deadly embrace
 n.

    Same as deadlock, though usually used only when exactly two processes are
    involved. This is the more popular term in Europe, while deadlock
    predominates in the United States.

deadlock
deadly embrace

    A situation where two or more
   processes are unable to proceed because each is waiting for
   one of the others to do something.

   A common example is a program waiting for output from a server
   while the server is waiting for more input from the
   controlling program before outputting anything.  It is
   reported that this particular flavour of deadlock is sometimes
   called a "starvation deadlock", though the term "starvation"
   is more properly used for situations where a program can never
   run simply because it never gets high enough priority.

   Another common flavour is "constipation", in which each
   process is trying to send stuff to the other but all buffers
   are full because nobody is reading anything).  See deadly
   embrace.

   Another example, common in database programming, is two
   processes that are sharing some resource (e.g. read access to
   a table) but then both decide to wait for exclusive
   (e.g. write) access.

   The term "deadly embrace" is mostly synonymous, though usually
   used only when exactly two processes are involved.  This is
   the more popular term in Europe, while deadlock predominates
   in the United States.

   Compare: livelock.  See also safety property, liveness
   property.

   [Jargon File]

   (2000-07-26)