On Friday 30 November 2007 07:45, PRC wrote: > static int flag = 0; [thread writes to flag] [meanwhile in parent thread] > while( flag == 0 ) ; There's no way for gcc to tell, that your thread will change "flag", so gcc assumes it stays the same. gcc doesn't know what pthread_create does. > But if I modify the line "while( flag == 0 ) ;" to "while(flag == 0) > printf("waiting..\n");" Now gcc has no way to tell, that "printf" will *not* change "flag" somehow, so gcc rereads "flag" Add a "volatile" modifier to "flag" to inform gcc that "flag" may change at any moment.