threads and semaphore in c - multithreading

good morning,
i try to execute 2 threads t1 and t2 by using the semaphore c library. I wrote this code
#include <pthread.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#define Max 100;
int cpt=0;
sem_t mutex;
void* count(void* data)
{
int i;
sem_wait(&mutex);
printf("thread %d enter in critical section\n",
data);
for (i=0;i<100;i++)
{
printf("Thread %d: Counter Value: %d\n", data, cpt);
cpt++;
printf(" thread %d modify the counter %d\n",data,cpt);
}
printf("thread %d exit critical section \n",
data);
sem_post(&mutex);
pthread_exit(NULL);
}
int main()
{
pthread_t t1,t2;
sem_init(&mutex,0,1);// binary semaphore
pthread_create(&t1, NULL, count, (void*)1);
pthread_create(&t2, NULL, count, (void*)2);
pthread_join(t1, NULL);
pthread_join(t2, NULL);
sem_destroy(&mutex);
printf("Compteur: %d\n", cpt);
}
the code work without bugs but i got 2 threads whose enter in the critical section, i would like that the first thread show the 100 values and the thread 2 continue the other values until 200.

Related

Pthread Mutex Lock Linux

I created a simple program that shows the use of mutex lock. Here is the code...
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#define NUM_THREAD 2
pthread_mutex_t mutex;
int call_time;
void *makeCall(void *param)
{
call_time = 10;
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
printf("Hi I'm thread #%u making a call\n", (unsigned int) pthread_self());
do{
printf("%d\n", call_time);
call_time--;
sleep(1);
}
while(call_time > 0);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
return 0;
}
int main()
{
int i;
pthread_t thread[NUM_THREAD];
//init mutex
pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, NULL);
//create thread
for(i = 0; i < NUM_THREAD; i++)
pthread_create(&thread[i], NULL, makeCall, NULL);
//join thread
for(i = 0; i < NUM_THREAD; i++)
pthread_join(thread[i], NULL);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&mutex);
return 0;
}
The output is...
Hi I'm thread #3404384000 making a call
10
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Hi I'm thread #3412776704 making a call
0
However, if I modify the function makeCall and transfer the variable call_time inside the mutex locks...
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
call_time = 10;
/*
*
*
*
*/
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
The program now gives me the correct output where each of the thread counts down from 10 to 0. I don't understand the difference it makes transferring the variable call_time inside the locks. I hope someone can make me understand this behavior of my program. Cheers!
call_time is a shared variable that is accessed from 2 threads and so must be protected. What is happening is that the first thread starts, sets call_time to 10 and prints the first round.Then the second thread starts, resets call_time back to 10 and waits for the mutex. The first thread now comes back and keeps running with call_time reset to 10. After it is done and frees the mutex, the second thread can now run. call_time is now 0 since the first thread left it at 0, and so it just prints the last round.
Try this program, I think it will demonstrate threads better:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#define NUM_THREAD 2
pthread_mutex_t mutex;
int call_time;
void *makeCall(void *param)
{
int temp;
do{
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
printf("Hi I'm thread #%u making a call\n", (unsigned int) pthread_self());
printf("%d\n", call_time);
temp = call_time--;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
//sleep(1); //try with and without this line and see the difference.
}
while(temp > 0);
return 0;
}
int main()
{
int i;
call_time = 100;
pthread_t thread[NUM_THREAD];
//init mutex
pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, NULL);
//create thread
for(i = 0; i < NUM_THREAD; i++)
pthread_create(&thread[i], NULL, makeCall, NULL);
//join thread
for(i = 0; i < NUM_THREAD; i++)
pthread_join(thread[i], NULL);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&mutex);
return 0;
}

