Deadlocked, Termination Is Imminent
We were testing a multi-user database application and received the following somewhat amusing error message.
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver] [SQL Server] your transaction [Processid #13) was deadlocked with another process and has been chosen as deadlock victim. Termination is imminent.
The dictionary definition of deadlock, according to whatis.techtarget.com: "a situation in which two computer programs sharing the same resource are effectively preventing each other from accessing the resource, resulting in both programs ceasing to function."
Whatis.techtarget.com goes on to further explain the concept of deadlock with an example of how it might happen:
Now neither program can proceed until the other program releases a resource. At this point the only alternative is to abort (stop) one of the programs.