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Semaphore.javaAPI DocJava SE 5 API27187Fri Aug 26 14:57:26 BST 2005java.util.concurrent

Semaphore.java

/*
 * @(#)Semaphore.java	1.8 04/07/12
 *
 * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 */

package java.util.concurrent;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.concurrent.locks.*;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.*;

/**
 * A counting semaphore.  Conceptually, a semaphore maintains a set of
 * permits.  Each {@link #acquire} blocks if necessary until a permit is
 * available, and then takes it.  Each {@link #release} adds a permit,
 * potentially releasing a blocking acquirer.
 * However, no actual permit objects are used; the <tt>Semaphore</tt> just
 * keeps a count of the number available and acts accordingly.
 *
 * <p>Semaphores are often used to restrict the number of threads than can
 * access some (physical or logical) resource. For example, here is
 * a class that uses a semaphore to control access to a pool of items:
 * <pre>
 * class Pool {
 *   private static final MAX_AVAILABLE = 100;
 *   private final Semaphore available = new Semaphore(MAX_AVAILABLE, true);
 *
 *   public Object getItem() throws InterruptedException {
 *     available.acquire();
 *     return getNextAvailableItem();
 *   }
 *
 *   public void putItem(Object x) {
 *     if (markAsUnused(x))
 *       available.release();
 *   }
 *
 *   // Not a particularly efficient data structure; just for demo
 *
 *   protected Object[] items = ... whatever kinds of items being managed
 *   protected boolean[] used = new boolean[MAX_AVAILABLE];
 *
 *   protected synchronized Object getNextAvailableItem() {
 *     for (int i = 0; i < MAX_AVAILABLE; ++i) {
 *       if (!used[i]) {
 *          used[i] = true;
 *          return items[i];
 *       }
 *     }
 *     return null; // not reached
 *   }
 *
 *   protected synchronized boolean markAsUnused(Object item) {
 *     for (int i = 0; i < MAX_AVAILABLE; ++i) {
 *       if (item == items[i]) {
 *          if (used[i]) {
 *            used[i] = false;
 *            return true;
 *          } else
 *            return false;
 *       }
 *     }
 *     return false;
 *   }
 *
 * }
 * </pre>
 *
 * <p>Before obtaining an item each thread must acquire a permit from
 * the semaphore, guaranteeing that an item is available for use. When
 * the thread has finished with the item it is returned back to the
 * pool and a permit is returned to the semaphore, allowing another
 * thread to acquire that item.  Note that no synchronization lock is
 * held when {@link #acquire} is called as that would prevent an item
 * from being returned to the pool.  The semaphore encapsulates the
 * synchronization needed to restrict access to the pool, separately
 * from any synchronization needed to maintain the consistency of the
 * pool itself.
 *
 * <p>A semaphore initialized to one, and which is used such that it
 * only has at most one permit available, can serve as a mutual
 * exclusion lock.  This is more commonly known as a <em>binary
 * semaphore</em>, because it only has two states: one permit
 * available, or zero permits available.  When used in this way, the
 * binary semaphore has the property (unlike many {@link Lock}
 * implementations), that the "lock" can be released by a
 * thread other than the owner (as semaphores have no notion of
 * ownership).  This can be useful in some specialized contexts, such
 * as deadlock recovery.
 *
 * <p> The constructor for this class optionally accepts a
 * <em>fairness</em> parameter. When set false, this class makes no
 * guarantees about the order in which threads acquire permits. In
 * particular, <em>barging</em> is permitted, that is, a thread
 * invoking {@link #acquire} can be allocated a permit ahead of a
 * thread that has been waiting - logically the new thread places itself at
 * the head of the queue of waiting threads. When fairness is set true, the
 * semaphore guarantees that threads invoking any of the {@link
 * #acquire() acquire} methods are selected to obtain permits in the order in
 * which their invocation of those methods was processed
 * (first-in-first-out; FIFO). Note that FIFO ordering necessarily
 * applies to specific internal points of execution within these
 * methods.  So, it is possible for one thread to invoke
 * <tt>acquire</tt> before another, but reach the ordering point after
 * the other, and similarly upon return from the method.
 * Also note that the untimed {@link #tryAcquire() tryAcquire} methods do not
 * honor the fairness setting, but will take any permits that are
 * available.
 *
 * <p>Generally, semaphores used to control resource access should be
 * initialized as fair, to ensure that no thread is starved out from
 * accessing a resource. When using semaphores for other kinds of
 * synchronization control, the throughput advantages of non-fair
 * ordering often outweigh fairness considerations.
 *
 * <p>This class also provides convenience methods to {@link
 * #acquire(int) acquire} and {@link #release(int) release} multiple
 * permits at a time.  Beware of the increased risk of indefinite
 * postponement when these methods are used without fairness set true.
 *
 * @since 1.5
 * @author Doug Lea
 *
 */

public class Semaphore implements java.io.Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = -3222578661600680210L;
    /** All mechanics via AbstractQueuedSynchronizer subclass */
    private final Sync sync;

