----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- | -- Module : Control.Concurrent -- Copyright : (c) The University of Glasgow 2001 -- License : BSD-style (see the file libraries/base/LICENSE) -- -- Maintainer : libraries@haskell.org -- Stability : experimental -- Portability : non-portable (concurrency) -- -- A common interface to a collection of useful concurrency -- abstractions. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- module Control.Concurrent ( -- * Concurrent Haskell -- $conc_intro -- * Basic concurrency operations ThreadId, #ifdef __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ myThreadId, #endif forkIO, #ifdef __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ killThread, throwTo, #endif -- * Scheduling -- $conc_scheduling yield, -- :: IO () -- ** Blocking -- $blocking #ifdef __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ -- ** Waiting threadDelay, -- :: Int -> IO () threadWaitRead, -- :: Int -> IO () threadWaitWrite, -- :: Int -> IO () #endif -- * Communication abstractions module Control.Concurrent.MVar, module Control.Concurrent.Chan, module Control.Concurrent.QSem, module Control.Concurrent.QSemN, module Control.Concurrent.SampleVar, -- * Merging of streams #ifndef __HUGS__ mergeIO, -- :: [a] -> [a] -> IO [a] nmergeIO, -- :: [[a]] -> IO [a] #endif -- $merge #ifdef __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ -- * Bound Threads -- $boundthreads rtsSupportsBoundThreads, forkOS, isCurrentThreadBound, runInBoundThread, runInUnboundThread #endif -- * GHC's implementation of concurrency -- |This section describes features specific to GHC's -- implementation of Concurrent Haskell. -- ** Haskell threads and Operating System threads -- $osthreads -- ** Terminating the program -- $termination -- ** Pre-emption -- $preemption ) where import Prelude import Control.Exception as Exception #ifdef __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ import GHC.Conc ( ThreadId(..), myThreadId, killThread, yield, threadDelay, threadWaitRead, threadWaitWrite, forkIO, childHandler ) import GHC.TopHandler ( reportStackOverflow, reportError ) import GHC.IOBase ( IO(..) ) import GHC.IOBase ( unsafeInterleaveIO ) import GHC.IOBase ( newIORef, readIORef, writeIORef ) import GHC.Base import Foreign.StablePtr import Foreign.C.Types ( CInt ) import Control.Monad ( when ) #endif #ifdef __HUGS__ import Hugs.ConcBase #endif import Control.Concurrent.MVar import Control.Concurrent.Chan import Control.Concurrent.QSem import Control.Concurrent.QSemN import Control.Concurrent.SampleVar #ifdef __HUGS__ type ThreadId = () #endif {- $conc_intro The concurrency extension for Haskell is described in the paper /Concurrent Haskell/ <http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/papers/concurrent-haskell.ps.gz>. Concurrency is \"lightweight\", which means that both thread creation and context switching overheads are extremely low. Scheduling of Haskell threads is done internally in the Haskell runtime system, and doesn't make use of any operating system-supplied thread packages. However, if you want to interact with a foreign library that expects your program to use the operating system-supplied thread package, you can do so by using 'forkOS' instead of 'forkIO'. Haskell threads can communicate via 'MVar's, a kind of synchronised mutable variable (see "Control.Concurrent.MVar"). Several common concurrency abstractions can be built from 'MVar's, and these are provided by the "Control.Concurrent" library. In GHC, threads may also communicate via exceptions. -} {- $conc_scheduling Scheduling may be either pre-emptive or co-operative, depending on the implementation of Concurrent Haskell (see below for information related to specific compilers). In a co-operative system, context switches only occur when you use one of the primitives defined in this module. This means that programs such as: > main = forkIO (write 'a') >> write 'b' > where write c = putChar c >> write c will print either @aaaaaaaaaaaaaa...@ or @bbbbbbbbbbbb...