Re: [boost] Mutex vs Semaphore

Subject: Re: [boost] Mutex vs Semaphore
From: Dmitry Goncharov (dgoncharov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-04-03 06:27:37

Jean-Sebastien Stoezel wrote:
> Thanks for the quick reply. Using conditon variables sounds quite 
> heavy. You need to instantiate a mutex, a condition variable and a 
> flag...
> Would there be anything wrong with instantiating a semaphore from the 
> interprocess library to provide inter-thread synchronization?
You can use a semaphore from the interprocess library to provide 
inter-thread synchronization.
An interprocess semaphore is a thin wrapper around a posix semaphore if 
BOOST_INTERPROCESS_POSIX_SEMAPHORES is defined.
Otherwise, a semaphore is emulated with a mutex and a condvar.

> By the way, why isn't there any semaphore available in the thread 
> library?
>
The boost.Crypto library is going to provide some.

BR, Dmitry