pthread_key_create() - When does the `destructor` function invoked?

Question

I wrote a program to learn about thread-specific data on Linux (Linux 3.13.0-24-generic #46-Ubuntu), as following.

I try to print thread id in the destructor function passed to pthread_key_create(), but it seems only sub threads succeed to print, but the main thread didn't print that info.

My question is:

Does the destructor function called right before or after termination of a thread?

The reason why main thread didn't print the info, is it due to the main thread already destroyed?

tsd_test.c

// test of thread-specific data

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>

static pthread_once_t once = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
static pthread_key_t tidKey;

static void destructor(void *buf) {
    unsigned long *_tid = buf;
    printf("destroy, tid: %lu\n", *_tid);
    free(buf);
}

static void createKey(void) {
    int s = pthread_key_create(&tidKey, destructor);
    if(s != 0) {
        printf("failed to create key\n");
        exit(-1);
    }
}

void *store_tid() {
    int s;
    unsigned long *buf;

    // create key
    s = pthread_once(&once, createKey);
    if(s != 0) {
        printf("failed to create key\n");
        exit(-1);
    }

    buf = pthread_getspecific(tidKey);
    if(buf == NULL) { // thread call this function for the first time,
        buf = malloc(sizeof(unsigned long));
        if(buf == NULL) {
            printf("failed to allocate memory, %s\n", strerror(errno));
            exit(-1);
        }
        // register buffer to specified key & current thread,
        s = pthread_setspecific(tidKey, buf);
        if(s != 0) {
            printf("failed to setspecific\n");
            exit(-1);
        }
    }

    // store tid to buffer,
    *buf = (unsigned long)pthread_self();
    printf("set tid to: %lu\n", *buf);

    return buf;
}

void tsd_test() {
    unsigned long *tidp_a = store_tid();
    printf("tid - before call another thread: %lu\n", *tidp_a);

    int s;
    pthread_t t2;
    s = pthread_create(&t2, NULL, &store_tid, NULL);
    if(s != 0) {
        printf("failed to create thread\n");
        exit(-1);
    }

    s = pthread_join(t2, NULL);
    if(s != 0) {
        printf("failed to join thread\n");
        exit(-1);
    }

    printf("tid - after call another thread: %lu\n", *tidp_a);
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    tsd_test();
    return 0;
}

Compile:

gcc -pthread tsd_test.c

Output:

set tid to: 3076318976
tid - before call another thread: 3076318976
set tid to: 3076315968
destroy, tid: 3076315968
tid - after call another thread: 3076318976

You can see that only the sub thread print "destroy", while the main thread didn't.

Answer 1

The thread destructor is called when the thread exits, not when the process dies i.e. when main() exits, the entire process dies. So destructor will not be called on that.

Call pthread_exit(NULL); either at the end of main() function or at the end tst() function (both are same really). Now, you will see the destructor being called.