Operating Systems

CS F372

Threads

Biju K Raveendran
 #include<pthread.h> void *runner ( void *param )
#include<stdio.h>
int sum; { int upper = atoi (param);
void *runner ( void *param ); int i;
int main ( int argc, char *argv[ ] )
{ sum=0; if ( upper > 0 )
pthread_t tid1, tid2; { for ( i=1; i <= upper; i++ )
pthread_attr_t attr;
{ sum = sum + i; }
pthread_attr_init(&attr);
pthread_create(&tid1, &attr, }
runner, argv[1]);
printf(" The i value is %d and
pthread_create(&tid2, &attr,
runner, argv[2]); the sum value is %d\n",i,
pthread_join(tid1, NULL); sum);
pthread_join(tid2, NULL); pthread_exit(0);
printf( "sum = %d \n", sum);
} }

Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 2

 Threads
#include<pthread.h>
#include<stdio.h>
int value1, value2;
void *runner ( void *param );
void *fact ( void *param );
int main ( int argc, char *argv[ ] )
{ pthread_t tid1,tid2;
pthread_attr_t attr;
pthread_attr_init(&attr);
pthread_create(&tid1, &attr, runner1, argv[1]);
pthread_create(&tid2, &attr, runner2, argv[2]);
pthread_join(tid1, NULL);
pthread_join(tid2, NULL);
printf( “value1 = %d\t value2 = %d \n", value1,value2);
}
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 3
 void *runner ( void *param ) void *fact( void *param )
{ int upper = atoi (param); { int upper = atoi (param);
int i; value1=0; int i; value2=0;
if ( upper > 0 ) if ( upper > =0 )
{ { value2=1;
for ( i=1; i <= upper; i++ ) for ( i=1; i <= upper; i++ )
{ value1 = value1 + i; } { value2 = value2 * i; }
} }
printf(" New thread runner: printf(" New thread fact: value1
value1 = %d, value2 = = %d, value2 = %d\n",value1,
%d\n",value1, value2); value2);
pthread_exit(0); pthread_exit(0);
} }
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 4
 Thread Related Operations
• Thread creation
• Thread termination
• Thread synchronization
• Thread scheduling
• Thread data management
• Thread / process interaction

Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 5

 Thread Creation
• pthread_create
• extern int pthread_create (pthread_t *tid, __const pthread_attr_t
*attr, void *(*__start_routine) (void *), void *arg)
– Creates a new thread of control that executes concurrently
with the calling thread.
– The new thread applies the function start_routine passing it arg
as first argument.
– The new thread terminates either explicitly, by calling
pthread_exit(3), or implicitly, by returning from the
start_routine function.
– The attr argument specifies thread attributes to be applied to
the new thread.
– The attr argument can also be NULL, in which case default
attributes are used
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 6
 Thread Creation
• Return value
– On success, the identifier of the newly created
thread is stored in the location pointed by the
thread argument,
– and a 0 is returned.
– On error, a non-zero error code is returned.
• Errors
– EAGAIN not enough system resources to create
a process for the new thread.
– EAGAIN more than PTHREAD_THREADS_MAX
threads are already active.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 7
 • Setting attributes for threads is achieved by filling a
thread attribute object attr of type pthread_attr_t, then
passing it as second argument to pthread_create.
• Passing NULL is equivalent to passing a thread attribute
object with all attributes set to their default values.
• Thread attribute structure is in
/usr/include/bits/pthreadtypes.h
#define __SIZEOF_PTHREAD_ATTR_T 56
typedef union
{
char __size[__SIZEOF_PTHREAD_ATTR_T];
long int __align;
} pthread_attr_t;
Detachstate, Schedpolicy, Sched_param structure, Inheritsched,
Scope will be a part of the attribute
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 8
 Attribute Initialization & Destroy
• extern int pthread_attr_init (pthread_attr_t *attr)
– Initializes the thread attribute object attr and fills it with
default values for the attributes.
– Attribute objects are consulted only when creating a new
thread.
– The same attribute object can be used for creating several
threads. Modifying an attribute object after a call to
pthread_create does not change the attributes of the thread
previously created.
• extern int pthread_attr_destroy(pthread_attr_t *attr)
– Destroys a thread attribute object, which must not be reused
until it is reinitialized.
– pthread_attr_destroy does nothing in the LinuxThreads
implementation.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 9
 Detach State
• Control whether the thread is created in the joinable
state (value PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE) or in the
detached state ( PTHREAD_CREATE_DETACHED).
• Default value: PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE.
• Joinable state
– Another thread can synchronize on the thread termination and
recover its termination code using pthread_join
– some of the thread resources are kept allocated after the
thread terminates, and reclaimed only when another thread
performs pthread_join on that thread.
• Detached state
– The thread resources are immediately freed when it terminates
– pthread_join cannot be used to synchronize on the thread
termination

Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 10

 Detach State
• A thread created in the joinable state can later
be put in the detached thread using
pthread_detach.
• extern int pthread_attr_setdetachstate
(pthread_attr_t *attr, int detachstate)

• extern int pthread_attr_getdetachstate (__const

pthread_attr_t *attr, int *detachstate)
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 11
 Sched Policy
• Select the scheduling policy for the thread: one of
SCHED_OTHER (regular, non-realtime scheduling),
SCHED_RR (realtime, round-robin) or SCHED_FIFO
(realtime, first-in first-out).
• Default value: SCHED_OTHER.
• The real time scheduling policies SCHED_RR and
SCHED_FIFO are available only to processes with
super user privileges.
• The scheduling policy of a thread can be changed
after creation with pthread_setschedparam
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 12
 Sched Policy
• extern int pthread_attr_setschedpolicy
(pthread_attr_t *attr, int policy)

• extern int pthread_attr_getschedpolicy (__const

pthread_attr_t *attr, int *policy)

Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 13

 Sched Param
• Contain the scheduling parameters (essentially,
the scheduling priority) for the thread.
• See sched_setparam for more information on
scheduling parameters.
• Default value: priority is 0.
• This attribute is not significant if the scheduling
policy is SCHED_OTHER; it only matters for the
realtime policies SCHED_RR and SCHED_FIFO.
• The scheduling priority of a thread can be changed
after creation with pthread_setschedparam
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 14
 Sched Param
• extern int pthread_attr_setschedparam
(pthread_attr_t *attr, __const struct
sched_param *param)

• extern int pthread_attr_getschedparam

(__const pthread_attr_t *attr, struct
sched_param *param)

• See struct sched_param in bits/sched.h

Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Biju K Raveendran @ BITS Pilani Goa 15