@, instead of some random interleaving of @a@s and @b@s. In practice, cooperative multitasking is sufficient for writing simple graphical user interfaces. -} {- $blocking Different Haskell implementations have different characteristics with regard to which operations block /all/ threads. Using GHC without the @-threaded@ option, all foreign calls will block all other Haskell threads in the system, although I\/O operations will not. With the @-threaded@ option, only foreign calls with the @unsafe@ attribute will block all other threads. Using Hugs, all I\/O operations and foreign calls will block all other Haskell threads. -} #ifndef __HUGS__ max_buff_size :: Int max_buff_size = 1 mergeIO :: [a] -> [a] -> IO [a] nmergeIO :: [[a]] -> IO [a] -- $merge -- The 'mergeIO' and 'nmergeIO' functions fork one thread for each -- input list that concurrently evaluates that list; the results are -- merged into a single output list. -- -- Note: Hugs does not provide these functions, since they require -- preemptive multitasking. mergeIO ls rs = newEmptyMVar >>= \ tail_node -> newMVar tail_node >>= \ tail_list -> newQSem max_buff_size >>= \ e -> newMVar 2 >>= \ branches_running -> let buff = (tail_list,e) in forkIO (suckIO branches_running buff ls) >> forkIO (suckIO branches_running buff rs) >> takeMVar tail_node >>= \ val -> signalQSem e >> return val type Buffer a = (MVar (MVar [a]), QSem) suckIO :: MVar Int -> Buffer a -> [a] -> IO () suckIO branches_running buff@(tail_list,e) vs = case vs of [] -> takeMVar branches_running >>= \ val -> if val == 1 then takeMVar tail_list >>= \ node -> putMVar node [] >> putMVar tail_list node else putMVar branches_running (val-1) (x:xs) -> waitQSem e >> takeMVar tail_list >>= \ node -> newEmptyMVar >>= \ next_node -> unsafeInterleaveIO ( takeMVar next_node >>= \ y -> signalQSem e >> return y) >>= \ next_node_val -> putMVar node (x:next_node_val) >> putMVar tail_list next_node >> suckIO branches_running buff xs nmergeIO lss = let len = length lss in newEmptyMVar >>= \ tail_node -> newMVar tail_node >>= \ tail_list -> newQSem max_buff_size >>= \ e -> newMVar len >>= \ branches_running -> let buff = (tail_list,e) in mapIO (\ x -> forkIO (suckIO branches_running buff x)) lss >> takeMVar tail_node >>= \ val -> signalQSem e >> return val where mapIO f xs = sequence (map f xs) #endif /* __HUGS__ */ #ifdef __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Bound Threads {- $boundthreads #boundthreads# Support for multiple operating system threads and bound threads as described below is currently only available in the GHC runtime system if you use the /-threaded/ option when linking. Other Haskell systems do not currently support multiple operating system threads. A bound thread is a haskell thread that is /bound/ to an operating system thread. While the bound thread is still scheduled by the Haskell run-time system, the operating system thread takes care of all the foreign calls made by the bound thread. To a foreign library, the bound thread will look exactly like an ordinary operating system thread created using OS functions like @pthread_create@ or @CreateThread@. Bound threads can be created using the 'forkOS' function below. All foreign exported functions are run in a bound thread (bound to the OS thread that called the function). Also, the @main@ action of every Haskell program is run in a bound thread. Why do we need this? Because if a foreign library is called from a thread created using 'forkIO', it won't have access to any /thread-local state/ - state variables that have specific values for each OS thread (see POSIX's @pthread_key_create@ or Win32's @TlsAlloc@). Therefore, some libraries (OpenGL, for example) will not work from a thread created using 'forkIO'. They work fine in threads created using 'forkOS' or when called from @main@ or from a @foreign export@. -} -- | 'True' if bound threads are supported. -- If @rtsSupportsBoundThreads@ is 'False', 'isCurrentThreadBound' -- will always return 'False' and both 'forkOS' and 'runInBoundThread' will -- fail. foreign import ccall rtsSupportsBoundThreads :: Bool {- | Like 'forkIO', this sparks off a new thread to run the 'IO' computation passed as the first argument, and returns the 'ThreadId' of the newly created thread. However, @forkOS@ uses operating system-supplied multithreading support to create a new operating system thread. The new thread is /bound/, which means that all foreign calls made by the 'IO' computation are guaranteed to be executed in this