2. POSIX Threads Programming.

Abstract.

In shared memory multiprocessor architectures, such as SMPs, threads can be used to implement parallelism. Historically, hardware
vendors have implemented their own proprietary versions of threads, making portability a concern for software developers. For UNIX
systems, a standardized C language threads programming interface has been specified by the IEEE POSIX 1003.1c standard.
Implementations that adhere to this standard are referred to as POSIX threads, or Pthreads.

The tutorial begins with an introduction to concepts, motivations, and design considerations for using Pthreads. Each of the three major
classes of routines in the Pthreads API are then covered: Thread Management, Mutex Variables, and Condition Variables. Example
codes are used throughout to demonstrate how to use most of the Pthreads routines needed by a new Pthreads programmer. The
tutorial concludes with a discussion of LLNL specifics and how to mix MPI with pthreads. A lab exercise, with numerous example codes
(C Language) is also included.

Pthreads Overview

What is a Thread?

 Technically, a thread is defined as an independent stream of instructions that can be scheduled to run as such by the
operating system. But what does this mean?
 To the software developer, the concept of a "procedure" that runs independently from its main program may best describe
a thread.
 To go one step further, imagine a main program (a.out) that contains a number of procedures. Then imagine all of these
procedures being able to be scheduled to run simultaneously and/or independently by the operating system. That would
describe a "multi-threaded" program.
 How is this accomplished?

 Before understanding a thread, one first needs to understand a UNIX process. A process is created by the operating system,
and requires a fair amount of "overhead". Processes contain information about program resources and program execution
state, including:
o Process ID, process group ID, user ID, and group ID
o Environment
o Working directory.
o Program instructions
o Registers
o Stack
o Heap
o File descriptors
o Signal actions
o Shared libraries
o Inter-process communication tools (such as message queues, pipes, semaphores, or shared memory).
 UNIX PROCESS THREADS WITHIN A UNIX PROCESS

 Threads use and exist within these process resources, yet are able to be scheduled by the operating system and run as
independent entities largely because they duplicate only the bare essential resources that enable them to exist as
executable code.
 This independent flow of control is accomplished because a thread maintains its own:
o Stack pointer
o Registers
o Scheduling properties (such as policy or priority)
o Set of pending and blocked signals
o Thread specific data.
 So, in summary, in the UNIX environment a thread:
o Exists within a process and uses the process resources
o Has its own independent flow of control as long as its parent process exists and the OS supports it
o Duplicates only the essential resources it needs to be independently schedulable
o May share the process resources with other threads that act equally independently (and dependently)
o Dies if the parent process dies - or something similar
o Is "lightweight" because most of the overhead has already been accomplished through the creation of its process.
 Because threads within the same process share resources:
o Changes made by one thread to shared system resources (such as closing a file) will be seen by all other threads.
o Two pointers having the same value point to the same data.
o Reading and writing to the same memory locations is possible, and therefore requires explicit synchronization by
the programmer.

What are Pthreads?

 Historically, hardware vendors have implemented their own proprietary versions of threads. These implementations differed
substantially from each other making it difficult for programmers to develop portable threaded applications.
 In order to take full advantage of the capabilities provided by threads, a standardized programming interface was required.
o For UNIX systems, this interface has been specified by the IEEE POSIX 1003.1c standard (1995).
o Implementations adhering to this standard are referred to as POSIX threads, or Pthreads.
o Most hardware vendors now offer Pthreads in addition to their proprietary API's.
 The POSIX standard has continued to evolve and undergo revisions, including the Pthreads specification. The latest version is
known as IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition.
 Some useful links:
o POSIX FAQs: www.opengroup.org/austin/papers/posix_faq.html
o Download the Standard: www.unix.org/version3/ieee_std.html
 Pthreads are defined as a set of C language programming types and procedure calls, implemented with a pthread.h
header/include file and a thread library - though this library may be part of another library, such as libc, in some
implementations.

Why Pthreads?

