[boost] Possible issue with Boost.Atomic (and consequently Boost.Thread)

Subject: [boost] Possible issue with Boost.Atomic (and consequently Boost.Thread)
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-12-04 09:27:49

In

https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/9466

it is reported that using Boost.Thread on AIX without defining 
BOOST_THREAD_DONT_USE_ATOMIC causes an assertion failure in 
boost/smart_ptr/detail/lwm_pthreads.hpp (pthread_mutex_lock failing with 
EINVAL.)

As I explain in the ticket, what I think happens is that Boost.Atomic falls 
back to its generic lock pool implementation, which uses a static array of 
41 boost::lightweight_mutex objects.

However, since lightweight_mutex has a constructor calling 
pthread_mutex_init and a destructor calling pthread_mutex_destroy, using 
call_once, directly or indirectly, outside main can lead to accessing a 
mutex object before it's constructed or after it's destroyed, depending on 
static initialization order.

If I'm correct in this assumption, then lockpool.hpp/.cpp need to be fixed 
to either use boost/smart_ptr/detail/spinlock_pool.hpp*, or use statically 
initialized pthread mutexes directly.

*) Which is basically what it was designed for, see the comment:

//  spinlock_pool<0> is reserved for atomic<>, when/if it arrives