Some aspects of computer deadlocks

Modern multiprogramming systems are designed to support a high degree of parallelism by ensuring that as many system components as possible are operating concurrently. Deadlocks arise when members of a group of processes which hold resources are blocked indefinitely from access to resources held by other processes within the group. When no member of the group will relinquish control over its resources until after it has completed its current resource acquisition, deadlock is inevitable and can be broken only by the involvement of some external agency. In this paper we present a comprehensive study of the resource management problem in computer systems by critically reviewing the principles, techniques and tools involved in handling and avoiding deadlocks and by discussing the modelling techniques available for deadlock analysis. Toward the end we discuss the problem of on-line handling of deadlock in distributed computer networks.