    /**
     * Synchronization implementation for semaphore.  Uses AQS state
     * to represent permits. Subclassed into fair and nonfair
     * versions.
     */
    abstract static class Sync extends AbstractQueuedSynchronizer {
        Sync(int permits) {
            setState(permits);
        }
        
        final int getPermits() {
            return getState();
        }

        final int nonfairTryAcquireShared(int acquires) {
            for (;;) {
                int available = getState();
                int remaining = available - acquires;
                if (remaining < 0 ||
                    compareAndSetState(available, remaining))
                    return remaining;
            }
        }
        
        protected final boolean tryReleaseShared(int releases) {
            for (;;) {
                int p = getState();
                if (compareAndSetState(p, p + releases)) 
                    return true;
            }
        }

        final void reducePermits(int reductions) {
            for (;;) {
                int current = getState();
                int next = current - reductions;
                if (compareAndSetState(current, next))
                    return;
            }
        }

        final int drainPermits() {
            for (;;) {
                int current = getState();
                if (current == 0 || compareAndSetState(current, 0))
                    return current;
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * NonFair version
     */
    final static class NonfairSync extends Sync {
        NonfairSync(int permits) {
            super(permits);
        }
       
        protected int tryAcquireShared(int acquires) {
            return nonfairTryAcquireShared(acquires);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Fair version
     */
    final static class FairSync extends Sync {
        FairSync(int permits) {
            super(permits);
        }
        
        protected int tryAcquireShared(int acquires) {
            Thread current = Thread.currentThread();
            for (;;) {
                Thread first = getFirstQueuedThread();
                if (first != null && first != current)
                    return -1;
                int available = getState();
                int remaining = available - acquires;
                if (remaining < 0 ||
                    compareAndSetState(available, remaining))
                    return remaining;
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * Creates a <tt>Semaphore</tt> with the given number of
     * permits and nonfair fairness setting.
     * @param permits the initial number of permits available. This
     * value may be negative, in which case releases must
     * occur before any acquires will be granted.
     */
    public Semaphore(int permits) { 
        sync = new NonfairSync(permits);
    }

    /**
     * Creates a <tt>Semaphore</tt> with the given number of
     * permits and the given fairness setting.
     * @param permits the initial number of permits available. This
     * value may be negative, in which case releases must
     * occur before any acquires will be granted.
     * @param fair true if this semaphore will guarantee first-in
     * first-out granting of permits under contention, else false.
     */
    public Semaphore(int permits, boolean fair) { 
        sync = (fair)? new FairSync(permits) : new NonfairSync(permits);
    }

    /**
     * Acquires a permit from this semaphore, blocking until one is
     * available, or the thread is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted}.
     *
     * <p>Acquires a permit, if one is available and returns immediately,
     * reducing the number of available permits by one.
     * <p>If no permit is available then the current thread becomes
     * disabled for thread scheduling purposes and lies dormant until
     * one of two things happens:
     * <ul>
     * <li>Some other thread invokes the {@link #release} method for this
     * semaphore and the current thread is next to be assigned a permit; or
     * <li>Some other thread {@link Thread#interrupt interrupts} the current
     * thread.
     * </ul>
     *
     * <p>If the current thread:
     * <ul>
     * <li>has its interrupted status set on entry to this method; or
     * <li>is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while waiting
     * for a permit,
     * </ul>
     * then {@link InterruptedException} is thrown and the current thread's
     * interrupted status is cleared.
     *
     * @throws InterruptedException if the current thread is interrupted
     *
     * @see Thread#interrupt
     */
    public void acquire() throws InterruptedException {
        sync.acquireSharedInterruptibly(1);
    }