 The primary motivation for using Pthreads is to realize potential program performance gains.
 When compared to the cost of creating and managing a process, a thread can be created with much less operating system
overhead. Managing threads requires fewer system resources than managing processes.
 For example, the following table compares timing results for the fork() subroutine and the pthread_create() subroutine.
Timings reflect 50,000 process/thread creations, were performed with the time utility, and units are in seconds, no
optimization flags.

Note: don't expect the sytem and user times to add up to real time, because these are SMP systems with multiple CPUs
working on the problem at the same time. At best, these are approximations run on local machines, past and present.

fork() pthread_create()
Platform
real user sys real user sys

AMD 2.3 GHz Opteron (16cpus/node) 12.5 1.0 12.5 1.2 0.2 1.3

AMD 2.4 GHz Opteron (8cpus/node) 17.6 2.2 15.7 1.4 0.3 1.3

IBM 4.0 GHz POWER6 (8cpus/node) 9.5 0.6 8.8 1.6 0.1 0.4

IBM 1.9 GHz POWER5 p5-575 (8cpus/node) 64.2 30.7 27.6 1.7 0.6 1.1

IBM 1.5 GHz POWER4 (8cpus/node) 104.5 48.6 47.2 2.1 1.0 1.5

INTEL 2.4 GHz Xeon (2 cpus/node) 54.9 1.5 20.8 1.6 0.7 0.9

INTEL 1.4 GHz Itanium2 (4 cpus/node) 54.5 1.1 22.2 2.0 1.2 0.6

 All threads within a process share the same address space. Inter-thread communication is more efficient and in many cases,
easier to use than inter-process communication.
 Threaded applications offer potential performance gains and practical advantages over non-threaded applications in several
other ways:
o Overlapping CPU work with I/O: For example, a program may have sections where it is performing a long I/O
operation. While one thread is waiting for an I/O system call to complete, CPU intensive work can be performed
by other threads.
o Priority/real-time scheduling: tasks which are more important can be scheduled to supersede or interrupt lower
priority tasks.
o Asynchronous event handling: tasks which service events of indeterminate frequency and duration can be
interleaved. For example, a web server can both transfer data from previous requests and manage the arrival of
new requests.
 The primary motivation for considering the use of Pthreads on an SMP architecture is to achieve optimum performance. In
particular, if an application is using MPI for on-node communications, there is a potential that performance could be greatly
improved by using Pthreads for on-node data transfer instead.
 For example:
o MPI libraries usually implement on-node task communication via shared memory, which involves at least one
memory copy operation (process to process).
o For Pthreads there is no intermediate memory copy required because threads share the same address space
within a single process. There is no data transfer, per se. It becomes more of a cache-to-CPU or memory-to-CPU
bandwidth (worst case) situation. These speeds are much higher.
o Some local comparisons are shown below:

Pthreads Worst Case

MPI Shared Memory Bandwidth Memory-to-CPU Bandwidth
Platform
(GB/sec)
(GB/sec)

AMD 2.3 GHz Opteron 1.8 5.3

AMD 2.4 GHz Opteron 1.2 5.3

IBM 1.9 GHz POWER5 p5-575 4.1 16

IBM 1.5 GHz POWER4 2.1 4

Intel 2.4 GHz Xeon 0.3 4.3

 Intel 1.4 GHz Itanium 2 1.8 6.4

Designing Threaded Programs

Parallel Programming:

 On modern, multi-cpu machines, pthreads are ideally suited for parallel programming, and whatever applies to parallel
programming in general, applies to parallel pthreads programs.
 There are many considerations for designing parallel programs, such as:
o What type of parallel programming model to use?
o Problem partitioning
o Load balancing
o Communications
o Data dependencies
o Synchronization and race conditions
o Memory issues
o I/O issues
o Program complexity
o Programmer effort/costs/time
o ...
 Covering these topics is beyond the scope of this tutorial, however interested readers can obtain a quick overview in the
Introduction to Parallel Computing tutorial.
 In general though, in order for a program to take advantage of Pthreads, it must be able to be organized into discrete,
independent tasks which can execute concurrently. For example, if routine1 and routine2 can be interchanged, interleaved
and/or overlapped in real time, they are candidates for threading.

