Please help me understand how work call_once Here is thread-safe code. I don't understand why this need Thread Local Storage and global_epoch variables. Variable _fast_pthread_once_per_thread_epoch can be changed to constant/enum like {FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT, BEING_INITIALIZED, FINISH_INITIALIZED}. Why needed count calls in global_epoch? I think this code can be rewriting with logc: if flag FINISH_INITIALIZED do nothing, else go to block with mutexes and this all. #ifndef FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_H #define FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_H #include #include typedef sig_atomic_t fast_pthread_once_t; #define FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT SIG_ATOMIC_MAX extern __thread fast_pthread_once_t _fast_pthread_once_per_thread_epoch; #ifdef __cplusplus extern "C" { #endif extern void fast_pthread_once( pthread_once_t *once, void (*func)(void) ); inline static void fast_pthread_once_inline( fast_pthread_once_t *once, void (*func)(void) ) { fast_pthread_once_t x = *once; /* unprotected access */ if ( x _fast_pthread_once_per_thread_epoch ) { fast_pthread_once( once, func ); } } #ifdef __cplusplus } #endif #endif FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_H Source fast_pthread_once.c The source is written in C. The lines of the primary function are numbered for reference in the subsequent correctness argument. #include "fast_pthread_once.h" #include static pthread_mutex_t mu = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER; /* protects global_epoch and all fast_pthread_once_t writes */ static pthread_cond_t cv = PTHREAD_COND_INITIALIZER; /* signalled whenever a fast_pthread_once_t is finalized */ #define BEING_INITIALIZED (FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT - 1) static fast_pthread_once_t global_epoch = 0; /* under mu */ __thread fast_pthread_once_t _fast_pthread_once_per_thread_epoch; static void check( int x ) { if ( x == 0 ) abort(); } void fast_pthread_once( fast_pthread_once_t *once, void (*func)(void) ) { /*01*/ fast_pthread_once_t x = *once; /* unprotected access */ /*02*/ if ( x _fast_pthread_once_per_thread_epoch ) { /*03*/ check( pthread_mutex_lock(µ) == 0 ); /*04*/ if ( *once == FAST_PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT ) { /*05*/ *once = BEING_INITIALIZED; /*06*/ check( pthread_mutex_unlock(µ) == 0 ); /*07*/ (*func)(); /*08*/ check( pthread_mutex_lock(µ) == 0 ); /*09*/ global_epoch++; /*10*/ *once = global_epoch; /*11*/ check( pthread_cond_broadcast(&cv;) == 0 ); /*12*/ } else { /*13*/ while ( *once == BEING_INITIALIZED ) { /*14*/ check( pthread_cond_wait(&cv;, µ) == 0 ); /*15*/ } /*16*/ } /*17*/ _fast_pthread_once_per_thread_epoch = global_epoch; /*18*/ check (pthread_mutex_unlock(µ) == 0); } } This code from BOOST: #ifndef BOOST_THREAD_PTHREAD_ONCE_HPP #define BOOST_THREAD_PTHREAD_ONCE_HPP // once.hpp // // (C) Copyright 2007-8 Anthony Williams // // Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See // accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at // http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) #include #include #include #include "pthread_mutex_scoped_lock.hpp" #include #include #include namespace boost { struct once_flag { boost::uintmax_t epoch; }; namespace detail { BOOST_THREAD_DECL boost::uintmax_t& get_once_per_thread_epoch(); BOOST_THREAD_DECL extern boost::uintmax_t once_global_epoch; BOOST_THREAD_DECL extern pthread_mutex_t once_epoch_mutex; BOOST_THREAD_DECL extern pthread_cond_t once_epoch_cv; } #define BOOST_ONCE_INITIAL_FLAG_VALUE 0 #define BOOST_ONCE_INIT {BOOST_ONCE_INITIAL_FLAG_VALUE} // Based on Mike Burrows fast_pthread_once algorithm as described in // http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2007/n2444.html template void call_once(once_flag& flag,Function f) { static boost::uintmax_t const uninitialized_flag=BOOST_ONCE_INITIAL_FLAG_VALUE; static boost::uintmax_t const being_initialized=uninitialized_flag+1; boost::uintmax_t const epoch=flag.epoch; boost::uintmax_t& this_thread_epoch=detail::get_once_per_thread_epoch(); if(epoch #endif I right understand, boost don't use atomic operation, so code from boost not thread-safe?