Tcl Library Procedures Threads(3TCL)
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NAME
Tcl_ConditionNotify, Tcl_ConditionWait,
Tcl_ConditionFinalize, Tcl_GetThreadData, Tcl_MutexLock,
Tcl_MutexUnlock, Tcl_MutexFinalize, Tcl_CreateThread,
Tcl_JoinThread - Tcl thread support.
SYNOPSIS
#include
voidTcl_ConditionNotify(condPtr)
voidTcl_ConditionWait(condPtr, mutexPtr, timePtr)
voidTcl_ConditionFinalize(condPtr)
Void *Tcl_GetThreadData(keyPtr, size)
voidTcl_MutexLock(mutexPtr)
voidTcl_MutexUnlock(mutexPtr)
voidTcl_MutexFinalize(mutexPtr)
intTcl_CreateThread(idPtr, threadProc, clientData, stackSize, flags)
intTcl_JoinThread(id, result)
ARGUMENTSTcl_Condition *condPtr (in) A condition vari-
able, which must be associated with a mutex lock.Tcl_Mutex *mutexPtr (in) A mutex lock.
Tcl_Time *timePtr (in) A time limit on the
condition wait.NULL to wait for-
ever. Note that a polling value of 0 seconds doesn't make Tcl Last change: 8.1 1 Tcl Library Procedures Threads(3TCL) much sense.Tcl_ThreadDataKey *keyPtr (in) This identifies a
block of thread local storage. The key should be staticand process-wide,
yet each thread will end up associating a different block of storage with this key. int *size (in) The size of the thread local storage block. This amount of data is allocated and initialized to zero the first time each thread callsTcl_GetThreadData.
Tcl_ThreadId *idPtr (out) The referred storage
will contain the id of the newly created thread as returned by the operating system.Tcl_ThreadId id (in) Id of the thread
waited upon.Tcl_ThreadCreateProc threadProc(in)
This procedure will act as the main() of the newly createdthread. The speci-
fied clientData willbe its sole argu-
ment.ClientData clientData(in) Arbitrary informa-
tion. Passed as sole argument to the threadProc. int stackSize (in) The size of the stack given to the new thread. int flags (in) Bitmask containing flags allowing the Tcl Last change: 8.1 2 Tcl Library Procedures Threads(3TCL) caller to modify behaviour of the new thread. int *result (out) The referred storage is used to place the exit code of the thread waited upon into it._________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION Beginning with the 8.1 release, the Tcl core is thread safe, which allows you to incorporate Tcl into multithreaded applications without customizing the Tcl core. To enableTcl multithreading support, you must include the --enable-
threads option to configure when you configure and compile your Tcl core. An important constraint of the Tcl threads implementation is that only the thread that created a Tcl interpreter can use that interpreter. In other words, multiple threads can not access the same Tcl interpreter. (However, as was the case in previous releases, a single thread can safely create and use multiple interpreters.)Tcl does provide Tcl_CreateThread for creating threads. The |
caller can determine the size of the stack given to the new | thread and modify the behaviour through the supplied flags. |The value TCL_THREAD_STACK_DEFAULT for the stackSize indi- |
cates that the default size as specified by the operating | system is to be used for the new thread. As for the flags, |currently are only the values TCL_THREAD_NOFLAGS and |
TCL_THREAD_JOINABLE defined. The first of them invokes the |
default behaviour with no specialties. Using the second | value marks the new thread as joinable. This means that | another thread can wait for the such marked thread to exit | and join it. |Restrictions: On some unix systems the pthread-library does |
not contain the functionality to specify the stacksize of a | thread. The specified value for the stacksize is ignored on | these systems. Both Windows and Macintosh currently do not | support joinable threads. This flag value is therefore | ignored on these platforms.Tcl does provide Tcl_ExitThread and Tcl_FinalizeThread for
terminating threads and invoking optional per-thread exit
handlers. See the Tcl_Exit page for more information on
these procedures. Tcl Last change: 8.1 3 Tcl Library Procedures Threads(3TCL)The Tcl_JoinThread function is provided to allow threads to |
wait upon the exit of another thread, which must have been | marked as joinable through usage of the |TCL_THREAD_JOINABLE-flag during its creation via |
Tcl_CreateThread. |
Trying to wait for the exit of a non-joinable thread or a |