 Programs having the following characteristics may be well suited for pthreads:
o Work that can be executed, or data that can be operated on, by multiple tasks simultaneously
o Block for potentially long I/O waits
o Use many CPU cycles in some places but not others
o Must respond to asynchronous events
o Some work is more important than other work (priority interrupts)
 Pthreads can also be used for serial applications, to emulate parallel execution. A perfect example is the typical web
browser, which for most people, runs on a single cpu desktop/laptop machine. Many things can "appear" to be happening at
the same time.
 Several common models for threaded programs exist:
o Manager/worker: a single thread, the manager assigns work to other threads, the workers. Typically, the
manager handles all input and parcels out work to the other tasks. At least two forms of the manager/worker
model are common: static worker pool and dynamic worker pool.
o Pipeline: a task is broken into a series of suboperations, each of which is handled in series, but concurrently, by a
different thread. An automobile assembly line best describes this model.
o Peer: similar to the manager/worker model, but after the main thread creates other threads, it participates in the
work.

Shared Memory Model:

 All threads have access to the same global, shared memory

 Threads also have their own private data
 Programmers are responsible for synchronizing access (protecting) globally shared data.

Thread-safeness:

 Thread-safeness: in a nutshell, refers an application's ability to execute multiple threads simultaneously without
"clobbering" shared data or creating "race" conditions.
 For example, suppose that your application creates several threads, each of which makes a call to the same library routine:
o This library routine accesses/modifies a global structure or location in memory.
o As each thread calls this routine it is possible that they may try to modify this global structure/memory location at
the same time.
o If the routine does not employ some sort of synchronization constructs to prevent data corruption, then it is not
thread-safe.
  The implication to users of external library routines is that if you aren't 100% certain the routine is thread-safe, then you
take your chances with problems that could arise.
 Recommendation: Be careful if your application uses libraries or other objects that don't explicitly guarantee thread-
safeness. When in doubt, assume that they are not thread-safe until proven otherwise. This can be done by "serializing" the
calls to the uncertain routine, etc.

The Pthreads API

 The original Pthreads API was defined in the ANSI/IEEE POSIX 1003.1 - 1995 standard. The POSIX standard has continued to
evolve and undergo revisions, including the Pthreads specification. The latest version is known as IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004
Edition.
 Copies of the standard can be purchased from IEEE or downloaded for free from www.unix.org/version3/ieee_std.html.
 The subroutines which comprise the Pthreads API can be informally grouped into four major groups:
1. Thread management: Routines that work directly on threads - creating, detaching, joining, etc. They also include
functions to set/query thread attributes (joinable, scheduling etc.)
2. Mutexes: Routines that deal with synchronization, called a "mutex", which is an abbreviation for "mutual
exclusion". Mutex functions provide for creating, destroying, locking and unlocking mutexes. These are
supplemented by mutex attribute functions that set or modify attributes associated with mutexes.
3. Condition variables: Routines that address communications between threads that share a mutex. Based upon
programmer specified conditions. This group includes functions to create, destroy, wait and signal based upon
specified variable values. Functions to set/query condition variable attributes are also included.
4. Synchronization: Routines that manage read/write locks and barriers.
 Naming conventions: All identifiers in the threads library begin with pthread_. Some examples are shown below.

Routine Prefix Functional Group

pthread_ Threads themselves and miscellaneous subroutines

pthread_attr_ Thread attributes objects

pthread_mutex_ Mutexes

pthread_mutexattr_ Mutex attributes objects.

pthread_cond_ Condition variables

pthread_condattr_ Condition attributes objects

pthread_key_ Thread-specific data keys

pthread_rwlock_ Read/write locks

pthread_barrier_ Synchronization barriers

 The concept of opaque objects pervades the design of the API. The basic calls work to create or modify opaque objects - the
opaque objects can be modified by calls to attribute functions, which deal with opaque attributes.
 The Pthreads API contains around 100 subroutines. This tutorial will focus on a subset of these - specifically, those which are
most likely to be immediately useful to the beginning Pthreads programmer.
 For portability, the pthread.h header file should be included in each source file using the Pthreads library.
 The current POSIX standard is defined only for the C language. Fortran programmers can use wrappers around C function
calls. Some Fortran compilers (like IBM AIX Fortran) may provide a Fortram pthreads API.
 A number of excellent books about Pthreads are available. Several of these are listed in the References section of this
tutorial.