pthread_cancel and cancellation point

I'm learning the pthread_cancel function and testing whether thread would be cancelled when it doesn't reach cancellation point. Thread is created by default attribute and make it running in add loop. But when cancellation request was sent and thread exit immediately. It doesn't reach cancellation point and I think it should not respond to the request immediately.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void *thread_func(void *arg)
{
int i;
int j;
int k;
k = 1;
/* add operation */
for (i=0; i<1000; ++i) {
for (j=0; j<10000;++j) {
++k; // maybe for(z=0; z<10000; ++z) added would
// be better
}
}
return (void *)10;
}
int main(void)
{
char *retval;
pthread_t tid;
if (pthread_create(&tid, NULL, thread_func, NULL) != 0) {
printf("create error\n");
}
if (pthread_cancel(tid) != 0) { // cancel thread
printf("cancel error\n");
}
pthread_join(tid, (void **)retval);
printf("main thread exit\n");
return 0;
}
To have a "cancellation point" you need to use pthread_setcancelstate() to disable cancellation at the start of your thread function and then enable it when you want. When a new thread is spawned, it has the cancel state "enabled" meaning it can be canceled immediately at any time.
Perhaps more to the point, you probably shouldn't use pthread_cancel() at all. For more on that, see here: Cancelling a thread using pthread_cancel : good practice or bad
Cancelling a thread never means that it will immediately cancel anything which is running. It would just post a request to that thread. pthread_cancel only cancels a thread at a cancellation point. The list of cancellation points are defined in the man page of pthreads. In the above thread, you don't have any code which is a cancellation point. So the thread will always complete and will never get canceled. You can increase the loop or put a print statement at the last line of your thread and you will see that it is always completing the thread.
But, if you change the below code to add usleep (it is one of the cancellation point as defined in the man pages), you can see that the thread terminates after usleep. Even if you run any number of times, the thread will only get terminated at the cancellation point that is immediately after usleep and not any other point.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
void *thread_func(void *arg)
{
int i;
int j;
int k;
k = 1;
/* add operation */
for (i=0; i<1000; ++i) {
printf("Before - %d\n", i);
usleep(1);
printf("After - %d\n", i);
for (j=0; j<10000;++j) {
++k; // maybe for(z=0; z<10000; ++z) added would
// be better
}
printf("Never - %d\n", i);
}
printf("Normal Exit of thread\n");
return (void *)10;
}
int main(void)
{
char *retval;
pthread_t tid;
if (pthread_create(&tid, NULL, thread_func, NULL) != 0) {
printf("create error\n");
}
usleep(1000);
if (pthread_cancel(tid) != 0) { // cancel thread
printf("cancel error\n");
}
pthread_join(tid, (void **)retval);
printf("main thread exit\n");
return 0;
}

how to show which thread is being rejected to Enter in critical section by use of semaphore

This Code is pretty fine to demonstrate Critical Section problem, but i've TWO QUERIES about the code,
How to show WHICH THREAD is being rejected to Enter in Critical Section ?
thread 'A', 'B', 'C' are created in listed order. HOW can i start them at single time ?
Here is the code:
#include <pthread.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
void *doSomething1();
void *doSomething2();
void *doSomething3();
sem_t sem;
int main() {
// initialize semaphore to 2
sem_init(&sem, 1, 2);
pthread_t thread1, thread2, thread3;
pthread_create(&thread1, NULL, &doSomething1, NULL);
pthread_create(&thread2, NULL, &doSomething2, NULL);
pthread_create(&thread3, NULL, &doSomething3, NULL);
pthread_join(thread1, NULL);
pthread_join(thread2, NULL);
pthread_join(thread3, NULL);
return 0;
}
void doSomething(char c) {
int i, time;
for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
if (sem_wait(&sem) == 0) {
// generate random amount of time (< 7 seconds)
time = (int) ((double) rand() / RAND_MAX * 7 );
printf("#thread %c GOT-ACCESS to CRITICAL SESSION for %d sec\n", c, time);
sleep(time);
printf("\t->thread %c RELEASED CRITICAL SESSION\n",c);
sem_post(&sem);
}
else
printf("thread %c FAILED TO ENTER CRITICAL SECTION",c);
}
}
void *doSomething1() {
// thread A
doSomething('A'); return 0;
}
void *doSomething2() {
// thread B
doSomething('B'); return 0;
}
void *doSomething3() {
// thread C
doSomething('C'); return 0;
}
In order for a thread to be "rejected" from entering you would have to replace sem_wait(), which is a blocking call with sem_trywait()or sem_timedwait()although then they might not ever enter the critical section (without some more modifications to the code). But since you only want to see when a thread is denied entering the section this should be sufficient. (for more information on these methods visit the man page http://linux.die.net/man/3/sem_wait ).
As for the second the question the answer is that you actually cannot start all threads at once, they have to start in some sort of order. However you can (if you want) start multiple threads and use a semaphore to block them until all threads are ready and then release them all at once, which is as close as you can get to starting them at once.

