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pthread_join()--Wait for and Detach a Thread

Syntax

#include <pthread.h>
int pthread_join(pthread_t thread, void **status);
Threadsafe: Yes
Signal Safe: No

The pthread_join() function waits for a thread to terminate, detaches the thread, then returns the threads exit status.

If the status parameter is NULL, the threads exit status is not returned.

The meaning of the threads exit status (value returned to the status memory location) is determined by the application except for the following conditions:

  1. When the thread has been canceled using pthread_cancel(), the exit status of PTHREAD_CANCELED will be made available.
  2. When the thread has been terminated as a result of an unhandled OS/400 exception, operator intervention or other proprietary OS/400 mechanism, the exit status of PTHREAD_EXCEPTION_NP will be made available.
Eventually, you should call pthread_join(), pthread_detach() or pthread_extendedjoin_np() without specifying the leaveThreadAllocated option for every thread that is created joinable (with a detachstate of PTHREAD_CREATE_JOINABLE) so that the system can reclaim all resources associated with the thread. Failure to join to or detach joinable threads will result in memory and other resource leaks until the process ends.

Parameters

thread
(Input) Pthread handle to the target thread
status
(Output) Address of the variable to receive the thread's exit status

Authorities and Locks

None.

Return Value

0
pthread_join() was successful.
value
pthread_join() was not successful. value is set to indicate the error condition.

Error Conditions

If pthread_join() was not successful, the error condition returned usually indicates one of the following errors. Under some conditions, the value returned could indicate an error other than those listed here.

[EINVAL]
The value specified for the argument is not correct.
[ESRCH]
The thread specified could not be found.

Related Information

Example

#define _MULTI_THREADED
#include <pthread.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "check.h"

int  okStatus   = 34;

void *threadfunc(void *parm)
{
  printf("Inside secondary thread\n");
  return __VOID(okStatus);
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  pthread_t             thread;
  int                   rc=0;
  void                 *status;

  printf("Enter Testcase - %s\n", argv[0]);

  printf("Create thread using attributes that allow join\n");
  rc = pthread_create(&thread, NULL, threadfunc, NULL);
  checkResults("pthread_create()\n", rc);

  printf("Wait for the thread to exit\n");
  rc = pthread_join(thread, &status);
  checkResults("pthread_join()\n", rc);
  if (__INT(status) != okStatus) {
    printf("Secondary thread failed\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  printf("Got secondary thread status as expected\n");
  printf("Main completed\n");
  return 0;
}

Output

Enter Testcase - QP0WTEST/TPJOIN0
Create thread using attributes that allow join
Wait for the thread to exit
Inside secondary thread
Got secondary thread status as expected
Main completed



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