Compiling Threaded Programs

 Several examples of compile commands used for pthreads codes are listed in the table below.

Compiler / Platform Compiler Command Description

 xlc_r  /  cc_r C (ANSI  /  non-ANSI)

IBM xlC_r C++

AIX
xlf_r -qnosave
Fortran - using IBM's Pthreads API (non-portable)
xlf90_r -qnosave

icc -pthread C
INTEL
Linux
icpc -pthread C++

pathcc -pthread C
PathScale
Linux
pathCC -pthread C++

pgcc -lpthread C
PGI
Linux
pgCC -lpthread C++

gcc -pthread GNU C

GNU
Linux, AIX
g++ -pthread GNU C++

Thread Management

Creating and Terminating Threads

Routines:
pthread_create (thread,attr,start_routine,arg)

pthread_exit (status)

pthread_attr_init (attr)

pthread_attr_destroy (attr)

Creating Threads:

 Initially, your main() program comprises a single, default thread. All other threads must be explicitly created by the
programmer.
 pthread_create creates a new thread and makes it executable. This routine can be called any number of times from
anywhere within your code.
 pthread_create arguments:
o thread: An opaque, unique identifier for the new thread returned by the subroutine.
o attr: An opaque attribute object that may be used to set thread attributes. You can specify a thread attributes
object, or NULL for the default values.
o start_routine: the C routine that the thread will execute once it is created.
 o arg: A single argument that may be passed to start_routine. It must be passed by reference as a pointer cast of
type void. NULL may be used if no argument is to be passed.
 The maximum number of threads that may be created by a process is implementation dependent.
 Once created, threads are peers, and may create other threads. There is no implied hierarchy or dependency between
threads.

Thread Attributes:

 By default, a thread is created with certain attributes. Some of these attributes can be changed by the programmer via the
thread attribute object.
 pthread_attr_init and pthread_attr_destroy are used to initialize/destroy the thread attribute object.
 Other routines are then used to query/set specific attributes in the thread attribute object.
 Some of these attributes will be discussed later.

Terminating Threads:

 There are several ways in which a Pthread may be terminated:

o The thread returns from its starting routine (the main routine for the initial thread).
o The thread makes a call to the pthread_exit subroutine (covered below).
o The thread is canceled by another thread via the pthread_cancel routine (not covered here).
o The entire process is terminated due to a call to either the exec or exit subroutines.
 pthread_exit is used to explicitly exit a thread. Typically, the pthread_exit() routine is called after a thread has completed its
work and is no longer required to exist.
 If main() finishes before the threads it has created, and exits with pthread_exit(), the other threads will continue to execute.
Otherwise, they will be automatically terminated when main() finishes.
 The programmer may optionally specify a termination status, which is stored as a void pointer for any thread that may join
the calling thread.
 Cleanup: the pthread_exit() routine does not close files; any files opened inside the thread will remain open after the thread
is terminated.
 Discussion: In subroutines that execute to completion normally, you can often dispense with calling pthread_exit() - unless,
of course, you want to pass a return code back. However, in main(), there is a definite problem if main() completes before
the threads it spawned. If you don't call pthread_exit() explicitly, when main() completes, the process (and all threads) will
be terminated. By calling pthread_exit() in main(), the process and all of its threads will be kept alive even though all of the
code in main() has been executed.

Passing Arguments to Threads

 The pthread_create() routine permits the programmer to pass one argument to the thread start routine. For cases where
multiple arguments must be passed, this limitation is easily overcome by creating a structure which contains all of the
arguments, and then passing a pointer to that structure in the pthread_create() routine.
 All arguments must be passed by reference and cast to (void *).
Joining and Detaching Threads

Routines:

pthread_join (threadid,status)

pthread_detach (threadid)
 pthread_attr_setdetachstate (attr,detachstate)

pthread_attr_getdetachstate (attr,detachstate)

Joining:

 "Joining" is one way to accomplish synchronization between threads. For example:

 The pthread_join() subroutine blocks the calling thread until the specified threadid thread terminates.
 The programmer is able to obtain the target thread's termination return status if it was specified in the target thread's call to
pthread_exit().
 A joining thread can match one pthread_join() call. It is a logical error to attempt multiple joins on the same thread.
 Two other synchronization methods, mutexes and condition variables, will be discussed later.

