I just spent a bunch of time debugging some multi-threaded code that used to work, but had started failing in odd ways. It turned out the problem was that I wasn't using the gcc -pthread option; it had worked previously because a random library's pkg-config generated included -pthread, but I had changed the library mix to omit that library. The threading interface I was using was std::thread. Without -pthread, threads kinda-sorta worked, but e.g. mutexes were nops! Now, the requirement for -pthread is well-known, and maybe requiring the option is the practical thigng to do (I dunno), but now that gcc includes its own standard threading facility, I wonder if it might be a good idea if things at least failed more obviously when -pthread was inadvertently omitted... [I _already knew_ about the requirement for -pthread, and I imagine the debugging experience would have been even more miserable for someone who's just starting to use threads... Even looking at a disassembly of my functions, there were appropriate calls to the mutex lock/unlock functions...that just didn't do anything.] Ideas? Thanks, -miles -- Electricity, n. The cause of all natural phenomena not known to be caused by something else.
