Solaris™ Internals: Core Kernel Components

3.4. Introduction to Synchronization Objects

The Solaris kernel implements several types of synchronization objects. Locks provide mutual exclusion semantics for synchronized access to shared data. Locks come in several forms and are the primary focus of this chapter. The most commonly used lock in the Solaris kernel is the mutual exclusion, or mutex lock, which provides exclusive read and write access to data. Also implemented are reader/writer (RW) locks, for situations where multiple readers are allowable but only one writer is allowed at a time. Kernel semaphores are also employed in some areas of the kernel, where access to a finite number of resources must be managed. A special type of mutex lock, called a dispatcher lock, is used by the ...