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Lecture 4
Interprocess
Communication
31 August, 2010

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why IPC?

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message passing

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shared memory

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UNIX IPC

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signal

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#include  <signal.h>
   
   :

//  pid  is  the  process  ID  to  send  the  

//          signal  to
//  sig  is  the  ID  of  the  signal.

kill(pid,  sig);
   
kill(pid,  SIGTERM);

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at the receiver, default
actions are defined for
each signals

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but reaction to most
signals can be
customized

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 C
function pointers

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//  function  taking  in  a  
//  char  *  and  returning  an  int.

int  foo(char  *name)  {  ...  }

//  declare  a  function  pointer

//  initialize  a  function  pointer

//  call  the  function

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return   var arg  
type (* name )( type )

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 function pointers can be:
(i) passed into function,
(ii) returned
(iii) defined as new type

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#include  <signal.h>
   
void  *wont_die(int  sig)  {  return;  }
 :

void  (*prev_handler)(int);

prev_handler  =  signal(SIGKILL,  wont_die);

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pipe

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#include  <unistd.h>
   
     :

int  files[2];

pipe(files);

//  now  everything  we  write  into  file[1]  

//  can  be  read  from  file[0].

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18
Flickr Photo Some rights reserved by Darwin Bell

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race conditions

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demo

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mutual exclusion

only one process can

access a shared
resource at a time
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critical region

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processes typically alternate
between critical and non-
critical region.

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while (1)
enter( )
critical_region
leave( )
noncritical_region

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how to implement
enter( ) and leave( )

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lock variable

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enter( )
while (lock);
lock = 1;

leave( )
lock = 0;

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process A process B

while (lock);
while (lock);
lock = 1;
lock = 1;

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interrupts

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enter( )
disable interrupt

leave( )
enable interrupt

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Petersonʼs
Algorithm

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process A
enter( )
interested[A] = 1
turn = B
while (turn == B && interested[B]);

leave( )
interested[A] = 0
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process B
enter( )
interested[B] = 1
turn = A
while (turn == A && interested[A]);

leave( )
interested[B] = 0
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 process A process B
i [A] = 1
t=B
i [B] = 1
t =A
while (t is A && i [A]);
while (t is B && i [B]);

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 process A process B
i [A] = 1
t=B
i [B] = 1
while (t is B
t =A
while (t is A && i [A]);
&& i [B]);
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atomic instructions

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 TSL R, lock

in one atomic step,

copy lock to R &
set lock to 1

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enter( )
     TSL  R,  lock
     CMP  R,  #0
     JNE  enter
     RET

leave( )
     MOV  lock,  #0

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test&set(lock)

return lock and

set lock to 1
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enter( )
while (test&set(lock));

leave( )
lock = 0;

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 XCHG R, lock

in one atomic step, swap

values of two locations

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enter( )
     MOV  R,  #1
     XCHG  R,  lock
     CMP  R,  #0
     JNE  enter
     RET
leave( )
     MOV  lock,  #0
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while (1)
enter( )
critical_region
leave( )
noncritical_region

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producer -
consumer
problem

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producer consumer

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while (1) producer
if (buffer is full)
sleep
produce
if (buffer was empty)
wake up consumer

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while (1) consumer
if (buffer is empty)
sleep
consume
if (buffer was full)
wake up producer

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 while (1)
if (buffer is empty)
while (1)
if (buffer is full)
sleep
produce
if (buffer was empty)
wake up consumer
sleep
consume
if (buffer was full)
wake up producer
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Flickr Photo Some rights reserved by fofurasfelinas
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