Deadlock je stanje, v katerem sta dve ali več niti vsaka za vedno blokirani, vsaka čaka na vir, ki ga drži druga. Nič ne napreduje.
Štirje nujni (Coffmanovi) pogoji
Vsi štirje morajo veljati hkrati — odstranite katerega koli in deadlock je nemogoč:
1. Mutual exclusion → a resource is held exclusively (only one holder at a time)
2. Hold and wait → a thread holds one resource while waiting to acquire another
3. No preemption → resources can't be forcibly taken; only released voluntarily
4. Circular wait → a cycle: T1 waits for R2 (held by T2), T2 waits for R1 (held by T1)
