你可以通过以下方法清楚地记住不同之处:

互斥锁:用于保护关键区域， 互斥锁不能跨进程使用，只能在单个进程中使用 信号量:用于信号资源的可用性。 信号量既可以跨进程使用，也可以跨进程使用。

厕所的例子是一个有趣的类比:

Mutex: Is a key to a toilet. One person can have the key - occupy the toilet - at the time. When finished, the person gives (frees) the key to the next person in the queue. Officially: "Mutexes are typically used to serialise access to a section of re-entrant code that cannot be executed concurrently by more than one thread. A mutex object only allows one thread into a controlled section, forcing other threads which attempt to gain access to that section to wait until the first thread has exited from that section." Ref: Symbian Developer Library (A mutex is really a semaphore with value 1.) Semaphore: Is the number of free identical toilet keys. Example, say we have four toilets with identical locks and keys. The semaphore count - the count of keys - is set to 4 at beginning (all four toilets are free), then the count value is decremented as people are coming in. If all toilets are full, ie. there are no free keys left, the semaphore count is 0. Now, when eq. one person leaves the toilet, semaphore is increased to 1 (one free key), and given to the next person in the queue. Officially: "A semaphore restricts the number of simultaneous users of a shared resource up to a maximum number. Threads can request access to the resource (decrementing the semaphore), and can signal that they have finished using the resource (incrementing the semaphore)." Ref: Symbian Developer Library

虽然二进制信号量可以用作互斥量，但互斥量是一个更具体的用例，因为只有锁定了互斥量的进程才应该解锁它。这种所有权限制使我们有可能对以下情况提供保护:

意外释放 递归死锁 任务死亡死锁

这些限制并不总是存在，因为它们降低了速度。在代码开发期间，您可以暂时启用这些检查。

例如，你可以在互斥锁中启用错误检查属性。错误检查互斥量返回EDEADLK，如果你试图锁定同一个互斥量两次，如果你解锁了一个不是你的互斥量，返回EPERM。

pthread_mutex_t mutex;
pthread_mutexattr_t attr;
pthread_mutexattr_init (&attr);
pthread_mutexattr_settype (&attr, PTHREAD_MUTEX_ERRORCHECK_NP);
pthread_mutex_init (&mutex, &attr);

一旦初始化，我们可以将这些检查放在我们的代码中，就像这样:

if(pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex)==EPERM)
 printf("Unlock failed:Mutex not owned by this thread\n");

既然上面的答案都不能消除困惑，这里有一个答案可以消除我的困惑。

Strictly speaking, a mutex is a locking mechanism used to synchronize access to a resource. Only one task (can be a thread or process based on OS abstraction) can acquire the mutex. It means there will be ownership associated with mutex, and only the owner can release the lock (mutex). Semaphore is signaling mechanism (“I am done, you can carry on” kind of signal). For example, if you are listening songs (assume it as one task) on your mobile and at the same time your friend called you, an interrupt will be triggered upon which an interrupt service routine (ISR) will signal the call processing task to wakeup.

来源:http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/mutex-vs-semaphore/

在Windows上，互斥量和二进制信号量之间有两个区别:

互斥锁只能由拥有所有权的线程释放，即之前调用Wait函数的线程(或在创建互斥锁时获得所有权的线程)。任何线程都可以释放信号量。 线程可以在互斥锁上重复调用等待函数而不会阻塞。但是，如果你在一个二进制信号量上调用了两次等待函数，而中间没有释放信号量，线程就会阻塞。

虽然互斥量和信号量被用作同步原语，但它们之间有很大的区别。 在互斥锁的情况下，只有锁定或获得互斥锁的线程才能解锁它。 在信号量的情况下，等待信号量的线程可以由另一个线程发出信号。 一些操作系统支持在进程之间使用互斥量和信号量。通常使用是在共享内存中创建的。