Re: Threads on DEC Ada for Alpha

[simon@pogner.demon.co.uk (Simon Wright)]

In article <31D28A2D.4C75B287@swthom.enet.dec.com> Thierry Lelegard <lelegard@swthom.enet.dec.com> writes:

> On Digital UNIX (new name for DEC OSF/1 :-), the Ada tasks are POSIX threads.
> Each Ada task is mapped on one thread. Each time a task is created, the Ada
> runtime creates one pthread. So, using pthreads with Ada is natural.
> 
> If your software is written in Ada, you have to convert the multi-process
> structure in multi-task structure (purely Ada, without pthread programming).
> There should be no use for explicit calls to pthreads.

A colleague wasted a _lot_ of time by trying to use Solaris threads
explicitly with SunSoft Ada (Verdix). When he used the features of Ada
(well, actually extensions) designed to hide threads -- specifically,
passive tasks instead of mutexes -- his troubles evaporated.

On a related topic, I see that the "pthreads" in DEC Unix aren't the
same as the "pthreads" used in glibc (from Chris Provenzano) and which
support tasking in GNAT for Linux. However, pthreads-1_60_beta5 builds
and (nearly) works on DEC Unix 3.2 -- not on OSF/1 V3 -- _interesting_
_developments_ are possible! I plan to look into this when the DU 3.2
box gets back from last week's show.

-- 
Simon Wright                    Work Email: simon.j.wright@gecm.com
Ferranti Naval Systems                     Voice: +44(0)1705-701778
GEC-Marconi S3I Combat Systems Division      FAX: +44(0)1705-701800