Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

LFthreads: A Lock-Free Thread Library

  • Conference paper
Book cover Principles of Distributed Systems (OPODIS 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 4878))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

LFthreads is a thread library entirely based on lock-free methods, i.e. no spin-locks or similar synchronization mechanisms are employed in the implementation of the multithreading. Since lock-freedom is highly desirable in multiprocessors/multicores due to its advantages in parallelism, fault-tolerance, convoy-avoidance and more, there is an increased demand in lock-free methods in parallel applications, hence also in multiprocessor/multicore system services. This is why a lock-free multithreading library is important. To the best of our knowledge LFthreads is the first thread library that provides a lock-free implementation of blocking synchronization primitives for application threads. Lock-free implementation of objects with blocking semantics may sound like a contradicting goal. However, such objects have benefits: e.g. library operations that block and unblock threads on the same synchronization object can make progress in parallel while maintaining the desired thread-level semantics and without having to wait for any “slow” operations among them. Besides, as no spin-locks or similar synchronization mechanisms are employed, processors are always able to do useful work. As a consequence, applications, too, can enjoy enhanced parallelism and fault-tolerance. The synchronization in LFthreads is achieved by a new method, which we call responsibility hand-off (RHO), that does not need any special kernel support.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Anderson, T., Bershad, B., Lazowska, E., Levy, H.: Scheduler Activations: Effective Kernel Support for the User-Level Management of Parallelism. In: ACM Trans. on Computer Systems, pp. 53–79. ACM Press, New York (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Feeley, M.J., Chase, J.S., Lazowska, E.D.: User-level threads and interprocess communication. Technical Report TR-93-02-03, University of Washington, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Franke, H., Russell, R., Kirkwood, M.: Fuss, futexes and furwocks: Fast userlevel locking in linux. In: Proc. of the Ottawa Linux Symp, pp. 479–494 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Multithreading in the solaris operating environment. Technical report, Sun Microsystems

