RE: libgcj/117: _Jv_PthreadCheckMonitor test is not portable.

["Boehm, Hans" <hboehm at exch dot hpl dot hp dot com>]

Oops.  I should have replied to a later message.

Based on the earlier URL, it looks to me like you need to create threads
using their interface.  They can then create a corresponding pthread.  It
may be possible to intercept pthread_create and call their stuff instead,
but I don't think this would work with pthreads code out of the box.  And
it's probably hard to get full pthreads functionality back without
substantial changes.  (This is mostly a GC issue, and our GC also has to
intercept pthread_create, so that it can see the new thread.  But my design
goal was to support full pthreads functionality.)

The threads implementation is somewhat tied to the NSPR GC, which has gotten
much better over time, but still doesn't seem to perform very well (perhaps
due to time vs. space tuning issues).

Hans 

-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Brunsmann [mailto:joerg.brunsmann@FernUni-Hagen.de]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 8:36 AM
To: Tom Tromey
Cc: java-discuss@sourceware.cygnus.com
Subject: Re: libgcj/117: _Jv_PthreadCheckMonitor test is not portable.


Tom Tromey wrote:

> My understanding is that this is a thread system and does not use
> native threads.  This is also not what we want.  (Maybe I'm wrong.
> The URL you give is hardly an easy way to find out...).

Sorry, for that:

  http://www.mozilla.org/docs/refList/refNSPR/

If I understand correctly the situation is as follows: if a native 
thread library (like pthread) exists, a PRThread maps to a native 
thread. If there's no native thread, they emulate threads. 

> Anyway, having control over the thread layer is important to us, I
> think.  We want to be able to write new thread ports without having to
> mess around (with negotiations or forking other people's packages).

NSPR has been ported to over 20 OS. I don't know if they plan to port
NSPR to embedded systems. FWIW: Doesn't your argumentation apply to the 
implementation of GC as well?

Kind regards,

Jörg