Subj : Predicate for pthread_cond_timedwait() ??
To   : comp.programming.threads
From : recvfrom@gmail.com
Date : Wed Mar 16 2005 05:19 pm

Hi!

Rather than mess with timers and signals in a threaded app,
I tried using pthread_cond_timedwait() for a condvar that
will never be signaled.  Is this a good approach?  It seems
to work fine.  Also, I assume this call should be wrapped
in a loop, since there is no guarantee that the call could
return for some 'other' reason (whatever that might be, I'm
not sure).  What should be the predicate for this loop?  A
zero return value?  E.g.:

r = 0;
while (r == 0)
  {
    r = pthread_cond_timedwait (&x->condvar, &x->mutex, &ts);
  }

This is part of a larger loop in a monitor thread that
watches a data structure.  Some events can lead to stale
entries.  This timed polling doesn't happen unless there
is actually something in the data structure.  Thanks for
any advice, tips, hints, etc.

-r

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