Process and Threads

Process and Thread
Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Process and Thread
● Process concept
● Operations on processes
● Inter-process communication
● UNIX pipes
● Multithreading
● Multithreaded models
● Programs using PThread
Operating System Concepts – 10th Edition 2.2 Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
Process Concept
● An operating system executes a variety of programs:
● Batch system – jobs
● Time-shared systems – user programs or tasks
● Textbook uses the terms job and process almost interchangeably
● Process – a program in execution; process execution must
progress in sequential fashion
● Multiple parts
● The program code, also called text section
● Current activity including program counter, processor
registers
● Stack containing temporary data
4 Function parameters, return addresses, local variables
● Data section containing global variables
● Heap containing memory dynamically allocated during run
time
Process Concept (Cont.)
● Program is passive entity stored on disk (executable file),
process is active
● Program becomes process when executable file loaded into
memory
● Execution of program started via GUI mouse clicks, command
line entry of its name, etc
● One program can be several processes
● Consider multiple users executing the same program
Process in Memory
Process State
● As a process executes, it changes state

● new: The process is being created
● running: Instructions are being executed
● waiting: The process is waiting for some event to occur
● ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor
● terminated: The process has finished execution
Diagram of Process State
Process Control Block (PCB)
Information associated with each process
(also called task control block)
● Process state – running, waiting, etc
● Program counter – location of
instruction to next execute
● CPU registers – contents of all
process-centric registers
● CPU scheduling information- priorities,
scheduling queue pointers
● Memory-management information –
memory allocated to the process
● Accounting information – CPU used,
clock time elapsed since start, time
limits
● I/O status information – I/O devices
allocated to process, list of open files
CPU Switch From Process to Process
Threads
● So far, process has a single thread of execution

● Consider having multiple program counters per
process
● Multiple locations can execute at once
4 Multiple threads of control -> threads
● Must then have storage for thread details, multiple
program counters in PCB
Multithreaded Server Architecture
Benefits
● Responsiveness – may allow continued execution if part of

process is blocked, especially important for user interfaces
● Resource Sharing – threads share resources of process, easier
than shared memory or message passing
● Economy – cheaper than process creation, thread switching
lower overhead than context switching
● Scalability – process can take advantage of multiprocessor
architectures
Process Scheduling
● Maximize CPU use, quickly switch processes onto CPU for

time sharing
● Process scheduler selects among available processes for
next execution on CPU
● Maintains scheduling queues of processes
● Job queue – set of all processes in the system
● Ready queue – set of all processes residing in main
memory, ready and waiting to execute
● Device queues – set of processes waiting for an I/O
device
● Processes migrate among the various queues
Ready Queue And Various I/O Device Queues
Representation of Process Scheduling
● Queueing diagram represents queues, resources, flows
Schedulers
● Short-term scheduler (or CPU scheduler) – selects which process should
be executed next and allocates CPU
● Sometimes the only scheduler in a system
● Short-term scheduler is invoked frequently (milliseconds) ⇒ (must be
fast)
● Long-term scheduler (or job scheduler) – selects which processes should
be brought into the ready queue
● Long-term scheduler is invoked infrequently (seconds, minutes) ⇒
(may be slow)
● The long-term scheduler controls the degree of multiprogramming
● Processes can be described as either:
● I/O-bound process – spends more time doing I/O than computations,
many short CPU bursts
● CPU-bound process – spends more time doing computations; few
very long CPU bursts
● Long-term scheduler strives for good process mix
Addition of Medium Term Scheduling
● Medium-term scheduler can be added if degree of multiple
programming needs to decrease
● Remove process from memory, store on disk, bring back
in from disk to continue execution: swapping
Context Switch
● When CPU switches to another process, the system must save
the state of the old process and load the saved state for the
new process via a context switch
● Context of a process represented in the PCB
● Context-switch time is overhead; the system does no useful
work while switching
● The more complex the OS and the PCB 🡺 the longer the
context switch
● Time dependent on hardware support
● Some hardware provides multiple sets of registers per CPU
🡺 multiple contexts loaded at once
Operations on Processes
● System must provide mechanisms for:

