Question

I am trying to create a class managing a shared-memory vector of (std)strings.

typedef boost::interprocess::allocator<std::string, boost::interprocess::managed_shared_memory::segment_manager> shmem_allocator;
typedef boost::interprocess::vector<std::string, shmem_allocator> shmem_vector;

shmem_mgr::shmem_mgr() :
    shmem_(create_only, SHMEM_KEY, SHMEM_SIZE),
    allocator_(shmem_.get_segment_manager())
{
    mutex_  = shmem_.find_or_construct<interprocess_mutex>(SHMEM_MUTEX)();
    condition_ = shmem_.find_or_construct<interprocess_condition>(SHMEM_CONDITION)();
    //buffer_ is of type shmem_vector
    buffer_  = shmem_.construct<shmem_vector>(SHMEM_BUFFER_KEY)(allocator_);
}

void shmem_mgr::run() {
    running_ = true;

    while(running_) {
        scoped_lock<interprocess_mutex> lock ( *mutex_ );

        int size = buffer_->size();

        log_.debug() << size << " queued request(s) found" << std::endl; //LINE 27
        for(int i=0; i<size; i++) {
            log_.debug() << buffer_->at(i); // at() crashes my app
        }

        buffer_->clear(); //so does clear()
        condition_->wait (lock);
    }
}

The client successfully adds a string to the vector (it also succeeds to read that string from the buffer for debug), the manager (code above) receives the signal (condtion variable), writes that there is a string in the vector (line 27), but when it tries to get that string via at() the application crashes.

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Edit: I’ve figured out, that the use of std::string is not possible, there is a string container in boost ipc just for this case. This doesn’t change the fact that I need a vector of (boost/std) strings…

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Q: How can I pass strings across shared memory? I need to store them in some buffer (capable of storing >1 at a time) in shmem, and then fetch in second process – that’s the requirement. The input is always std::string and so is the output, but the internal representation in shmem may be different.

Answer 1

From the docs.

#include <boost/interprocess/managed_shared_memory.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/containers/vector.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/containers/string.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/allocators/allocator.hpp>

int main ()
{
   using namespace boost::interprocess;
   //Typedefs
   typedef allocator<char, managed_shared_memory::segment_manager>
      CharAllocator;
   typedef basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, CharAllocator>
      MyShmString;
   typedef allocator<MyShmString, managed_shared_memory::segment_manager>
      StringAllocator;
   typedef vector<MyShmString, StringAllocator>
      MyShmStringVector;

   //Open shared memory
   //Remove shared memory on construction and destruction
   struct shm_remove
   {
      shm_remove() { shared_memory_object::remove("MySharedMemory"); }
      ~shm_remove(){ shared_memory_object::remove("MySharedMemory"); }
   } remover;

   managed_shared_memory shm(create_only, "MySharedMemory", 10000);

   //Create allocators
   CharAllocator     charallocator  (shm.get_segment_manager());
   StringAllocator   stringallocator(shm.get_segment_manager());

   //This string is in only in this process (the pointer pointing to the
   //buffer that will hold the text is not in shared memory).
   //But the buffer that will hold "this is my text" is allocated from
   //shared memory
   MyShmString mystring(charallocator);
   mystring = "this is my text";

   //This vector is only in this process (the pointer pointing to the
   //buffer that will hold the MyShmString-s is not in shared memory).
   //But the buffer that will hold 10 MyShmString-s is allocated from
   //shared memory using StringAllocator. Since strings use a shared
   //memory allocator (CharAllocator) the 10 buffers that hold
   //"this is my text" text are also in shared memory.
   MyShmStringVector myvector(stringallocator);
   myvector.insert(myvector.begin(), 10, mystring);

   //This vector is fully constructed in shared memory. All pointers
   //buffers are constructed in the same shared memory segment
   //This vector can be safely accessed from other processes.
   MyShmStringVector *myshmvector =
      shm.construct<MyShmStringVector>("myshmvector")(stringallocator);
   myshmvector->insert(myshmvector->begin(), 10, mystring);

   //Destroy vector. This will free all strings that the vector contains
   shm.destroy_ptr(myshmvector);
   return 0;
}