thread which is already waited upon will result in an error. |Waiting for a joinable thread which already exited is possi- |
ble, the system will retain the necessary information until |after the call to Tcl_JoinThread. This means that not cal- |
ling Tcl_JoinThread for a joinable thread will cause a |
memory leak.Tcl provides Tcl_ThreadQueueEvent and Tcl_ThreadAlert for
handling event queueing in multithreaded applications. Seethe Notifier manual page for more information on these pro-
cedures. In this release, the Tcl language itself provides no support for creating multithreaded scripts (for example, scripts that could spawn a Tcl interpreter in a separate thread). If you need to add this feature at this time, see the tclThreadTest.c file in the Tcl source distribution for anexperimental implementation or use the Tcl "Threading Exten-
sion" package implementing thread creation and management commands at the script level.DESCRIPTION
A mutex is a lock that is used to serialize all threadsthrough a piece of code by calling Tcl_MutexLock and
Tcl_MutexUnlock. If one thread holds a mutex, any other
thread calling Tcl_MutexLock will block until
Tcl_MutexUnlock is called. A mutex can be destroyed after |
its use by calling Tcl_MutexFinalize. The result of locking |
a mutex twice from the same thread is undefined. On some |platforms it will result in a deadlock. The Tcl_MutexLock,
Tcl_MutexUnlock and Tcl_MutexFinalize procedures are defined
as empty macros if not compiling with threads enabled. Fordeclaration of mutexes the TCL_DECLARE_MUTEX macro should be
used. This macro assures correct mutex handling even when the core is compiled without threads enabled. A condition variable is used as a signaling mechanism: athread can lock a mutex and then wait on a condition vari-
able with Tcl_ConditionWait. This atomically releases the
mutex lock and blocks the waiting thread until anotherthread calls Tcl_ConditionNotify. The caller of
Tcl_ConditionNotify should have the associated mutex held by
previously calling Tcl_MutexLock, but this is not enforced.
Tcl Last change: 8.1 4 Tcl Library Procedures Threads(3TCL)Notifying the condition variable unblocks all threads wait-
ing on the condition variable, but they do not proceed untilthe mutex is released with Tcl_MutexUnlock. The implementa-
tion of Tcl_ConditionWait automatically locks the mutex
before returning.The caller of Tcl_ConditionWait should be prepared for
spurious notifications by calling Tcl_ConditionWait within a
while loop that tests some invariant.A condition variable can be destroyed after its use by cal- |
ling Tcl_ConditionFinalize. |
The Tcl_ConditionNotify, Tcl_ConditionWait and |
Tcl_ConditionFinalize procedures are defined as empty macros |
if not compiling with threads enabled.The Tcl_GetThreadData call returns a pointer to a block of
thread-private data. Its argument is a key that is shared
by all threads and a size for the block of storage. The storage is automatically allocated and initialized to all zeros the first time each thread asks for it. The storageis automatically deallocated by Tcl_FinalizeThread.
INITIALIZATION All of these synchronization objects are self initializing. They are implemented as opaque pointers that should be NULL upon first use. The mutexes and condition variables are | either cleaned up by process exit handlers (if living that |long) or explicitly by calls to Tcl_MutexFinalize or |
Tcl_ConditionFinalize. Thread local storage is reclaimed
during Tcl_FinalizeThread.
CREATING THREADS The API to create threads is not finalized at this time. There are private facilities to create threads that contain a new Tcl interpreter, and to send scripts among threads. Dive into tclThreadTest.c and tclThread.c for examples.SEE ALSO
Tcl_GetCurrentThread, Tcl_ThreadQueueEvent, Tcl_ThreadAlert,
Tcl_ExitThread, Tcl_FinalizeThread,
Tcl_CreateThreadExitHandler, Tcl_DeleteThreadExitHandler
KEYWORDS thread, mutex, condition variable, thread local storageATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes: Tcl Last change: 8.1 5 Tcl Library Procedures Threads(3TCL)_______________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE|
|____________________|__________________|_
| Availability | runtime/tcl-8 |
|____________________|__________________|_
| Interface Stability| Uncommitted ||____________________|_________________|
NOTES Source for Tcl is available on http://opensolaris.org. Tcl Last change: 8.1 6