xref: /freebsd/share/man/man9/kthread.9 (revision 2008043f386721d58158e37e0d7e50df8095942d)
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26.Dd July 15, 2014
27.Dt KTHREAD 9
28.Os
29.Sh NAME
30.Nm kthread_start ,
31.Nm kthread_shutdown ,
32.Nm kthread_add ,
33.Nm kthread_exit ,
34.Nm kthread_resume ,
35.Nm kthread_suspend ,
36.Nm kthread_suspend_check
37.Nd "kernel threads"
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.In sys/kthread.h
40.Ft void
41.Fn kthread_start "const void *udata"
42.Ft void
43.Fn kthread_shutdown "void *arg" "int howto"
44.Ft void
45.Fn kthread_exit "void"
46.Ft int
47.Fn kthread_resume "struct thread *td"
48.Ft int
49.Fn kthread_suspend "struct thread *td" "int timo"
50.Ft void
51.Fn kthread_suspend_check "void"
52.In sys/unistd.h
53.Ft int
54.Fo kthread_add
55.Fa "void (*func)(void *)" "void *arg" "struct proc *procp"
56.Fa "struct thread **newtdpp" "int flags" "int pages"
57.Fa "const char *fmt" ...
58.Fc
59.Ft int
60.Fo kproc_kthread_add
61.Fa "void (*func)(void *)" "void *arg"
62.Fa "struct proc **procptr" "struct thread **tdptr"
63.Fa "int flags" "int pages" "char * procname" "const char *fmt" "..."
64.Fc
65.Sh DESCRIPTION
66In
67.Fx 8.0 ,
68the older family of
69.Fn kthread_* 9
70functions was renamed to be the
71.Fn  kproc_* 9
72family of functions,
73as they were previously misnamed
74and actually produced kernel processes.
75This new family of
76.Fn kthread_* 9
77functions was added to produce
78.Em real
79kernel threads.
80See the
81.Xr kproc 9
82man page for more information on the renamed calls.
83Also note that the
84.Fn kproc_kthread_add 9
85function appears in both pages as its functionality is split.
86.Pp
87The function
88.Fn kthread_start
89is used to start
90.Dq internal
91daemons such as
92.Nm bufdaemon , pagedaemon , vmdaemon ,
93and the
94.Nm syncer
95and is intended
96to be called from
97.Xr SYSINIT 9 .
98The
99.Fa udata
100argument is actually a pointer to a
101.Vt "struct kthread_desc"
102which describes the kernel thread that should be created:
103.Bd -literal -offset indent
104struct kthread_desc {
105	char		*arg0;
106	void		(*func)(void);
107	struct thread	**global_threadpp;
108};
109.Ed
110.Pp
111The structure members are used by
112.Fn kthread_start
113as follows:
114.Bl -tag -width ".Va global_threadpp" -offset indent
115.It Va arg0
116String to be used for the name of the thread.
117This string will be copied into the
118.Va td_name
119member of the new threads'
120.Vt "struct thread" .
121.It Va func
122The main function for this kernel thread to run.
123.It Va global_threadpp
124A pointer to a
125.Vt "struct thread"
126pointer that should be updated to point to the newly created thread's
127.Vt thread
128structure.
129If this variable is
130.Dv NULL ,
131then it is ignored.
132The thread will be a subthread of
133.Va proc0
134(PID 0).
135.El
136.Pp
137The
138.Fn kthread_add
139function is used to create a kernel thread.
140The new thread runs in kernel mode only.
141It is added to the process specified by the
142.Fa procp
143argument, or if that is
144.Dv NULL ,
145to
146.Va proc0 .
147The
148.Fa func
149argument specifies the function that the thread should execute.
150The
151.Fa arg
152argument is an arbitrary pointer that is passed in as the only argument to
153.Fa func
154when it is called by the new thread.
155The
156.Fa newtdpp
157pointer points to a
158.Vt "struct thread"
159pointer that is to be updated to point to the newly created thread.
160If this argument is
161.Dv NULL ,
162then it is ignored.
163The
164.Fa flags
165argument may be set to
166.Dv RFSTOPPED
167to leave the thread in a stopped state.
168The caller must call
169.Fn sched_add
170to start the thread.
171The
172.Fa pages
173argument specifies the size of the new kernel thread's stack in pages.
174If 0 is used, the default kernel stack size is allocated.
175The rest of the arguments form a
176.Xr printf 9
177argument list that is used to build the name of the new thread and is stored
178in the
179.Va td_name
180member of the new thread's
181.Vt "struct thread" .
