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This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of
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NAME
pthread_create — thread creation
SYNOPSIS
#include <pthread.h>
int pthread_create(pthread_t *restrict thread,
const pthread_attr_t *restrict attr,
void *(*start_routine)(void*), void *restrict arg);
DESCRIPTION
The pthread_create() function shall create a new thread, with attributes specified by
attr, within a process. If attr is NULL, the default attributes shall be used. If the
attributes specified by attr are modified later, the thread's attributes shall not be
affected. Upon successful completion, pthread_create() shall store the ID of the created
thread in the location referenced by thread.
The thread is created executing start_routine with arg as its sole argument. If the
start_routine returns, the effect shall be as if there was an implicit call to
pthread_exit() using the return value of start_routine as the exit status. Note that the
thread in which main() was originally invoked differs from this. When it returns from
main(), the effect shall be as if there was an implicit call to exit() using the return
value of main() as the exit status.
The signal state of the new thread shall be initialized as follows:
* The signal mask shall be inherited from the creating thread.
* The set of signals pending for the new thread shall be empty.
The thread-local current locale and the alternate stack shall not be inherited.
The floating-point environment shall be inherited from the creating thread.
If pthread_create() fails, no new thread is created and the contents of the location
referenced by thread are undefined.
If _POSIX_THREAD_CPUTIME is defined, the new thread shall have a CPU-time clock
accessible, and the initial value of this clock shall be set to zero.
The behavior is undefined if the value specified by the attr argument to pthread_create()
does not refer to an initialized thread attributes object.
RETURN VALUE
If successful, the pthread_create() function shall return zero; otherwise, an error number
shall be returned to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The pthread_create() function shall fail if:
EAGAIN The system lacked the necessary resources to create another thread, or the system-
imposed limit on the total number of threads in a process {PTHREAD_THREADS_MAX}
would be exceeded.
EPERM The caller does not have appropriate privileges to set the required scheduling
parameters or scheduling policy.
The pthread_create() function shall not return an error code of [EINTR].
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
None.
APPLICATION USAGE
There is no requirement on the implementation that the ID of the created thread be
available before the newly created thread starts executing. The calling thread can obtain
the ID of the created thread through the thread argument of the pthread_create() function,
and the newly created thread can obtain its ID by a call to pthread_self().
RATIONALE
A suggested alternative to pthread_create() would be to define two separate operations:
create and start. Some applications would find such behavior more natural. Ada, in
particular, separates the ``creation'' of a task from its ``activation''.
Splitting the operation was rejected by the standard developers for many reasons:
* The number of calls required to start a thread would increase from one to two and thus
place an additional burden on applications that do not require the additional
synchronization. The second call, however, could be avoided by the additional
complication of a start-up state attribute.
* An extra state would be introduced: ``created but not started''. This would require
the standard to specify the behavior of the thread operations when the target has not
yet started executing.
* For those applications that require such behavior, it is possible to simulate the two
separate steps with the facilities that are currently provided. The start_routine()
can synchronize by waiting on a condition variable that is signaled by the start
operation.
An Ada implementor can choose to create the thread at either of two points in the Ada
program: when the task object is created, or when the task is activated (generally at a
``begin''). If the first approach is adopted, the start_routine() needs to wait on a
condition variable to receive the order to begin ``activation''. The second approach
requires no such condition variable or extra synchronization. In either approach, a
separate Ada task control block would need to be created when the task object is created
to hold rendezvous queues, and so on.
An extension of the preceding model would be to allow the state of the thread to be
modified between the create and start. This would allow the thread attributes object to be
eliminated. This has been rejected because:
* All state in the thread attributes object has to be able to be set for the thread.
This would require the definition of functions to modify thread attributes. There
would be no reduction in the number of function calls required to set up the thread.
In fact, for an application that creates all threads using identical attributes, the
number of function calls required to set up the threads would be dramatically
increased. Use of a thread attributes object permits the application to make one set
of attribute setting function calls. Otherwise, the set of attribute setting function
calls needs to be made for each thread creation.
* Depending on the implementation architecture, functions to set thread state would
require kernel calls, or for other implementation reasons would not be able to be
implemented as macros, thereby increasing the cost of thread creation.
* The ability for applications to segregate threads by class would be lost.
Another suggested alternative uses a model similar to that for process creation, such as
``thread fork''. The fork semantics would provide more flexibility and the ``create''
function can be implemented simply by doing a thread fork followed immediately by a call
to the desired ``start routine'' for the thread. This alternative has these problems:
* For many implementations, the entire stack of the calling thread would need to be
duplicated, since in many architectures there is no way to determine the size of the
calling frame.
* Efficiency is reduced since at least some part of the stack has to be copied, even
though in most cases the thread never needs the copied context, since it merely calls
the desired start routine.
If an implementation detects that the value specified by the attr argument to
pthread_create() does not refer to an initialized thread attributes object, it is
recommended that the function should fail and report an [EINVAL] error.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
fork(), pthread_exit(), pthread_join()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 4.12, Memory Synchronization,
<pthread.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std
1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface
(POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group
Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The
original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have
been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report
such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .