3.1. Interprocess Communication

See also

Example: Printing using a pipe to the child process

Examples of interprocess and interthread communication facilities includes:

• Data transfer:

  • Pipes (named, dynamic – shell or process generated)
  • shared buffers or files
  • TCP/IP socket communication (named, dynamic - loop back interface or network interface)

• Shared memory

  • Between Processes
  • Between Threads (global memory)

• Messages

  • OS provided message passing:

    send() / receive() – see Microkernels

  • Signals

  • Via locks, semaphores or monitors

Contents

• 3.1.1. Handling Signals
• 3.1.2. Potential Interprocess Communication Problems
  • 3.1.2.1. Starvation
  • 3.1.2.2. Deadlock
  • 3.1.2.3. Data Inconsistency
  • 3.1.2.4. Shared Buffer Problem