[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference clt::cma

Title:	DECthreads Conference

Moderator:	PTHRED::MARYSTEON

Created:	Mon May 14 1990
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1553
Total number of notes:	9541

1543.0. "PThread resource cleanup." by PEACHS::MAXIE (Michael Maxie, UNIX Applications Support, 343-0120) Mon May 12 1997 13:51

Excuse me for asking a question that is prbably in the
standard, but I don't have access to the standard.

What does the standard say about releasing resources
from a joinable thread that doesn't explicitly call
pthread_exit and no pthread_join is called?  Does a
thread hold on to its resources until it delivers its
exit status?

BTW when I say resources I mean the stack.

Thanks,

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1543.1		PEACHS::MAXIE	Michael Maxie, UNIX Applications Support, 343-0120	`Mon May 12 1997 17:36`	8
	From further research it appears that pthread_detach or pthread_join must be called to free the resources upon termination of the joinable thread. So, if a joinable thread is not joined it resources will stay tied up until it is joined or the process dies. Is this a correct interpretation? What does the standard say?
1543.2	The standard says nothing; see the DECthreads documentation!	WTFN::SCALES	Despair is appropriate and inevitable.	`Mon May 12 1997 18:17`	29
	.0> What does the standard say about releasing resources .0> from a joinable thread that doesn't explicitly call .0> pthread_exit and no pthread_join is called? Virtually nothing. .0> BTW when I say resources I mean the stack. OK, absolutely nothing. The standard says that the exit value from the terminated thread is made available to the joining thread; it leaves all the details of how that is accomplished up to the implementation provider. .1> if a joinable thread is not joined it resources will stay tied up until it .1> is joined or the process dies. After a thread terminates, many of its resources are freed, over time, whenever possible, depending on which version of which operating system you are using. However, if the thread is never joined with, and if it is never explicitly detached, and if it was not created with the detached attribute, then some amount of resources (memory) will be left tied up. Why do you ask? (It seems like the DECthreads documentation, as well as numerous notes in this conference, is pretty clear on this score...so what are you trying to get at?) Webb
1543.3		DCETHD::BUTENHOF	Dave Butenhof, DECthreads	`Mon May 19 1997 12:37`	13
	The standard says that, in order to release resources, you must JOIN or DETACH a thread. The standard does not REQUIRE that an implementation retain all resources until JOIN or DETACH, however, and DECthreads does already release some resources, as possible, once the thread has terminated. This may vary from release to release as implementation needs vary, and we do not document or support any such interpretation. The standard says that, in order to release resources, you must JOIN or DETACH a thread. /dave