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digitalmars.D - Is it possible to use a C multi-threaded lib with D (multi-threading)?

reply =?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?= <robert.muench saphirion.com> writes:
Hi, I have a C library that uses multi-threading and implements a 
callback architecture by this. It runs on Windows and *nixes 
(pthreads). I would like to use it from D.

I understand that the ABI of D is C compatible, so I would expect that 
there shouldn't be any problems with threading as well. Can I somehow 
use D's threading features in combination with the libraries C 
features? Or is it better to completely keep the two seperate?

Has anyone any experience in mixing D and C in multi-threaded envrionments?

Thanks for the feedback.

-- 
Robert M. Münch
Saphirion AG

http://www.saphirion.com
smarter | better | faster
Jan 12 2013
next sibling parent reply David <d dav1d.de> writes:
 I understand that the ABI of D is C compatible, so I would expect that
 there shouldn't be any problems with threading as well.


D uses pthread for core.Thread and core.sync.*


 Can I somehow
 use D's threading features in combination with the libraries C features?
 Or is it better to completely keep the two seperate?


I wouldn't mix core.Thread/std.parallelism/std.concurrency with C
threading. Like calling a core.Thread.Thread from a threaded c callback,
but it might even work.



 Has anyone any experience in mixing D and C in multi-threaded envrionments?


I used std.parallelism together with stb_image.c to load images
concurrently into memory, worked very well!
Jan 12 2013
parent reply =?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?= <robert.muench saphirion.com> writes:
On 2013-01-12 17:32:21 +0000, David said:


 I understand that the ABI of D is C compatible, so I would expect that
 there shouldn't be any problems with threading as well.


 
 D uses pthread for core.Thread and core.sync.*


On all platforms?


 I wouldn't mix core.Thread/std.parallelism/std.concurrency with C
 threading.


Ok.


 Like calling a core.Thread.Thread from a threaded c callback,
 but it might even work.


Maybe I just need to give it a try.


 I used std.parallelism together with stb_image.c to load images
 concurrently into memory, worked very well!


Just to be sure that I understand this right. The C part is not 
multi-threaded in your case, right? So, you used D's threading in 
combination with some C code.

-- 
Robert M. Münch
Saphirion AG

http://www.saphirion.com
smarter | better | faster
Jan 12 2013
parent reply David <d dav1d.de> writes:
Am 12.01.2013 20:28, schrieb Robert M. Münch:

 On 2013-01-12 17:32:21 +0000, David said:
 

 I understand that the ABI of D is C compatible, so I would expect that
 there shouldn't be any problems with threading as well.


 D uses pthread for core.Thread and core.sync.*


 
 On all platforms?


IIRC only posix


 I wouldn't mix core.Thread/std.parallelism/std.concurrency with C
 threading.


 
 Ok.
 

 Like calling a core.Thread.Thread from a threaded c callback,
 but it might even work.


 
 Maybe I just need to give it a try.
 

 I used std.parallelism together with stb_image.c to load images
 concurrently into memory, worked very well!


 
 Just to be sure that I understand this right. The C part is not
 multi-threaded in your case, right? So, you used D's threading in
 combination with some C code.


Yes, but make sure the C-code is threadsafe, before stb_image I was
using DevIL, kept segfaulting.
Jan 13 2013
parent reply =?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?= <robert.muench saphirion.com> writes:
On 2013-01-13 10:57:37 +0000, David said:


 On all platforms?


 
 IIRC only posix


How is threading done on Windows?

-- 
Robert M. Münch
Saphirion AG

http://www.saphirion.com
smarter | better | faster
Jan 13 2013
parent David <d dav1d.de> writes:
Am 13.01.2013 15:47, schrieb Robert M. Münch:

 On 2013-01-13 10:57:37 +0000, David said:
 

 On all platforms?


 IIRC only posix


 
 How is threading done on Windows?
 


https://github.com/D-Programming-Language/druntime/blob/master/src/core/thread.d
Jan 13 2013
prev sibling parent reply "Kapps" <opantm2+spam gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 12 January 2013 at 16:41:38 UTC, Robert M. Münch 
wrote:

 Hi, I have a C library that uses multi-threading and implements 
 a callback architecture by this. It runs on Windows and *nixes 
 (pthreads). I would like to use it from D.

 I understand that the ABI of D is C compatible, so I would 
 expect that there shouldn't be any problems with threading as 
 well. Can I somehow use D's threading features in combination 
 with the libraries C features? Or is it better to completely 
 keep the two seperate?

 Has anyone any experience in mixing D and C in multi-threaded 
 envrionments?

 Thanks for the feedback.


If you're using a thread created from a C library, and it uses 
the GC, you'll need to call thread_attachThis 

each thread that uses it so that the GC knows to suspend the 
thread during a collection. If you don't do this, you'll get 
random segfaults and other issues.
Jan 12 2013
parent reply =?iso-8859-1?Q?Robert_M._M=FCnch?= <robert.muench saphirion.com> writes:
On 2013-01-13 00:35:51 +0000, Kapps said:


 If you're using a thread created from a C library, and it uses the GC, 
 you'll need to call thread_attachThis 

 thread that uses it so that the GC knows to suspend the thread during a 
 collection. If you don't do this, you'll get random segfaults and other 
 issues.


Not sure I understand. I assume you mean by "create a thread from a C 
library" creating a D thread? My idea was that a C thread isn't using 
the GC, only D code does.

I have it the other way: D main program, which starts C threads. And 
yes the C code is thread safe.

-- 
Robert M. Münch
Saphirion AG

http://www.saphirion.com
smarter | better | faster
Jan 13 2013
parent Stewart Gordon <smjg_1998 yahoo.com> writes:
Oops ... seem to have accidentally sent an email reply before.  Let's 
try again....

On 13/01/2013 14:46, Robert M. Münch wrote:
<snip>

 I have it the other way: D main program, which starts C threads. And
 yes the C code is thread safe.


You mentioned callbacks in your original post.  Does this mean that the 
C code may call D functions from the threads it creates?  And do said D 
functions use the GC either directly or indirectly?  If so, you will 
need to use attachThis at the beginning of each callback, and then 
detachThis when you're done.  (But you might be able to get away with 
less than this, depending on how the library uses threads and invokes 
callbacks from them.)

I haven't tried it, as I haven't had reason to use a C multi-threaded 
library in D code.  But going by the documentation, what attachThis does 
is to create a D thread object for the thread created by the C library, 
so that
(a) the GC will pause the thread in order to perform GC
(b) any pointers to GC memory held by the thread will be followed

OTOH, detachThis releases the thread from the GC, thereby making it safe 
for the C library to destroy the thread after it's finished with it.

Stewart.
Jan 13 2013