CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++multithreadingwinapic++11mingw-w64
Haydn V. Harach
Haydn V. Harach

Reputation: 1275

std::thread, posix threads, and win32 threads in MinGW-W64

I'm using MinGW_W64, and I'm having trouble deciding how to move forward with the "threading" option. I can use either posix threads, or win32 threads. So far I've been using C++11's "std::thread" for my threading (which requires the posix threads option), and I really like the interface doing things this way. However, I've read from multiple sources that posix threads are significantly slower than win32 threads, and performance is a big concern for me.

My project will eventually be multi-platform, but for now my primary development machine is running Windows 7.

My question is: Are MinGW_W64's posix threads slower than the win32 threads? If so, how would I go about writing a wrapper that would let me using an std::thread-like interface but using win32 threads under the hood (or finding such a wrapper if someone's already written one)?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 3502

Answers (1)

Alexander Vassilev
Alexander Vassilev

Reputation: 1439

There is already a lightweight native implementation of std::thread and sync primitives for MinGW, implemented in pure WINAPI: https://github.com/meganz/mingw-std-threads

It's a header-only lib and should work with any version of MinGW that has proper C++11 support.

Upvotes: 3

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