[PD-dev] Re: flext posix threading

[Thomas Grill]

Hi August,
i'm cc'ing your mail to the pd-dev list

> about flext,
> I'm still aiming to compile my readanysf~ on win and macOSX.
> for OSX, it shouldn't be a problem, but for win, I'm a bit nervous about
> the threading.
> for reasons of control and uniformity, I'd like to compile the win port
> with pthreads.
>
> I want to do one of the following:
>
> a) use straight pthread calls throughout readany, and then link with the
> pthread.dll in win

No problem. flext doesn't interfere with it.
There's one thing though: Launching a thread is a critical operation that
can lead to dsp crackles. Therefore, flext uses a special worker thread that
is working in the background at lower priority to do the launching. If you
are not using flext threading you'll have to take care of that yourself
(e.g. lower the priority a bit).
And... in case you're not using the flext threading, could you tell me
what's missing or working badly?

> b) somehow set FLEXT_THREADS == FLEXT_THR_POSIX  so that win is forced to
> use posix threads.  is that possible?

With PD flext always uses pthreads, no matter which platform, just as PD.
With Max/Windows, flext uses WIN32 threading, since wmax does as well.

best greetings,
Thomas