Thread Concepts

• Threads are "lightweight processes"

  • 10 to 100 times faster than fork()

• Threads share:

  • process instructions, most data, file descriptors, signal handlers/dispositions, current working directory, user/group Ids

• Each thread has its own:

  • thread ID, set of registers (incl. Program counter and stack pointer), stack (local vars, return addresses), errno, signal mask, priority

• Posix threads will (we think) be the new UNIX thread standard

• see CDF man pages for pthread, or read Chapter 23 in Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens, 1998, Prentice Hall

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