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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
+<!DOCTYPE html
+ PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+ <meta name="AUTHOR" content="bkoz@gcc.gnu.org (Benjamin Kosnik)" />
+ <meta name="KEYWORDS" content="C++, libstdc++, MT, thread, pthread, mutex, loc, atomic" />
+ <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="Concurrency Support" />
+ <meta name="GENERATOR" content="emacs and ten fingers" />
+ <title>Concurrency Support</title>
+<link rel="StyleSheet" href="lib3styles.css" type="text/css" />
+<link rel="Start" href="documentation.html" type="text/html"
+ title="GNU C++ Standard Library" />
+<link rel="Copyright" href="17_intro/license.html" type="text/html" />
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<h1 class="centered"><a name="top">Concurrency Support</a></h1>
+
+<p class="fineprint"><em>
+ The latest version of this document is always available at
+ <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/17_intro/concurrence.html">
+ http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/17_intro/concurrence.html</a>.
+</em></p>
+
+<p><em>
+ To the <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/libstdc++/">libstdc++ homepage</a>.
+</em></p>
+
+
+<!-- ####################################################### -->
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<p>The interface for concurrency support is divided into two files:
+&lt;ext/atomicity.h&gt; which provides support for atomic operations,
+and &lt;ext/concurrence.h&gt;, which provides mutex and lock objects
+as well as compile-time data structures for querying thread
+support.</p>
+
+<p>It is expected that support for concurrence will evolve into what
+is specified in the draft C++0x standard.</p>
+
+<h3 class="left">
+ <a name="atomic_api">Atomics Interface</a>
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Two functions and one type form the base of atomic support.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>The type <code>_Atomic_word</code> is a signed integral type
+supporting atomic operations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two functions functions are:
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+_Atomic_word
+__exchange_and_add_dispatch(volatile _Atomic_word*, int);
+
+void
+__atomic_add_dispatch(volatile _Atomic_word*, int);
+</pre>
+
+<p>Both of these functions are declared in the header file
+&lt;ext/atomicity.h&gt;, and are in <code>namespace __gnu_cxx</code>.
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>
+<code>
+__exchange_and_add_dispatch
+</code>
+<p>Adds the second argument's value to the first argument. Returns the old value.
+</p>
+</li>
+<li>
+<code>
+__atomic_add_dispatch
+</code>
+<p>Adds the second argument's value to the first argument. Has no return value.
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+These functions forward to one of several specialized helper
+functions, depending on the circumstances. For instance,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<code>
+__exchange_and_add_dispatch
+</code>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Calls through to either of:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li><code>__exchange_and_add</code>
+<p>Multi-thread version. Inlined if compiler-generated builtin atomics
+can be used, otherwise resolved at link time to a non-builtin code
+sequence.
+</p>
+</li>
+
+<li><code>__exchange_and_add_single</code>
+<p>Single threaded version. Inlined.</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>However, only <code>__exchange_and_add_dispatch</code>
+and <code>__atomic_add_dispatch</code> should be used. These functions
+can be used in a portable manner, regardless of the specific
+environment. They are carefully designed to provide optimum efficiency
+and speed, abstracting out atomic accesses when they are not required
+(even on hosts that support compiler intrinsics for atomic
+operations.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In addition, there are two macros
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<code>
+_GLIBCXX_READ_MEM_BARRIER
+</code>
+</p>
+<p>
+<code>
+_GLIBCXX_WRITE_MEM_BARRIER
+</code>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Which expand to the appropriate write and read barrier required by the
+host hardware and operating system.
+</p>
+
+<h3 class="left">
+ <a name="pthread_api">Pthread Interface</a>
+</h3>
+
+<p>A thin layer above IEEE 1003.1 (ie pthreads) is used to abstract
+the thread interface for GCC. This layer is called "gthread," and is
+comprised of one header file that wraps the host's default thread layer with
+a POSIX-like interface.
+</p>
+
+<p> The file &lt;gthr-default.h&gt; points to the deduced wrapper for
+the current host. In libstdc++ implementation files,
+&lt;bits/gthr.h&gt; is used to select the proper gthreads file.
+</p>
+
+<p>Within libstdc++ sources, all calls to underlying thread functionality
+use this layer. More detail as to the specific interface can be found in the source <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/latest-doxygen/gthr_8h-source.html">documentation</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>By design, the gthread layer is interoperable with the types,
+functions, and usage found in the usual &lt;pthread.h&gt; file,
+including <code>pthread_t</code>, <code>pthread_once_t</code>, <code>pthread_create</code>,
+etc.
