View serializable updates of concurrent index structures

Abstract

We present new algorithms for concurrent reading and updating of B*-trees and binary search trees. Our algorithms are based on the well-known link technique, and improve previously proposed solutions in several respects. We prove formally that our algorithms are correct. We show that they satisfy a view serializability criterion, which fails for previous solutions. This stronger serializability criterion is central to the proof that several subtle (but essential) optimizations incorporated in our algorithms are correct.