How to set the name of a thread in Linux pthreads?

by

As of glibc v2.12, you can use pthread_setname_np and pthread_getname_np to set/get the thread name.

These interfaces are available on a few other POSIX systems (BSD, QNX, Mac) in various slightly different forms.

Setting the name will be something like this:

#include <pthread.h>  // or maybe <pthread_np.h> for some OSes

// Linux
int pthread_setname_np(pthread_t thread, const char *name);

// NetBSD: name + arg work like printf(name, arg)
int pthread_setname_np(pthread_t thread, const char *name, void *arg);

// FreeBSD & OpenBSD: function name is slightly different, and has no return value
void pthread_set_name_np(pthread_t tid, const char *name);

// Mac OS X: must be set from within the thread (can't specify thread ID)
int pthread_setname_np(const char*);

And you can get the name back:

#include <pthread.h>  // or <pthread_np.h> ?

// Linux, NetBSD:
int pthread_getname_np(pthread_t th, char *buf, size_t len);
// some implementations don't have a safe buffer (see MKS/IBM below)
int pthread_getname_np(pthread_t thread, const char **name);
int pthread_getname_np(pthread_t thread, char *name);

// FreeBSD & OpenBSD: dont' seem to have getname/get_name equivalent?
// but I'd imagine there's some other mechanism to read it directly for say gdb

// Mac OS X:
int pthread_getname_np(pthread_t, char*, size_t);

As you can see it’s not completely portable between POSIX systems, but as far as I can tell across linux it should be consistent. Apart from Mac OS X (where you can only do it from within the thread), the others are at least simple to adapt for cross-platform code.

Sources:

More Related Contents:

  1. Undefined reference to pthread_create in Linux
  2. POSIX API call to list all the pthreads running in a process
  3. Is it possible to determine the thread holding a mutex?
  4. Detached vs. Joinable POSIX threads
  5. How do I get a thread ID from an arbitrary pthread_t?
  6. When to use pthread_exit() and when to use pthread_join() in Linux?
  7. Interprocess mutex with pthreads
  8. Pthread Run a thread right after it’s creation
  9. When to use pthread condition variables?
  10. Linux/POSIX equivalent for Win32’s CreateEvent, SetEvent, WaitForSingleObject
  11. Which thread handles the signal?
  12. pthread execution on linux
  13. How to open, read, and write from serial port in C?
  14. Pass arguments into C program from command line
  15. Segmentation fault handling
  16. sem_init on OS X
  17. Why does the C preprocessor interpret the word “linux” as the constant “1”?
  18. Why does ENOENT mean “No such file or directory”?
  19. How to return a value from pthread threads in C?
  20. How to set CPU affinity for a process from C or C++ in Linux?
  21. Is a Linux executable “compatible” with OS X?
  22. Receiving multiple multicast feeds on the same port – C, Linux
  23. fcntl, lockf, which is better to use for file locking?
  24. Does pthread_mutex_lock contains memory fence instruction? [duplicate]
  25. How to detect key presses in a Linux C GUI program without prompting the user?
  26. Pipe two or more shell commands in C using a loop
  27. How to read terminal’s input buffer immediately after keypress
  28. Efficient way to find task_struct by pid
  29. What is the difference between AF_INET and PF_INET in socket programming?
  30. Can you bind() and connect() both ends of a UDP connection

Leave a Comment