Re: [boost] Performance characteristics of Boost mutex

Subject: Re: [boost] Performance characteristics of Boost mutex
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-10-17 16:34:21

Philip Bennefall wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am detecting some lock contention in my application, and while reading 
> up on this I came across the concept of lightweight mutexes versus 
> supposedly non-lightweight mutexes. I am wondering, can Boosts 
> non-recursive mutex implementation be considered lightweight? In 
> boost/detail I see lightweight_mutex. Should I be using that?

Probably not.

detail::lightweight_mutex is merely a thin wrapper over CRITICAL_SECTION on 
Windows and pthread_mutex on POSIX. It's "lightweight" only in the sense 
that it doesn't require the user to link against a library (Boost.Thread).

In general, it doesn't make much sense to talk about a "lightweight" mutex 
if you're talking performance. The "weight" of the mutex doesn't - in 
general - have much to do with its performance (nowadays).