Differences between POSIX threads on OSX and LINUX?

Can anyone shed light on the reason that when the below code is compiled and run on OSX the 'bartender' thread skips through the sem_wait() in what seems like a random manner and yet when compiled and run on a Linux machine the sem_wait() holds the thread until the relative call to sem_post() is made, as would be expected?
I am currently learning not only POSIX threads but concurrency as a whole so absoutely any comments, tips and insights are warmly welcomed...
Thanks in advance.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <errno.h>
//using namespace std;
#define NSTUDENTS 30
#define MAX_SERVINGS 100
void* student(void* ptr);
void get_serving(int id);
void drink_and_think();
void* bartender(void* ptr);
void refill_barrel();
// This shared variable gives the number of servings currently in the barrel
int servings = 10;
// Define here your semaphores and any other shared data
sem_t *mutex_stu;
sem_t *mutex_bar;
int main() {
static const char *semname1 = "Semaphore1";
static const char *semname2 = "Semaphore2";
pthread_t tid;
mutex_stu = sem_open(semname1, O_CREAT, 0777, 0);
if (mutex_stu == SEM_FAILED)
{
fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", "ERROR creating semaphore semname1");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
mutex_bar = sem_open(semname2, O_CREAT, 0777, 1);
if (mutex_bar == SEM_FAILED)
{
fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", "ERROR creating semaphore semname2");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
pthread_create(&tid, NULL, bartender, &tid);
for(int i=0; i < NSTUDENTS; ++i) {
pthread_create(&tid, NULL, student, &tid);
}
pthread_join(tid, NULL);
sem_unlink(semname1);
sem_unlink(semname2);
printf("Exiting the program...\n");
}
//Called by a student process. Do not modify this.
void drink_and_think() {
// Sleep time in milliseconds
int st = rand() % 10;
sleep(st);
}
// Called by a student process. Do not modify this.
void get_serving(int id) {
if (servings > 0) {
servings -= 1;
} else {
servings = 0;
}
printf("ID %d got a serving. %d left\n", id, servings);
}
// Called by the bartender process.
void refill_barrel()
{
servings = 1 + rand() % 10;
printf("Barrel refilled up to -> %d\n", servings);
}
//-- Implement a synchronized version of the student
void* student(void* ptr) {
int id = *(int*)ptr;
printf("Started student %d\n", id);
while(1) {
sem_wait(mutex_stu);
if(servings > 0) {
get_serving(id);
} else {
sem_post(mutex_bar);
continue;
}
sem_post(mutex_stu);
drink_and_think();
}
return NULL;
}
//-- Implement a synchronized version of the bartender
void* bartender(void* ptr) {
int id = *(int*)ptr;
printf("Started bartender %d\n", id);
//sleep(5);
while(1) {
sem_wait(mutex_bar);
if(servings <= 0) {
refill_barrel();
} else {
printf("Bar skipped sem_wait()!\n");
}
sem_post(mutex_stu);
}
return NULL;
}
The first time you run the program, you're creating named semaphores with initial values, but since your threads never exit (they're infinite loops), you never get to the sem_unlink calls to delete those semaphores. If you kill the program (with ctrl-C or any other way), the semaphores will still exist in whatever state they are in. So if you run the program again, the sem_open calls will succeed (because you don't use O_EXCL), but they won't reset the semaphore value or state, so they might be in some odd state.
So you should make sure to call sem_unlink when the program STARTS, before calling sem_open. Better yet, don't use named semaphores at all -- use sem_init to initialize a couple of unnamed semaphores instead.

