Re: [boost] Adding an option to set the name of a boost::thread

6 Nov 2012


      On Tue, Nov 06, 2012 at 12:50:23PM -0600, david.hagood@gmail.com wrote:
...
Has any thought been given to allowing a name to be set on a
boost::thread, such that (if the underlying implementation supports it)
that name would show up in things like top and ps?
In Linux, you can name a thread via the prctl() call and it will show up
in top - dandy for debugging which of the bazillion threads in my app has
decided to suck up all the CPU.
I don't know if Windows supports such a call, and IMHO it would be
acceptable if the call did nothing in such a case.
Ideally, I'd want to see it as a property, something like:
void boost::thread::set_name(std::string name)
std::string boost::thread::get_name() const;
On VC++, the following names a thread.

    const DWORD MS_VC_EXCEPTION=0x406D1388;

    inline void SetThreadName(DWORD dwThreadID, char const* threadName)
    {
    #pragma pack(push,8)
	typedef struct tagTHREADNAME_INFO
	{
	    DWORD dwType; // Must be 0x1000.
	    LPCSTR szName; // Pointer to name (in user addr space).
	    DWORD dwThreadID; // Thread ID (-1=caller thread).
	    DWORD dwFlags; // Reserved for future use, must be zero.
	} THREADNAME_INFO;
    #pragma pack(pop)

	THREADNAME_INFO info;
	info.dwType = 0x1000;
	info.szName = threadName;
	info.dwThreadID = dwThreadID;
	info.dwFlags = 0;

	__try
	{
	    RaiseException( MS_VC_EXCEPTION, 0, sizeof(info)/sizeof(ULONG_PTR),
		    (ULONG_PTR*)&info );
	}
	__except(EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER)
	{
	}
    }

-- 
Lars Viklund | zao@acc.umu.se