Deadlocks Related to Scheduling

Because the order in which locks are acquired is not guaranteed, a problem can occur where a particular thread never acquires a lock.

This problem usually happens when the thread holding the lock releases the lock, lets a small amount of time pass, and then reacquires the lock. Because the lock was released, the appearance is that the other thread should acquire the lock. But, nothing blocks the thread holding the lock. Consequently, that thread continues to run from the time the thread releases the lock until the time the lock is reacquired. Thus, no other thread is run.

You can usually solve this type of problem by calling sched_yield()(3C) just before the call to reacquire the lock. The sched_yield() function allows other threads to run and to acquire the lock.

Because the time-slice requirements of applications are so variable, the system does not impose any requirements. Use calls to sched_yield() to make threads share time as you require.