I have stumbled upon this problem, as others haves:
QThread won't stop / does not process a signal
QThread - Using a slot quit() to exit the thread
The problem is that I want to have a worker thread started, do some job (which involves sending signals to other threads in my code, and receiving signals asynchronously) and then exit. But I want this thread to be synchronized with the code that is starting it. In other words, I want the execution in the code which creates the worker thread to be halted until the worker thread is done its job.
But it seems this is not possible in Qt. The reason is that the worker's QThread.quit() slot cannot be signaled from within the thread itself. The event loop which listens for signals to this slot, should reside in the same thread that created the worker thread. This means the creating thread should not be blocked, otherwise the worker thread never stops.
Which brings me to my question, that what is the point of QThread.wait() then? I think this function should just be stuck at the end of the program to make sure all the threads have exited, but it cannot actually be used to synchronize threads, at least it cannot be used to synchronize a worker thread, with the thread that created it. Because if the QThread.wait() is called from the creating thread, it blocks its event loop, which will block the worker thread's interface, which will prevent it from ever exiting.
Am I missing something?
I thought I need to add a code snippet:
for (auto i = myVector.begin(); i < myVector.end(); ++i)
{
// 5-line best practice creation for the thread
QThread* workerThread = new QThread;
MyWorkerObject* workerObject = new MyWorkerObject(0);
workerObject->moveToThread(workerThread);
QObject::connect(workerThread, SIGNAL(started()), workerObject, SLOT(init()));
QObject::connect(workerThread, SIGNAL(finished()), workerObject, SLOT(deleteLater()));
// Stop mechanism
QObject::connect(workerObject, SIGNAL(finished()), workerThread, SLOT(quit()));
// Start mechanism
wokerThread->start();
// Invoking the work
QMetaObject::invokeMethod(workerObject, "StartYourJob", Qt::QueuedConnection, Q_ARG(SomeType, *i));
// Synchronization
workerThread->wait();
delete wokerThread;
}
I finally found my answer here:
http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.qt.user/6090
In short, if QThread::quit() is invoked as a slot, the event loop handler of the creating thread will deal with it, which is not what I want.
I should call it directly. So when the workerObject finishes its job, instead of sending a signal (which has to pass through the blocked creating thread), it should directly call its container's quit:
this->thread()->quit();
This would be the exit point of the workerObject. Now there is no need for the stop mechanism and these lines can be eliminated from the code.
// Stop mechanism
QObject::connect(workerObject, SIGNAL(finished()), workerThread, SLOT(quit()));
Does anybody see any problem with this approach?
The purpose of threads is to allow processes to run concurrently (at the same time!), so if you're just creating a thread to do work and waiting on the current thread, you don't need to be using a new thread.
To answer your question of the purpose of QThread::wait(), the Qt documentation states that it is similar to the POSIX function pthread_join. A quick search on pthread_join reveals this link, which states the rationale is as follows: -
The pthread_join() function is a convenience that has proven useful in
multi-threaded applications. It is true that a programmer could
simulate this function if it were not provided by passing extra state
as part of the argument to the start_routine(). The terminating thread
would set a flag to indicate termination and broadcast a condition
that is part of that state; a joining thread would wait on that
condition variable. While such a technique would allow a thread to
wait on more complex conditions (for example, waiting for multiple
threads to terminate), waiting on individual thread termination is
considered widely useful. Also, including the pthread_join() function
in no way precludes a programmer from coding such complex waits. Thus,
while not a primitive, including pthread_join() in this volume of
POSIX.1-2008 was considered valuable.
The pthread_join() function provides a simple mechanism allowing an
application to wait for a thread to terminate. After the thread
terminates, the application may then choose to clean up resources that
were used by the thread. For instance, after pthread_join() returns,
any application-provided stack storage could be reclaimed.
The pthread_join() or pthread_detach() function should eventually be
called for every thread that is created with the detachstate attribute
set to PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE so that storage associated with the
thread may be reclaimed.
