@techreport{,
TITLE = {{LFthreads}: a lock-free thread library},
AUTHOR = {Gidenstam, Anders and Papatriantafilou, Marina},
LANGUAGE = {eng},
URL = {http://domino.mpi-inf.mpg.de/internet/reports.nsf/NumberView/2007-1-003},
NUMBER = {MPI-I-2007-1-003},
INSTITUTION = {Max-Planck-Institut f{\"u}r Informatik},
ADDRESS = {Saarbr{\"u}cken},
YEAR = {2007},
DATE = {2007},
ABSTRACT = {This paper presents the synchronization in LFthreads, a thread library entirely based on lock-free methods, i.e. no spin-locks or similar synchronization mechanisms are employed in the implementation of the multithreading. Since lock-freedom is highly desirable in multiprocessors/multicores due to its advantages in parallelism, fault-tolerance, convoy-avoidance and more, there is an increased demand in lock-free methods in parallel applications, hence also in multiprocessor/multicore system services. This is why a lock-free multithreading library is important. To the best of our knowledge LFthreads is the first thread library that provides a lock-free implementation of blocking synchronization primitives for application threads. Lock-free implementation of objects with blocking semantics may sound like a contradicting goal. However, such objects have benefits: e.g. library operations that block and unblock threads on the same synchronization object can make progress in parallel while maintaining the desired thread-level semantics and without having to wait for any ``slow'' operations among them. Besides, as no spin-locks or similar synchronization mechanisms are employed, processors are always able to do useful work. As a consequence, applications, too, can enjoy enhanced parallelism and fault-tolerance. The synchronization in LFthreads is achieved by a new method, which we call responsibility hand-off (RHO), that does not need any special kernel support.},
TYPE = {Research Report / Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik},
}