Re: Re-creating free threaded objects in the face of multiple threads

From:
"Igor Tandetnik" <itandetnik@mvps.org>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.atl
Date:
Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:11:04 -0400
Message-ID:
<OKB35xQZHHA.3968@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>
"Dilip" <rdilipk@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:1173746010.995680.192910@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com

On Mar 12, 6:16 pm, "Igor Tandetnik" <itandet...@mvps.org> wrote:

Try something like this:

 void CallCOMWrapperMethod()
{
    for (;;) {
        IOne* pCopy = pOne_;
        HRESULT hr = pCopy->CallThisMethod();
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) break;

        // We may need to recreate the object
        Lock();
        if (pCopy == pOne_) {
            ReleaseIOne();
            CreateIOne();
        } // otherwise, somebody else beat us to it.
        Unlock();
    }

}


Igor
Thanks for the suggestion.

Since you are comparing pointer values, is there a chance CreateIOne()
inside the Lock() can somehow return the same allocated address again?


Yes, I guess it's possible. Just do CreateIOne(); ReleaseIOne(); then,
in this order.

Actually, now that I think of it, the whole idea is not going to work.
It is possible for one thread to release and destroy the object, just as
another is calling a method on it.

This should be safe, but requires locking for the normal case:

 void CallCOMWrapperMethod()
{
    for (;;) {
        IOne* pCopy = 0;
        Lock();
        pCopy = pOne_;
        pCopy->AddRef();
        Unlock();

        HRESULT hr = pCopy->CallThisMethod();

        Lock();
        pCopy->Release();
        if (FAILED(hr) && pCopy == pOne_) {
            // We need to recreate the object
            CreateIOne();
            ReleaseIOne();
        }
        Unlock();

        if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) break;
    }
}

To make it completely lock free (or at least lock free on the success
path) would require hazard pointers technique:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_pointer
http://www.research.ibm.com/people/m/michael/ieeetpds-2004.pdf

It's very elaborate.
--
With best wishes,
    Igor Tandetnik

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