The interaction between pthread_join() and cancellation is
well-defined for the following reasons:
The pthread_join() function, like all other non-async-cancel-safe
functions, can only be called with deferred cancelability type.
Cancellation cannot occur in the disabled cancelability state.
Thus, only the default cancelability state need be considered. As
specified, either the pthread_join() call is canceled, or it succeeds,
but not both. The difference is obvious to the application, since
either a cancellation handler is run or pthread_join() returns. There
are no race conditions since pthread_join() was called in the deferred
cancelability state.
If an implementation detects that the value specified by the thread
argument to pthread_join() does not refer to a joinable thread, it is
recommended that the function should fail and report an [EINVAL]
error.
If an implementation detects that the value specified by the thread
argument to pthread_join() refers to the calling thread, it is
recommended that the function should fail and report an [EDEADLK]
error.
If an implementation detects use of a thread ID after the end of its
lifetime, it is recommended that the function should fail and report
an [ESRCH] error.
QThread::wait() is not what you need. This function is exactly what you mentioned, it waits for thread termination.
bool QThread::wait ( unsigned long time = ULONG_MAX )
Blocks the thread until either of these conditions is met:
The thread associated with this QThread object has finished execution (i.e. when it
returns from run()). This function will return true if the thread has finished. It also
returns true if the thread has not been started yet.
time milliseconds has elapsed. If time is ULONG_MAX (the default), then the wait will
never timeout (the thread must return from run()). This function will return false if the
wait timed out.
If you need to synchronize two threads (Your main thread and created thread) then I recommend using signals and slots to signal which one is ready (trigger a isReady bool) and have a while (!isReady) { sleep(1ms); processEvents(); } loop going. May not be the best way but should work.
Related
So I have the following situation:
I have a QThread that runs an eventloop (i.e. no custom run function). To stop the thread, I send a signal to a worker in that thread. This worker then does cleanups etc and at some point is done and quits the thread.
The problem I am facing right now is: If I invoke the workers stop method and then immediatly wait for the thread to finish it will never do so because the workers done signal does not get processed. Code:
class Worker {
signals:
void done();
public slots:
void stop() {
//dummy code to illustrate what happens here:
QTimer::singleShot(3000, this, &Worker::done);
}
};
// in the main thread
auto thread = new QThread();
auto worker = new Worker();
worker->moveToThread(thread);
connect(worker, &Worker::done, thread, &QThread::quit); //implicitly a queued connection
// ...
QMetaObject::invokeMethod(worker, "stop", Qt::QueuedConnection);
thread->wait(); //blocks here forever, because the connect is queued
Now reason the problem is obvious - Because I block on the main thread the slot can never be invoked (because queued connection) and thus quit is never called. However, if I simply call QThread::quit (or QThread::exit) directly from the worker (or use a DirectConnection) then there is no problem anymore because the eventloop of the main thread is no longer required to process the event.
So the actual question here is: Is that allowed? Can I call QThread::quit from within the actual thread? Or can this create Race conditions, deadlocks and other problems like that. The documentation does not mark the method as threadsafe - but the thread that is managed by QThread might be an exception.
If you look in the file src/corelib/thread/qthread.cpp in the Qt source folder, you can see how quit() is implemented:
void QThread::quit()
{ exit(); }
.... and QThread::exit() is definitely intended to be called from within the thread itself. So the answer is yes, it's fine to call quit() from within the QThread's thread (although it might be a bit more usual to just call QThread::exit() directly instead).
Can I call QThread::quit from within the actual thread?
The question is actually backwards!
Since this method controls the event loop, and the event loop most definitely runs on the thread, the default assumption is that it's not a thread-safe method and thus can only be called from within the thread, since it controls a QEventLoop instance instantiated via QThread::run. That event loop, and its event dispatcher, are QObjects and most definitely have their thread() equal to the QThread instance in question.
