PTHREAD_GETATTR_NP

NAME

SYNOPSIS

#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <pthread.h>

int pthread_getattr_np(pthread_t thread, pthread_attr_t *attr);

Compile and link with -pthread.

DESCRIPTION

The returned attribute values may differ from the corresponding attribute values passed in the attr object that was used to create the thread using pthread_create(3). In particular, the following attributes may differ:

*

the detach state, since a joinable thread may have detached itself after creation;

*

the stack size, which the implementation may align to a suitable boundary.

*

and the guard size, which the implementation may round upwards to a multiple of the page size, or ignore (i.e., treat as 0), if the application is allocating its own stack.

Furthermore, if the stack address attribute was not set in the thread attributes object used to create the thread, then the returned thread attributes object will report the actual stack address that the implementation selected for the thread.

When the thread attributes object returned by pthread_getattr_np() is no longer required, it should be destroyed using pthread_attr_destroy(3).  

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

ENOMEM

Insufficient memory.

In addition, if thread refers to the main thread, then pthread_getattr_np() can fail because of errors from various underlying calls: fopen(3), if /proc/self/maps can't be opened; and getrlimit(2), if the RLIMIT_STACK resource limit is not supported.  

VERSIONS

CONFORMING TO

EXAMPLE

In the first run, on an x86-32 system, a thread is created using default attributes:

$ ulimit -s      # No stack imit ==> default stack size is 2MB
unlimited
$ ./a.out
Attributes of created thread:
        Guard size          = 4096 bytes
        Stack address       = 0x40196000 (EOS = 0x40397000)
        Stack size          = 0x201000 (2101248) bytes

In the following run, we see that if a guard size is specified, it is rounded up to the next multiple of the system page size (4096 bytes on x86-32):

$ ./a.out -g 4097
Thread attributes object after initializations:
        Guard size          = 4097 bytes
        Stack address       = (nil)
        Stack size          = 0x0 (0) bytes

Attributes of created thread:
        Guard size          = 8192 bytes
        Stack address       = 0x40196000 (EOS = 0x40397000)
        Stack size          = 0x201000 (2101248) bytes

In the last run, the program manually allocates a stack for the thread. In this case, the guard size attribute is ignored.

$ ./a.out -g 4096 -s 0x8000 -a
Allocated thread stack at 0x804d000

Thread attributes object after initializations:
        Guard size          = 4096 bytes
        Stack address       = 0x804d000 (EOS = 0x8055000)
        Stack size          = 0x8000 (32768) bytes

Attributes of created thread:
        Guard size          = 0 bytes
        Stack address       = 0x804d000 (EOS = 0x8055000)
        Stack size          = 0x8000 (32768) bytes

Program source

#define _GNU_SOURCE     /* To get pthread_getattr_np() declaration */
#include <pthread.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>

#define handle_error_en(en, msg) \
        do { errno = en; perror(msg); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } while (0)

static void
display_stack_related_attributes(pthread_attr_t *attr, char *prefix)
{
    int s;
    size_t stack_size, guard_size;
    void *stack_addr;

    s = pthread_attr_getguardsize(attr, &guard_size);
    if (s != 0)
        handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_getguardsize");
    printf("%sGuard size          = %d bytes\n", prefix, guard_size);

    s = pthread_attr_getstack(attr, &stack_addr, &stack_size);
    if (s != 0)
        handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_getstack");
    printf("%sStack address       = %p", prefix, stack_addr);
    if (stack_size > 0)
        printf(" (EOS = %p)", (char *) stack_addr + stack_size);
    printf("\n");
    printf("%sStack size          = 0x%x (%d) bytes\n",
            prefix, stack_size, stack_size);
}

static void
display_thread_attributes(pthread_t thread, char *prefix)
{
    int s;
    pthread_attr_t attr;

    s = pthread_getattr_np(thread, &attr);
    if (s != 0)
        handle_error_en(s, "pthread_getattr_np");

    display_stack_related_attributes(&attr, prefix);

    s = pthread_attr_destroy(&attr);
    if (s != 0)
        handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_destroy");
}

static void *           /* Start function for thread we create */
thread_start(void *arg)
{
    printf("Attributes of created thread:\n");
    display_thread_attributes(pthread_self(), "\t");

    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);         /* Terminate all threads */
}

static void
usage(char *pname, char *msg)
{
    if (msg != NULL)
        fputs(msg, stderr);
    fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s [-s stack-size [-a]]"
            " [-g guard-size]\n", pname);
    fprintf(stderr, "\t\t-a means program should allocate stack\n");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

static pthread_attr_t *   /* Get thread attributes from command line */
get_thread_attributes_from_cl(int argc, char *argv[],
                              pthread_attr_t *attrp)
{
    int s, opt, allocate_stack;
    long stack_size, guard_size;
            void *stack_addr;
    pthread_attr_t *ret_attrp = NULL;   /* Set to attrp if we initialize
                                           a thread attributes object */
    allocate_stack = 0;
    stack_size = -1;
    guard_size = -1;

    while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "ag:s:")) != -1) {
        switch (opt) {
        case aqaaq:   allocate_stack = 1;                     break;
        case aqgaq:   guard_size = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 0);  break;
        case aqsaq:   stack_size = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 0);  break;
        default:    usage(argv[0], NULL);
        }
    }

    if (allocate_stack && stack_size == -1)
        usage(argv[0], "Specifying -a without -s makes no sense\n");

    if (argc > optind)
        usage(argv[0], "Extraneous command-line arguments\n");

    if (stack_size >= 0 || guard_size > 0) {
        ret_attrp = attrp;

        s = pthread_attr_init(attrp);
        if (s != 0)
            handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_init");
    }

    if (stack_size >= 0) {
        if (!allocate_stack) {
            s = pthread_attr_setstacksize(attrp, stack_size);
            if (s != 0)
                handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_setstacksize");
        } else {
            s = posix_memalign(&stack_addr, sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE),
                               stack_size);
            if (s != 0)
                handle_error_en(s, "posix_memalign");
            printf("Allocated thread stack at %p\n\n", stack_addr);

            s = pthread_attr_setstack(attrp, stack_addr, stack_size);
            if (s != 0)
                handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_setstacksize");
        }
    }

    if (guard_size >= 0) {
        s = pthread_attr_setguardsize(attrp, guard_size);
        if (s != 0)
            handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_setstacksize");
    }

    return ret_attrp;
}

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    int s;
    pthread_t thr;
    pthread_attr_t attr;
    pthread_attr_t *attrp = NULL;    /* Set to &attr if we initialize
                                        a thread attributes object */

    attrp = get_thread_attributes_from_cl(argc, argv, &attr);

    if (attrp != NULL) {
        printf("Thread attributes object after initializations:\n");
        display_stack_related_attributes(attrp, "\t");
        printf("\n");
    }

    s = pthread_create(&thr, attrp, &thread_start, NULL);
    if (s != 0)
        handle_error_en(s, "pthread_create");

    if (attrp != NULL) {
        s = pthread_attr_destroy(attrp);
        if (s != 0)
            handle_error_en(s, "pthread_attr_destroy");
    }

    pause();    /* Terminates when other thread calls exit() */
}

SEE ALSO

COLOPHON