Joinable or Not?

 When a thread is created, one of its attributes defines whether it is joinable or detached. Only threads that are created as
joinable can be joined. If a thread is created as detached, it can never be joined.
 The final draft of the POSIX standard specifies that threads should be created as joinable.
 To explicitly create a thread as joinable or detached, the attr argument in the pthread_create() routine is used. The typical 4 step
process is:
1. Declare a pthread attribute variable of the pthread_attr_t data type
2. Initialize the attribute variable with pthread_attr_init()
3. Set the attribute detached status with pthread_attr_setdetachstate()
4. When done, free library resources used by the attribute with pthread_attr_destroy()

Detaching:

 The pthread_detach() routine can be used to explicitly detach a thread even though it was created as joinable.
 There is no converse routine.

Recommendations:

 If a thread requires joining, consider explicitly creating it as joinable. This provides portability as not all implementations may
create threads as joinable by default.
 If you know in advance that a thread will never need to join with another thread, consider creating it in a detached state.
Some system resources may be able to be freed.
Stack Management

Routines:
pthread_attr_getstacksize (attr, stacksize)

pthread_attr_setstacksize (attr, stacksize)

pthread_attr_getstackaddr (attr, stackaddr)

pthread_attr_setstackaddr (attr, stackaddr)

Preventing Stack Problems:

 The POSIX standard does not dictate the size of a thread's stack. This is implementation dependent and varies.
 Exceeding the default stack limit is often very easy to do, with the usual results: program termination and/or corrupted data.
 Safe and portable programs do not depend upon the default stack limit, but instead, explicitly allocate enough stack for each
thread by using the pthread_attr_setstacksize routine.
 The pthread_attr_getstackaddr and pthread_attr_setstackaddr routines can be used by applications in an environment where the stack
for a thread must be placed in some particular region of memory.

Some Practical Examples at LC:

 Default thread stack size varies greatly. The maximum size that can be obtained also varies greatly, and may depend upon
the number of threads per node.

Node #CPUs Memory (GB) Default Size

Architecture (bytes)
AMD Opteron 8 16 2,097,152
Intel IA64 4 8 33,554,432
Intel IA32 2 4 2,097,152
IBM Power5 8 32 196,608
IBM Power4 8 16 196,608
IBM Power3 16 16 98,304

Miscellaneous Routines

pthread_self () https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/man/pthread_self.txt

pthread_equal (thread1,thread2) https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/man/pthread_equal.txt

  returns the unique, system assigned thread ID of the calling thread.
pthread_self
 compares two thread IDs. If the two IDs are different 0 is returned, otherwise a non-zero value is returned.
pthread_equal
 Note that for both of these routines, the thread identifier objects are opaque and can not be easily inspected. Because
thread IDs are opaque objects, the C language equivalence operator == should not be used to compare two thread IDs
against each other, or to compare a single thread ID against another value.

pthread_once (once_control, init_routine)

 pthread_onceexecutes the init_routine exactly once in a process. The first call to this routine by any thread in the process
executes the given init_routine, without parameters. Any subsequent call will have no effect.
 The init_routine routine is typically an initialization routine.
 The once_control parameter is a synchronization control structure that requires initialization prior to calling pthread_once. For
example:

pthread_once_t once_control = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;

Mutex Variables

Overview

 Mutex is an abbreviation for "mutual exclusion". Mutex variables are one of the primary means of
implementing thread synchronization and for protecting shared data when multiple writes occur.
  A mutex variable acts like a "lock" protecting access to a shared data resource. The basic concept of
a mutex as used in Pthreads is that only one thread can lock (or own) a mutex variable at any given
time. Thus, even if several threads try to lock a mutex only one thread will be successful. No other
thread can own that mutex until the owning thread unlocks that mutex. Threads must "take turns"
accessing protected data.
 Mutexes can be used to prevent "race" conditions. An example of a race condition involving a bank
transaction is shown below:

