<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
	<META HTTP-EQUIV="CONTENT-TYPE" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8">
	<TITLE>PTHREAD_MUTEXATTR(3) manual page</TITLE>
	<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="OpenOffice.org 1.1.3  (Linux)">
	<META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="20050504;23040500">
	<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20050505;18370400">
	<!-- manual page source format generated by PolyglotMan v3.2, -->
	<!-- available at http://polyglotman.sourceforge.net/ -->
</HEAD>
<BODY LANG="en-GB" BGCOLOR="#ffffff" DIR="LTR">
<H4>POSIX Threads for Windows – REFERENCE - <A HREF="http://sources.redhat.com/pthreads-win32">Pthreads-w32</A></H4>
<P><A HREF="index.html">Reference Index</A></P>
<P><A HREF="#toc">Table of Contents</A></P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc0" NAME="sect0">Name</A></H2>
<P>pthread_mutexattr_init, pthread_mutexattr_destroy,
pthread_mutexattr_settype, pthread_mutexattr_gettype - mutex creation
attributes 
</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc1" NAME="sect1">Synopsis</A></H2>
<P><B>#include &lt;pthread.h&gt;</B> 
</P>
<P><B>int pthread_mutexattr_init(pthread_mutexattr_t *</B><I>attr</I><B>);</B>
</P>
<P><B>int pthread_mutexattr_destroy(pthread_mutexattr_t *</B><I>attr</I><B>);</B>
</P>
<P><B>int pthread_mutexattr_settype(pthread_mutexattr_t *</B><I>attr</I><B>,
int </B><I>type</I><B>);</B> 
</P>
<P><B>int pthread_mutexattr_gettype(const pthread_mutexattr_t *</B><I>attr</I><B>,
int *</B><I>type</I><B>);</B> 
</P>
<P><B>int pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np(pthread_mutexattr_t *</B><I>attr</I><B>,
int </B><I>type</I><B>);</B> 
</P>
<P><B>int pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np(const pthread_mutexattr_t
*</B><I>attr</I><B>, int *</B><I>type</I><B>);</B> 
</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc2" NAME="sect2">Description</A></H2>
<P>Mutex attributes can be specified at mutex creation time, by
passing a mutex attribute object as second argument to
<A HREF="pthread_mutex_init.html"><B>pthread_mutex_init</B>(3)</A> .
Passing <B>NULL</B> is equivalent to passing a mutex attribute object
with all attributes set to their default values. 
</P>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_init</B> initializes the mutex attribute
object <I>attr</I> and fills it with default values for the
attributes. 
</P>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_destroy</B> destroys a mutex attribute
object, which must not be reused until it is reinitialized.</P>
<P>The following mutex types are supported:</P>
<P STYLE="margin-left: 2cm"><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_NORMAL</B> - for
‘‘fast’’ mutexes.</P>
<P STYLE="margin-left: 2cm"><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE</B> - for
‘‘recursive’’ mutexes.</P>
<P STYLE="margin-left: 2cm"><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_ERRORCHECK</B> - for
‘‘error checking’’ mutexes.</P>
<P>The mutex type determines what happens if a thread attempts to
lock a mutex it already owns with <A HREF="pthread_mutex_lock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_lock</B>(3)</A>
. If the mutex is of the “normal” or “fast” type,
<A HREF="pthread_mutex_lock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_lock</B>(3)</A>
simply suspends the calling thread forever. If the mutex is of the
‘‘error checking’’ type, <A HREF="pthread_mutex_lock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_lock</B>(3)</A>
returns immediately with the error code <B>EDEADLK</B>. If the mutex
is of the ‘‘recursive’’ type, the call to
<A HREF="pthread_mutex_lock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_lock</B>(3)</A>
returns immediately with a success return code. The number of times
the thread owning the mutex has locked it is recorded in the mutex.
The owning thread must call <A HREF="pthread_mutex_unlock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_unlock</B>(3)</A>
the same number of times before the mutex returns to the unlocked
state. 
