When a context switch occurs, the kernel saves the context of the old process into its Program Control Block and loads the saved context of the new process scheduled to run.
Context switching between kernel threads typically requires saving the value of the CPU registers from the thread being switched out and restoring the CPU registers of the new thread being scheduled.
•No special support needed from the kernel (use any Unix) •Thread creation and context switch are fast (no syscall) •Defines its own thread model and scheduling policies
Kernel level threads take a longer time to context switch since OS will have to save and reload each and every TCB (Thread Control block) where as in user level no kernel intervention threads simply context switch more efficiently. But there are disadvantages such as since OS sees the user leve threads as a whole process it will not give a large portion of CPU time for execution if a thread is blocked the whole process goes to the waiting state please correct my answer if im wrong godlovesu49@hotmail.com thanks regards yo
AnswerThe thread library function performs the following actions to context switch between user level threads:1. Copy all live registers to Thread control Block (TCB)2. Restore the state of the thread to run next i.e. (copy the values of live registers from (TCB) to registers)3. Move to the next thread to execute
A thread.
Context means ,in terms of computers, the status of various general purpose registers having some process specific data values and even some other structures dependent on computer hardware,i.e. PCB etc. Now what context switch means ,""switching from one status of registers set to another status of registers set."" This context may be of a process or thread etc. Now when we are talking about any type of context switching,,it means we are requesting the KERNEL to save the current context anywhere,and fetch the next context for us.. It requires a mode switch between user mode to kernel mode, so that required switching may be performed in right order.... Isn't it simple ,,or what.
Thread
KERNEL In computing, the kernel is the central component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the communication between hardware and software components).
User-level threads have the advantage of being lightweight and can be managed without kernel intervention, allowing for faster thread switching. However, they are limited in their ability to utilize multiple processors efficiently and can be blocked by system calls made by a single thread. Kernel-level threads, on the other hand, offer better performance on multi-core systems and can take advantage of kernel features, but they are heavier in terms of resource consumption and switching between threads can be slower due to kernel involvement.
In the past (and perhaps currently as well) it has used round-robin, at one time 1 second but since updated to .1 seconds. It may also have other features such as preemptive abilities. Priority fair scheduling.
A system call is actually a transition from user mode to kernel space to carry out a required operation.. For exp: Write() function resides in kernel space and can be accessed by a only corresponding wrapper function which was implemented in user space.. In case of Windows OS, Win32 API is the implementation to such as wrapper functions that make the actual system calls from user mode.. A kernel thread is created, scheduled and destroyed by the kernel.. Whereas a library thread (user thread) is created, scheduled and destroyed by a user level library like special threading libraries.. The kernel does know of nothing about library threads since they live in a process's boundaries and bound to its life cycle tightly.. Actually, a process is not the primary execution unit in all operating systems.. When a process is made by kernel, a new kernel thread is created and attached to that process in question.. So the library threads created in user mode by a user mode library must share the time slices given to the kernel thread by the scheduler arbitrarily during the lifetime of a process.. So a process actually has one kernel thread and all other library threads have to share the kernel thread's cycles.. Hence when a library thread makes a blocking call, all the threads within the process are blocked because as I said, actually process has only one kernel thread assigned to it and others try to make use of it.. So to prevent other threads from blocking, either you should use library threads that make use of kernel threads or you could just use the CreateThread() Win32 API system function for kernel threads but the synchronization mechanism must be provided by the programmer using events, signals, mutex, semaphore etc.. Sun, BSD Unix flavours, Windows etc follow the same threading architecture in their systems as POSIX standard.. However, a thread is a process in Linux.. That's why Linux is so powerful in server systems.. So the control is left to programmers to create a POSIX way of treading model by Clone(2) system call(s).. So address space and data etc can be shared by lightweight processes easily.. When a Linux kernel thread (child process) is crashed, it won't affect the rest of the threads belong to parent process.. This is just the opposite in other operating systems that a crashing thread will destroy all of the threads in the process.. NPTL is a great threading library that was implemented by using Linux clone(2) system call.. Linux also has another type of kernel thread only lives in kernel space that can be utilized by kernel code like modules.. User threads can't be run in parallel on the different CPUs because of this. However, they are portable.. Kernel threads can be scheduled by kernel to be run on a SMP system.. Hope this helps.. hsaq19@ TH Algan
A kernel thread, sometimes called a LWP (Lightweight Process) is created and scheduled by the kernel. Kernel threads are often more expensive to create than user threads and the system calls to directly create kernel threads are very platform specific. A user thread is normally created by a threading library and scheduling is managed by the threading library itself (Which runs in user mode). All user threads belong to process that created them. The advantage of user threads is that they are portable. The major difference can be seen when using multiprocessor systems, user threads completely managed by the threading library can't be ran in parallel on the different CPUs, although this means they will run fine on uniprocessor systems. Since kernel threads use the kernel scheduler, different kernel threads can run on different CPUs. Many systems implement threading differently, A many-to-one threading model maps many user processes directly to one kernel thread, the kernel thread can be thought of as the main process. A one-to-one threading model maps each user thread directly to one kernel thread, this model allows parallel processing on the multiprocessor systems. Each kernel thread can be thought of as a VP (Virtual Process) which is managed by the scheduler.