182.Pp
183The
184.Fn kproc_kthread_add
185function is much like the
186.Fn kthread_add
187function above except that if the kproc does not already
188exist, it is created.
189This function is better documented in the
190.Xr kproc 9
191manual page.
192.Pp
193The
194.Fn kthread_exit
195function is used to terminate kernel threads.
196It should be called by the main function of the kernel thread rather than
197letting the main function return to its caller.
198.\" XXX "int ecode" argument isn't documented.
199.Pp
200The
201.Fn kthread_resume ,
202.Fn kthread_suspend ,
203and
204.Fn kthread_suspend_check
205functions are used to suspend and resume a kernel thread.
206During the main loop of its execution, a kernel thread that wishes to allow
207itself to be suspended should call
208.Fn kthread_suspend_check
209in order to check if the it has been asked to suspend.
210If it has, it will
211.Xr msleep 9
212until it is told to resume.
213Once it has been told to resume it will return allowing execution of the
214kernel thread to continue.
215The other two functions are used to notify a kernel thread of a suspend or
216resume request.
217The
218.Fa td
219argument points to the
220.Vt "struct thread"
221of the kernel thread to suspend or resume.
222For
223.Fn kthread_suspend ,
224the
225.Fa timo
226argument specifies a timeout to wait for the kernel thread to acknowledge the
227suspend request and suspend itself.
228.Pp
229The
230.Fn kthread_shutdown
231function is meant to be registered as a shutdown event for kernel threads that
232need to be suspended voluntarily during system shutdown so as not to interfere
233with system shutdown activities.
234The actual suspension of the kernel thread is done with
235.Fn kthread_suspend .
236.Sh RETURN VALUES
237The
238.Fn kthread_add ,
239.Fn kthread_resume ,
240and
241.Fn kthread_suspend
242functions return zero on success and non-zero on failure.
243.Sh EXAMPLES
244This example demonstrates the use of a
245.Vt "struct kthread_desc"
246and the functions
247.Fn kthread_start ,
248.Fn kthread_shutdown ,
249and
250.Fn kthread_suspend_check
251to run the
252.Nm bufdaemon
253process.
254.Bd -literal -offset indent
255static struct thread *bufdaemonthread;
256
257static struct kthread_desc buf_kp = {
258	"bufdaemon",
259	buf_daemon,
260	&bufdaemonthread
261};
262SYSINIT(bufdaemon, SI_SUB_KTHREAD_BUF, SI_ORDER_FIRST, kthread_start,
263    &buf_kp)
264
265static void
266buf_daemon()
267{
268	...
269	/*
270	 * This process needs to be suspended prior to shutdown sync.
271	 */
272	EVENTHANDLER_REGISTER(shutdown_pre_sync, kthread_shutdown,
273	    bufdaemonthread, SHUTDOWN_PRI_LAST);
274	...
275	for (;;) {
276		kthread_suspend_check();
277		...
278	}
279}
280.Ed
281.Sh ERRORS
282The
283.Fn kthread_resume
284and
285.Fn kthread_suspend
286functions will fail if:
287.Bl -tag -width Er
288.It Bq Er EINVAL
289The
290.Fa td
291argument does not reference a kernel thread.
292.El
293.Pp
294The
295.Fn kthread_add
296function will fail if:
297.Bl -tag -width Er
298.It Bq Er ENOMEM
299Memory for a thread's stack could not be allocated.
300.El
301.Sh SEE ALSO
302.Xr kproc 9 ,
303.Xr SYSINIT 9 ,
304.Xr wakeup 9
305.Sh HISTORY
306The
307.Fn kthread_start
308function first appeared in
309.Fx 2.2
310where it created a whole process.
311It was converted to create threads in
312.Fx 8.0 .
313The
314.Fn kthread_shutdown ,
315.Fn kthread_exit ,
316.Fn kthread_resume ,
317.Fn kthread_suspend ,
318and
319.Fn kthread_suspend_check
320functions were introduced in
321.Fx 4.0
322and were converted to threads in
323.Fx 8.0 .
324The
325.Fn kthread_create
326call was renamed to
327.Fn kthread_add
328in
329.Fx 8.0 .
330The old functionality of creating a kernel process was renamed
331to
332.Xr kproc_create 9 .
333Prior to
334.Fx 5.0 ,
335the
336.Fn kthread_shutdown ,
337.Fn kthread_resume ,
338.Fn kthread_suspend ,
339and
340.Fn kthread_suspend_check
341functions were named
342.Fn shutdown_kproc ,
343.Fn resume_kproc ,
344.Fn shutdown_kproc ,
345and
346.Fn kproc_suspend_loop ,
347respectively.
348