pthread_attr_setguardsize(3P)pthread_attr_setguardsize(3P)NAME
pthread_attr_setguardsize, pthread_attr_getguardsize - get or set the
thread guardsize attribute
C SYNOPSIS
#include <pthread.h>
int pthread_attr_setguardsize(pthread_attr_t *attr, size_t guardsize);
int pthread_attr_getguardsize(const pthread_attr_t *attr,
size_t *oguardsize);
DESCRIPTION
The guardsize attribute controls the size of the guard area for the
created thread's stack. The guardsize attribute provides protection
against overflow of the stack pointer. If a thread's stack is created
with guard protection, the implementation allocates extra memory at the
overflow end of the stack as a buffer against stack overflow of the stack
pointer. If an application overflows into this buffer an error results
(possibly in a SIGSEGV signal being delivered to the thread).
The guardsize attribute is provided to the application for two reasons:
1. Overflow protection can potentially result in wasted system
resources. An application that creates a large number of threads,
and which knows its threads will never overflow their stack, can
save system resources by turning off guard areas.
2. When threads allocate large data structures on the stack, large
guard areas may be needed to detect stack overflow.
The pthread_attr_getguardsize() function gets the guardsize attribute in
the attr object. This attribute is returned in the oguardsize parameter.
The pthread_attr_setguardsize() function sets the guardsize attribute in
the attr object. The new value of this attribute is obtained from the
guardsize parameter. If guardsize is zero, a guard area will not be
provided for threads created with attr. If guardsize is greater than
zero, a guard area of at least size guardsize bytes is provided for each
thread created with attr.
IRIX rounds up the value of guardsize to a multiple of the configurable
system variable PAGESIZE (see <sys/mman.h>). However,
pthread_attr_getguardsize() will return the guard size specified by the
previous call to pthread_attr_setguardsize().
The default value of the guardsize attribute is PAGESIZE bytes. The
actual value of PAGESIZE is system-dependent and may vary.
If the stackaddr attribute has been set (that is, the caller is
allocating and managing its own thread stacks), the guardsize attribute
is ignored and no protection will be provided by the implementation. It
Page 1
pthread_attr_setguardsize(3P)pthread_attr_setguardsize(3P)
is the responsibility of the application to manage stack overflow along
with stack allocation and management in this case.
DIAGNOSTICS
The functions pthread_attr_getguardsize() and pthread_attr_setguardsize()
always return zero.
SEE ALSOpthread_attr_init(3P), pthread_create(3P).
Page 2
