NetBSD/share/man/man9/condvar.9

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.Dd June 4, 2008
.Dt CONDVAR 9
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm cv ,
.Nm condvar ,
.Nm cv_init ,
.Nm cv_destroy ,
.Nm cv_wait ,
.Nm cv_wait_sig ,
.Nm cv_timedwait ,
.Nm cv_timedwait_sig ,
.Nm cv_signal ,
.Nm cv_broadcast ,
.Nm cv_has_waiters
.Nd condition variables
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/condvar.h
.Ft void
.Fn cv_init "kcondvar_t *cv" "const char *wmesg"
.Ft void
.Fn cv_destroy "kcondvar_t *cv"
.Ft void
.Fn cv_wait "kcondvar_t *cv" "kmutex_t *mtx"
.Ft int
.Fn cv_wait_sig "kcondvar_t *cv" "kmutex_t *mtx"
.Ft int
.Fn cv_timedwait "kcondvar_t *cv" "kmutex_t *mtx" "int ticks"
.Ft int
.Fn cv_timedwait_sig "kcondvar_t *cv" "kmutex_t *mtx" "int ticks"
.Ft void
.Fn cv_signal "kcondvar_t *cv"
.Ft void
.Fn cv_broadcast "kcondvar_t *cv"
.Ft bool
.Fn cv_has_waiters "kcondvar_t *cv"
.Pp
.Cd "options DIAGNOSTIC"
.Cd "options LOCKDEBUG"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
Condition variables (CVs) are used in the kernel to synchronize access
to resources that are limited (for example, memory) and to wait for
pending I/O operations to complete.
.Pp
The
.Vt kcondvar_t
type provides storage for the CV object.
This should be treated as an opaque object and not examined directly by
consumers.
.Sh OPTIONS
.Bl -tag -width abcd
.It Cd "options DIAGNOSTIC"
.Pp
Kernels compiled with the
.Dv DIAGNOSTIC
option perform basic sanity checks on CV operations.
.It Cd "options LOCKDEBUG"
.Pp
Kernels compiled with the
.Dv LOCKDEBUG
option perform potentially CPU intensive sanity checks
on CV operations.
.El
.Sh FUNCTIONS
.Bl -tag -width abcd
.It Fn cv_init "cv" "wmesg"
.Pp
Initialize a CV for use.
No other operations can be performed on the CV until it has been initialized.
.Pp
The
.Fa wmesg
argument specifies a string of no more than 8 characters that describes
the resource or condition associated with the CV.
The kernel does not use this argument directly but makes it available for
utilities such as
.Xr ps 1
to display.
.It Fn cv_destroy "cv"
.Pp
Release resources used by a CV.
The CV must not be in use when it is destroyed, and must not be used afterwards.
.It Fn cv_wait "cv" "mtx"
.Pp
Cause the current LWP to wait non-interruptably for access to a resource,
or for an I/O operation to complete.
The LWP will resume execution when awoken by another thread using
.Fn cv_signal
or
.Fn cv_broadcast .
.Pp
.Fa mtx
specifies a kernel mutex to be used as an interlock, and must be held by the
calling LWP on entry to
.Fn cv_wait .
It will be released once the LWP has prepared to sleep, and will be reacquired
before
.Fn cv_wait
returns.
.Pp
A small window exists between testing for availability of a resource and
waiting for the resource with
.Fn cv_wait ,
in which the resource may become available again.
The interlock is used to guarantee that the resource will not be signalled
as available until the calling LWP has begun to wait for it.
.Pp
Non-interruptable waits have the potential to deadlock the system, and so must
be kept short (typically, under one second).
.It Fn cv_wait_sig "cv" "mtx"
.Pp
As per
.Fn cv_wait ,
but causes the current LWP to wait interruptably.
If the LWP receives a signal, or is interrupted by another condition such
as its containing process exiting, the wait is ended early and an error
code returned.
.Pp
If
.Fn cv_wait_sig
returns as a result of a signal, the return value is
.Er ERESTART
if the signal
has the
.Dv SA_RESTART
property.
If awoken normally, the value is zero, and
.Er EINTR
under all other conditions.
.It Fn cv_timedwait "cv" "mtx" "ticks"
.Pp
As per
.Fn cv_wait ,
but will return early if a timeout specified by the
.Fa ticks
argument expires.
.Pp
.Fa ticks
is an architecture and system dependent value related to the number of
clock interrupts per second.
See
.Xr hz 9
for details.
The
.Xr mstohz 9
macro can be used to convert a timeout expressed in milliseconds to
one suitable for
.Fn cv_timedwait .
If the
.Fa ticks
argument is zero,
.Fn cv_timedwait
behaves exactly like
.Fn cv_wait .
.Pp
If the timeout expires before the LWP is awoken, the return value is
.Er EWOULDBLOCK .
If awoken normally, the return value is zero.
.It Fn cv_timedwait_sig "cv" "mtx" "ticks"
.Pp
As per
.Fn cv_wait_sig ,
but also accepts a timeout value and will return
.Er EWOULDBLOCK
if the timeout expires.
.It Fn cv_signal "cv"
.Pp
Awaken one LWP (potentially among many) that is waiting on the specified
condition variable.
The mutex passed to the wait function
.Po Fa mtx Pc
must also be held when calling
.Fn cv_signal .
.Pp
(Note that
.Fn cv_signal
is erroneously named in that it does not send a signal in the traditional
sense to LWPs waiting on a CV.)
.It Fn cv_broadcast "cv"
.Pp
Awaken all LWPs waiting on the specified condition variable.
The mutex passed to the wait function
.Po Fa mtx Pc
must also be held when calling
.Fn cv_broadcast .
.It Fn cv_has_waiters "cv"
.Pp
Return
.Dv true
if one or more LWPs are waiting on the specified condition variable.
.Pp
.Fn cv_has_waiters
cannot test reliably for interruptable waits.
It should only be used to test for non-interruptable waits
made using
.Fn cv_wait .
.Pp
.Fn cv_has_waiters
should only be used when making diagnostic assertions, and must
be called while holding the interlocking mutex passed to
.Fn cv_wait .
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bd -literal
Consuming a resource:

