142 lines
6.2 KiB
Text
142 lines
6.2 KiB
Text
|
----------
|
||
|
Known bugs
|
||
|
----------
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. Not strictly a bug, more of a gotcha.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Under MS VC++ (only tested with version 6.0), a term_func
|
||
|
set via the standard C++ set_terminate() function causes the
|
||
|
application to abort.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Notes from the MSVC++ manual:
|
||
|
1) A term_func() should call exit(), otherwise
|
||
|
abort() will be called on return to the caller.
|
||
|
A call to abort() raises SIGABRT and the default signal handler
|
||
|
for all signals terminates the calling program with
|
||
|
exit code 3.
|
||
|
2) A term_func() must not throw an exception. Therefore
|
||
|
term_func() should not call pthread_exit(), which
|
||
|
works by throwing an exception (pthreadVCE or pthreadVSE)
|
||
|
or by calling longjmp (pthreadVC).
|
||
|
|
||
|
Workaround: avoid using pthread_exit() in C++ applications. Exit
|
||
|
threads by dropping through the end of the thread routine.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. Cancellation problems in C++ builds
|
||
|
- Milan Gardian
|
||
|
|
||
|
[Note: It's not clear if this problem isn't simply due to the context
|
||
|
switch in pthread_cancel() which occurs unless the QueueUserAPCEx
|
||
|
library and driver are installed and used. Just like setjmp/longjmp,
|
||
|
this is probably not going to work well in C++. In any case, unless for
|
||
|
some very unusual reason you really must use the C++ build then please
|
||
|
use the C build pthreadVC2.dll or pthreadGC2.dll, i.e. for C++
|
||
|
applications.]
|
||
|
|
||
|
This is suspected to be a compiler bug in VC6.0, and also seen in
|
||
|
VC7.0 and VS .NET 2003. The GNU C++ compiler does not have a problem
|
||
|
with this, and it has been reported that the Intel C++ 8.1 compiler
|
||
|
and Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition Beta2 pass tests\semaphore4.c
|
||
|
(which exposes the bug).
|
||
|
|
||
|
Workaround [rpj - 2 Feb 2002]
|
||
|
-----------------------------
|
||
|
[Please note: this workaround did not solve a similar problem in
|
||
|
snapshot-2004-11-03 or later, even though similar symptoms were seen.
|
||
|
tests\semaphore4.c fails in that snapshot for the VCE version of the
|
||
|
DLL.]
|
||
|
|
||
|
The problem disappears when /Ob0 is used, i.e. /O2 /Ob0 works OK,
|
||
|
but if you want to use inlining optimisation you can be much more
|
||
|
specific about where it's switched off and on by using a pragma.
|
||
|
|
||
|
So the inlining optimisation is interfering with the way that cleanup
|
||
|
handlers are run. It appears to relate to auto-inlining of class methods
|
||
|
since this is the only auto inlining that is performed at /O1 optimisation
|
||
|
(functions with the "inline" qualifier are also inlined, but the problem
|
||
|
doesn't appear to involve any such functions in the library or testsuite).
|
||
|
|
||
|
In order to confirm the inlining culprit, the following use of pragmas
|
||
|
eliminate the problem but I don't know how to make it transparent, putting
|
||
|
it in, say, pthread.h where pthread_cleanup_push defined as a macro.
|
||
|
|
||
|
#pragma inline_depth(0)
|
||
|
pthread_cleanup_push(handlerFunc, (void *) &arg);
|
||
|
|
||
|
/* ... */
|
||
|
|
||
|
pthread_cleanup_pop(0);
|
||
|
#pragma inline_depth()
|
||
|
|
||
|
Note the empty () pragma value after the pop macro. This resets depth to the
|
||
|
default. Or you can specify a non-zero depth here.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The pragma is also needed (and now used) within the library itself wherever
|
||
|
cleanup handlers are used (condvar.c and rwlock.c).
|
||
|
|
||
|
Use of these pragmas allows compiler optimisations /O1 and /O2 to be
|
||
|
used for either or both the library and applications.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Experimenting further, I found that wrapping the actual cleanup handler
|
||
|
function with #pragma auto_inline(off|on) does NOT work.
|
||
|
|
||
|
MSVC6.0 doesn't appear to support the C99 standard's _Pragma directive,
|
||
|
however, later versions may. This form is embeddable inside #define
|
||
|
macros, which would be ideal because it would mean that it could be added
|
||
|
to the push/pop macro definitions in pthread.h and hidden from the
|
||
|
application programmer.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[/rpj]
|
||
|
|
||
|
Original problem description
|
||
|
----------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
The cancellation (actually, cleanup-after-cancel) tests fail when using VC
|
||
|
(professional) optimisation switches (/O1 or /O2) in pthreads library. I
|
||
|
have not investigated which concrete optimisation technique causes this
|
||
|
problem (/Og, /Oi, /Ot, /Oy, /Ob1, /Gs, /Gf, /Gy, etc.), but here is a
|
||
|
summary of builds and corresponding failures:
|
||
|
|
||
|
* pthreads VSE (optimised tests): OK
|
||
|
* pthreads VCE (optimised tests): Failed "cleanup1" test (runtime)
|
||
|
|
||
|
* pthreads VSE (DLL in CRT, optimised tests): OK
|
||
|
* pthreads VCE (DLL in CRT, optimised tests): Failed "cleanup1" test
|
||
|
(runtime)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Please note that while in VSE version of the pthreads library the
|
||
|
optimisation does not really have any impact on the tests (they pass OK), in
|
||
|
VCE version addition of optimisation (/O2 in this case) causes the tests to
|
||
|
fail uniformly - either in "cleanup0" or "cleanup1" test cases.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Please note that all the tests above use default pthreads DLL (no
|
||
|
optimisations, linked with either static or DLL CRT, based on test type).
|
||
|
Therefore the problem lies not within the pthreads DLL but within the
|
||
|
compiled client code (the application using pthreads -> involvement of
|
||
|
"pthread.h").
|
||
|
|
||
|
I think the message of this section is that usage of VCE version of pthreads
|
||
|
in applications relying on cancellation/cleanup AND using optimisations for
|
||
|
creation of production code is highly unreliable for the current version of
|
||
|
the pthreads library.
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. The Borland Builder 5.5 version of the library produces memory read exceptions
|
||
|
in some tests.
|
||
|
|
||
|
4. pthread_barrier_wait() can deadlock if the number of potential calling
|
||
|
threads for a particular barrier is greater than the barrier count parameter
|
||
|
given to pthread_barrier_init() for that barrier.
|
||
|
|
||
|
This is due to the very lightweight implementation of pthread-win32 barriers.
|
||
|
To cope with more than "count" possible waiters, barriers must effectively
|
||
|
implement all the same safeguards as condition variables, making them much
|
||
|
"heavier" than at present.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The workaround is to ensure that no more than "count" threads attempt to wait
|
||
|
at the barrier.
|
||
|
|
||
|
5. Canceling a thread blocked on pthread_once appears not to work in the MSVC++
|
||
|
version of the library "pthreadVCE.dll". The test case "once3.c" hangs. I have no
|
||
|
clues on this at present. All other versions pass this test ok - pthreadsVC.dll,
|
||
|
pthreadsVSE.dll, pthreadsGC.dll and pthreadsGCE.dll.
|