Testing Deadlock-Freedom of Computer Systems

The problem of determining whether it is possible for a set of “free-running” processes to become deadlocked is considered. It is assumed that any request by a process is immediately granted as long as there are enough free resource units to satisfy the request. The question of whether or not there exists a polynomial algorithm for predicting deadlock in a “claim-limited” serially reusable resource system has been open. An algorithm employing a network flow technique is presented for this purpose. Its running time is bounded by <italic>O</italic>(<italic>mn</italic><supscrpt>1.5</supscrpt>) if the system consists of <italic>n</italic> processes sharing <italic>m</italic> types of serially reusable resources.

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