Techniques for executing normally interruptible threads in a non-preemptive manner

• US 8,856,801 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kamath, Dayavanti G., Ghosh, Nirapada, Leu, Dar-ren, Mukherjee, Nilanjan, Pandey, Vijoy
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Adam
• Application Number:
  US13/602,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20120324460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 763 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/486 Scheduler internals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores

Abstract

A technique for executing normally interruptible threads of a process in a non-preemptive manner includes in response to a first entry associated with a first message for a first thread reaching a head of a run queue, receiving, by the first thread, a first wake-up signal. In response to receiving the wake-up signal, the first thread waits for a global lock. In response to the first thread receiving the global lock, the first thread retrieves the first message from an associated message queue and processes the retrieved first message. In response to completing the processing of the first message, the first thread transmits a second wake-up signal to a second thread whose associated entry is next in the run queue. Finally, following the transmitting of the second wake-up signal the first thread releases the global lock.

Claims

1. A method of executing normally interruptible threads of a process in a non-preemptive manner, comprising:

in response to a first entry associated with a first message for a first thread reaching a head of a run queue, receiving, by the first thread, a first wake-up signal, wherein the first thread is a serialized stem pthread;

in response to receiving the wake-up signal, waiting, by the first thread, for a global lock;

in response to the first thread receiving the global lock, retrieving, by the first thread, the first message from an associated message queue;

processing, by the first thread, the retrieved first message;

in response to completing the processing of the first message, transmitting, by the first thread, a second wake-up signal to a second thread whose associated entry is next in the run queue, wherein the second thread is a serialized pthread that requires access to a data structure that is shared with the first thread;

releasing, by the first thread, the global lock following the transmitting of the second wake-up signal;

checking, by the first thread, the associated message queue for a second message for the first thread; and

in response to the associated message queue including the second message, queuing a second entry associated with the second message to an end of the run queue.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wake-up signal is triggered following an event.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the event corresponds to one of:

receipt of a message for the first thread from another thread, arrival of a packet for the first thread, a timer expiration associated with the first thread, and establishment of a link for the first thread.

4. A data processing system configured to execute normally interruptible threads of a process in a non-preemptive manner, the data processing system comprising:

a data storage including program code; and

a processor coupled to the data storage, wherein the program code, when executed by the processor, configures the processor for;

in response to a first entry associated with a first message for a first thread reaching a head of a run queue, receiving, by the first thread, a first wake-up signal, wherein the first thread is a serialized stem pthread;

in response to receiving the wake-up signal, waiting, by the first thread, for a global lock;

in response to the first thread receiving the global lock, retrieving, by the first thread, the first message from an associated message queue;

processing, by the first thread, the retrieved first message;

in response to completing the processing of the first message, transmitting, by the first thread, a second wake-up signal to a second thread whose associated entry is next in the run queue, wherein the second thread is a serialized pthread that requires access to a data structure that is shared with the first thread;

releasing, by the first thread, the global lock following the transmitting of the second wake-up signal;

checking, by the first thread, the associated message queue for a second message for the first thread; and

in response to the associated message queue including the second message, queuing a second entry associated with the second message to an end of the run queue.

5. The data processing system of claim 4, wherein the first wake-up signal is triggered following an event.

6. The data processing system of claim 5, wherein the event corresponds to one of:

receipt of a message for the first thread from another thread, arrival of a packet for the first thread, a timer expiration associated with the first thread, and establishment of a link for the first thread.

7. A program product including program code, embodied in a hardware data storage, for executing normally interruptible threads of a process in a non-preemptive manner, the program code, when executed by a data processing system, configuring the data processing system for:

in response to a first entry associated with a first message for a first thread reaching a head of a run queue, receiving, by the first thread, a first wake-up signal, wherein the first thread is a serialized stem pthread;

in response to receiving the wake-up signal, waiting, by the first thread, for a global lock;

in response to the first thread receiving the global lock, retrieving, by the first thread, the first message from an associated message queue;

processing, by the first thread, the retrieved first message;

in response to completing the processing of the first message, transmitting, by the first thread, a second wake-up signal to a second thread whose associated entry is next in the run queue, wherein the second thread is a serialized pthread that requires access to a data structure that is shared with the first thread;

releasing, by the first thread, the global lock following the transmitting of the second wake-up signal;

checking, by the first thread, the associated message queue for a second message for the first thread; and

in response to the associated message queue including the second message, queuing a second entry associated with the second message to an end of the run queue.

8. The program product of claim 7, wherein the first wake-up signal is triggered following an event, and wherein the event corresponds to one of:

receipt of a message for the first thread from another thread, arrival of a packet for the first thread, a timer expiration associated with the first thread, and establishment of a link for the first thread.