PTHREAD_DETACH(3)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                   PTHREAD_DETACH(3)



NAME
       pthread_detach - detach a thread

SYNOPSIS
       #include <pthread.h>

       int pthread_detach(pthread_t thread);

       Compile and link with -pthread.

DESCRIPTION
       The  pthread_detach()  function marks the thread identified by thread as detached.  When a
       detached thread terminates, its resources are automatically released back  to  the  system
       without the need for another thread to join with the terminated thread.

       Attempting to detach an already detached thread results in unspecified behavior.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, pthread_detach() returns 0; on error, it returns an error number.

ERRORS
       EINVAL thread is not a joinable thread.

       ESRCH  No thread with the ID thread could be found.

CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES
       Once  a thread has been detached, it can't be joined with pthread_join(3) or be made join‐
       able again.

       A new thread can be created in a detached state  using  pthread_attr_setdetachstate(3)  to
       set the detached attribute of the attr argument of pthread_create(3).

       The detached attribute merely determines the behavior of the system when the thread termi‐
       nates; it does not prevent the thread from being  terminated  if  the  process  terminates
       using exit(3) (or equivalently, if the main thread returns).

       Either pthread_join(3) or pthread_detach() should be called for each thread that an appli‐
       cation creates, so that system resources for the thread can be released.  (But  note  that
       the resources of all threads are freed when the process terminates.)

EXAMPLE
       The following statement detaches the calling thread:

           pthread_detach(pthread_self());

SEE ALSO
       pthread_attr_setdetachstate(3),   pthread_cancel(3),  pthread_create(3),  pthread_exit(3),
       pthread_join(3), pthreads(7)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project.  A  description  of  the
       project,  information  about  reporting  bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be
       found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                                       2008-11-27                          PTHREAD_DETACH(3)