freebsd-ports/devel/linuxthreads/files/README.FreeBSD
Tor Egge 20fa307449 Check for NO_PIC and NO_PROFILE on FreeBSD >= 6.0.
Add sys/_pthreadtypes.h to allow compilation on FreeBSD >= 6.0.

Initialize signal trampoline variables earlier to avoid race in wrapper
around sigaction.

Fix known API wrapper bugs.

Port compile time options:

  Add option for using an alternate restart signal instead of SIGUSR2.

  Add options for adjustment of maximum thread stack size and maximum
  number of threads.

  Make all options start with LINUXTHREADS_

Note that complete FreeBSD source matching userland must be installed
in /usr/src when compiling this port.
2005-07-22 22:20:21 +00:00

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Some brief notes:
1) This package is intended to run on FreeBSD 5.0-current or FreeBSD 4.X, i386
processors only.
Do not use libc_r with the linuxthreads port, and do not compile/link with the
-pthread option (which pulls in libc_r). Rather, link with libc (which you will
get by default).
Compile your applications that use the linuxthreads port with the following
command line options:
-D_THREAD_SAFE -I/usr/local/include/pthread/linuxthreads -llthread -llgcc_r
Note that the include (-I<path>) directive shown here should appear before any
other include directive that would cause the compiler to find the FreeBSD file
/usr/include/pthread.h. Using the FreeBSD pthread.h instead of the linuxthreads
pthread.h will result in an app that fails in many odd and maybe spectacular
ways.
In order to facilitate porting applications which expect a libpthread, you can
create the following symlinks if you want:
ln -s /usr/local/lib/liblthread.a /usr/lib/libpthread.a
ln -s /usr/local/lib/liblthread_p.a /usr/lib/libpthread_p.a
ln -s /usr/local/lib/liblthread.so.2 /usr/lib/libpthread.so.2
ln -s /usr/local/lib/liblthread.so.2 /usr/lib/libpthread.so
/sbin/ldconfig -m /usr/lib
If you do this, you can instead use:
-D_THREAD_SAFE -I/usr/local/include/pthread/linuxthreads -lpthread -llgcc_r
Another option is to create a custom gcc specs file that tells the linker which
version of libgcc to use. To do this, create a file with the following in it:
--- (/foo/specs) cut here ---
*libgcc:
/usr/local/lib/liblgcc_r.a
--- (/foo/specs) cut here ---
Then use the following command line options:
-B/foo/ -D_THREAD_SAFE -I/usr/local/include/pthread/linuxthreads -llthread
or if you created symlinks:
-B/foo/ -D_THREAD_SAFE -I/usr/local/include/pthread/linuxthreads -lpthread
2) If you plan on having lots of threads, check the sysctl value of
kern.maxproc. Each kernel thread counts against maxproc. You can increase
maxproc by changing the MAXUSERS value in your kernel config file. maxproc is
set at 20 + 16 * MAXUSERS.
3) Be aware of the following libc issues:
a) Not all libc calls are thread safe. In particular gmtime, localtime, etc
are not thread safe. In general, where the pthreads spec calls for "_r"
functions, these are either not provided, or if provided are not thread safe
(in most cases) and the related libc calls are not thread safe. This differs
somewhat from the FreeBSD libc_r library, where some, but not all, of these
functions are both thread safe and have "_r" versions.
b) Not all of the libc calls that are supposed to be cancellation points are
implemented as such. While linux threads has the cancel functions
implemented, deferred cancellation will not work as required by POSIX
1003.1c-1995, since the co-operation needed from libc is not complete.
c) The mutex wrapper functions only provide standard linuxthreads mutexes
(i.e. non-recursive mutexes). This might lead to deadlocks if libc
depends on recursive mutexes.
4) Be aware of the following libgcc issue:
FreeBSD 4.* (gcc 2.*):
__register_frame_info() and __get_eh_info() from libgcc.a are linked
into shared libraries that use exceptions, e.g. libstdc++. Those
functions are not compatible with linuxthreads due to pthread_mutex_t
and pthread_once_t having different sizes and static initializers.
Linking the shared linuxthreads library before any such library causes
the liblgcc_r.a version of those functions to be used.
FreeBSD 5.* (gcc 3.*):
__register_frame_info() and __frame_state_for() from libgcc.a are
linked into shared libraries that use exceptions, e.g. libstdc++.
Those functions are not compatible with linuxthreads due to
pthread_mutex_t and pthread_once_t having different sizes and static
initializers. Linking the shared linuxthreads library before any such
library causes the liblgcc_r.a version of those functions to be used.
Use liblstdc++ and liblsupc++.
Experimental wrapper support:
If the linuxthreads library has been compiled with
LINUXTHREADS_WRAP_API defined in the ports makefile then
the API functions are internally prefixed with linuxthreads_
to avoid conflict with native threads. Weak symbols without
that prefix points to the wrapper functions (internally
prefixed by _) that makes the linuxthreads functions available
with the native threads API. Applications including the
linuxthreads version of pthread.h will try to call the
prefixed methods (e.g. linuxthreads_pthread_create) while
applications including the native pthread.h will use the
wrapper functions. This allows for some level of coexistence
of libraries compiled with linuxthreads header file and
libraries compiled with native threads header files as long
as none of the pthread data types leaks out as function arguments
or structure members.
5) Exit handling is broken.
If the linuxthreads library has been compiled with
LINUXTHREADS_DETECT_UNSAFE_EXIT defined in the ports makefile then
the library tries to avoid further calls to functions registered
with atexit if not called from the main thread or if other threads
were active. Since this implicitly indicates a failure to do
proper cleanup, the exit code is then changed to 1.
If the linuxthreads library has been compiled without
LINUXTHREADS_DETECT_UNSAFE_EXIT, then calls to exit() has a
slightly higher probability of crashing or hanging the program when
other threads are active. If another thread than the main thread
performs the exit call, the exit code will appear to be 0.
If multiple threads calls exit then the application will likely
crash.
If other threads has been joined by the main thread before it calls
exit then exit handling should be fairly safe and the correct exit
code can be detected by the parent process.
6) If the rate of sched_yield() calls is very high (due to
malloc / spinlock interaction) then
LINUXTHREADS_NO_POSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING can be defined when
compiling the linuxthreads library. This has the same effect
as if the kernel was compiled without the _KPOSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING
option, but limited to the linuxthread library.
7) libraries using SIGUSR2 or SIGUSR1 will conflict with linuxthreads.
SIGUSR1 is hardcoded in the FreeBSD kernel (cf. RFLINUXTHPN flag
passed to rfork()), but the linuxthreads library can be changed to use
another signal instead of SIGUSR2 by defining LINUXTHREADS_ALT_RESTARTSIG
to the alternate signal number (e.g. 32).
8) By default, the maximum thread stack size is 2 MB, and the maximum
number of threads is 1024. Layout of stacks are based on the
maximum thread stack size. This means that 2 GB of the address space
can be used by thread stacks, limiting what is left for other
purposes (text, data, bss, heap, mmap). To shrink the address range
used for thread stacks, the maximum thread stack size can be changed
by defining LINUXTHREADS_MAX_STACK_SIZE to a suitable value, e.g.
1048576. The maximum number of threads can be changed by defining
LINUXTHREADS_MAX_THREADS to a suitable value, e.g. 2048.
The product of the maximum thread stack size and the maximum number
of threads should not exceed 2 GB. The maximum stack size must be
a power of 2.
9) The complete FreeBSD source code matching the installed userland
must be installed in /usr/src before building linuxthreads.