● process creation,
● process termination,
● and so on as detailed next
Process Creation
● Parent process create children processes, which, in turn
create other processes, forming a tree of processes
● Generally, process identified and managed via a process
identifier (pid)
● Resource sharing options
● Parent and children share all resources
● Children share subset of parent’s resources
● Parent and child share no resources
● Execution options
● Parent and children execute concurrently
● Parent waits until children terminate
A Tree of Processes in Linux
Process Creation (Cont.)
● Address space
● Child duplicate of parent
● Child has a program loaded into it
● UNIX examples
● fork() system call creates new process
● exec() system call used after a fork() to replace the
process’ memory space with a new program
C Program Forking Separate Process
Process Termination
● Process executes last statement and then asks the operating

system to delete it using the exit() system call.
● Returns status data from child to parent (via wait())
● Process’ resources are deallocated by operating system
● Parent may terminate the execution of children processes using
the abort() system call. Some reasons for doing so:
● Child has exceeded allocated resources
● Task assigned to child is no longer required
● The parent is exiting and the operating systems does not
allow a child to continue if its parent terminates
Process Termination
● Some operating systems do not allow child to exists if its parent

has terminated. If a process terminates, then all its children must
also be terminated.
● cascading termination. All children, grandchildren, etc. are
terminated.
● The termination is initiated by the operating system.
● The parent process may wait for termination of a child process by
using the wait()system call. The call returns status information
and the pid of the terminated process
pid = wait(&status);
● If no parent waiting (did not invoke wait()) process is a zombie
● If parent terminated without invoking wait , process is an orphan
Inter-Process Communication (IPC)
• Definition:
• Communication and data exchange between independent processes.
• Methods:
• Message passing, shared memory, and synchronization primitives.
• Need:
• Cooperation between processes for certain tasks.
Interprocess Communication
● Processes within a system may be independent or cooperating
● Cooperating process can affect or be affected by other processes,
including sharing data
● Reasons for cooperating processes:
● Information sharing
● Computation speedup
● Modularity
● Convenience
● Cooperating processes need interprocess communication (IPC)
● Two models of IPC
● Shared memory
● Message passing
Communications Models
(a) Message passing. (b) shared memory.
Cooperating Processes
● Independent process cannot affect or be affected by the execution
of another process
● Cooperating process can affect or be affected by the execution of
another process
● Advantages of process cooperation
● Information sharing
● Computation speed-up
● Modularity
● Convenience
Interprocess Communication – Shared Memory
● An area of memory shared among the processes that wish

to communicate
● The communication is under the control of the users
processes not the operating system.
● Major issues is to provide mechanism that will allow the
user processes to synchronize their actions when they
access shared memory.
● Synchronization is discussed in great details in Chapter 5.
Interprocess Communication – Message Passing
● Mechanism for processes to communicate and to synchronize

their actions
● Message system – processes communicate with each other

without resorting to shared variables
● IPC facility provides two operations:

● send(message)
● receive(message)
● The message size is either fixed or variable
Message Passing (Cont.)
● If processes P and Q wish to communicate, they need to:

● Establish a communication link between them
● Exchange messages via send/receive
● Implementation issues:
● How are links established?
● Can a link be associated with more than two processes?
● How many links can there be between every pair of
communicating processes?
● What is the capacity of a link?
● Is the size of a message that the link can accommodate fixed or
variable?
● Is a link unidirectional or bi-directional?
Message Passing (Cont.)
● Implementation of communication link

