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