Resource Starvation

In computer science, starvation is a multitasking-related problem, where a process is perpetually denied necessary resources. Without those resources, the program can never finish its task.

Starvation is usually caused by an overly simplistic scheduling algorithm. The scheduling algorithm, which is part of the kernel, is supposed to allocate resources equitably; that is, the algorithm should allocate resources so that no process perpetually lacks necessary resources. For example, if a (not very well designed) multi-tasking system always switches between the first two tasks while a third never gets to run, then the third task is being starved of CPU time.

Many operating system schedulers have the concept of process priority. A high priority process A will run before a low priority process B. If the high priority process (process A) never blocks, the low priority process (B) will (in some systems) never be scheduled - it will experience starvation. If there is an even higher priority process X, which is dependent on a result from process B, then process X might never finish, even though it is the most important process in the system. This condition is called a priority inversion. Modern scheduling algorithms normally contain code to guarantee that all processes will receive a minimum amount of each important resource (most often CPU time) in order to prevent any process from being subjected to starvation.

In computer networks, especially wireless networks, scheduling algorithms may suffer from scheduling starvation. An example is maximum throughput scheduling.

Starvation is similar to deadlock in that it causes a process to freeze. Two or more processes become deadlocked when each of them is doing nothing while waiting for a resource occupied by another program in the same set. On the other hand, a process is in starvation when it is waiting for a resource that simply keeps getting given to other processes.

A possible solution to starvation is to use a scheduling algorithm with priority queue using also the aging technique: if a process with low priority isn't scheduled for a certain time t, the system itself proceeds to increase its priority.