NAME

       pthread_detach - detach a thread

LIBRARY

       POSIX threads library (libpthread, -lpthread)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <pthread.h>

       int pthread_detach(pthread_t thread);

DESCRIPTION

       The  pthread_detach() function marks the thread identified by thread as detached.  When a detached thread
       terminates, its resources are automatically released back to the system  without  the  need  for  another
       thread to join with the terminated thread.

       Attempting to detach an already detached thread results in unspecified behavior.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, pthread_detach() returns 0; on error, it returns an error number.

ERRORS

       EINVAL thread is not a joinable thread.

       ESRCH  No thread with the ID thread could be found.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │Interface                                                                     │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │pthread_detach()                                                              │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

STANDARDS

       POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY

       POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES

       Once a thread has been detached, it can't be joined with pthread_join(3) or be made joinable again.

       A  new thread can be created in a detached state using pthread_attr_setdetachstate(3) to set the detached
       attribute of the attr argument of pthread_create(3).

       The detached attribute merely determines the behavior of the system when the thread terminates;  it  does
       not prevent the thread from being terminated if the process terminates using exit(3) (or equivalently, if
       the main thread returns).

       Either pthread_join(3) or pthread_detach() should be called for each thread that an application  creates,
       so that system resources for the thread can be released.  (But note that the resources of any threads for
       which one of these actions has not been done will be freed when the process terminates.)

EXAMPLES

       The following statement detaches the calling thread:

           pthread_detach(pthread_self());

SEE ALSO

       pthread_attr_setdetachstate(3), pthread_cancel(3), pthread_create(3),  pthread_exit(3),  pthread_join(3),
       pthreads(7)