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kontothanassis, L.I., Wisniewski, R.W., Scott, M.L.: Scheduler-conscious synchronization. ACM Trans. Computer Systems 15(1), 3–40 (1997), doi:10.1145/244764.244765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Holman, P., Anderson, J.H.: Locking under pfair scheduling. ACM Trans. Computer Systems 24(2), 140–174 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Devi, U.C., Leontyev, H., Anderson, J.H.: Efficient synchronization under global edf scheduling on multiprocessors. In: Proc. of the 18th Euromicro Conf. on Real-Time Systems, pp. 75–84. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Blumofe, R.D., Leiserson, C.E.: Scheduling multithreaded computations by work stealing, In: Proc. of the 35th Annual Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS), 356–368 ( 1994)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Oguma, H., Nakayama, Y.: A scheduling mechanism for lock-free operation of a lightweight process library for SMP computers. In: Proc. of the 8th Int. Conf. on Parallel and Distributed Systems (ICPADS), 235–242 ( 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Zahorjan, J., Lazowska, E.D., Eager, D.L.: The effect of scheduling discipline on spin overhead in shared memory parallel processors. IEEE Trans. on Parallel and Distributed Systems 2(2), 180–198 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zuberi, K.M., Shin, K.G.: An efficient semaphore implementation scheme for small-memory embedded systems. In: Proc. of the 3rd IEEE Real-Time Technology and Applications Symp (RTAS), IEEE, pp. 25–37. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos (1997)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Anderson, J.H., Kim, Y.J., Herman, T.: Shared-memory mutual exclusion: major research trends since 1986. Distributed Computing 16(2-3), 75–110 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Massalin, H., Pu, C.: A lock-free multiprocessor OS kernel. Technical Report CUCS-005-91 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Massalin, H.: Synthesis: An Efficient Implementation of Fundamental Operating System Services. PhD thesis, Columbia University (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Greenwald, M., Cheriton, D.R.: The synergy between non-blocking synchronization and operating system structure. In: Operating Systems Design and Implementation, 123–136 ( 1996)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Greenwald, M.B.: Non-blocking synchronization and system design. PhD thesis, Stanford University (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Valois, J.D.: Lock-free linked lists using compare-and-swap. In: Proc. of the 14th ACM Symp. on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC), ACM, pp. 214–222. ACM Press, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Michael, M.M., Scott, M.L.: Correction of a memory management method for lock-free data structures. Technical Report TR599, University of Rochester, Computer Science Department (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Michael, M.: Scalable lock-free dynamic memory allocation. In: Proc. of SIGPLAN 2004 Conf. on Programming Languages Design and Implementation, ACM Press, ACM SIGPLAN Notices (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Gidenstam, A., Papatriantafilou, M., Sundell, H., Tsigas, P.: Practical and efficient lock-free garbage collection based on reference counting. In: Proc. of the 8th Int. Symp. on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms, and Networks (I-SPAN), pp. 202–207. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Gidenstam, A., Papatriantafilou, M., Tsigas, P.: Allocating memory in a lock-free manner. In: Proc. of the 13th Annual European Symp. on Algorithms (ESA), pp. 242–329. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Herlihy, M., Luchangco, V., Martin, P., Moir, M.: Nonblocking memory management support for dynamic-sized data structures. ACM Trans. on Computer Systems 23(2), 146–196 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Sundell, H., Tsigas, P.: NOBLE: A non-blocking inter-process communication library. In: Sundell, H., Tsigas, P. (eds.) Proc. of the 6th Workshop on Languages, Compilers and Run-time Systems for Scalable Computers, Springer, Heidelberg (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Marathe, V.J.I.W.N.S., Scott, M.L: Adaptive software transactional memory. In: Proc. of the 19th Int. Conf. on Distributed Systems (DISC), Springer, pp. 354–368. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Shavit, N., Touitou, D.: Software transactional memory. In: Proc. of the 14th ACM Symp. on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC), pp. 204–213. ACM Press, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Jayanti, P.: A complete and constant time wait-free implementation of CAS from LL/SC and vice versa. In: Proc. of the 12th Int. Symp. on Distributed Computing (DISC), pp. 216–230. Springer, Heidelberg (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Moir, M.: Practical implementations of non-blocking synchronization primitives. In: Proc. of the 16th annual ACM Symp. on Principles of Distributed Computing, pp. 219–228. ACM Press, New York (1997), citeseer.ist.psu.edu/moir97practical.html

    Google Scholar 

  28. Herlihy, M.: A methodology for implementing highly concurrent data objects. ACM Trans. on Programming Languages and Systems 15(5), 745–770 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Herlihy, M.P., Wing, J.M.: Linearizability: A correctness condition for concurrent objects. ACM Trans. on Programming Languages and Systems 12(3), 463–492 (1990), http://www.acm.org/pubs/toc/Abstracts/0164-0925/78972.html

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Sundell, H.: Efficient and Practical Non-Blocking Data Structures. PhD thesis, Chalmers University of Technology (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Tsigas, P., Zhang, Y.: Evaluating the performance of non-blocking synchronisation on shared-memory multiprocessors. In: Proc. of the ACM SIGMETRICS 2001/Performance 2001, pp. 320–321. ACM Press, New York (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Tsigas, P., Zhang, Y.: A simple, fast and scalable non-blocking concurrent fifo queue for shared memory multiprocessor systems. In: Proc. 13th ACM Symp. on Parallel Algorithms and Architectures, pp. 134–143. ACM Press, New York (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Gidenstam, A., Papatriantafilou, M.: LFthreads: A lock-free thread library. Technical Report MPI-I-2007-1-003, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, Algorithms and Complexity (2007)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Algorithms and Complexity, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, 66123, Saarbracken, Germany

    Anders Gidenstam

  2. Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden

    Marina Papatriantafilou

Authors
  1. Anders Gidenstam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marina Papatriantafilou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Eduardo Tovar Philippas Tsigas Hacène Fouchal

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Gidenstam, A., Papatriantafilou, M. (2007). LFthreads: A Lock-Free Thread Library. In: Tovar, E., Tsigas, P., Fouchal, H. (eds) Principles of Distributed Systems. OPODIS 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4878. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77096-1_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77096-1_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-77095-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-77096-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation