https://github.com/jtsiomb/c11threads

Portable C11 threads implementation over POSIX threads and win32 threads.
https://github.com/jtsiomb/c11threads

c11 pthreads threads unix win32

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Portable C11 threads implementation over POSIX threads and win32 threads.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/jtsiomb/c11threads
• Owner: jtsiomb
• Created: 2012-09-27T02:37:20.000Z (over 12 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2024-09-17T18:32:44.000Z (5 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-01-27T11:04:26.351Z (11 days ago)
• Topics: c11, pthreads, threads, unix, win32
• Language: C
• Homepage:
• Size: 43.9 KB
• Stars: 241
• Watchers: 12
• Forks: 36
• Open Issues: 1
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
Trivial C11 `threads.h` implementation over POSIX threads, and not-so-trivial

implementation over Win32 threads.

Rationale

---------

Even though GCC provides the threading features required by the C11 standard

(like atomics, and thread-local storage), GNU libc, still does not implement the

necessary library functions of the standard C thread API. Other popular

platforms similarly lack support for the C11 thread functions, like Microsoft's

C runtime library on Windows.

If you're starting a new multithreaded project in C right now, it would make

sense to use the standard C way of using threads instead of a mishmash of

various platform-specific APIs. So until the system libc adds support for it,

we need a stopgap that works exactly as the C standard describes.

License

-------

Authors:

  - John Tsiombikas : original POSIX threads wrapper

  - Oliver Old : win32 implementation

I place this piece of code in the public domain. Feel free to use as you see

fit. I'd appreciate it if you keep my name at the top of the code somewhere, but

whatever.

How to use

----------

### With POSIX threads

On UNIX systems, or on Windows with a 3rd party pthreads library, c11threads

is implemented as a thin wrapper of static inline functions over pthreads.

No installation or compilation necessary; just drop `c11threads.h` into your

project source tree, and don't forget to link with `-lpthread`. On some

platforms it might be required to also pass the `-pthread` flag to the compiler.

If your compiler does not support the inline keyword, define `C11THREADS_INLINE`

to whatever equivalent keyword the compiler provides, or to the empty string to

make all the functions simply static.

If you wish to use the pthreads implementation on Windows, in preference to the

native win32 one, you need to define `C11THREADS_PTHREAD_WIN32`.

### With Win32 threads

To use C11 threads over the Windows threads API, beyond adding `c11threads.h` to

your project, you also need to compile `c11threads_win32.c` as part of your

build. Additionally, if you're in a situation where letting c11threads keep

resources for the duration of the process lifetime is not desirable, you can

call `c11threads_destroy_win32()` to free them manually at any point, when

you're done with it.

### Test program

There's a simple test program under `test/`. To build it on UNIX (GNU/Linux,

FreeBSD, MacOSX, whatever), simply change into the test directory and type

`make`.

To build the test program on Windows with MSVC using native win32 threads,

setup the build environment (usually there's a batch file called `vcvars*.bat`,

run it in a console), and use microsoft nmake to build:

`nmake -f Makefile.msvc`.

Contact

-------

Main project site: https://github.com/jtsiomb/c11threads

Feel free to send corrections, patches, trendy social pull requests,

pictures of your cat wearing santa hats, any good porn links, or investment

opportunities with Nigerian ex-royals... It's all good.