Inside Rust's std and parking_lot mutexes – who wins?
5 days ago
- #Rust
- #Performance
- #Concurrency
- Comparison between Rust's std::sync::Mutex and parking_lot::Mutex.
- std::Mutex uses platform-specific implementations (Futex on Linux) while parking_lot uses a uniform algorithm.
- parking_lot manages its own thread queues in user space, leading to a smaller memory footprint (1 byte vs std's larger size).
- parking_lot implements 'eventual fairness' to prevent thread starvation, unlike std which can lead to unfair lock acquisition.
- Benchmark results show std::Mutex performs better in low contention scenarios, while parking_lot excels in high contention and bursty workloads.
- parking_lot provides more predictable behavior and prevents thread monopolization, crucial for fairness in heavy workloads.
- Decision guide: Use std::Mutex for low contention and short critical sections; use parking_lot for fairness, predictability, and high contention scenarios.