Provided by: tcl8.6-doc_8.6.1-4ubuntu1_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.   To
       enable  Tcl  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, 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