</P>
<P>The default mutex type is <B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_NORMAL</B></P>
<P><B>Pthreads-w32</B> also recognises the following equivalent types
that are used by Linux:</P>
<P STYLE="margin-left: 2cm; font-weight: medium"><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_FAST_NP</B>
– equivalent to <B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_NORMAL</B></P>
<P STYLE="margin-left: 2cm"><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE_NP</B></P>
<P STYLE="margin-left: 2cm"><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_ERRORCHECK_NP</B></P>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_settype</B> sets the mutex type attribute in
<I>attr</I> to the value specified by <I>type</I>. 
</P>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_gettype</B> retrieves the current value of
the mutex kind attribute in <I>attr</I> and stores it in the location
pointed to by <I>type</I>. 
</P>
<P><B>Pthreads-w32</B> also recognises the following equivalent
functions that are used in Linux:</P>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np</B> is an alias for
<B>pthread_mutexattr_settype</B>. 
</P>
<P STYLE="font-weight: medium"><B>pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np</B> is
an alias for <B>pthread_mutexattr_gettype</B>. 
</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc3" NAME="sect3">Return Value</A></H2>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_init</B>, <B>pthread_mutexattr_destroy</B>
and <B>pthread_mutexattr_gettype</B> always return 0. 
</P>
<P><B>pthread_mutexattr_settype</B> returns 0 on success and a
non-zero error code on error. 
</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc4" NAME="sect4">Errors</A></H2>
<P>On error, <B>pthread_mutexattr_settype</B> returns the following
error code: 
</P>
<DL>
	<DT><B>EINVAL</B> 
	</DT><DD STYLE="margin-bottom: 0.5cm">
	<I>type</I> is none of:<BR><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_NORMAL</B>,
	<B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_FAST_NP</B>,<BR><B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE</B>,
	<B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_RECURSIVE_NP,<BR>PTHREAD_MUTEX_ERRORCHECK</B>,
	<B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_ERRORCHECK_NP</B> 
	</DD></DL>
<H2>
<A HREF="#toc5" NAME="sect5">Author</A></H2>
<P>Xavier Leroy &lt;Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr&gt; 
</P>
<P>Modified by Ross Johnson for use with <A HREF="http://sources.redhat.com/pthreads-win32">Pthreads-w32</A>.</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc6" NAME="sect6">See Also</A></H2>
<P><A HREF="pthread_mutex_init.html"><B>pthread_mutex_init</B>(3)</A>
, <A HREF="pthread_mutex_lock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_lock</B>(3)</A>
, <A HREF="pthread_mutex_unlock.html"><B>pthread_mutex_unlock</B>(3)</A>
. 
</P>
<H2><A HREF="#toc7" NAME="sect7"><U><FONT COLOR="#000080">Notes</FONT></U></A></H2>
<P>For speed, <B>Pthreads-w32</B> never checks the thread ownership
of mutexes of type <B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_NORMAL</B> (or
<B>PTHREAD_MUTEX_FAST_NP</B>) when performing operations on the
mutex. It is therefore possible for one thread to lock such a mutex
and another to unlock it.</P>
<P><SPAN STYLE="font-weight: medium">When developing code, it is a
common precaution to substitute the error checking type, and drop in
the normal type for release if the extra performance is required.</SPAN></P>
<HR>
<P><A NAME="toc"></A><B>Table of Contents</B></P>
<UL>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect0" NAME="toc0">Name</A>
		</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect1" NAME="toc1">Synopsis</A>
		</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect2" NAME="toc2">Description</A>
		</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect3" NAME="toc3">Return
	Value</A> 
	</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect4" NAME="toc4">Errors</A>
		</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect5" NAME="toc5">Author</A>
		</P>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0cm"><A HREF="#sect6" NAME="toc6">See
	Also</A></P>
	<LI><P><A HREF="#sect7" NAME="toc7">Notes</A></P>
</UL>
</BODY>
</HTML>