But that wouldn't make QThread very useful, and thus QAbstractEventDispatcher::exit, and thus QEventLoop::quit and QThread::quit, are indeed thread-safe methods - you can call them from wherever, including from threads other than the one where the event loop lives. Both the event loop and thread's methods take extra precautions to protect their state from races, so the "and thus" part a few sentences ago is hand-wavey a bit.
I have a class that handles zmq messages. If a message is received the class notifies its observer. This observer than creates a boost::thread which resolves the received zmq message. After the message is resolved the observer starts another thread which than executes the resolved command.
So there is one observer which creates a thread for each incoming message. How do I ensure that the created threads are safely destroyed after they resolved the message ? Also what happens with the thread that is started within the resolver thread. That thread also has to be destroyed safely in the end.
I think there is a simple solution for this but I lack the experience with multi-threading and don't no what to google ...
Edit:
Do I even have to care about threads when they returned a value by themselves ?
Threads can be detached or joined. If you join, your main thread is going to block until its complete. If you detach, your thread runs until its finished or your application terminates. Assuming the latter isn't going to happen, this is fine.
Regarding boost::threads specifically (by the way, do you have access to std::thread - introduced C++11)..
When the boost::thread object that represents a thread of execution is destroyed the thread becomes detached. Once a thread is detached, it will continue executing until the invocation of the function or callable object supplied on construction has completed, or the program is terminated. A thread can also be detached by explicitly invoking the detach() member function on the boost::thread object. In this case, the boost::thread object ceases to represent the now-detached thread, and instead represents Not-a-Thread.
In order to wait for a thread of execution to finish, the join() or timed_join() member functions of the boost::thread object must be used. join() will block the calling thread until the thread represented by the boost::thread object has completed. If the thread of execution represented by the boost::thread object has already completed, or the boost::thread object represents Not-a-Thread, then join() returns immediately. timed_join() is similar, except that a call to timed_join() will also return if the thread being waited for does not complete when the specified time has elapsed.
As an aside, unless this application is for a small number of connections, think a bit about whether you really need a thread per request. There is some overhead (10s of microsends and by default sometimes between 1-2MB of memory).
There are a lot of Qt multi-threading tutorials out there that state that a QThread can be stopped safely using the following two lines.
qthread.quit(); // Cause the thread to cease.
qthread.wait(); // Wait until the thread actually stops to synchronize.
I have a lot of code doing this, and in most cases of stopping thread, I'll always set my own cancel flag and check it often during execution (as is the norm). Until now, I was thinking that calling quit would perhaps cause the thread to simply no longer execute any waiting signals (e.g. signals that are queued will no longer have their slots called) but still wait on the currently executing slot to finish.
But I'm wondering if I was right or if quit() actually stops the execution of the thread where it's at, for instance if something is unfinished, like a file descriptor hasn't been closed, it definitely should be, even though in most cases my worker objects will clean up those resources, I'd feel better if I knew exactly how quit works.
I'm asking this because QThread::quit() documentation says that it's "equivalent to calling QThread::exit(0)". I believe this means that the thread would immediately stop where it's at. But what would happen to the stackframe that quit was called in?
QThread::quit does nothing if the thread does not have an event loop or some code in the thread is blocking the event loop. So it will not necessarily stop the thread.
So QThread::quit tells the thread's event loop to exit. After calling it the thread will get finished as soon as the control returns to the event loop of the thread.
You will have to add some kind of abort flag if you are blocking event loop for example by working in a loop. This can be done by a boolean member variable that is public or at least has a public setter method. Then you can tell the thread to exit ASAP from outside (e.g. from your main thread) by setting the abort flag. Of course this will require your thread code to check the abort flag at regular intervals.
You may also force a thread to terminate right now via QThread::terminate(), but this is a very bad practice, because it may terminate the thread at an undefined position in its code, which means you may end up with resources never getting freed up and other nasty stuff. So use this only if you really can't get around it. From its documentation:
Warning: This function is dangerous and its use is discouraged. The thread can be terminated at any point in its code path. Threads can be terminated while modifying data. There is no chance for the thread to clean up after itself, unlock any held mutexes, etc. In short, use this function only if absolutely necessary.
