Wait-free queues with multiple enqueuers and dequeuers

Abstract

The queue data structure is fundamental and ubiquitous. Lock-free versions of the queue are well known. However, an important open question is whether practical wait-free queues exist. Until now, only versions with limited concurrency were proposed. In this paper we provide a design for a practical wait-free queue. Our construction is based on the highly efficient lock-free queue of Michael and Scott. To achieve wait-freedom, we employ a priority-based helping scheme in which faster threads help the slower peers to complete their pending operations. We have implemented our scheme on multicore machines and present performance measurements comparing our implementation with that of Michael and Scott in several system configurations.