.\" Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
.Dd May 1, 2008
.Dt dispatch_queue_create 3
.Os Darwin
.Sh NAME
.Nm dispatch_queue_create ,
.Nm dispatch_queue_get_label ,
.Nm dispatch_get_current_queue ,
.Nm dispatch_get_global_queue ,
.Nm dispatch_get_main_queue ,
.Nm dispatch_main ,
.Nm dispatch_set_target_queue
.Nd where blocks are scheduled for execution
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <dispatch/dispatch.h>
.Ft dispatch_queue_t
.Fo dispatch_queue_create
.Fa "const char *label" "dispatch_queue_attr_t attr"
.Fc
.Ft "const char *"
.Fo dispatch_queue_get_label
.Fa "dispatch_queue_t queue"
.Fc
.Ft dispatch_queue_t
.Fo dispatch_get_current_queue
.Fa void
.Fc
.Ft dispatch_queue_t
.Fo dispatch_get_global_queue
.Fa "long priority"
.Fa "unsigned long flags"
.Fc
.Ft dispatch_queue_t
.Fo dispatch_get_main_queue
.Fa void
.Fc
.Ft void
.Fo dispatch_main
.Fa void
.Fc
.Ft void
.Fo dispatch_set_target_queue
.Fa "dispatch_object_t object"
.Fa "dispatch_queue_t target"
.Fc
.Sh DESCRIPTION
Queues are the fundamental mechanism for scheduling blocks for execution within
the
.Xr dispatch 3
framework.
.Pp
All blocks submitted to dispatch queues are dequeued in FIFO order.
By default, queues created with
.Fn dispatch_queue_create
wait for the previously dequeued block to complete before dequeuing the next
block. This FIFO completion behavior is sometimes simply described as a "serial queue."
Queues are not bound to any specific thread of execution and blocks submitted
to independent queues may execute concurrently.
Queues, like all dispatch objects, are reference counted and newly created
queues have a reference count of one.
.Pp
The optional
.Fa label
argument is used to describe the purpose of the queue and is useful during
debugging and performance analysis. By convention, clients should pass a
reverse DNS style label.
If a label is provided, it is copied. If a label is not provided, then
.Fn dispatch_queue_get_label
returns an empty C string.
For example:
.Pp
.Bd -literal
my_queue = dispatch_queue_create("com.example.subsystem.taskXYZ", NULL);
.Ed
.Pp
The
.Fa attr
argument is reserved for future use and must be NULL.
.Pp
Queues may be temporarily suspended and resumed with the functions
.Fn dispatch_suspend
and
.Fn dispatch_resume 
respectively. Suspension is checked prior to block execution and is
.Em not
preemptive.
.Sh MAIN QUEUE
The dispatch framework provides a default serial queue for the application to use.
This queue is accessed via
.Fn dispatch_get_main_queue .
Programs must call
.Fn dispatch_main
at the end of
.Fn main
in order to process blocks submitted to the main queue. (See the compatibility
section for exceptions.)
.Sh GLOBAL CONCURRENT QUEUES
Unlike the main queue or queues allocated with
.Fn dispatch_queue_create ,
the global concurrent queues schedule blocks as soon as threads become
available (non-FIFO completion order). The global concurrent queues represent
three priority bands:
.Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
.It
DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_HIGH
.It
DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT
.It
DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_LOW
.El
.Pp
Blocks submitted to the high priority global queue will be invoked before those
submitted to the default or low priority global queues. Blocks submitted to the
low priority global queue will only be invoked if no blocks are pending on the
default or high priority queues.
.Pp
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The
.Fn dispatch_queue_create
function returns NULL on failure.
.Pp
The
.Fn dispatch_queue_get_label
function always returns a valid C string. An empty C string is returned if the
.Fa label
was NULL creation time.
.Pp
The
.Fn dispatch_get_main_queue
function returns the default main queue.
.Pp
The
.Fn dispatch_get_current_queue
function always returns a valid queue. When called from within a block submitted
to a dispatch queue, that queue will be returned. If this function is called from
the main thread before
.Fn dispatch_main
is called, then the result of
.Fn dispatch_get_main_queue
is returned.  Otherwise, the result of
.Fo dispatch_get_global_queue
.Fa DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT
.Fa 0
.Fc
will be returned in all other cases.
.Pp
The
.Fn dispatch_main
function never returns.
.Sh TARGET QUEUE
The
.Fn dispatch_set_target_queue
function updates the target queue of the given dispatch object. The target
queue of an object is responsible for processing the object. Currently only
dispatch queues and dispatch sources are supported by this function. The result
of using
.Fn dispatch_set_target_queue
with any other dispatch object type is undefined.
