Peter Dimov wrote:
pthread_self gives you a full pthread_t, which you can use as input to pthread_join, pthread_cancel, pthread_setschedparam; you can also give this pthread_t to another thread and it remains valid.
boost::thread::thread() doesn't give you a boost::thread*, the boost::thread surrogate it creates is valid only within the current thread, and it can only be compared to another boost::thread.
pthread_self "always works"; it does not depend on some user not destroying a boost::thread object. A boost::thread* in thread-specific storage does not have this property.
Ah, I see. Thank you. Now I understand why W.E.Kempf has given up on the bool m_joinable; attribute in his newer work on thread. He introduced a thread_data structure that lives in tls storage and serves the purposes of pthread_self. The default constructor now essentially is: thread::thread() : m_handle(0) { thread_data* tdata = thread_data::get_current(); tdata->addref(); m_handle = tdata; } And this does give back something that can be used as long as the thread is alive. Roland