Boost C++ Libraries: Ticket #2739: shouldn't at_thread_exit work on the main thread?

milestone changed

viboes — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:10:59 GMT

milestone Boost 1.39.0 → Boost 1.40.0

The attached files contains the tests showing the bug and a patch solving the issue. The idea been use atexit for the main thread.

attachment set

viboes — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:31:10 GMT

attachment → test_ticket_2739.cpp

attachment set

viboes — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:31:59 GMT

attachment → 2739.patch

viboes — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:45:00 GMT

I have no modified nothing for window as I can not check it. Can someone apply the same modifications to the src/win32/thread.cpp file?

viboes — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:38:40 GMT

Replying to viboes:

The attached files contains the tests showing the bug and a patch solving the issue. The idea been use atexit for the main thread.

I have run the Thread tests and the patch introduce a regression on test_tss.cpp:test_tss. The reason is that the patch do not make a difference between the thread main and native threads created directly with pthread_create. So the patch is not usable. Is there a way to identify the thread main?

severity changed

Vladimir Prus — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:06:09 GMT

severity Showstopper → Problem

It's not apparent that this is showstopper bug, nor even regression.

cowwoc@… — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:08:18 GMT

Hi,

I can confirm that this issue affects Boost 1.40 under Windows. Please fix it for this platform too!

status changed; resolution set

Anthony Williams — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:51:00 GMT

status new → closed
resolution → wontfix

No, at_thread_exit should not work on the main thread.

If you call exit() then all threads are abruptly terminated without calling their exit handlers.

Returning from main is defined to be equivalent to calling exit(), so all threads (including the main thread) are terminated without calling exit handlers.

On POSIX, if you exit the main thread by calling pthread_exit() then the thread exit handlers should run. Similarly, on Windows you can use ExitThread(). However, I would recommend using atexit or explicit calls, or even just normal destructors, since using pthread_exit() or ExitThread will not run destructors for automatic_objects.