pthread_once - once-only initialization
#include <pthread.h>
pthread_once_t once_control = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
int pthread_once(pthread_once_t *once_control, void (*init_routine) (void));
The purpose of pthread_once is to ensure that a piece of initialization code is executed at most once. The once_control argument points to a static or extern variable statically initialized to PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT.
The first time pthread_once is called with a given once_control argument, it calls init_routine with no argument and changes the value of the once_control variable to record that initialization has been performed. Subsequent calls to pthread_once with the same once_control argument do nothing.
While pthread_once is not a cancellation point, init_routine can be. The required effect on once_control of a cancellation inside the init_routine is to leave it as if pthread_once had not been called.
Pthreads-w32 handles init_routine cancellation by making any threads, that may be waiting on once_control, re-compete along with any newly arriving threads in the re-running of init_routine.
pthread_once returns 0 on success, or an error code on failure.
The pthread_once function returns the following error code on error:
The once_control or init_routine parameter is NULL.
Xavier Leroy <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr>
Modified by Ross Johnson for use with Pthreads-w32.