System, method and medium for using and/or providing operating system information to acquire a hybrid user/operating system lock

• US 20060184942A1
• Filed: 02/17/2005
• Published: 08/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Cox, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/526 Mutual exclusion algorithms

Abstract

A system, method and medium for utilizing data indicative of operating system activity to determine if a process should continue to attempt to acquire a lock, or make a call to an operating system.

Claims

1. A method for utilizing data indicative of operating system scheduling in

shared user-operating system memory space, comprising:

providing, by the operating system, data to a shared user-operating system memory space that is indicative of scheduled operating system activities;

detecting an attempt to acquire a lock by a user process; and

receiving a call by the operating system, subsequent to said detecting step, from the user process when the number of scheduled operating system activities exceeds a predetermined number, or receiving a second attempt to acquire the lock when the number of scheduled operating system activities does not exceed the predetermined number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the operating system operates in conjunction with a multiprocessor system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data in the shared user-operating system memory space is indicative of scheduled operating system activities for each processor of the multiprocessor system.

4. A method of utilizing data provided by an operating system to shared user-operating system memory space, comprising:

providing, by the operating system, data to a shared user-kernel memory space that is not indicative of scheduled operating system activities;

detecting an attempt to acquire a lock by a user process; and

receiving a call by the operating system, subsequent to said detecting step, from the user process when the number of scheduled operating system activities exceeds a predetermined number, or receiving a second attempt to acquire the lock when the number of scheduled operating system activities does not exceed the predetermined number.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the operating system operates in conjunction with a multiprocessor system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data in the shared user-operating system memory space is indicative of scheduled operating system activities for each processor of the multiprocessor system.

7. A computer program product residing on a computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

provide, by an operating system, data to a shared user-operating system memory space that is indicative of scheduled operating system activities;

detect an attempt by a user process to acquire a lock; and

at least one of;

(i) receive a call by the operating system, subsequent to an attempt by the user process to acquire the lock, from the user process when the number of scheduled operating system activities exceeds a predetermined number, and (ii) receive a second attempt to acquire the lock when the number of scheduled operating system activities does not exceed a predetermined number.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the operating system operates in conjunction with a multiprocessor system.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the data in the shared user-operating system memory space is indicative of scheduled operating system activities for each processor of the multiprocessor system.

10. A computer program product residing on a computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

provide, by an operating system, data to a shared user-operating system memory space that is not indicative of scheduled operating system activities;

detect an attempt by a user process to acquire a lock; and

at least one of;

(i) receive a call by the operating system, subsequent to an attempt by the user process to acquire the lock, from the user process when the number of scheduled operating system activities exceeds a predetermined number, and (ii) receive a second attempt to acquire the lock when the number of scheduled operating system activities does not exceed a predetermined number.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the operating system operates in conjunction with a multiprocessor system.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the data in the shared user-operating system memory space is indicative of scheduled operating system activities for each processor of the multiprocessor system.

13. A system for utilizing data indicative of operating system scheduling in shared user-operating system memory space, comprising:

an operating system; and

a shared user-operating system memory space comprising data indicative of scheduled operating system activities, wherein the operating system at least one of;

(i) receives a call from a user process that has attempted to acquire a lock if the number of scheduled operating system activities exceeds a predetermined number, and (ii) receives a second attempt to acquire the lock when the number of scheduled operating system activities does not exceed a predetermined number.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the operating system operates in conjunction with a multiprocessor system.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data in the shared user-operating system memory space is indicative of scheduled operating system activities for each processor of the multiprocessor system.

16. A system for utilizing data provided, by an operating system, to shared user-operating system memory space, comprising:

an operating system; and

a shared user-operating system memory space comprising data that is not indicative of scheduled operating system activities, wherein the operating system at least one of;

(i) receives a call from a user process that has attempted to acquire a lock if the number of scheduled operating system activities exceeds a predetermined number, and (ii) receives a second attempt to acquire the lock when the number of scheduled operating system activities does not exceed a predetermined number.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operating system operates in conjunction with a multiprocessor system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the data in the shared user-operating system memory space is indicative of scheduled operating system activities for each processor of the multiprocessor system.