Chapter 4: Threads

Chapter 4: Threads
 Thread Overview
 Multithreading Models
 Thread libraries
 Threading Issues
 Pthreads
 Windows XP Threads
 Linux Threads
 Java Threads

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 Single and Multithreaded Processes

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 Benefits

 Responsiveness

 Resource Sharing

 Economy

 Utilization of MP Architectures

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 User Threads
 Thread management done by user-level threads library

 Three primary thread libraries:

 POSIX Pthreads
 Win32 threads
 Java threads

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 Kernel Threads
 Supported by the Kernel

 Examples
 Windows XP/2000
 Solaris
 Linux
 Tru64 UNIX
 Mac OS X

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 Multithreading Models
 Many-to-One

 One-to-One

 Many-to-Many

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 Many-to-One
 Many user-level threads mapped to single kernel thread
 Examples:
 Solaris Green Threads
 GNU Portable Threads

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 Many-to-One Model

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 One-to-One
 Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread
 Examples
 Windows NT/XP/2000
 Linux
 Solaris 9 and later

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 One-to-one Model

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 Many-to-Many Model

 Allows many user level threads to be mapped to many kernel

threads
 Allows the operating system to create a sufficient number of
kernel threads
 Solaris prior to version 9
 Windows NT/2000 with the ThreadFiber package

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 Many-to-Many Model

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 Two-level Model

 Similar to M:M, except that it allows a user thread to be

bound to kernel thread
 Examples
 IRIX
 HP-UX
 Tru64 UNIX
 Solaris 8 and earlier

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 Two-level Model

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 Threading Issues

 Semantics of fork() and exec() system calls

 Thread cancellation
 Signal handling
 Thread pools
 Thread specific data
 Scheduler activations

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 Semantics of fork() and exec()
 Does fork() duplicate only the calling thread or all threads?

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 Thread Cancellation

 Terminating a thread before it has finished

 Two general approaches:
 Asynchronous cancellation terminates the target
thread immediately
 Deferred cancellation allows the target thread to
periodically check if it should be cancelled

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 Signal Handling

 Signals are used in UNIX systems to notify a process that a

particular event has occurred
 A signal handler is used to process signals
1. Signal is generated by particular event
2. Signal is delivered to a process
3. Signal is handled
 Options:
 Deliver the signal to the thread to which the signal applies
 Deliver the signal to every thread in the process
 Deliver the signal to certain threads in the process
 Assign a specific thread to receive all signals for the
process

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 Thread Pools
 Create a number of threads in a pool where they await work
 Advantages:
 Usually slightly faster to service a request with an existing
thread than create a new thread
 Allows the number of threads in the application(s) to be
bound to the size of the pool

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 Thread Specific Data
 Allows each thread to have its own copy of data
 Useful when you do not have control over the thread
creation process (i.e., when using a thread pool)

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 Scheduler Activations
 Both M:M and Two-level models require communication to
maintain the appropriate number of kernel threads allocated
to the application
 Scheduler activations provide upcalls - a communication
mechanism from the kernel to the thread library
 This communication allows an application to maintain the
correct number kernel threads

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 Thread library
 A thread library provides the programmer an API for creating
and managing threads. There are two primary ways of
implementing a thread library. The first approach is to provide a
library entirely in user space with no kernel support.
 All code and data structures for the library exist in user space. This
means that invoking a function in the library results in a local
function call in user space and not a system call.
 The second approach is to implement a kernel-level library
supported directly by the operating system. In this case, code and
data structures for the library exist in kernel space. Invoking a
function in the API for the library typically results in a system call to
the kernel

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 Pthreads
 A POSIX standard (IEEE 1003.1c) API for thread
creation and synchronization
 API specifies behavior of the thread library,
implementation is up to development of the library
 Common in UNIX operating systems (Solaris, Linux,
Mac OS X)

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 Windows XP Threads
 Implements the one-to-one mapping
 Each thread contains
 A thread id
 Register set
 Separate user and kernel stacks
 Private data storage area
 The register set, stacks, and private storage area are known
as the context of the threads
 The primary data structures of a thread include:
 ETHREAD (executive thread block)
 KTHREAD (kernel thread block)
 TEB (thread environment block)

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 Linux Threads

 Linux refers to them as tasks rather than threads

 Thread creation is done through clone() system call
 clone() allows a child task to share the address space
of the parent task (process)

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 Java Threads
 Java threads are managed by the JVM

 Java threads may be created by:

 Extending Thread class

 Implementing the Runnable interface

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 Java Thread States

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End of Chapter 4