NAME

     ck_epoch_synchronize — block until a grace period has been detected

LIBRARY

     Concurrency Kit (libck, -lck)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <ck_epoch.h>

     void
     ck_epoch_synchronize(ck_epoch_t *epoch, ck_epoch_record_t *record);

DESCRIPTION

     The ck_epoch_synchronize(3) function will block the caller until a grace period has been
     detected, according to the semantics of epoch reclamation.  Any objects requiring safe
     memory reclamation which are logically deleted are safe for physical deletion following a
     call to ck_epoch_synchronize(3).  If you require that all callbacks be dispatched, then it
     is suggested that you use ck_epoch_barrier(3) instead or follow a call of
     ck_epoch_synchronize(3) with ck_epoch_reclaim(3).

EXAMPLE

           #include <ck_epoch.h>
           #include <ck_stack.h>
           #include <stdlib.h>

           /*
            * epoch was previously initialized with ck_epoch_init.
            * stack was previously initialized with ck_stack_init.
            */
           ck_epoch_t *epoch;
           ck_stack_t *stack;

           void
           function(void)
           {
                   ck_epoch_record_t *record;
                   ck_stack_entry_t *s;

                   record = malloc(sizeof *record);
                   ck_epoch_register(&epoch, record);

                   /*
                    * We are using an epoch section here to guarantee no
                    * nodes in the stack are deleted while we are dereferencing
                    * them. This is needed here because there are multiple writers.
                    * If there was only one thread popping from the this stack,
                    * then there is no need to ck_epoch_begin/ck_epoch_end.
                    */
                   ck_epoch_begin(epoch, record);

                   /* Logically delete an object. */
                   s = ck_stack_pop_upmc(stack);

                   ck_epoch_end(epoch, record);

                   /*
                    * Wait until no threads could possibly have a reference to the
                    * object we just popped (assume all threads are simply executing
                    * ck_stack_pop_upmc).
                    */
                   ck_epoch_synchronize(epoch, record);

                   /* It is now safe to physically delete the object. */
                   free(s);
                   return;
           }

RETURN VALUES

     This function has no return value.

ERRORS

     Behavior is undefined if the object pointed to by epoch is not a valid epoch object. The
     object pointed to by record must have been previously registered via ck_epoch_register(3).

SEE ALSO

     ck_epoch_init(3), ck_epoch_register(3), ck_epoch_unregister(3), ck_epoch_recycle(3),
     ck_epoch_poll(3), ck_epoch_reclaim(3), ck_epoch_barrier(3), ck_epoch_call(3),
     ck_epoch_begin(3), ck_epoch_end(3)

     Additional information available at http://concurrencykit.org/

                                        September 2, 2012