The LinuxThreads library

Unlike other implementations of Posix threads, LinuxThreads provides kernel-level threads: threads are created with the new clone() system call and all scheduling is done in the kernel.

The main strength of this approach is that it can take full advantage of multiprocessors. It also results in a simpler, more robust thread library, especially w.r.t. blocking system calls.

For more information, see the LinuxThreads README and the LinuxThreads Frequently Asked Questions.

Obtaining LinuxThreads

The source distribution is available at ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/cristal/Xavier.Leroy/linuxthreads.tar.gz. This version is to be used in conjunction with version 5 of the Linux C library, more specifically libc 5.2.18 or 5.4.12 and later.

A specially adapted version of LinuxThreads is distributed along with the new GNU libc version 2, which is scheduled to become Linux libc 6. Both glibc 2 and the associated LinuxThreads distribution can be found on any FTP site that mirrors GNU software.

Documentation

• The comp.programming.threads FAQ.

• Getting Started With POSIX Threads, by Tom Wagner and Don Towsley.

• Sun's pthread pages.

• LinuxThreads comes with a complete set of man pages.

• Code samples from Programming with POSIX® Threads, D. R. Butenhof, Addison-Wesley.

• Code samples, sources, infos from Multithreading Programming Techniques, S. Prasad, McGraw Hill.

LinuxThreads-related software

• Richard Neitzel's libaio, a library of POSIX.1b compliant asynchronous I/O functions based on LinuxThreads.

• The Adaptive Communication Environment (ACE) contains C++ wrappers for LinuxThreads and much, much more.

• The AOL multithreaded Web server uses LinuxThreads for its Linux version.

• Software AG's port of DCOM for Linux also uses LinuxThreads.