[sane-devel] pthread_detach after pthread_join generates segfault

[Jens-U. Mozdzen]

Hi *,

quoting Allan:
>
> I'm no expert either, but your basic analysis seems correct- once you
> have returned from pthread_join(), the thread is gone, and its return
> value has been popped.

that's indeed the way it works. Upon return of pthread_join(), the  
thread is *gone*... unless it returns with a non-zero rc.

> I suppose it is possible that the pthread_join
> could fail in a way that might leave the thread running, perhaps
> because of a deadlock? In that case I suppose we could call
> pthread_detatch only if there is an error?

Other reasons to for pthread_join() to fail would be an already  
pending pthread_join() in a different thread.

It's not necessary/valid to call pthread_detach() on all error cases -  
i.e. in case of ESRCH, there is no thread with that id. Calling  
pthread_detach() then will only return ESRCH itself, the same holds  
true for EINVAL.

What doesn't fit the problem description is that calling  
pthread_detach() for an already terminated thread results in a segv.  
I'd rather have expected a return of ESRCH in such case. The only  
unspecified result (per man page) is for calling pthread_detach()  
multiple times on the same thread. Might this be the case here?

quoting Gerhard
> I wonder why it took 11 years to spot that ;)

If it is a case of calling pthread_detach() multiple times, it may be  
because the code got compiled for a new platform. "undefined results"  
include causes a segv :D. Or maybe the pthread lib contains a bug,  
i.e. segfaulting on detaching a no longer existing thread, rather than  
returning ESRCH, or some race condition.

Regards,
Jens