    /**
     * Acquires a permit from this semaphore, blocking until one is
     * available.
     *
     * <p>Acquires a permit, if one is available and returns immediately,
     * reducing the number of available permits by one.
     * <p>If no permit is available then the current thread becomes
     * disabled for thread scheduling purposes and lies dormant until
     * some other thread invokes the {@link #release} method for this
     * semaphore and the current thread is next to be assigned a permit.
     *
     * <p>If the current thread
     * is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while waiting
     * for a permit then it will continue to wait, but the time at which
     * the thread is assigned a permit may change compared to the time it
     * would have received the permit had no interruption occurred. When the
     * thread does return from this method its interrupt status will be set.
     *
     */
    public void acquireUninterruptibly() {
        sync.acquireShared(1);
    }

    /**
     * Acquires a permit from this semaphore, only if one is available at the 
     * time of invocation.
     * <p>Acquires a permit, if one is available and returns immediately,
     * with the value <tt>true</tt>,
     * reducing the number of available permits by one.
     *
     * <p>If no permit is available then this method will return
     * immediately with the value <tt>false</tt>.
     *
     * <p>Even when this semaphore has been set to use a
     * fair ordering policy, a call to <tt>tryAcquire()</tt> <em>will</em>
     * immediately acquire a permit if one is available, whether or not
     * other threads are currently waiting. 
     * This "barging" behavior can be useful in certain 
     * circumstances, even though it breaks fairness. If you want to honor
     * the fairness setting, then use 
     * {@link #tryAcquire(long, TimeUnit) tryAcquire(0, TimeUnit.SECONDS) }
     * which is almost equivalent (it also detects interruption).
     *
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if a permit was acquired and <tt>false</tt>
     * otherwise.
     */
    public boolean tryAcquire() {
        return sync.nonfairTryAcquireShared(1) >= 0;
    }

    /**
     * Acquires a permit from this semaphore, if one becomes available 
     * within the given waiting time and the
     * current thread has not been {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted}.
     * <p>Acquires a permit, if one is available and returns immediately,
     * with the value <tt>true</tt>,
     * reducing the number of available permits by one.
     * <p>If no permit is available then
     * the current thread becomes disabled for thread scheduling
     * purposes and lies dormant until one of three things happens:
     * <ul>
     * <li>Some other thread invokes the {@link #release} method for this
     * semaphore and the current thread is next to be assigned a permit; or
     * <li>Some other thread {@link Thread#interrupt interrupts} the current
     * thread; or
     * <li>The specified waiting time elapses.
     * </ul>
     * <p>If a permit is acquired then the value <tt>true</tt> is returned.
     * <p>If the current thread:
     * <ul>
     * <li>has its interrupted status set on entry to this method; or
     * <li>is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while waiting to acquire
     * a permit,
     * </ul>
     * then {@link InterruptedException} is thrown and the current thread's
     * interrupted status is cleared.
     * <p>If the specified waiting time elapses then the value <tt>false</tt>
     * is returned.
     * If the time is less than or equal to zero, the method will not wait 
     * at all.
     *
     * @param timeout the maximum time to wait for a permit
     * @param unit the time unit of the <tt>timeout</tt> argument.
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if a permit was acquired and <tt>false</tt>
     * if the waiting time elapsed before a permit was acquired.
     *
     * @throws InterruptedException if the current thread is interrupted
     *
     * @see Thread#interrupt
     *
     */
    public boolean tryAcquire(long timeout, TimeUnit unit) 
        throws InterruptedException {
        return sync.tryAcquireSharedNanos(1, unit.toNanos(timeout));
    }

    /**
     * Releases a permit, returning it to the semaphore.
     * <p>Releases a permit, increasing the number of available permits
     * by one.
     * If any threads are trying to acquire a permit, then one
     * is selected and given the permit that was just released.
     * That thread is (re)enabled for thread scheduling purposes.
     * <p>There is no requirement that a thread that releases a permit must
     * have acquired that permit by calling {@link #acquire}.
     * Correct usage of a semaphore is established by programming convention
     * in the application.
     */
    public void release() {
        sync.releaseShared(1);
    }
       