Keeping number of threads constant with pthread in C

I tried to find a solution in order to keep the number of working threads constant under linux in C using pthreads, but I seem to be unable to fully understand what's wrong with the following code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#define MAX_JOBS 50
#define MAX_THREADS 5
pthread_mutex_t mutex1 = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
int jobs = MAX_JOBS;
int worker = 0;
int counter = 0;
void *functionC() {
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
worker++;
counter++;
printf("Counter value: %d\n",counter);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
// Do something...
sleep(4);
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
jobs--;
worker--;
printf(" >>> Job done: %d\n",jobs);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int i=0, j=0;
pthread_t thread[MAX_JOBS];
// Create threads if the number of working threads doesn't exceed MAX_THREADS
while (1) {
if (worker > MAX_THREADS) {
printf(" +++ In queue: %d\n", worker);
sleep(1);
} else {
//printf(" +++ Creating new thread: %d\n", worker);
pthread_create(&thread[i], NULL, &functionC, NULL);
//printf("%d",worker);
i++;
}
if (i == MAX_JOBS) break;
}
// Wait all threads to finish
for (j=0;j<MAX_JOBS;j++) {
pthread_join(thread[j], NULL);
}
return(0);
}
A while (1) loop keeps creating threads if the number of working threads is under a certain threshold. A mutex is supposed to lock the critical sections every time the global counter of the working threads is incremented (thread creation) and decremented (job is done). I thought it could work fine and for the most part it does, but weird things happen...
For instance, if I comment (as it is in this snippet) the printf //printf(" +++ Creating new thread: %d\n", worker); the while (1) seems to generate a random number (18-25 in my experience) threads (functionC prints out "Counter value: from 1 to 18-25"...) at a time instead of respecting the IF condition inside the loop. If I include the printf the loop seems to behave "almost" in the right way... This seems to hint that there's a missing "mutex" condition that I should add to the loop in main() to effectively lock the thread when MAX_THREADS is reached but after changing a LOT of times this code for the past few days I'm a bit lost, now. What am I missing?
Please, let me know what I should change in order to keep the number of threads constant it doesn't seem that I'm too far from the solution... Hopefully... :-)
Thanks in advance!
Your problem is that worker is not incremented until the new thread actually starts and gets to run - in the meantime, the main thread loops around, checks workers, finds that it hasn't changed, and starts another thread. It can repeat this many times, creating far too many threads.
So, you need to increment worker in the main thread, when you've decided to create a new thread.
You have another problem - you should be using condition variables to let the main thread sleep until it should start another thread, not using a busy-wait loop with a sleep(1); in it. The complete fixed code would look like:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#define MAX_JOBS 50
#define MAX_THREADS 5
pthread_mutex_t mutex1 = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
pthread_cond_t cond1 = PTHREAD_COND_INITIALIZER;
int jobs = MAX_JOBS;
int workers = 0;
int counter = 0;
void *functionC() {
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
counter++;
printf("Counter value: %d\n",counter);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
// Do something...
sleep(4);
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
jobs--;
printf(" >>> Job done: %d\n",jobs);
/* Worker is about to exit, so decrement count and wakeup main thread */
workers--;
pthread_cond_signal(&cond1);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
return NULL;
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int i=0, j=0;
pthread_t thread[MAX_JOBS];
// Create threads if the number of working threads doesn't exceed MAX_THREADS
while (i < MAX_JOBS) {
/* Block on condition variable until there are insufficient workers running */
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
while (workers >= MAX_THREADS)
pthread_cond_wait(&cond1, &mutex1);
/* Another worker will be running shortly */
workers++;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
pthread_create(&thread[i], NULL, &functionC, NULL);
i++;
}
// Wait all threads to finish
for (j=0;j<MAX_JOBS;j++) {
pthread_join(thread[j], NULL);
}
return(0);
}
Note that even though this works, it isn't ideal - it's best to create the number of threads you want up-front, and have them loop around, waiting for work. This is because creating and destroying threads has significant overhead, and because it often simplifies resource management. A version of your code rewritten to work like this would look like:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#define MAX_JOBS 50
#define MAX_THREADS 5
pthread_mutex_t mutex1 = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
int jobs = MAX_JOBS;
int counter = 0;
void *functionC()
{
int running_job;
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
counter++;
printf("Counter value: %d\n",counter);
while (jobs > 0) {
running_job = jobs--;
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
printf(" >>> Job starting: %d\n", running_job);
// Do something...
sleep(4);
printf(" >>> Job done: %d\n", running_job);
pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex1);
}
pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex1);
return NULL;
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int i;
pthread_t thread[MAX_THREADS];
for (i = 0; i < MAX_THREADS; i++)
pthread_create(&thread[i], NULL, &functionC, NULL);
// Wait all threads to finish
for (i = 0; i < MAX_THREADS; i++)
pthread_join(thread[i], NULL);
return 0;
}

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