Accessing a shared data set

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory tangible storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processor of a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

• initiating at least one reader thread configured to perform a read operation on the shared data set;
• recording a reader thread state for the at least one reader thread in a data structure in response to the at least one reader thread requesting a shared lock;
• selectively acquiring the shared lock for the at least one reader thread;
• implementing processing of the at least one reader thread after acquiring the shared lock;
• selectively interrupting the processing of the at least one reader thread in response to an exclusive lock request;
• restoring the at least one reader thread state using the reader thread state recorded in the data structure and releasing the shared lock after the processing of the at least one reader thread is interrupted;
• acquiring an exclusive lock in response to the exclusive lock request once holding of the shared lock is fully released;
• resuming the processing of the at least one reader thread to re-request the shared lock after the exclusive lock has been acquired;
• reacquiring the shared lock for the at least one reader thread in response to determining a releasing of the exclusive lock.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor configured for controlling the computer system;
• and
• a memory storing machine executable instructions, execution of the instructions causes the processor to:
• initiate at least one reader thread configured to perform a read operation on a shared data set;
• record a reader thread state for the at least one reader thread in a data structure in response to the at least one reader thread requesting a shared lock;
• selectively acquire the shared lock for the at least one reader thread;
• implement processing of the at least one reader thread after acquiring the shared lock;
• selectively interrupt the processing of the at least one reader thread in response to an exclusive lock request;
• restore the at least one reader thread state using the reader thread state recorded in the data structure and releasing the shared lock after the processing of the at least one reader thread is interrupted;
• acquire an exclusive lock in response to the exclusive lock request once holding of the shared lock is fully released;
• resume the processing of the at least one reader thread to re-request the shared lock after the exclusive lock has been acquired;
• and
• reacquire the shared lock for the at least one reader thread in response to determining a releasing of the exclusive lock.