Chapter 4

Threads

Dr. Niroj Kumar Pani

nirojpani@gmail.com

Department of Computer Science Engineering & Applications

Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology
Sarang, Odisha
Chapter Outline…
◼ Threading Concept

◼ Types of Threads

◼ Multithreading Models

◼ Threading Issues

Dr. N. K. Pani, Dept. of CSEA, IGIT Sarang | 4.2

Threading Concept
What are Threads?

◼ A thread, sometimes called a Lightweight Process (LWP), is a basic unit of CPU

utilization.

◼ A Process (Heavy Weight) may include multiple threads.

◼ A Thread comprises of:

➢ A thread ID
➢ A Program Counter
➢ A Register Set
➢ A Stack

◼ A thread shares with other threads belonging to the same process its code
section, data section, and other OS resources such as an open file etc.

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Single and Multithreaded Processes

[Fig. 4.1]

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The Need for Multithreading

[Fig. 4.2: Multithreaded Server Architecture]

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Benefits of Multithreaded Programming

◼ Responsiveness

◼ Resource Sharing

◼ Economy

◼ Scalability

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Types of Threads

Two types of threads are there:

1. User Threads:

➢ User threads are implemented by a thread library at user level.

➢ The kernel is unaware of user-level threads. It has no role in thread

creation, scheduling and management. The thread library provides
support for all these things.

➢ Therefore user-level threads are generally very fast to create and

manage [Advantage]

➢ Drawback: If the kernel is single threaded, then any user thread

performing a block system call will cause the entire process to block,
even if other threads are available to run within the process.

➢ Primary thread libraries: POSIX, Pthreads, Win32 threads, Java threads

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2. Kernel Threads:

➢ Kernel threads are directly supported by the OS. The kernel performs
thread creation, scheduling and management in kernel space.

➢ Therefore kernel threads are generally slower to create and manage

then are user threads. [Drawback]

➢ However since the kernel is managing the threads, if a thread performs

a blocking system call, the kernel can schedule another thread in the
application for execution [Advantage]

➢ Examples: Windows XP/2000, Solaris, Linux, Tru64 UNIX, Mac OS X

Dr. N. K. Pani, Dept. of CSEA, IGIT Sarang | 4.8

Multithreading Models
1. Many-to-One
2. One-to-One
3. Many-to-Many

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Many-to-One Model

◼ Many user-level threads mapped to single kernel thread

◼ Examples:
➢ Solaris Green Threads
➢ GNU Portable Threads

◼ Drawbacks:
➢ The entire process will block
if a single user thread makes
a block system call.
➢ Since only one thread can access
the kernel at a time, multiple threads
are unable to run in parallel
on multiprocessors.

[Fig. 4.3: Many-to-One Multithreading Model]

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One-to-One Model

◼ Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread

◼ Examples:
➢ Windows NT/XP/2000
➢ Linux
➢ Solaris 9 and later

◼ Drawbacks:
➢ Creating a user thread requires creating the corresponding kernel
thread, which is a overhead. Because of this reason most
implementations of this model restrict the number of threads supported
by the system.

[Fig. 4.4:
One-to-One Multithreading Model]

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Many-to-Many Model

◼ Allows many user level threads to be mapped to many kernel threads.

◼ Examples:
➢ Solaris prior to version 9
➢ Windows NT/2000 with the Thread Fiber package

[Fig. 4.5:
Many-to-Many Multithreading Model]

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Threading Issues
◼ Semantics of fork ( ) and exec ( ) system calls

◼ Thread cancellation

◼ Signal handling

◼ Thread pools

◼ Thread-specific data

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Semantics of fork() and exec() System Calls

◼ Does fork ( ) duplicate the whole process (i.e. all threads within the process) or
only the calling thread?

◼ To avoid this situation some UNIX systems has chosen 2 versions of fork ( ) :

➢ One that duplicate only the calling tread

➢ Other that duplicate the entire process (i.e. all threads within the
process)

◼ exec ( ) system call has the same meaning: If a thread invokes the exec ( )
system call, the program specified in the parameter of exec ( ) will replace the
entire process including all the threads.

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Thread Cancellation

◼ Thread cancellation is the task of terminating a thread (Target Thread) before it

has finished.

◼ Example: If multiple threads are concurrently searching through a DB and one

of the threads returns the search result.

◼ Cancellation of a target thread can have two approaches:

➢ Asynchronous cancellation: OS terminates the target thread
immediately.
➢ Deferred cancellation: OS allows the target thread to periodically check
and determine whether if it should be terminated by itself.

◼ Difficulty with Cancellation occurs when:

➢ Resources have been allocated to a cancelled thread.
➢ The thread to be cancelled is in the middle of updating any data that is
shared with other thread.

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Signal Handling

◼ Signals are used in UNIX systems to notify a process that a particular event has
occurred.

◼ All Signal follow the same below pattern:

➢ A signal is generated by the occurrence of a particular event.

➢ A generated signal is delivered to a process.
➢ Once delivered the signal must be handled (by a Signal Handler)

◼ Issue with Signal Handling:

Where to deliver the signal? Following are the 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

Dr. N. K. Pani, Dept. of CSEA, IGIT Sarang | 4.16

Thread Pool

◼ Need for Thread Pools?

1. If a process creates a new thread whenever a request comes some time

will be wasted for creating the thread prior to serving the request.
2. If a process creates a new thread whenever a request comes the OS
can’t put an upper bound to the number of threads concurrently active
in the system.

◼ The Idea Behind Thread Pools:

➢ Create a number of threads at process start up and place them into a

pool, where they sit and wait for work.
➢ When a server receives a request it awakens a thread form the pool and
pass the request to serve. Once the thread completes the work it returns
to the pool.
➢ If the pool contains no available threads the server waits, until one
becomes free.

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◼ Benefits:

1. Usually faster to service a request with an existing thread than create a

new thread
2. Allows the number of threads in the application(s) to be bound to the
size of the pool.

Thread Specific Data

◼ Threads that belongs to a process usually share the data of that process.

◼ However, each thread might need its own copy of certain data in some
circumstances. These are called thread specific data.

◼ Useful when you do not have control over the thread creation process (i.e.,
when using a thread pool)

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End of Chapter 4