RWLock

The GRWLock struct is an opaque data structure to represent a reader-writer lock. It is similar to a #GMutex in that it allows multiple threads to coordinate access to a shared resource.

The difference to a mutex is that a reader-writer lock discriminates between read-only ('reader') and full ('writer') access. While only one thread at a time is allowed write access (by holding the 'writer' lock via glib.rwlock.RWLock.writerLock), multiple threads can gain simultaneous read-only access (by holding the 'reader' lock via glib.rwlock.RWLock.readerLock).

It is unspecified whether readers or writers have priority in acquiring the lock when a reader already holds the lock and a writer is queued to acquire it.

Here is an example for an array with access functions:

GRWLock lock;
GPtrArray *array;

gpointer
my_array_get (guint index)
{
  gpointer retval = NULL;

  if (!array)
    return NULL;

  g_rw_lock_reader_lock (&lock);
  if (index < array->len)
    retval = g_ptr_array_index (array, index);
  g_rw_lock_reader_unlock (&lock);

  return retval;
}

void
my_array_set (guint index, gpointer data)
{
  g_rw_lock_writer_lock (&lock);

  if (!array)
    array = g_ptr_array_new ();

  if (index >= array->len)
    g_ptr_array_set_size (array, index+1);
  g_ptr_array_index (array, index) = data;

  g_rw_lock_writer_unlock (&lock);
}

This example shows an array which can be accessed by many readers (the my_array_get() function) simultaneously, whereas the writers (the my_array_set() function) will only be allowed one at a time and only if no readers currently access the array. This is because of the potentially dangerous resizing of the array. Using these functions is fully multi-thread safe now.

If a #GRWLock is allocated in static storage then it can be used without initialisation. Otherwise, you should call glib.rwlock.RWLock.init_ on it and glib.rwlock.RWLock.clear when done.

A GRWLock should only be accessed with the g_rw_lock_ functions.

class RWLock {

GRWLock cInstance;

void clear();

void init_();

void readerLock();

bool readerTrylock();

void readerUnlock();

void writerLock();

bool writerTrylock();

void writerUnlock();

}

Members

Functions

clear void clear(): Frees the resources allocated to a lock with glib.rwlock.RWLock.init_.
init_ void init_(): Initializes a #GRWLock so that it can be used.
readerLock void readerLock(): Obtain a read lock on rw_lock. If another thread currently holds the write lock on rw_lock, the current thread will block until the write lock was (held and) released. If another thread does not hold the write lock, but is waiting for it, it is implementation defined whether the reader or writer will block. Read locks can be taken recursively.
readerTrylock bool readerTrylock(): Tries to obtain a read lock on rw_lock and returns true if the read lock was successfully obtained. Otherwise it returns false.
readerUnlock void readerUnlock(): Release a read lock on rw_lock.
writerLock void writerLock(): Obtain a write lock on rw_lock. If another thread currently holds a read or write lock on rw_lock, the current thread will block until all other threads have dropped their locks on rw_lock.
writerTrylock bool writerTrylock(): Tries to obtain a write lock on rw_lock. If another thread currently holds a read or write lock on rw_lock, it immediately returns false. Otherwise it locks rw_lock and returns true.
writerUnlock void writerUnlock(): Release a write lock on rw_lock.

glib rwlock classes

RWLock