● Physical:
4 Shared memory
4 Hardware bus
4 Network
● Logical:
4 Direct or indirect
4 Synchronous or asynchronous
4 Automatic or explicit buffering
Direct Communication
● Processes must name each other explicitly:
● send (P, message) – send a message to process P
● receive(Q, message) – receive a message from process Q
● Properties of communication link
● Links are established automatically
● A link is associated with exactly one pair of communicating
processes
● Between each pair there exists exactly one link
● The link may be unidirectional, but is usually bi-directional
Indirect Communication
● Messages are directed and received from mailboxes (also referred

to as ports)
● Each mailbox has a unique id
● Processes can communicate only if they share a mailbox
● Properties of communication link
● Link established only if processes share a common mailbox
● A link may be associated with many processes
● Each pair of processes may share several communication links
● Link may be unidirectional or bi-directional
● Operations
● create a new mailbox (port)
● send and receive messages through mailbox
● destroy a mailbox
● Primitives are defined as:
send(A, message) – send a message to mailbox A
receive(A, message) – receive a message from mailbox A
● Mailbox sharing
● P1, P2, and P3 share mailbox A
● P1, sends; P2 and P3 receive
● Who gets the message?
● Solutions
● Allow a link to be associated with at most two
processes
● Allow only one process at a time to execute a receive
operation
● Allow the system to select arbitrarily the receiver.
Sender is notified who the receiver was.
UNIX Pipes
• Definition:
• A UNIX pipe is a communication mechanism between two related

processes, allowing them to communicate and share data.
• Characteristics:
• Unidirectional: Data flows in one direction, either from the parent

process to the child or vice versa.
• FIFO (First In, First Out): Data is read in the order it was written.
• Syntax and Usage:
• pipe(), fork(), dup2().
• Example: Piping the output of one process to another.
UNIX Pipes: Syntax and Usage
• Pipe Creation:
• The pipe() system call is used to create a pipe.
• Syntax: int pipe(int filedes[2]);
• Process Forking:
• The fork() system call is often used to create a child process.
• Both the parent and child processes can use the pipe for
communication.
• File Descriptors:
• The filedes array returned by pipe() contains two file descriptors:
• filedes[0]: Read end of the pipe.
• filedes[1]: Write end of the pipe.
• Duplication:
• The dup2() system call can be used to duplicate file descriptors,
ensuring that both processes have access to the pipe.
Example: Piping the Output
#include <unistd.h> Explanation:
#include <stdio.h> The parent process writes the string "Hello,
int main() { Pipe!" to the pipe, and the child process
int filedes[2]; reads it.
char buffer[30]; Communication Direction:
pid_t child_pid;
Parent to Child:
// Create pipe
Parent writes to the pipe (write(filedes[1], ...))
pipe(filedes);
and child reads (read(filedes[0], ...)).
// Create child process
if ((child_pid = fork()) == 0) {
Child to Parent:
// Child process (reader) Child writes to the pipe and parent reads.
close(filedes[1]); // Close write end
read(filedes[0], buffer, sizeof(buffer));
close(filedes[0]); // Close read end
printf("Child Process: Received data - %s\n", buffer);
} else {
// Parent process (writer)
close(filedes[0]); // Close read end
write(filedes[1], "Hello, Pipe!", 13);
close(filedes[1]); // Close write end
}
return 0;
}
Multithreading
• Definition:
• Execution of multiple threads within a process, sharing the same
resources.
• Threads are lighter than processes.
• Advantages:
• Improved responsiveness, resource sharing, and parallelism.
• Multithreading vs. Multicore (Multiprocessing):
• Comparison of thread-based concurrency and process-based
concurrency.
Multicore Programming
● Multicore or multiprocessor systems putting pressure on

programmers, challenges include:
● Dividing activities
● Balance
● Data splitting
● Data dependency
● Testing and debugging
● Parallelism implies a system can perform more than one task
simultaneously
● Concurrency supports more than one task making progress
● Single processor / core, scheduler providing concurrency
Multicore Programming (Cont.)
● Types of parallelism
● Data parallelism – distributes subsets of the same data
across multiple cores, same operation on each
● Task parallelism – distributing threads across cores, each
thread performing unique operation
● As # of threads grows, so does architectural support for
threading
● CPUs have cores as well as hardware threads
● Consider Oracle SPARC T4 with 8 cores, and 8 hardware
threads per core
Concurrency vs. Parallelism
● Concurrent execution on single-core system:
● Parallelism on a multi-core system:
Single and Multithreaded Processes
Amdahl’s Law
● Identifies performance gains from adding additional cores to an
application that has both serial and parallel components
● S is serial portion
● N processing cores
● That is, if application is 75% parallel / 25% serial, moving from 1 to 2

