possible.
Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999
7.3
 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

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.4
 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, …, P0} 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.5
 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

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.6
 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

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.7
 Example of a Resource Allocation
Graph

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.8
 Resource Allocation Graph With A
Deadlock

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.9
 Resource Allocation Graph With A Cycle But No
Deadlock

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.10
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.11
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.12
 Deadlock Prevention

Restrain the ways request can be made.

• Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable

resources; must hold for nonsharable 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.13
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.14
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.15
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.16
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.17
 Safe, unsafe , deadlock state
spaces

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.18
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.19
 Resource-Allocation Graph For Deadlock
Avoidance

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.20
 Unsafe State In A Resource-Allocation
Graph

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.21
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.22
 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].

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.23
 Safety Algorithm

1. Let Work and Finish be vectors of length m and n,

respectively. Initialize:
Work := Available
Finish [i] = false for i - 1,3, …, n.
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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.24
 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;;
• If safe  the resources are allocated to Pi.
• If unsafe  Pi must wait, and the old resource-
allocation state is restored

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.25
 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 ABCABC
P0 010753 332
P1 200322
P2 302 902
P3 211 222
P4 0 0 24 3 3

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.26
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.27
 Example (Cont.): P1 request
(1,0,2)
• Check that Request  Available (that is, (1,0,2)  (3,3,2)  true.
Allocation NeedAvailable
ABC A B CA B C
P0 010743 230
P1 3 0 20 2 0
P2 301600
P3 211011
P4 002431

• 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?

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.28
 Deadlock Detection

• Allow system to enter deadlock state

• Detection algorithm
• Recovery scheme

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.29
 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

acycle 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.30
 Resource-Allocation Graph And Wait-for
Graph

Resource-Allocation Graph Corresponding wait-for graph

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.31
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.32
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.33
 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 m x n2 operations to

detect whether
the system is in deadlocked state.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.34
 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 ABCABC
P0 010000 000
P1 200202
P2 3 0 30 0 0
P3 211100
P4 002002

• Sequence <P0, P2, P3, P1, P4> will result in Finish[i] = true for
all i.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.35
 Example (Cont.)

• P2 requests an additional instance of type C.

Request
ABC
P0 000
P1 201
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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.36
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.37
 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?

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.38
 Recovery from Deadlock: Resource
Preemption

• Selecting a victim – minimize cost.

• Rollback – return to some safe state, restart process
fro that state.
• Starvation – same process may always be picked as
victim, include number of rollback in cost factor.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.39
 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.

Operating System Concepts Silberschatz and Galvin1999

7.40