What's the difference between deadlock and livelock?

Question

Can somebody please explain with examples (of code) what is the difference between deadlock and livelock?

Answer 1

Maybe these two examples illustrate you the difference between a deadlock and a livelock:

---

Java-Example for a deadlock:

import java.util.concurrent.locks.Lock;
import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;

public class DeadlockSample {

    private static final Lock lock1 = new ReentrantLock(true);
    private static final Lock lock2 = new ReentrantLock(true);

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Thread threadA = new Thread(DeadlockSample::doA,"Thread A");
        Thread threadB = new Thread(DeadlockSample::doB,"Thread B");
        threadA.start();
        threadB.start();
    }

    public static void doA() {
        System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 1");
        lock1.lock();
        System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 1");

        try {
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 2");
            lock2.lock();
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 2");

            try {
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : critical section of doA()");
            } finally {
                lock2.unlock();
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 2 any longer");
            }
        } finally {
            lock1.unlock();
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 1 any longer");
        }
    }

    public static void doB() {
        System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 2");
        lock2.lock();
        System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 2");

        try {
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 1");
            lock1.lock();
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 1");

            try {
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : critical section of doB()");
            } finally {
                lock1.unlock();
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 1 any longer");
            }
        } finally {
            lock2.unlock();
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 2 any longer");
        }
    }
}

Sample output:

Thread A : waits for lock 1
Thread B : waits for lock 2
Thread A : holds lock 1
Thread B : holds lock 2
Thread B : waits for lock 1
Thread A : waits for lock 2

---

Java-Example for a livelock:

import java.util.concurrent.locks.Lock;
import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;

public class LivelockSample {

    private static final Lock lock1 = new ReentrantLock(true);
    private static final Lock lock2 = new ReentrantLock(true);

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Thread threadA = new Thread(LivelockSample::doA, "Thread A");
        Thread threadB = new Thread(LivelockSample::doB, "Thread B");
        threadA.start();
        threadB.start();
    }

    public static void doA() {
        try {
            while (!lock1.tryLock()) {
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 1");
                Thread.sleep(100);
            }
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 1");

            try {
                while (!lock2.tryLock()) {
                    System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 2");
                    Thread.sleep(100);
                }
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 2");

                try {
                    System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : critical section of doA()");
                } finally {
                    lock2.unlock();
                    System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 2 any longer");
                }
            } finally {
                lock1.unlock();
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 1 any longer");
            }
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            // can be ignored here for this sample
        }
    }

    public static void doB() {
        try {
            while (!lock2.tryLock()) {
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 2");
                Thread.sleep(100);
            }
            System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 2");

            try {
                while (!lock1.tryLock()) {
                    System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : waits for lock 1");
                    Thread.sleep(100);
                }
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : holds lock 1");

                try {
                    System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : critical section of doB()");
                } finally {
                    lock1.unlock();
                    System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 1 any longer");
                }
            } finally {
                lock2.unlock();
                System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " : does not hold lock 2 any longer");
            }
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            // can be ignored here for this sample
        }
    }
}

Sample output:

Thread B : holds lock 2
Thread A : holds lock 1
Thread A : waits for lock 2
Thread B : waits for lock 1
Thread B : waits for lock 1
Thread A : waits for lock 2
Thread A : waits for lock 2
Thread B : waits for lock 1
Thread B : waits for lock 1
Thread A : waits for lock 2
Thread A : waits for lock 2
Thread B : waits for lock 1
...

Both examples force the threads to aquire the locks in different orders. While the deadlock waits for the other lock, the livelock does not really wait - it desperately tries to acquire the lock without the chance of getting it. Every try consumes CPU cycles.