Thread 1 Thread 2 Balance

Read balance: $1000   $1000

  Read balance: $1000 $1000

  Deposit $200 $1000

Deposit $200   $1000

Update balance $1000+$200   $1200

  Update balance $1000+$200 $1200

 In the above example, a mutex should be used to lock the "Balance" while a thread is using this
shared data resource.
 Very often the action performed by a thread owning a mutex is the updating of global variables.
This is a safe way to ensure that when several threads update the same variable, the final value is
the same as what it would be if only one thread performed the update. The variables being
updated belong to a "critical section".
 A typical sequence in the use of a mutex is as follows:
o Create and initialize a mutex variable
o Several threads attempt to lock the mutex
o Only one succeeds and that thread owns the mutex
o The owner thread performs some set of actions
o The owner unlocks the mutex
o Another thread acquires the mutex and repeats the process
o Finally the mutex is destroyed
 When several threads compete for a mutex, the losers block at that call - an unblocking call is
available with "trylock" instead of the "lock" call.
 When protecting shared data, it is the programmer's responsibility to make sure every thread that
needs to use a mutex does so. For example, if 4 threads are updating the same data, but only one
uses a mutex, the data can still be corrupted.

Creating and Destroying Mutexes

Routines:
pthread_mutex_init (mutex,attr) https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/man/pthread_mutex_init.txt
 pthread_mutex_destroy (mutex) https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/man/pthread_mutex_destroy.txt

pthread_mutexattr_init (attr) https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_init.txt

pthread_mutexattr_destroy (attr)
https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/pthreads/man/pthread_mutexattr_destroy.txt

Usage:

 Mutex variables must be declared with type pthread_mutex_t, and must be initialized before they can
be used. There are two ways to initialize a mutex variable:
1. Statically, when it is declared. For example:
pthread_mutex_t mymutex = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
2. Dynamically, with the pthread_mutex_init() routine. This method permits setting mutex object
attributes, attr.

The mutex is initially unlocked.

 The attr object is used to establish properties for the mutex object, and must be of type
pthread_mutexattr_t if used (may be specified as NULL to accept defaults). The Pthreads standard
defines three optional mutex attributes:

1. Protocol: Specifies the protocol used to prevent priority inversions for a mutex.
2. Prioceiling: Specifies the priority ceiling of a mutex.
3. Process-shared: Specifies the process sharing of a mutex.

Note that not all implementations may provide the three optional mutex attributes.

o The pthread_mutexattr_init() and pthread_mutexattr_destroy() routines are used to create and

destroy mutex attribute objects respectively.
o pthread_mutex_destroy() should be used to free a mutex object which is no longer needed.

Locking and Unlocking Mutexes

Routines:
pthread_mutex_lock (mutex)

pthread_mutex_trylock (mutex)

pthread_mutex_unlock (mutex)

Usage:

 The pthread_mutex_lock() routine is used by a thread to acquire a lock on the specified mutex variable.
If the mutex is already locked by another thread, this call will block the calling thread until the
mutex is unlocked.
 pthread_mutex_trylock()will attempt to lock a mutex. However, if the mutex is already locked, the
routine will return immediately with a "busy" error code. This routine may be useful in preventing
deadlock conditions, as in a priority-inversion situation.
 pthread_mutex_unlock() will unlock a mutex if called by the owning thread. Calling this routine is
required after a thread has completed its use of protected data if other threads are to acquire the
mutex for their work with the protected data. An error will be returned if:
o If the mutex was already unlocked
o If the mutex is owned by another thread
 There is nothing "magical" about mutexes...in fact they are akin to a "gentlemen's agreement"
between participating threads. It is up to the code writer to insure that the necessary threads all
make the the mutex lock and unlock calls correctly. The following scenario demonstrates a logical
error:

Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3

Lock Lock
A=2 A = A+1 A = A*B
Unlock Unlock