Provided by: tcl8.6-doc_8.6.14+dfsg-1build1_all bug

NAME

       Tcl_ConditionNotify,    Tcl_ConditionWait,    Tcl_ConditionFinalize,    Tcl_GetThreadData,
       Tcl_MutexLock, Tcl_MutexUnlock, Tcl_MutexFinalize, Tcl_CreateThread, Tcl_JoinThread -  Tcl
       thread support

SYNOPSIS

       #include <tcl.h>

       void
       Tcl_ConditionNotify(condPtr)

       void
       Tcl_ConditionWait(condPtr, mutexPtr, timePtr)

       void
       Tcl_ConditionFinalize(condPtr)

       Void *
       Tcl_GetThreadData(keyPtr, size)

       void
       Tcl_MutexLock(mutexPtr)

       void
       Tcl_MutexUnlock(mutexPtr)

       void
       Tcl_MutexFinalize(mutexPtr)

       int
       Tcl_CreateThread(idPtr, proc, clientData, stackSize, flags)

       int
       Tcl_JoinThread(id, result)

ARGUMENTS

       Tcl_Condition *condPtr (in)             A  condition  variable,  which  must be associated
                                               with a mutex lock.

       Tcl_Mutex *mutexPtr (in)                A mutex lock.

       const Tcl_Time *timePtr (in)            A time limit on the condition wait.  NULL to  wait
                                               forever.   Note  that a polling value of 0 seconds
                                               does not make much sense.

       Tcl_ThreadDataKey *keyPtr (in)          This identifies a block of thread  local  storage.
                                               The  key  should  be  static and 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   calls
                                               Tcl_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 *proc (in)         This procedure will act as the main() of the newly
                                               created  thread.  The specified clientData will be
                                               its sole argument.

       ClientData clientData (in)              Arbitrary information. Passed as sole argument  to
                                               the proc.

       int stackSize (in)                      The size of the stack given to the new thread.

       int flags (in)                          Bitmask  containing  flags  allowing the caller to
                                               modify behavior 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.
       Starting with the 8.6 release, Tcl multithreading support is on by default. To disable Tcl
       multithreading support, you must include the --disable-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, a single thread can safely create and use
       multiple interpreters.)

DESCRIPTION

       Tcl provides Tcl_CreateThread for creating threads. The caller can determine the  size  of
       the  stack given to the new thread and modify the behavior through the supplied flags. The
       value TCL_THREAD_STACK_DEFAULT for the  stackSize  indicates  that  the  default  size  as
       specified  by  the  operating  system  is to be used for the new thread. As for the flags,
       currently only the values TCL_THREAD_NOFLAGS  and  TCL_THREAD_JOINABLE  are  defined.  The
       first  of  them  invokes  the default behavior with no special settings.  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 stack size of a thread. The specified value for the stack size  is  ignored
       on these systems.  Windows currently does not support joinable threads. This flag value is
       therefore ignored on this platform.

       Tcl provides the Tcl_ExitThread and Tcl_FinalizeThread functions for  terminating  threads
       and  invoking  optional  per-thread  exit  handlers.   See  the  Tcl_Exit  page  for  more
       information on these procedures.

       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
       possible, the system will retain  the  necessary  information  until  after  the  call  to
       Tcl_JoinThread.   This  means  that  not calling Tcl_JoinThread for a joinable thread will
       cause a memory leak.

       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 storage is automatically deallocated by Tcl_FinalizeThread.

   SYNCHRONIZATION AND COMMUNICATION
       Tcl  provides  Tcl_ThreadQueueEvent  and  Tcl_ThreadAlert  for  handling  event queuing in
       multithreaded applications.  See the Notifier manual page for more  information  on  these
       procedures.

       A mutex is a lock that is used to serialize all threads through 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.  For declaration 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: a thread can lock a mutex and then
       wait on a condition variable with Tcl_ConditionWait.  This atomically releases  the  mutex
       lock  and  blocks  the waiting thread until another thread calls Tcl_ConditionNotify.  The
       caller of Tcl_ConditionNotify should have the associated mutex held by previously  calling
       Tcl_MutexLock,  but  this  is not enforced.  Notifying the condition variable unblocks all
       threads waiting on the condition variable, but they do not  proceed  until  the  mutex  is
       released  with  Tcl_MutexUnlock.   The  implementation  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 calling Tcl_ConditionFinalize.

       The   Tcl_ConditionNotify,  Tcl_ConditionWait  and  Tcl_ConditionFinalize  procedures  are
       defined as empty macros if not compiling with threads enabled.

   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.

SCRIPT-LEVEL ACCESS TO THREADS

       Tcl provides no built-in commands for scripts to use to create, manage, or  join  threads,
       nor  any script-level access to mutex or condition variables.  It provides such facilities
       only via C interfaces, and leaves it up to packages to expose these matters to the  script
       level.  One such package is the Thread package.

EXAMPLE

       To  create  a thread with portable code, its implementation function should be declared as
       follows:

              static Tcl_ThreadCreateProc MyThreadImplFunc;

       It should then be defined like this example, which just counts up to  a  given  value  and
       then finishes.

              static Tcl_ThreadCreateType
              MyThreadImplFunc(
                  ClientData clientData)
              {
                  int i, limit = (int) clientData;
                  for (i=0 ; i<limit ; i++) {
                      /* doing nothing at all here */
                  }
                  TCL_THREAD_CREATE_RETURN;
              }

       To create the above thread, make it execute, and wait for it to finish, we would do this:

              int limit = 1000000000;
              ClientData limitData = (void*)((intptr_t) limit);
              Tcl_ThreadId id;    /* holds identity of thread created */
              int result;

              if (Tcl_CreateThread(&id, MyThreadImplFunc, limitData,
                      TCL_THREAD_STACK_DEFAULT,
                      TCL_THREAD_JOINABLE) != TCL_OK) {
                  /* Thread did not create correctly */
                  return;
              }
              /* Do something else for a while here */
              if (Tcl_JoinThread(id, &result) != TCL_OK) {
                  /* Thread did not finish properly */
                  return;
              }
              /* All cleaned up nicely */

SEE ALSO

       Tcl_GetCurrentThread(3tcl),       Tcl_ThreadQueueEvent(3tcl),       Tcl_ThreadAlert(3tcl),
       Tcl_ExitThread(3tcl),     Tcl_FinalizeThread(3tcl),     Tcl_CreateThreadExitHandler(3tcl),
       Tcl_DeleteThreadExitHandler(3tcl), Thread

KEYWORDS

       thread, mutex, condition variable, thread local storage