Segmentation fault (core dumped) with multiple threads - c

Question

We have to make a program that simulates the function of a booking system for seats in a theater. We have N_cust clients that call at the telephone center and N_tel people who answer the phone calls. Each call lasts from t_seathigh to t_seatlow seconds. The payment with the credit card is successful with probability P_cardsuccess. The two arguments that the program gets are the number of clients and the seed for rand_r.There is a thread for each client, and the clients have to wait for a person to talk on the phone. My problem is that the program runs but gives a segmentation fault or gets stuck in an infinite loop on the first loop of the function AwesomeThreadFunction.
I thought that maybe I have not handled the variable telefoners correctly since the program sometimes gets stuck in the first loop of the function but I don't know how exactly. I also don't know why I get this segmentation fault. Where exactly does my program try to access not allocated memory.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include "p3170013-p3170115-p3170097-res1.h"
#include <unistd.h>
#define N_seat 250
#define N_tel 8
#define N_seatlow 1
#define N_seathigh 5
#define t_seatlow 5
#define t_seathigh 10
#define P_cardsuccess 0.9
#define C_seat 20.0
#define BILLION 1E9
pthread_mutex_t lock_phone, lock_bank_account,lock_number_of_transfer,lock_wait_time, lock_service_time, lock_plan, lock_screen;
int plan[N_seat];
int phone_count=0,bank_account=0,tid=0,seats=0,telefoners=N_tel;
unsigned int seed;
float avg_wait_time=0,avg_service_time;
pthread_cond_t cond = PTHREAD_COND_INITIALIZER;
void* AwesomeThreadFunction(void* vargc){
tid=*(int*)vargc;
struct timespec waitStart, waitEnd;
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &waitStart);
avg_wait_time-=(waitStart.tv_sec+waitStart.tv_nsec/BILLION);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("%d\n",telefoners);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_phone);
while (telefoners == 0) {
pthread_cond_wait(&cond, &lock_phone);
}
telefoners--;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_phone);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("coooooooool\n");
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &waitEnd);
avg_wait_time+=(waitEnd.tv_sec+waitEnd.tv_nsec/BILLION);
struct timespec talkStart, talkEnd;
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &talkStart);
int how_many_seats=rand_r(&seed);
seed=how_many_seats;
how_many_seats=how_many_seats%(N_seathigh-N_seatlow)+N_seatlow;
int how_many_seconds=rand_r(&seed);
seed=how_many_seconds;
how_many_seconds=how_many_seconds%(t_seathigh-t_seatlow)+t_seatlow;
sleep(how_many_seconds);
if(seats==N_seat){
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("%d Reservation cancelled because the theater is full\n",*(int*)vargc);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
}else if(seats+how_many_seats>N_seat){
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("%d Reservation cancelled because there are not enough seats available\n",*(int*)vargc);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
}else{
int c=0,i=0;
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_number_of_transfer);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_number_of_transfer);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_plan);
while(c<how_many_seats){
if(!plan[i]){
plan[i]=tid;
c++;
}
i++;
}
seats+=how_many_seats;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_plan);
int card_success=rand_r(&seed);
seed=card_success;
float tempp=(float)card_success/(float)RAND_MAX;
card_success=(tempp<=P_cardsuccess);
if(!card_success){
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("%d Reservation cancelled because the transaction with the credit card was not accepted\n",*(int*)vargc);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_plan);
c=0;i=0;
while(c<how_many_seats){
if(plan[i]==tid){
plan[i]=0;
c++;
}
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
i++;
}
seats-=how_many_seats;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_plan);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_number_of_transfer);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_number_of_transfer);
}else{
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("%d Reservation completed successfully.The number of the transaction is %d, your seats are ",*(int*)vargc,*(int*)vargc);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
c=0;i=0;
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_plan);
while(c<how_many_seats){
if(plan[i]==*(int*)vargc){
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("%d ",i);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
c++;
}
i++;
}
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_plan);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_screen);
printf("and the cost of the transaction is %.2f euros\n",how_many_seats*C_seat);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_screen);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_bank_account);
bank_account+=how_many_seats*C_seat;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_bank_account);
}
}
//we assume that the client is fully served when we have also printed out his/her result of the try to book seats
clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &talkEnd);
double cow = ( talkEnd.tv_sec - talkStart.tv_sec ) + ( talkEnd.tv_nsec - talkStart.tv_nsec ) / BILLION;
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_service_time);
avg_service_time+=cow;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_service_time);
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_phone);
telefoners++;
pthread_cond_signal(&cond);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_phone);
pthread_exit(0);
}
int main(int argc,char* argv[]){
int i;
for(i=0;i<N_seat;i++){
plan[i] = 0;
}
//if user did not give the correct number of arguments
if(argc!=3){
printf("Wrong number of arguments\n");
return -1;
}
int N_cust=atoi(argv[1]),tel_available=N_tel,err;
i=0;
seed=atoi(argv[2]);
pthread_t *threads=(pthread_t*)malloc(N_cust*sizeof(pthread_t));
int threadid[N_cust];
//if we can't init one of the mutexes
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_phone, NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_bank_account, NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_number_of_transfer, NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_wait_time, NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_service_time, NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_plan, NULL);
pthread_mutex_init(&lock_screen, NULL);
//creating the threads
while(i<N_cust){
threadid[i]=i+1;
err = pthread_create(&(threads[i]), NULL, AwesomeThreadFunction, (void*)&threadid[i]); //func name
if (err){
printf("Thread can't be created :[%s]\n", strerror(err));
}
i++;
}
//join the threads
void *status;
for (i = 0; i < N_cust; i++) {
rc = pthread_join(threads[i], &status);
if (rc != 0) {
printf("ERROR: return code from pthread_join() is %d\n", rc);
exit(-1);
}
printf("Main: Thread %lu finished with status %d.\n", threads[i], *(int *)status);
}
//final output
for(i=0;i<N_seat;++i){
if(plan[i]){
printf("Seat %d / client %d\n",i+1,plan[i]);
}
}
printf("Total revenue from sales:\t%d\n",bank_account);
printf("Average waiting time:\t%f\n",(float)avg_wait_time/(float)N_cust);
printf("Average service time:\t%f\n",(float)avg_service_time/(float)N_cust);
free(threads);
//Destroy mutexes
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_phone);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_bank_account);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_number_of_transfer);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_wait_time);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_service_time);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_plan);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&lock_screen);
pthread_cond_destroy(&cond);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

An immediate problem leading to segfault is in (irrelevant details omitted):
if(seats+how_many_seats>N_seat) {
....
} else {
int c=0,i=0;
pthread_mutex_lock(&lock_plan);
while(c<how_many_seats) {
if(!plan[i]){
plan[i]=tid;
c++;
}
i++;
}
seats+=how_many_seats;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock_plan);
The code determines if it can satisfy the request, and happily proceeds to reserving seats. Only then it locks the plan. Meanwhile, between testing for seats+how_many_seats>N_seat and locking the plan, another thread does the same and modifies the plan. After that there is less seats available than the first thread expects, and the while(c<how_many_seats) loop accesses plan off bounds.
I didn't check the rest; I expect other similar problems. The non-volatile globals are very suspicious. In any case, do yourself a favor and use more functions.