new operating system thread; also, the operating system thread is not used for any other foreign calls. This means that you can use all kinds of foreign libraries from this thread (even those that rely on thread-local state), without the limitations of 'forkIO'. Just to clarify, 'forkOS' is /only/ necessary if you need to associate a Haskell thread with a particular OS thread. It is not necessary if you only need to make non-blocking foreign calls (see "Control.Concurrent#osthreads"). Neither is it necessary if you want to run threads in parallel on a multiprocessor: threads created with 'forkIO' will be shared out amongst the running CPUs (using GHC, @-threaded@, and the @+RTS -N@ runtime option). -} forkOS :: IO () -> IO ThreadId foreign export ccall forkOS_entry :: StablePtr (IO ()) -> IO () foreign import ccall "forkOS_entry" forkOS_entry_reimported :: StablePtr (IO ()) -> IO () forkOS_entry stableAction = do action <- deRefStablePtr stableAction action foreign import ccall forkOS_createThread :: StablePtr (IO ()) -> IO CInt failNonThreaded = fail $ "RTS doesn't support multiple OS threads " ++"(use ghc -threaded when linking)" forkOS action | rtsSupportsBoundThreads = do mv <- newEmptyMVar let action_plus = Exception.catch action childHandler entry <- newStablePtr (myThreadId >>= putMVar mv >> action_plus) err <- forkOS_createThread entry when (err /= 0) $ fail "Cannot create OS thread." tid <- takeMVar mv freeStablePtr entry return tid | otherwise = failNonThreaded -- | Returns 'True' if the calling thread is /bound/, that is, if it is -- safe to use foreign libraries that rely on thread-local state from the -- calling thread. isCurrentThreadBound :: IO Bool isCurrentThreadBound = IO $ \ s# -> case isCurrentThreadBound# s# of (# s2#, flg #) -> (# s2#, not (flg ==# 0#) #) {- | Run the 'IO' computation passed as the first argument. If the calling thread is not /bound/, a bound thread is created temporarily. @runInBoundThread@ doesn't finish until the 'IO' computation finishes. You can wrap a series of foreign function calls that rely on thread-local state with @runInBoundThread@ so that you can use them without knowing whether the current thread is /bound/. -} runInBoundThread :: IO a -> IO a runInBoundThread action | rtsSupportsBoundThreads = do bound <- isCurrentThreadBound if bound then action else do ref <- newIORef undefined let action_plus = Exception.try action >>= writeIORef ref resultOrException <- bracket (newStablePtr action_plus) freeStablePtr (\cEntry -> forkOS_entry_reimported cEntry >> readIORef ref) case resultOrException of Left exception -> Exception.throw exception Right result -> return result | otherwise = failNonThreaded {- | Run the 'IO' computation passed as the first argument. If the calling thread is /bound/, an unbound thread is created temporarily using 'forkIO'. @runInBoundThread@ doesn't finish until the 'IO' computation finishes. Use this function /only/ in the rare case that you have actually observed a performance loss due to the use of bound threads. A program that doesn't need it's main thread to be bound and makes /heavy/ use of concurrency (e.g. a web server), might want to wrap it's @main@ action in @runInUnboundThread@. -} runInUnboundThread :: IO a -> IO a runInUnboundThread action = do bound <- isCurrentThreadBound if bound then do mv <- newEmptyMVar forkIO (Exception.try action >>= putMVar mv) takeMVar mv >>= \either -> case either of Left exception -> Exception.throw exception Right result -> return result else action #endif /* __GLASGOW_HASKELL__ */ -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- More docs {- $osthreads #osthreads# In GHC, threads created by 'forkIO' are lightweight threads, and are managed entirely by the GHC runtime. Typically Haskell threads are an order of magnitude or two more efficient (in terms of both time and space) than operating system threads. The downside of having lightweight threads is that only one can run at a time, so if one thread blocks in a foreign call, for example, the other threads cannot continue. The GHC runtime works around this by making use of full OS threads where necessary. When the program is built with the @-threaded@ option (to link against the multithreaded version of the runtime), a thread