cores results in speedup of 1.6 times
● As N approaches infinity, speedup approaches 1 / S
Serial portion of an application has disproportionate effect on

performance gained by adding additional cores
● But does the law take into account contemporary multicore systems?
Multithreaded Models
• User-Level Threads (ULTs):
• Managed entirely by the application.
• Lightweight, but limited by the host operating system.
• Kernel-Level Threads (KLTs):
• Managed by the kernel.
• Greater flexibility but heavier.
• Many-to-One, One-to-One, Many-to-Many Models:
• Discussion of different mapping strategies between user-level and
kernel-level threads.
User Threads and Kernel Threads
● User threads - management done by user-level threads library

● Three primary thread libraries:
● POSIX Pthreads
● Windows threads
● Java threads
● Kernel threads - Supported by the Kernel
● Examples – virtually all general purpose operating systems, including:
● Windows
● Solaris
● Linux
● Tru64 UNIX
● Mac OS X
Multithreading Models
● Many-to-One
● One-to-One
● Many-to-Many
Many-to-One
● Many user-level threads mapped to

single kernel thread
● One thread blocking causes all to block
● Multiple threads may not run in parallel
on muticore system because only one
may be in kernel at a time
● Few systems currently use this model
● Examples:
● Solaris Green Threads
● GNU Portable Threads
One-to-One
● Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread
● Creating a user-level thread creates a kernel thread
● More concurrency than many-to-one
● Number of threads per process sometimes
restricted due to overhead
● Examples
● Windows
● Linux
● Solaris 9 and later
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 with the ThreadFiber
package
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
Thread Libraries
● Thread library provides programmer with API for creating

and managing threads
● Two primary ways of implementing
● Library entirely in user space
● Kernel-level library supported by the OS
Pthreads
● May be provided either as user-level or kernel-level

● A POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) standard (IEEE
1003.1c) API for thread creation and synchronization
● Specification, not implementation
● 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)
Pthreads Example
Pthreads Example (Cont.)
Pthreads Code for Joining 10 Threads
Windows Multithreaded C Program
Windows Multithreaded C Program (Cont.)

Process and Threads

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Process and Threads

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Process and Threads

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Process and Thread

● As a process executes, it changes state

● So far, process has a single thread of execution

● Responsiveness – may allow continued execution if part of

● Maximize CPU use, quickly switch processes onto CPU for

● Queueing diagram represents queues, resources, ﬂows

● System must provide mechanisms for:

● Process executes last statement and then asks the operating

● Some operating systems do not allow child to exists if its parent

● An area of memory shared among the processes that wish

● Mechanism for processes to communicate and to synchronize

● Message system – processes communicate with each other

● IPC facility provides two operations:

● The message size is either ﬁxed or variable

● If processes P and Q wish to communicate, they need to:

● Implementation of communication link

● Messages are directed and received from mailboxes (also referred

• A UNIX pipe is a communication mechanism between two related

• Unidirectional: Data ﬂows in one direction, either from the parent

• Syntax and Usage:

• pipe(), fork(), dup2().

• Example: Piping the output of one process to another.

● Multicore or multiprocessor systems putting pressure on

● Parallelism on a multi-core system:

● That is, if application is 75% parallel / 25% serial, moving from 1 to 2

Serial portion of an application has disproportionate eﬀect on

● User threads - management done by user-level threads library

● Many user-level threads mapped to

● Thread library provides programmer with API for creating

● May be provided either as user-level or kernel-level

You might also like