I think this is a good way to finish a thread when you are using loops in a thread:
myThread->m_abort = true; //Tell the thread to abort
if(!myThread->wait(5000)) //Wait until it actually has terminated (max. 5 sec)
{
myThread->terminate(); //Thread didn't exit in time, probably deadlocked, terminate it!
myThread->wait(); //We have to wait again here!
}
In case, if you want to use Qt's builtin facility then try QThread::requestInterruption().
Main thread
struct X {
QThread m_Thread;
void Quit ()
{
m_Thread.quit();
m_Thread.requestInterruption();
}
};
Some Thread referred by X::m_Thread
while(<condition>) {
if(QThread::currentThread()->isInterruptionRequested())
return;
...
}
As per the documentation:
void QThread::requestInterruption()
Request the interruption of the thread. That request is advisory and it is up to code running on the thread to decide if and how it should act upon such request. This function does not stop any event loop running on the thread and does not terminate it in any way.
i want to know how it is possible to wait for a work to done and then continue and create new one
while(!stop)
{
CreateWork();
waitForWorkToDone();
}
wait must not block calling thread
how i can achive this?
To achieve this, you can rely on the operating system providing a facility to block until notified with or without a timeout. Thus, your thread correctly does not use unnecessary CPU cycles by performing a busy wait, but is still able to respond to program state changes. With POSIX threads, you can use a condition timed wait. I'll illustrate with the boost implementation, but the concept extends generally.
do
{
boost::unique_lock<boost::mutex> lock(state_change_mutex);
boost::system_time const timeout = boost::get_system_time() + boost::posix_time::seconds(5);
state_change_cond.timed_wait(lock,timeout);
...
} while(!done);
Overall this thread will loop until the done sentinel value becomes true. Other threads can signal this thread by calling
state_change_cond.notify_all();
Or in this example if no signal happens in 5 seconds then the thread wakes up by itself.
Note that condition variables require locking by mutexes. This is to guarantee that the thread is awoken atomically and that it will behave correctly in a mutually exclusive section as inter-thread signaling implicitly is.
How about Creating a Signal. Create a handler that creates CreateWork() and signals when the job is done! Just a Suggestion
is there a way to force the main thread to wait until all threads created from it, will finish their job, before finishing the program. I mean:
int main(){
QthreadClass a; // in cons' a thread is created and running
QthreadClass b; // same as before
*** wish to wait till both created thread finished their jobs ***
return 0;
}
Well, what about:
a.wait();
b.wait();
Or, you would rather start an event loop (as usually for Qt applications) that you quit when both of your threads end (QThread emits finished() and terminated() signals).
Normally, with Qt you will have a QApplication based class with an event loop with signals and slots, that will not exit from the main function until you want to. In that case you can simply connect the QThread::finish() signal to a slot that checks if all threads are done.
Without an event loop and signals/slots, Qt threads don't have a join() method, found in other threading implementation, but QThread::wait() is somewhat similar.
bool QThread::wait(unsigned long time = ULONG_MAX)
Blocks the thread until either of these conditions is met:
The thread associated with this QThread object has finished execution (i.e. when it returns from QThread::run()). This function will return true if the thread has finished. It also returns true if the thread has not been started yet.
time milliseconds has elapsed. If time is ULONG_MAX (the default), then the wait will never timeout (the thread must return
from QThread::run()). This function will return false if the wait timed out.
Note tho that it is considered a terrible practice to block the main thread, not even with computation, much less just to wait for something. Anything over several dozen milliseconds has detrimental effect on the user experience, and higher stalls are likely to give you a "this app is not responding" msg from the OS. If you wait on a result, wait for it in another thread, and only pass it to the main thread once it is done.