making a @safe@ foreign call will not block the other threads in the system; another OS thread will take over running Haskell threads until the original call returns. The runtime maintains a pool of these /worker/ threads so that multiple Haskell threads can be involved in external calls simultaneously. The "System.IO" library manages multiplexing in its own way. On Windows systems it uses @safe@ foreign calls to ensure that threads doing I\/O operations don't block the whole runtime, whereas on Unix systems all the currently blocked I\/O reqwests are managed by a single thread (the /IO manager thread/) using @select@. The runtime will run a Haskell thread using any of the available worker OS threads. If you need control over which particular OS thread is used to run a given Haskell thread, perhaps because you need to call a foreign library that uses OS-thread-local state, then you need bound threads (see "Control.Concurrent#boundthreads"). If you don't use the @-threaded@ option, then the runtime does not make use of multiple OS threads. Foreign calls will block all other running Haskell threads until the call returns. The "System.IO" library still does multiplexing, so there can be multiple threads doing I\/O, and this is handled internally by the runtime using @select@. -} {- $termination In a standalone GHC program, only the main thread is required to terminate in order for the process to terminate. Thus all other forked threads will simply terminate at the same time as the main thread (the terminology for this kind of behaviour is \"daemonic threads\"). If you want the program to wait for child threads to finish before exiting, you need to program this yourself. A simple mechanism is to have each child thread write to an 'MVar' when it completes, and have the main thread wait on all the 'MVar's before exiting: > myForkIO :: IO () -> IO (MVar ()) > myForkIO io = do > mvar <- newEmptyMVar > forkIO (io `finally` putMVar mvar ()) > return mvar Note that we use 'finally' from the "Control.Exception" module to make sure that the 'MVar' is written to even if the thread dies or is killed for some reason. A better method is to keep a global list of all child threads which we should wait for at the end of the program: > children :: MVar [MVar ()] > children = unsafePerformIO (newMVar []) > > waitForChildren :: IO () > waitForChildren = do > cs <- takeMVar children > case cs of > [] -> return () > m:ms -> do > putMVar children ms > takeMVar m > waitForChildren > > forkChild :: IO () -> IO ThreadId > forkChild io = do > mvar <- newEmptyMVar > childs <- takeMVar children > putMVar children (mvar:childs) > forkIO (io `finally` putMVar mvar ()) > > main = > later waitForChildren $ > ... The main thread principle also applies to calls to Haskell from outside, using @foreign export@. When the @foreign export@ed function is invoked, it starts a new main thread, and it returns when this main thread terminates. If the call causes new threads to be forked, they may remain in the system after the @foreign export@ed function has returned. -} {- $preemption GHC implements pre-emptive multitasking: the execution of threads are interleaved in a random fashion. More specifically, a thread may be pre-empted whenever it allocates some memory, which unfortunately means that tight loops which do no allocation tend to lock out other threads (this only seems to happen with pathological benchmark-style code, however). The rescheduling timer runs on a 20ms granularity by default, but this may be altered using the @-i\<n\>@ RTS option. After a rescheduling \"tick\" the running thread is pre-empted as soon as possible. One final note: the @aaaa@ @bbbb@ example may not work too well on GHC (see Scheduling, above), due to the locking on a 'System.IO.Handle'. Only one thread may hold the lock on a 'System.IO.Handle' at any one time, so if a reschedule happens while a thread is holding the lock, the other thread won't be able to run. The upshot is that the switch from @aaaa@ to @bbbbb@ happens infrequently. It can be improved by lowering the reschedule tick period. We also have a patch that causes a reschedule whenever a thread waiting on a lock is woken up, but haven't found it to be useful for anything other than this example :-) -}