    /**
     * Acquires the given number of permits from this semaphore, 
     * blocking until all are available, 
     * or the thread is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted}.
     *
     * <p>Acquires the given number of permits, if they are available,
     * and returns immediately,
     * reducing the number of available permits by the given amount.
     *
     * <p>If insufficient permits are available then the current thread becomes
     * disabled for thread scheduling purposes and lies dormant until
     * one of two things happens:
     * <ul>
     * <li>Some other thread invokes one of the {@link #release() release} 
     * methods for this semaphore, the current thread is next to be assigned
     * permits and the number of available permits satisfies this request; or
     * <li>Some other thread {@link Thread#interrupt interrupts} the current
     * thread.
     * </ul>
     *
     * <p>If the current thread:
     * <ul>
     * <li>has its interrupted status set on entry to this method; or
     * <li>is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while waiting
     * for a permit,
     * </ul>
     * then {@link InterruptedException} is thrown and the current thread's
     * interrupted status is cleared. 
     * Any permits that were to be assigned to this thread are instead 
     * assigned to other threads trying to acquire permits, as if
     * permits had been made available by a call to {@link #release()}.
     *
     * @param permits the number of permits to acquire
     *
     * @throws InterruptedException if the current thread is interrupted
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if permits less than zero.
     *
     * @see Thread#interrupt
     */
    public void acquire(int permits) throws InterruptedException {
        if (permits < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
        sync.acquireSharedInterruptibly(permits);
    }

    /**
     * Acquires the given number of permits from this semaphore, 
     * blocking until all are available.
     *
     * <p>Acquires the given number of permits, if they are available,
     * and returns immediately,
     * reducing the number of available permits by the given amount.
     *
     * <p>If insufficient permits are available then the current thread becomes
     * disabled for thread scheduling purposes and lies dormant until
     * some other thread invokes one of the {@link #release() release} 
     * methods for this semaphore, the current thread is next to be assigned
     * permits and the number of available permits satisfies this request.
     *
     * <p>If the current thread
     * is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while waiting
     * for permits then it will continue to wait and its position in the
     * queue is not affected. When the
     * thread does return from this method its interrupt status will be set.
     *
     * @param permits the number of permits to acquire
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if permits less than zero.
     *
     */
    public void acquireUninterruptibly(int permits) {
        if (permits < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
        sync.acquireShared(permits);
    }

    /**
     * Acquires the given number of permits from this semaphore, only
     * if all are available at the time of invocation.
     *
     * <p>Acquires the given number of permits, if they are available, and 
     * returns immediately, with the value <tt>true</tt>,
     * reducing the number of available permits by the given amount.
     *
     * <p>If insufficient permits are available then this method will return
     * immediately with the value <tt>false</tt> and the number of available
     * permits is unchanged.
     *
     * <p>Even when this semaphore has been set to use a fair ordering
     * policy, a call to <tt>tryAcquire</tt> <em>will</em>
     * immediately acquire a permit if one is available, whether or
     * not other threads are currently waiting.  This
     * "barging" behavior can be useful in certain
     * circumstances, even though it breaks fairness. If you want to
     * honor the fairness setting, then use {@link #tryAcquire(int,
     * long, TimeUnit) tryAcquire(permits, 0, TimeUnit.SECONDS) }
     * which is almost equivalent (it also detects interruption).
     *
     * @param permits the number of permits to acquire
     *
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if the permits were acquired and <tt>false</tt>
     * otherwise.
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if permits less than zero.
     */
    public boolean tryAcquire(int permits) {
        if (permits < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
        return sync.nonfairTryAcquireShared(permits) >= 0;
    }

    /**
     * Acquires the given number of permits from this semaphore, if all 
     * become available within the given waiting time and the
     * current thread has not been {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted}.
     * <p>Acquires the given number of permits, if they are available and 
     * returns immediately, with the value <tt>true</tt>,
     * reducing the number of available permits by the given amount.
     * <p>If insufficient permits are available then
     * the current thread becomes disabled for thread scheduling
     * purposes and lies dormant until one of three things happens:
     * <ul>
     * <li>Some other thread invokes one of the {@link #release() release} 
     * methods for this semaphore, the current thread is next to be assigned
     * permits and the number of available permits satisfies this request; or
     * <li>Some other thread {@link Thread#interrupt interrupts} the current
     * thread; or
     * <li>The specified waiting time elapses.
     * </ul>
     * <p>If the permits are acquired then the value <tt>true</tt> is returned.
     * <p>If the current thread:
     * <ul>
     * <li>has its interrupted status set on entry to this method; or
     * <li>is {@link Thread#interrupt interrupted} while waiting to acquire
     * the permits,
     * </ul>
     * then {@link InterruptedException} is thrown and the current thread's
     * interrupted status is cleared.
     * Any permits that were to be assigned to this thread, are instead 
     * assigned to other threads trying to acquire permits, as if
     * the permits had been made available by a call to {@link #release()}.
     *
     * <p>If the specified waiting time elapses then the value <tt>false</tt>
     * is returned.
     * If the time is
     * less than or equal to zero, the method will not wait at all.
     * Any permits that were to be assigned to this thread, are instead 
     * assigned to other threads trying to acquire permits, as if
     * the permits had been made available by a call to {@link #release()}.
     *
     * @param permits the number of permits to acquire
     * @param timeout the maximum time to wait for the permits
     * @param unit the time unit of the <tt>timeout</tt> argument.
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if all permits were acquired and <tt>false</tt>
     * if the waiting time elapsed before all permits were acquired.
     *
     * @throws InterruptedException if the current thread is interrupted
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if permits less than zero.
     *
     * @see Thread#interrupt
     *
     */
    public boolean tryAcquire(int permits, long timeout, TimeUnit unit)
        throws InterruptedException {
        if (permits < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
        return sync.tryAcquireSharedNanos(permits, unit.toNanos(timeout));
    }

