【Java多线程】之七：死锁例子

Deadlock is a programming situation where two or more threads are blocked forever, this situation arises with at least two threads and two or more resources. Here I have written a simple program that will cause deadlock scenario and then we will see how to analyze it

Java Deadlock Example

ThreadDeadlock.java

package com.journaldev.threads;

public class ThreadDeadlock {

public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
Object obj1 = new Object();
Object obj2 = new Object();
Object obj3 = new Object();

Thread t1 = new Thread(new SyncThread(obj1, obj2), "t1");
Thread t2 = new Thread(new SyncThread(obj2, obj3), "t2");
Thread t3 = new Thread(new SyncThread(obj3, obj1), "t3");

t1.start();
Thread.sleep(5000);
t2.start();
Thread.sleep(5000);
t3.start();

}

}

class SyncThread implements Runnable{
private Object obj1;
private Object obj2;

public SyncThread(Object o1, Object o2){
this.obj1=o1;
this.obj2=o2;
}
@Override
public void run() {
String name = Thread.currentThread().getName();
System.out.println(name + " acquiring lock on "+obj1);
synchronized (obj1) {
System.out.println(name + " acquired lock on "+obj1);
work();
System.out.println(name + " acquiring lock on "+obj2);
synchronized (obj2) {
System.out.println(name + " acquired lock on "+obj2);
work();
}
System.out.println(name + " released lock on "+obj2);
}
System.out.println(name + " released lock on "+obj1);
System.out.println(name + " finished execution.");
}
private void work() {
try {
Thread.sleep(30000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

In above program SyncThread is implementing Runnable interface and it works on two Objects by acquiring lock on each one of them one by one using synchronized block.

In main method, I have three threads running for SyncThread and there is a shared resource between each of the threads. The threads are run in such a way that it will be able to acquire lock on the first object but when it’s trying to acquire lock on second object, it goes on wait state because it’s already locked by another thread. This forms a cyclic dependency for resource between Threads causing deadlock.

When I execute the above program, here is the output generated but program never terminates because of deadlock.

t1 acquiring lock on java.lang.Object@6d9dd520
t1 acquired lock on java.lang.Object@6d9dd520
t2 acquiring lock on java.lang.Object@22aed3a5
t2 acquired lock on java.lang.Object@22aed3a5
t3 acquiring lock on java.lang.Object@218c2661
t3 acquired lock on java.lang.Object@218c2661
t1 acquiring lock on java.lang.Object@22aed3a5
t2 acquiring lock on java.lang.Object@218c2661
t3 acquiring lock on java.lang.Object@6d9dd520

Here we can clearly identify the deadlock situation from the output but in real life applications it’s very hard to find the deadlock situation and debug them.

Avoid deadlock

These are some of the guidelines using which we can avoid most of the deadlock situations.

public void run() {
String name = Thread.currentThread().getName();
System.out.println(name + " acquiring lock on " + obj1);
synchronized (obj1) {
System.out.println(name + " acquired lock on " + obj1);
work();
}
System.out.println(name + " released lock on " + obj1);
System.out.println(name + " acquiring lock on " + obj2);
synchronized (obj2) {
System.out.println(name + " acquired lock on " + obj2);
work();
}
System.out.println(name + " released lock on " + obj2);

System.out.println(name + " finished execution.");
}

Avoid Nested Locks: This is the most common reason for deadlocks, avoid locking another resource if you already hold one. It’s almost impossible to get deadlock situation if you are working with only one object lock. For example, here is the another implementation of run() method without nested lock and program runs successfully without deadlock situation.

Lock Only What is Required: You should acquire lock only on the resources you have to work on, for example in above program I am locking the complete Object resource but if we are only interested in one of it’s fields, then we should lock only that specific field not complete object.

Avoid waiting indefinitely: You can get deadlock if two threads are waiting for each other to finish indefinitely using thread join. If your thread has to wait for another thread to finish, it’s always best to use join with maximum time you want to wait for thread to finish.