Priority inversion¶
Reeves, G., & Jones, M. (1997). Priority inversion. — a high-priority task is blocked because a low-priority task holds a lock it needs, while a medium-priority task runs and starves the low-priority holder, so the high-priority task waits on the lowest. The 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission suffered exactly this and recovered by enabling.
Cited by¶
1 citation across 1 artifact.
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Mechanisms¶
- Mutex or Lock
- Two locks acquired in inconsistent orders can also wait on each other forever, and a low-priority holder can stall a high-priority waiter — priority inversion, the fault that famously reset the Mars Pathfinder lander until its lock protocol was patched.
This sourceIt is the standard argument for keeping critical sections short and using inheritance/ceiling protocols on contended locks.
- Two locks acquired in inconsistent orders can also wait on each other forever, and a low-priority holder can stall a high-priority waiter — priority inversion, the fault that famously reset the Mars Pathfinder lander until its lock protocol was patched.
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