1 #ifndef foothreadmainloophfoo
2 #define foothreadmainloophfoo
5 This file is part of PulseAudio.
7 Copyright 2006 Lennart Poettering
8 Copyright 2006 Pierre Ossman <ossman@cendio.se> for Cendio AB
10 PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
11 it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published
12 by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License,
13 or (at your option) any later version.
15 PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
16 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
17 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
18 General Public License for more details.
20 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
21 along with PulseAudio; if not, write to the Free Software
22 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
26 #include <pulse/mainloop-api.h>
27 #include <pulse/cdecl.h>
28 #include <pulse/version.h>
32 /** \page threaded_mainloop Threaded Main Loop
34 * \section overv_sec Overview
36 * The threaded main loop implementation is a special version of the primary
37 * main loop implementation (see \ref mainloop). For the basic design, see
40 * The added feature in the threaded main loop is that it spawns a new thread
41 * that runs the real main loop. This allows a synchronous application to use
42 * the asynchronous API without risking to stall the PulseAudio library.
44 * \section creat_sec Creation
46 * A pa_threaded_mainloop object is created using pa_threaded_mainloop_new().
47 * This will only allocate the required structures though, so to use it the
48 * thread must also be started. This is done through
49 * pa_threaded_mainloop_start(), after which you can start using the main loop.
51 * \section destr_sec Destruction
53 * When the PulseAudio connection has been terminated, the thread must be
54 * stopped and the resources freed. Stopping the thread is done using
55 * pa_threaded_mainloop_stop(), which must be called without the lock (see
56 * below) held. When that function returns, the thread is stopped and the
57 * pa_threaded_mainloop object can be freed using pa_threaded_mainloop_free().
59 * \section lock_sec Locking
61 * Since the PulseAudio API doesn't allow concurrent accesses to objects,
62 * a locking scheme must be used to guarantee safe usage. The threaded main
63 * loop API provides such a scheme through the functions
64 * pa_threaded_mainloop_lock() and pa_threaded_mainloop_unlock().
66 * The lock is recursive, so it's safe to use it multiple times from the same
67 * thread. Just make sure you call pa_threaded_mainloop_unlock() the same
68 * number of times you called pa_threaded_mainloop_lock().
70 * The lock needs to be held whenever you call any PulseAudio function that
71 * uses an object associated with this main loop. Make sure you do not hold
72 * on to the lock more than necessary though, as the threaded main loop stops
73 * while the lock is held.
78 * void my_check_stream_func(pa_threaded_mainloop *m, pa_stream *s) {
79 * pa_stream_state_t state;
81 * pa_threaded_mainloop_lock(m);
83 * state = pa_stream_get_state(s);
85 * pa_threaded_mainloop_unlock(m);
87 * if (state == PA_STREAM_READY)
88 * printf("Stream is ready!");
90 * printf("Stream is not ready!");
94 * \section cb_sec Callbacks
96 * Callbacks in PulseAudio are asynchronous, so they require extra care when
97 * using them together with a threaded main loop.
99 * The easiest way to turn the callback based operations into synchronous
100 * ones, is to simply wait for the callback to be called and continue from
101 * there. This is the approach chosen in PulseAudio's threaded API.
103 * \subsection basic_subsec Basic callbacks
105 * For the basic case, where all that is required is to wait for the callback
106 * to be invoked, the code should look something like this:
111 * static void my_drain_callback(pa_stream *s, int success, void *userdata) {
112 * pa_threaded_mainloop *m;
117 * pa_threaded_mainloop_signal(m, 0);
120 * void my_drain_stream_func(pa_threaded_mainloop *m, pa_stream *s) {
123 * pa_threaded_mainloop_lock(m);
125 * o = pa_stream_drain(s, my_drain_callback, m);
128 * while (pa_operation_get_state(o) == PA_OPERATION_RUNNING)
129 * pa_threaded_mainloop_wait(m);
131 * pa_operation_unref(o);
133 * pa_threaded_mainloop_unlock(m);
137 * The main function, my_drain_stream_func(), will wait for the callback to
138 * be called using pa_threaded_mainloop_wait().
140 * If your application is multi-threaded, then this waiting must be
141 * done inside a while loop. The reason for this is that multiple
142 * threads might be using pa_threaded_mainloop_wait() at the same
143 * time. Each thread must therefore verify that it was its callback
144 * that was invoked. Also the underlying OS synchronization primitives
145 * are usually not free of spurious wake-ups, so a
146 * pa_threaded_mainloop_wait() must be called within a loop even if
147 * you have only one thread waiting.
149 * The callback, my_drain_callback(), indicates to the main function that it
150 * has been called using pa_threaded_mainloop_signal().
152 * As you can see, pa_threaded_mainloop_wait() may only be called with
153 * the lock held. The same thing is true for pa_threaded_mainloop_signal(),
154 * but as the lock is held before the callback is invoked, you do not have to
157 * The functions will not dead lock because the wait function will release
158 * the lock before waiting and then regrab it once it has been signaled.
159 * For those of you familiar with threads, the behaviour is that of a
160 * condition variable.