+</p>
+
+<h3 class="left">
+ <a name="concur_api">Concurrence Interface</a>
+</h3>
+
+<p>The file &lt;ext/concurrence.h&gt; contains all the higher-level
+constructs for playing with threads. In contrast to the atomics layer,
+the concurrence layer consists largely of types. All types are defined within <code>namespace __gnu_cxx</code>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These types can be used in a portable manner, regardless of the
+specific environment. They are carefully designed to provide optimum
+efficiency and speed, abstracting out underlying thread calls and
+accesses when compiling for single-threaded situations (even on hosts
+that support multiple threads.)
+</p>
+
+<p>The enumerated type <code>_Lock_policy</code> details the set of
+available locking
+policies: <code>_S_single</code>, <code>_S_mutex</code>,
+and <code>_S_atomic</code>.
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li><code>_S_single</code>
+<p>Indicates single-threaded code that does not need locking.
+</p>
+
+</li>
+<li><code>_S_mutex</code>
+<p>Indicates multi-threaded code using thread-layer abstractions.
+</p>
+</li>
+<li><code>_S_atomic</code>
+<p>Indicates multi-threaded code using atomic operations.
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>The compile-time constant <code>__default_lock_policy</code> is set
+to one of the three values above, depending on characteristics of the
+host environment and the current compilation flags.
+</p>
+
+<p>Two more datatypes make up the rest of the
+interface: <code>__mutex</code>, and <code>__scoped_lock</code>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+<p>The scoped lock idiom is well-discussed within the C++
+community. This version takes a <code>__mutex</code> reference, and
+locks it during construction of <code>__scoped_locke</code> and
+unlocks it during destruction. This is an efficient way of locking
+critical sections, while retaining exception-safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>Typical usage of the last two constructs is demonstrated as follows:
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+#include &lt;ext/concurrence.h&gt;
+
+namespace
+{
+ __gnu_cxx::__mutex safe_base_mutex;
+} // anonymous namespace
+
+namespace other
+{
+ void
+ foo()
+ {
+ __gnu_cxx::__scoped_lock sentry(safe_base_mutex);
+ for (int i = 0; i &lt; max; ++i)
+ {
+ _Safe_iterator_base* __old = __iter;
+ __iter = __iter-&lt;_M_next;
+ __old-&lt;_M_detach_single();
+ }
+}
+</pre>
+
+<p>In this sample code, an anonymous namespace is used to keep
+the <code>__mutex</code> private to the compilation unit,
+and <code>__scoped_lock</code> is used to guard access to the critical
+section within the for loop, locking the mutex on creation and freeing
+the mutex as control moves out of this block.
+</p>
+
+<p>Several exception classes are used to keep track of
+concurrence-related errors. These classes
+are: <code>__concurrence_lock_error</code>, <code>__concurrence_unlock_error</code>, <code>__concurrence_wait_error</code>,
+and <code>__concurrence_broadcast_error</code>.
+</p>
+
+
+
+<h3 class="left">
+ <a name="atomic_impl">Details on builtin atomic support and library fallbacks</a>
+</h3>
+
+<p>The functions for atomic operations described above are either
+implemented via compiler intrinsics (if the underlying host is
+capable) or by library fallbacks.</p>
+
+<p>Compiler intrinsics (builtins) are always preferred. However, as
+the compiler builtins for atomics are not universally implemented,
+using them directly is problematic, and can result in undefined
+function calls. (An example of an undefined symbol from the use
+of <code>__sync_fetch_and_add</code> on an unsupported host is a
+missing reference to <code>__sync_fetch_and_add_4</code>.)
+</p>
+
+<p>In addition, on some hosts the compiler intrinsics are enabled
+conditionally, via the <code>-march</code> command line flag. This makes
+usage vary depending on the target hardware and the flags used during
+compile.
+</p>
+
+<p> If builtins are possible, <code>_GLIBCXX_ATOMIC_BUILTINS</code>
+will be defined.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>For the following hosts, intrinsics are enabled by default.
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>alpha</li>
+ <li>ia64</li>
+ <li>powerpc</li>
+ <li>s390</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>For others, some form of <code>-march</code> may work. On
+non-ancient x86 hardware, <code>-march=native</code> usually does the
+trick.</p>
+
+<p> For hosts without compiler intrinsics, but with capable
+hardware, hand-crafted assembly is selected. This is the case for the following hosts:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>cris</li>
+ <li>hppa</li>
+ <li>i386</li>
+ <li>i486</li>
+ <li>m48k</li>
+ <li>mips</li>
+ <li>sparc</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>And for the rest, a simulated atomic lock via pthreads.
+</p>
+
+<p> Detailed information about compiler intrinsics for atomic operations can be found in the GCC <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Atomic-Builtins.html"> documentation</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p> More details on the library fallbacks from the porting <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/17_intro/porting.html#Thread%20safety">section</a>.
+</p>
+
+
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
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