Re: [boost] [thread] Proposal to add lightweight_mutex and atomic_count

From: Roland Schwarz (roland.schwarz_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-12-18 19:07:18

Andrey Semashev wrote:
> There are "lightweight_mutex.hpp" and "atomic_count.hpp" files in the
> "detail" directory. I find these tools quite simple and useful in some
> projects where I don't want to link against the whole Boost.Thread
> library yet having a degree of portability. But every time I include
> it the nasty "detail" word in the path always makes me remember that
> I'm using library's internals that are not the part of public
> interface.
> 
> Why not making these tools a part of Boost.Thread library, without any
> change, of course? A couple of forwarding headers in "boost/thread"
> and a documentation update would be a nice solution. Thank you.
> 

Because it is a not so simple task to solve the atomic issue in general. 
Altough there is ongoing work in the C++ standardization process. I am 
currently trying to keep in touch with these proposals an prepare a 
library submission.

Then the lighweight_mutex is not so much different from what will be 
available in the next release of the threading lib. I think it already 
is not so much different from the current implementation. Do you see 
this differently? If yes why?

The atomic thing on the other hand is hard to get platform independent, 
because it strongly depends on the MP architecture.

Roland