Linux threads for dummies. Can some one explain the difference between multi-thread libraries in linux?

Question

New to linux and c++. I wante to create an application that only needs to run on linux (ubuntuz) and i need to use basic read-write locks.

I saw that there are a few libraries that give "concurrency capabilities". e.g. to use mutexes, there are at least 3 options:

1. pthread_mutex_lock (pthread.h)

2. boost::mutex

3. std::mutex (mutex)

could someone explain the differences between the various approaches?

Answer 1

• pthreads is a C-API and is available on all posix conformant systems (pthreads stands for Posix THREADS).

• boost::mutex is a C++-only API that depends on the "boost"-library (you cannot use it in C-code; you add a dependency on "boost")

• lots of features from boost will eventually end up in the C++ standard library, e.g. threading; with C++11 you have std::mutex, but you will need a compiler recent enough to support that recent addition. e.g. if you want your application to be backportable to older distributions you might want to avoid it.