On Sat, Apr 02, 2016 at 11:09:20AM -0000, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> pthread_mutexes on Linux are based on the futex mechanism. The standard futex
> mechanism in the Linux kernel uses a global hash to store transient
> state. Collisions on that hash can lead to performance degradation and on
> real-time enabled kernels even to priority inversions.
>
> To guarantee futexes without collisions on the global kernel hash, the kernel
> provides a mechanism to attach to a futex. This creates futex private state
> which avoids hash collisions and on NUMA systems also cross node memory
> access.
>
> To utilize this mechanism each thread has to attach to the futex before any
> other operations on that futex which involve kernel interaction.
>
> At pthread_mutex_init() the pthread_mutex attribute needs to be initialized
> for attached mode via:
>
> pthread_mutexattr_setattached_np(&attr, 1);
>
> All threads which are using the mutex - including the one which called
> pthread_mutex_init() - must invoke
>
> pthread_mutex_attach_np(&mutex);
>
> before any other pthread_mutex related operations.
>
> Example:
> pthread_mutexattr_t attr;
> pthread_mutex_t lock;
>
> pthread_mutexattr_init(&attr);
> pthread_mutexattr_setattached_np(&attr, 1);
> pthread_mutex_init(&lock, &attr);
>
> pthread_mutex_attach_np(&lock);
>
> pthread_mutex_lock(&lock);
>
> In ptrace this should look like this:
>
> futex(<addr>, 0x280 /* FUTEX_??? */, 1, NULL <unfinished ...>
>
> 0x280: FUTEX_ATTACHED | FUTEX_PRIVATE | FUTEX_WAIT
>
> To undo the attachment each involved thread needs to call
>
> pthread_mutex_detach_np(&mutex);
>
> When the last user detaches the kernel state is destroyed.
So I was fully expecting pthread_mutex_{at,de}tach_np() to not exist and
be internal to pthread_mutex_{init,destroy}().
Is there a reason this is not so?
