SIGABRT signal received when creating a std::thread c++11

Question

I create a thread in a class member method like this:

void MyClass::startThread()
{
    T.reset( new std::thread( &MyClass::myThreadMethod, this ) );
}

void MyClass::myThreadMethod()
{
    // ...
}

where

// In header file
std::unique_ptr<std::thread> T;

When I run MyClass::startThread(), I receive this:

Signal received: SIGABRT (Aborted) ...

If I step the code, it happens in the thread constructor.

I tried to removed the unique_ptr like this:

void MyClass::startThread()
{
    std::thread* T = new std::thread( &MyClass::myThreadMethod, this );
}

and the same thing occurred. I use gcc 4.8.2 on NetBeans 7.4 on Linux/Kubuntu 12.04.

Someone knows what happens?

Answer 1

This happens when an std::thread is destroyed without a prior call to std::thread::detach() or std::thread::join(). You should call either of the two, and what to call depends on your desired behavior.

void MyClass::startThread() {
    T.reset( new std::thread( &MyClass::myThreadMethod, this ) );
    T->join();  // Wait for thread to finish
}

or

void MyClass::startThread() {
    T.reset( new std::thread( &MyClass::myThreadMethod, this ) );
    T->detach();  // Leave thread on its own (do not wait for it to finish)
}

As a side note, you can remove your use of std::unique_ptr by making the std::thread itself a member:

class MyClass {
    std::thread t;
};

To assign t a thread, you can construct one and move assign it to t:

t = std::thread(&MyClass::myThreadMethod, this);

Answer 2

According to Mark Garcia suggestion and example, and according to this question I just added -pthread as option to the compiler.

For an unknown reason, my other projects work correctly but I believe that it is due to Boost or Open CV that must include something that was missing from this current test.

Anyway, for the moment, it works.

Thanks!