Recap
Shared resources
Code, global data
Open files, current working directory
Credentials
Thread-specific resources
Thread ID
Registers, stack
Priority
errno (error codes)
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 1/9
Thread creation
#include <pthread.h>
int pthread_create(pthread_t *thread,
const pthread_attr_t *attr,
void *(*start_routine) (void *),
void *arg);
First argument must contain address of valid, writable location.
Types (pthread_t, pthread_attr_t) are opaque, i.e., fields are not
known / cannot be accessed.
Compiling: gcc -pthread ... OR gcc ... -lpthread
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 2/9
Thread termination
By calling pthread_exit(void *retval)
By returning from start_routine()
equivalent to implicit call to pthread_exit() (for all threads other than
the thread in which main() was first invoked)
return value of start_routine() ≡ thread’s exit status
‡
By cancelling (killing) using pthread_cancel()
When any thread calls exit() or exec()
When ‘main’ thread returns from main(), all threads in process
without calling pthread_exit() terminate
If ‘main’ thread calls pthread_exit(), process exits with status 0
after termination of last thread
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 3/9
Thread termination
void pthread_exit(void *retval);
retval : return value
NOTE : avoid dangling pointers
The value pointed to by retval should not be located on the call-
ing thread’s stack, since the contents of that stack are undefined
after the thread terminates.
— from the man page
Does not release any application visible process resources,
i.e., does not release mutexes, close open files, etc.
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 4/9
Other useful functions
int pthread_join(pthread_t tid, void **thread_return);
tid : calling thread suspended until thread tid terminates
thread_return : if not NULL, return value of tid is stored in location
pointed to by thread_return
analogous to wait()
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 5/9
Other useful functions
int pthread_join(pthread_t tid, void **thread_return);
tid : calling thread suspended until thread tid terminates
thread_return : if not NULL, return value of tid is stored in location
pointed to by thread_return
analogous to wait()
pthread_t pthread_self(void);
// return "TRUE" if equal
int pthread_equal(pthread_t tid1, pthread_t tid2);
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 5/9
Misc. information
Linux-specific; obtained from Internet sources, subject to confirmation.
1:1 correspondence between each pthread and a kernel thread
many-to-many correspondence: Solaris, Windows 7
many-to-one correspondence: user-level threads
Thread ID unique only in context of a single process
fork() duplicates only calling thread
exec() from any thread stops all threads in parent process
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 6/9
Synchronisation
pthread_mutex_t initialised_mutex = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER,
uninitalised_mutex;
int pthread_mutex_init(pthread_mutex_t *uninitialised_mutex,
const pthread_mutexattr_t *mutexattr);
int pthread_mutex_lock(pthread_mutex_t *mutex);
int pthread_mutex_trylock(pthread_mutex_t *mutex);
int pthread_mutex_unlock(pthread_mutex_t *mutex);
pthread_mutex_trylock
if mutex is unlocked, locks mutex
if mutex is locked, returns error code EBUSY (does not block)
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 7/9
Thread safe / reentrant functions
Some functions use static or global variables to save state information
across calls, e.g., strtok()
⇒ non-thread safe / non re-entrant
Thread safe versions: strtok_r()
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 8/9
Useful websites
Recommended: https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/
http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialPosixThreads.html
Oracle’s multithreaded programming guide
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E18752_01/html/816-5137/toc.html
http://people.cs.pitt.edu/~melhem/courses/xx45p/pthread.pdf
https://randu.org/tutorials/threads/
Simple examples:
https://linuxprograms.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/
threads-programming-in-linux-examples/
M. Mitra (ISI) POSIX threads (pthreads) in Linux 9/9
