removing all threads..

[ISAI student]

I have a question. I want to exit all threads when I issue a "die" command. The script involved is very old, and not well written. What I get is that even after using threads->exit(), PERL issues a warning saying:

Perl exited with active threads:
        2 running and unjoined
        0 finished and unjoined
        0 running and detached

Any ideas? I expected the threads to exit.

[BrowserUk]

You could add $_->join for threads::list(); just before the program ends; but it will require the threads to terminate before the program will end.

Alternatively, if you do not care to wait for the threads to complete; detach the threads, either when you create them:

threads->new( ... )->detach;

Or just before you exit the program:

$_->detach for threads::list();
sleep 1; 
exit;

[flexvault]

ISAI student,

Normally the existence of a file is not a good way for synchronization. But since you want to "remove all threads" anyway, you could have the 'die' routine create a file in a directory common to all threads, and then within each thread test for the existence of the file and if it exists then exit. This would work with 'fork' or separately started scripts as well.

In the event that the process is going to restart 'immediately', then the master/startup script must ensure that all threads have completed before unlinking the file and restarting the process.

Just a thought, don't use a counter for when to check. Use 'time' to check on the availability of the 'die' file. Check every 5-10 seconds or what is reasonable for your application. I would put a test like this just before waiting on a resource (socket, read, etc.). Also, don't put anything into the 'die' file, since then you could be setting up a potential race condition. If it matters what caused the 'die' then use a separate logging mechanism to record the event. You also may need to set an 'alarm' to break out of wait condition.

Just some ideas!

Good Luck...Ed

[BrowserUk]

Polling on a file is a ridiculous idea.

If there is any need to poll -- and there usually isn't -- a simple shared variable is far simpler to program and far safer.

[Tommy]

I concur with this method, but I've found it difficult to do in the past without Threads::Shared which has some serious limitations. How else would you share a variable? I'm keenly interested in seeing your methodology...

As far as the OP's question goes, In the past I've pushed the result of a new thread call onto an array, where I reap all the children on exit by coursing through the array and either waiting on them or sending them a nasty signal if necessary. Threads are tricky business... Especially when you're refactoring someone else's older code where they used threads irresponsibly, or at least without regard to how they get reaped.

[flexvault]

BrowserUk,

Okay...Ed

[zentara]

Since the script is old, you could try putting this code block at the end of your existing main code.

while( (scalar threads->list) > 0   ){
     print scalar threads->list,"\n"; 
     sleep 1;
     foreach my $thread (threads->list) {
        if( $thread->is_joinable ){ $thread->join;}
       }
  }

You also should look at the old code, and see if die or exit is used anywhere. If any thread calls die or exit, it will bring down the whole program with your warning issued, which is harmless. However, you might want to put this in your code

use threads ( 'exit' => 'threads_only');