    /**
     * Releases the given number of permits, returning them to the semaphore.
     * <p>Releases the given number of permits, increasing the number of 
     * available permits by that amount.
     * If any threads are trying to acquire permits, then one
     * is selected and given the permits that were just released.
     * If the number of available permits satisfies that thread's request
     * then that thread is (re)enabled for thread scheduling purposes;
     * otherwise the thread will wait until sufficient permits are available.
     * If there are still permits available
     * after this thread's request has been satisfied, then those permits
     * are assigned in turn to other threads trying to acquire permits.
     *
     * <p>There is no requirement that a thread that releases a permit must
     * have acquired that permit by calling {@link Semaphore#acquire acquire}.
     * Correct usage of a semaphore is established by programming convention
     * in the application.
     *
     * @param permits the number of permits to release
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if permits less than zero.
     */
    public void release(int permits) {
        if (permits < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
        sync.releaseShared(permits);
    }

    /**
     * Returns the current number of permits available in this semaphore.
     * <p>This method is typically used for debugging and testing purposes.
     * @return the number of permits available in this semaphore.
     */
    public int availablePermits() {
        return sync.getPermits();
    }

    /**
     * Acquire and return all permits that are immediately available.
     * @return the number of permits 
     */
    public int drainPermits() {
        return sync.drainPermits();
    }

    /**
     * Shrinks the number of available permits by the indicated
     * reduction. This method can be useful in subclasses that use
     * semaphores to track resources that become unavailable. This
     * method differs from <tt>acquire</tt> in that it does not block
     * waiting for permits to become available.
     * @param reduction the number of permits to remove
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if reduction is negative
     */
    protected void reducePermits(int reduction) {
	if (reduction < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
        sync.reducePermits(reduction);
    }

    /**
     * Returns true if this semaphore has fairness set true.
     * @return true if this semaphore has fairness set true.
     */
    public boolean isFair() {
        return sync instanceof FairSync;
    }

    /**
     * Queries whether any threads are waiting to acquire. Note that
     * because cancellations may occur at any time, a <tt>true</tt>
     * return does not guarantee that any other thread will ever
     * acquire.  This method is designed primarily for use in
     * monitoring of the system state.
     *
     * @return true if there may be other threads waiting to acquire
     * the lock.
     */
    public final boolean hasQueuedThreads() { 
        return sync.hasQueuedThreads();
    }

    /**
     * Returns an estimate of the number of threads waiting to
     * acquire.  The value is only an estimate because the number of
     * threads may change dynamically while this method traverses
     * internal data structures.  This method is designed for use in
     * monitoring of the system state, not for synchronization
     * control.
     * @return the estimated number of threads waiting for this lock
     */
    public final int getQueueLength() {
        return sync.getQueueLength();
    }

    /**
     * Returns a collection containing threads that may be waiting to
     * acquire.  Because the actual set of threads may change
     * dynamically while constructing this result, the returned
     * collection is only a best-effort estimate.  The elements of the
     * returned collection are in no particular order.  This method is
     * designed to facilitate construction of subclasses that provide
     * more extensive monitoring facilities.
     * @return the collection of threads
     */
    protected Collection<Thread> getQueuedThreads() {
        return sync.getQueuedThreads();
    }

    /**
     * Returns a string identifying this semaphore, as well as its state.
     * The state, in brackets, includes the String 
     * "Permits =" followed by the number of permits.
     * @return a string identifying this semaphore, as well as its
     * state
     */
    public String toString() {
        return super.toString() + "[Permits = " + sync.getPermits() + "]";
    }

}