162 * \subsection data_subsec Data callbacks
164 * For many callbacks, simply knowing that they have been called is
165 * insufficient. The callback also receives some data that is desired. To
166 * access this data safely, we must extend our example a bit:
169 * static int *drain_result;
171 * static void my_drain_callback(pa_stream*s, int success, void *userdata) {
172 * pa_threaded_mainloop *m;
177 * drain_result = &success;
179 * pa_threaded_mainloop_signal(m, 1);
182 * void my_drain_stream_func(pa_threaded_mainloop *m, pa_stream *s) {
185 * pa_threaded_mainloop_lock(m);
187 * o = pa_stream_drain(s, my_drain_callback, m);
190 * while (pa_operation_get_state(o) == PA_OPERATION_RUNNING)
191 * pa_threaded_mainloop_wait(m);
193 * pa_operation_unref(o);
196 * printf("Success!");
198 * printf("Bitter defeat...");
200 * pa_threaded_mainloop_accept(m);
202 * pa_threaded_mainloop_unlock(m);
206 * The example is a bit silly as it would probably have been easier to just
207 * copy the contents of success, but for larger data structures this can be
210 * The difference here compared to the basic callback is the 1 sent to
211 * pa_threaded_mainloop_signal() and the call to
212 * pa_threaded_mainloop_accept(). What will happen is that
213 * pa_threaded_mainloop_signal() will signal the main function and then stop.
214 * The main function is then free to use the data in the callback until
215 * pa_threaded_mainloop_accept() is called, which will allow the callback
218 * Note that pa_threaded_mainloop_accept() must be called some time between
219 * exiting the while loop and unlocking the main loop! Failure to do so will
220 * result in a race condition. I.e. it is not ok to release the lock and
221 * regrab it before calling pa_threaded_mainloop_accept().
223 * \subsection async_subsec Asynchronous callbacks
225 * PulseAudio also has callbacks that are completely asynchronous, meaning
226 * that they can be called at any time. The threading main loop API provides
227 * the locking mechanism to handle concurrent accesses, but nothing else.
228 * Applications will have to handle communication from the callback to the
229 * main program through some own system.
231 * The callbacks that are completely asynchronous are:
233 * \li State callbacks for contexts, streams, etc.
234 * \li Subscription notifications
239 * A thread based event loop implementation based on pa_mainloop. The
240 * event loop is run in a helper thread in the background. A few
241 * synchronization primitives are available to access the objects
242 * attached to the event loop safely. */
244 /** An opaque threaded main loop object */
245 typedef struct pa_threaded_mainloop pa_threaded_mainloop
;
247 /** Allocate a new threaded main loop object. You have to call
248 * pa_threaded_mainloop_start() before the event loop thread starts
250 pa_threaded_mainloop
*pa_threaded_mainloop_new(void);
252 /** Free a threaded main loop object. If the event loop thread is
253 * still running, it is terminated using pa_threaded_mainloop_stop()
255 void pa_threaded_mainloop_free(pa_threaded_mainloop
* m
);
257 /** Start the event loop thread. */
258 int pa_threaded_mainloop_start(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
260 /** Terminate the event loop thread cleanly. Make sure to unlock the
261 * mainloop object before calling this function. */
262 void pa_threaded_mainloop_stop(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
264 /** Lock the event loop object, effectively blocking the event loop
265 * thread from processing events. You can use this to enforce
266 * exclusive access to all objects attached to the event loop. This
267 * lock is recursive. This function may not be called inside the event
268 * loop thread. Events that are dispatched from the event loop thread
269 * are executed with this lock held. */
270 void pa_threaded_mainloop_lock(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
272 /** Unlock the event loop object, inverse of pa_threaded_mainloop_lock() */
273 void pa_threaded_mainloop_unlock(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
275 /** Wait for an event to be signalled by the event loop thread. You
276 * can use this to pass data from the event loop thread to the main
277 * thread in synchronized fashion. This function may not be called
278 * inside the event loop thread. Prior to this call the event loop
279 * object needs to be locked using pa_threaded_mainloop_lock(). While
280 * waiting the lock will be released, immediately before returning it
281 * will be acquired again. This function may spuriously wake up even
282 * without _signal() being called. You need to make sure to handle
284 void pa_threaded_mainloop_wait(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
286 /** Signal all threads waiting for a signalling event in
287 * pa_threaded_mainloop_wait(). If wait_for_release is non-zero, do
288 * not return before the signal was accepted by a
289 * pa_threaded_mainloop_accept() call. While waiting for that condition
290 * the event loop object is unlocked. */
291 void pa_threaded_mainloop_signal(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
, int wait_for_accept
);
293 /** Accept a signal from the event thread issued with
294 * pa_threaded_mainloop_signal(). This call should only be used in
295 * conjunction with pa_threaded_mainloop_signal() with a non-zero
296 * wait_for_accept value. */
297 void pa_threaded_mainloop_accept(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
299 /** Return the return value as specified with the main loop's quit() routine. */
300 int pa_threaded_mainloop_get_retval(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
302 /** Return the abstract main loop abstraction layer vtable for this
303 main loop. No need of freeing the API as it is owned by the loop
304 and it is destroyed when this dies */
305 pa_mainloop_api
* pa_threaded_mainloop_get_api(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);
307 /** Returns non-zero when called from withing the event loop thread. \since 0.9.7 */
308 int pa_threaded_mainloop_in_thread(pa_threaded_mainloop
*m
);