If you download and install Java 1.6 then the updated version of Jconsole can be run against Sakai on a Java 1.5 platform. The newest version can detect thread deadlocking and has a pluggable structure.
For example to run Jconsole with the a pseudo top command tab on Ubuntu then try something similar to:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00/bin/jconsole -pluginpath Jtop.jar
Resulting in:
Scripting plugin
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00/bin/jconsole -pluginpath jconsole-plugin.jar
Deadlocking:
Command Line example
If you are looking for a regular command line test of deadlocking then the demo FullThreadDump.jar is a good example tool. If you have the demo code installed then try a command similar to:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00/bin/java -jar FullThreadDump.jar localhost:2222