The first call to this routine by a process with a given once_
control calls the init_routine with no arguments. Thereafter,
subsequent calls to tis_once() with the same once_control do
not call the init_routine. On return from tis_once(), it is
guaranteed that the initialization routine has completed.
For example, a mutex or a thread-specific data key must be
created exactly once. In a threaded environment, calling tis_
once() ensures that the initialization is serialized across
multiple threads.
NOTE
If you specify an init_routine that directly or indirectly
results in a recursive call to tis_once() and that specifies
the same init_block argument, the recursive call results in
a deadlock.
The PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT macro, defined in the pthread.h header
file, must be used to initialize a once_control record. Thus,
your program must declare a once_control record as follows:
pthread_once_t once_control = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
Note that it is often easier to simply lock a statically
initialized mutex, check a control flag, and perform necessary
initialization (in-line) rather than using tis_once(). For
example, you can code an "init" routine that begins with the
following basic logic:
init()
{
static pthread_mutex_t mutex = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INIT;
static int flag = FALSE;
tis_mutex_lock(&mutex);
if(!flag)
{
flag = TRUE;
/* initialize code */
}
tis_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
}