[fpc-devel] ref count types / threadsave question

[Jonas Maebe]

On 02/01/19 21:22, Benito van der Zander wrote:

> but if another core can do anything to the string, the refcount should 
> already be 2, one for this core and one for the other core, should it not?

The problem is that the different cores may see different values. Core 1 
could see that the refcount is 1 (wrong) while core 2 could see that is 
2 (correct) unless you add memory barriers (directly, or indirectly by 
using atomic read-modify-write instructions).

> UniqueString has such a test:
> 
> Function fpc_ansistr_Unique(Var S : Pointer): Pointer; [Public,Alias : 
> 'FPC_ANSISTR_UNIQUE']; compilerproc; inline;
> {
>    Make sure reference count of S is 1,
>    using copy-on-write semantics.
> }
> begin
>    pointer(result) := pointer(s);
>    If Pointer(S)=Nil then
>      exit;
>    if PAnsiRec(Pointer(S)-AnsiFirstOff)^.Ref<>1 then
>      result:=fpc_truely_ansistr_unique(s);
> end;

This function is indeed not threadsafe (and it cannot be made 100% 
threadsafe, although it could be made a bit safer —and slower— by 
changing the check into an atomic inc/decrement with 0 and checking that 
the result is 1).


Jonas