Re: Boost.Threads - thread_desc concept

From: williamkempf_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-06-27 12:38:23

--- In boost_at_y..., John Max Skaller <skaller_at_o...> wrote:
> Greg Colvin wrote:
> 
> > Because killing threads is a bad idea.
> 
> 	No, it isn't a 'bad idea'. It is essential
> in many applications, in particular, it is essential
> in most multithreaded servers to kill client connection
> management threads when they're unable to detect that
> the connection is lost or exceeded some bound
> (such as 'out of money').

Rarely is killing required.  Almost always the thread itself can 
simply exit instead of having an outside mechanism for terminating 
it.  This is true even in the case you give here.  When the ability 
to terminate a thread from the outside is needed it is usually safer 
and easier to use synchronization primitives such as condition 
variables instead of outright killing the thread.  This is precisely 
why Java deprecated this functionality.

I won't claim that we may not need cancellation for those rare cases, 
but cancellation is dangerous enough (and problematic enough to 
implement) that I'm not going to include it in Boost.Threads until 
and if the issue can be fully analyzed and a portable implementation 
can be done.  Considering all of this, I think 'bad idea' is a proper 
description.

Bill Kempf