Question

I need to check if my boost::thread I’ve created is running from another thread. This SO post explains you can do this by calling:

boost::posix_time::seconds waitTime(0);
myBoostThread.timed_join(waitTime);

I can’t have any critical sections in my client thread. Can I guarantee that timed_join() with 0 time argument be lock free?

Answer 1

Boost.Thread provides no guarantees about a lock-free timed_join(). However, the implementation, which is always subject to change:

• Boost.Thread acquires a mutex for pthreads, then performs a timed wait on a condition variable.
• Boost.Thread calls WaitForMultipleObjects for windows. Its documentation indicates that it will always return immediately. However, I do not know if the underlying OS implementation is lock-free.

For an alternative, consider using atomic operations. While Boost 1.52 does not currently provide a public atomic library, both Boost.Smart_Ptr and Boost.Interprocess have atomic integers within their detail namespace. However, neither of these guarantee lock-free implementations, and one of the configurations for Boost.Smart_Ptr will lock with pthread mutex. Thus, you may need to consult your compiler and system’s documentation to identify a lock-free implementation.

Nevertheless, here is a small example using boost::detail::atomic_count:

#include <boost/chrono.pp>
#include <boost/detail/atomic_count.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>

// Use RAII to perform cleanup.
struct count_guard
{
  count_guard(boost::detail::atomic_count& count) : count_(count) {}
  ~count_guard() { --count_; }
  boost::detail::atomic_count& count_;
};

void thread_main(boost::detail::atomic_count& count)
{
  // Place the guard on the stack. When the thread exits through either normal
  // means or the stack unwinding from an exception, the atomic count will be
  // decremented.
  count_guard decrement_on_exit(count);
  boost::this_thread::sleep_for(boost::chrono::seconds(5));
}

int main()
{
  boost::detail::atomic_count count(1);
  boost::thread t(thread_main, boost::ref(count));

  // Check the count to determine if the thread has exited.
  while (0 != count)
  {
    std::cout << "Sleeping for 2 seconds." << std::endl;
    boost::this_thread::sleep_for(boost::chrono::seconds(2));
  }
}

In this case, the at_thread_exit() extension could be used as an alternative to using RAII.