Title:
A Machine Independent Interface for Lightweight Threads
A Machine Independent Interface for Lightweight Threads
Author(s)
Eisenhauer, Greg S.
Ghosh, Kaushik
Mukherjee, Bodhisattwa
Ghosh, Kaushik
Mukherjee, Bodhisattwa
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Abstract
Recently, lightweight thread libraries have become a common entity to
support concurrent programming on shared memory multiprocessors.
However, the disparity between primitives offered by operating systems
creates a challenge for those who wish to create portable lightweight
thread packages. What should be the interface between the
machine-independent and machine-dependent parts of the thread library?
We have implemented a portable lightweight thread library on top of
Unix on a KSR-1 supercomputer, BBN Butterfly multiprocessor, SGI
multiprocessor, Sequent multiprocessor and Sun 3/4 family of
uniprocessors. This paper first compares the nature and performance of
the OS primitives offered by these machines. We then present a
procedure-level abstraction that is efficiently implementable on all
the architectures and is a sufficient base upon which a user-level
thread package can be built.
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Date Issued
1993
Extent
198274 bytes
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Technical Report