.Pp
The new target queue is retained by the given object before the previous target
queue is released. The new target queue will take effect between block
executions, but not in the middle of any existing block executions
(non-preemptive).
.Pp
The priority of a dispatch queue is inherited by its target queue. 
In order to change the priority of a queue created with
.Fn dispatch_queue_create ,
use the
.Fn dispatch_get_global_queue
function to obtain a target queue of the desired priority. The
.Fa flags
argument is reserved for future use and must be zero. Passing any value other
than zero may result in a
.Vt NULL
return value.
.Pp
The target queue of a dispatch source specifies where its event handler and
cancellation handler blocks will be submitted. See
.Xr dispatch_source_create 3
for more information about dispatch sources.
.Pp
The result of passing the main queue or a global concurrent queue to the first
argument of
.Fn dispatch_set_target_queue
is undefined.
.Pp
Directly or indirectly setting the target queue of a dispatch queue to itself is undefined.
.Sh CAVEATS
Code cannot make any assumptions about the queue returned by
.Fn dispatch_get_current_queue .
The returned queue may have arbitrary policies that may surprise code that tries
to schedule work with the queue. The list of policies includes, but is not
limited to, queue width (i.e. serial vs. concurrent), scheduling priority,
security credential or filesystem configuration. Therefore,
.Fn dispatch_get_current_queue
.Em MUST
only be used for identity tests or debugging.
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
Cocoa applications need not call
.Fn dispatch_main .
Blocks submitted to the main queue will be executed as part of the "common modes"
of the application's main NSRunLoop or CFRunLoop.
.Pp
The dispatch framework is a pure C level API. As a result, it does not catch
exceptions generated by higher level languages such as Objective-C or C++.
Applications
.Em MUST
catch all exceptions before returning from a block submitted to a dispatch
queue; otherwise the internal data structures of the dispatch framework will be
left in an inconsistent state.
.Pp
The dispatch framework manages the relationship between dispatch queues and
threads of execution. As a result, applications
.Em MUST NOT
delete or mutate objects that they did not create. The following interfaces
.Em MUST NOT
be called by blocks submitted to a dispatch queue:
.Bl -bullet -offset indent
.It
.Fn pthread_cancel
.It
.Fn pthread_detach
.It
.Fn pthread_join
.It
.Fn pthread_kill
.It
.Fn pthread_exit
.El
.Pp
Applications
.Em MAY
call the following interfaces from a block submitted to a dispatch queue if
and only if they restore the thread to its original state before returning:
.Bl -bullet -offset indent
.It
.Fn pthread_setcancelstate
.It
.Fn pthread_setcanceltype
.It
.Fn pthread_setschedparam
.It
.Fn pthread_sigmask
.It
.Fn pthread_setugid_np
.It
.Fn pthread_chdir
.It
.Fn pthread_fchdir
.El
.Pp
Applications
.Em MUST NOT
rely on the following interfaces returning predictable results between
invocations of blocks submitted to a dispatch queue:
.Bl -bullet -offset indent
.It
.Fn pthread_self
.It
.Fn pthread_getschedparam
.It
.Fn pthread_get_stacksize_np
.It
.Fn pthread_get_stackaddr_np
.It
.Fn pthread_mach_thread_np
.It
.Fn pthread_from_mach_thread_np
.El
.Pp
While the result of
.Fn pthread_self
may change between invocations of blocks, the value will not change during the
execution of any single block. Because the underlying thread may change beteween
block invocations on a single queue, using per-thread data as an out-of-band
return value is error prone. In other words, the result of calling
.Fn pthread_setspecific
and
.Fn pthread_getspecific
is well defined within a signle block, but not across multiple blocks. Also,
one cannot make any assumptions about when the destructor passed to
.Fn pthread_key_create
is called. The destructor may be called between the invocation of blocks on
the same queue, or during the idle state of a process.
.Pp
The following example code correctly handles per-thread return values:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
__block int r;
__block int e;
dispatch_sync(queue, ^{
	r = kill(1, 0);
	// Copy the per-thread return value to the callee thread
	e = errno;
});
printf("kill(1,0) returned %d and errno %d\n", r, e);
.Ed
.Pp
Note that in the above example
.Va errno
is a per-thread variable and must be copied out explicitly as the block may be
invoked on different thread of execution than the caller. Another example of
per-thread data that would need to be copied is the use of 
.Fn getpwnam
instead of
.Fn getpwnam_r .
.Pp
As an optimization,
.Fn dispatch_sync
invokes the block on the current thread when possible. In this case, the thread
specific data such as
.Va errno
may persist from the block until back to the caller. Great care should be taken
not to accidentally rely on this side-effect.
.Pp
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr dispatch_object 3 ,
.Xr dispatch_async 3 ,
.Xr dispatch_source_create 3