[Boost-users] [Thread] How to invoke a memory fence?

Subject: [Boost-users] [Thread] How to invoke a memory fence?
From: Radosavljevic, Branko (branko.radosavljevic_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-01-27 16:55:31

I have a newbie question about using Boost.Thread to invoke a memory
fence operation.  What are the memory fence guarantees associated
with the synchronization concepts in Boost.Thread?

My specific use case involves one writer and several readers.
For example, something like:

bool available = false;
int value;

// Writer thread
value = getValue();
available = true;

// A reader thread
while (!available)
    yield();
doSomething(value);

In other words, the write to available should have release
semantics, and the read from available should have acquire
semantics.  I realize I can use platform-specific commands,
but I'd rather not.  I assume that if I want to use Boost.Thread,
I'll need to use a mutex, but I don't see any discussion
of memory fence issues in the documentation.

Thanks,
Branko

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