	/*
	 * Lock the resource.  Its mutex will also serve as the
	 * interlock.
	 */
	mutex_enter(\*[Am]res-\*[Gt]mutex);

	/*
	 * Wait for the resource to become available.
	 */
	while (res-\*[Gt]state == BUSY)
		cv_wait(\*[Am]res-\*[Gt]condvar, \*[Am]res-\*[Gt]mutex);

	/*
	 * It's now available to us.  Take ownership of the
	 * resource, and consume it.
	 */
	res-\*[Gt]state = BUSY;
	mutex_exit(\*[Am]res-\*[Gt]mutex);
	consume(res);

Releasing a resource for the next consumer to use:

	mutex_enter(\*[Am]res-\*[Gt]mutex);
	res-\*[Gt]state = IDLE;
	cv_signal(\*[Am]res-\*[Gt]condvar);
	mutex_exit(\*[Am]res-\*[Gt]mutex);
.Ed
.Sh CODE REFERENCES
This section describes places within the
.Nx
source tree where code implementing condition variables can be found.
All pathnames are relative to
.Pa /usr/src .
.Pp
The core of the CV implementation is in
.Pa sys/kern/kern_condvar.c .
.Pp
The header file
.Pa sys/sys/condvar.h
describes the public interface.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sigaction 2 ,
.Xr errno 9 ,
.Xr mb 9 ,
.Xr mstohz 9 ,
.Xr mutex 9 ,
.Xr rwlock 9
.Pp
.Rs
.%A Jim Mauro
.%A Richard McDougall
.%T Solaris Internals: Core Kernel Architecture
.%I Prentice Hall
.%D 2001
.%O ISBN 0-13-022496-0
.Re
.Sh HISTORY
The CV primitives first appeared in
.Nx 5.0 .