Java Concurrency series - in-depth understanding of Thread startup process Jvm

Foreword

Recently organize notes'd like to open the topic, ready to start from the concurrent. Concurrent piece and from where to start, start thinking of AQS, happened to see some of the notes compiled debugging openjdk time before finishing himself, has a new idea, decided to start with the most basic start, and send this out not a thread, then we combine jdk, hotspot explore what the ins and outs of threads.
Thread definition: the smallest unit running, is included in the process.

Threads in Java

class Thread implements Runnable {
    /* Make sure registerNatives is the first thing <clinit> does. */
    private static native void registerNatives();
    static {
        registerNatives();
    }
    ...//省略一大波代码，和一些英文注释
    public synchronized void start() {
        if (threadStatus != 0)
            throw new IllegalThreadStateException();

        group.add(this);

        boolean started = false;
        try {
            start0();
            started = true;
        } finally {
            try {
                if (!started) {
                    group.threadStartFailed(this);
                }
            } catch (Throwable ignore) {
                /* do nothing. If start0 threw a Throwable then
                  it will be passed up the call stack */
            }
        }
    }

Usually we use start thread is called () method;
from the above Thread source structure we can see the start () method
to determine whether the NEW state, if not, throw an exception thread state;
executed next start0 () ; this is a local method

Jvm defined thread

Let's look at the definition of local openjdk open method of jdk, open Thread.c

#include "jni.h"
#include "jvm.h"

#include "java_lang_Thread.h"

#define THD "Ljava/lang/Thread;"
#define OBJ "Ljava/lang/Object;"
#define STE "Ljava/lang/StackTraceElement;"
#define STR "Ljava/lang/String;"

#define ARRAY_LENGTH(a) (sizeof(a)/sizeof(a[0]))

static JNINativeMethod methods[] = {
    {"start0",           "()V",        (void *)&JVM_StartThread},
    {"stop0",            "(" OBJ ")V", (void *)&JVM_StopThread},
    {"isAlive",          "()Z",        (void *)&JVM_IsThreadAlive},
    {"suspend0",         "()V",        (void *)&JVM_SuspendThread},
    {"resume0",          "()V",        (void *)&JVM_ResumeThread},
    {"setPriority0",     "(I)V",       (void *)&JVM_SetThreadPriority},
    {"yield",            "()V",        (void *)&JVM_Yield},
    {"sleep",            "(J)V",       (void *)&JVM_Sleep},
    {"currentThread",    "()" THD,     (void *)&JVM_CurrentThread},
    {"countStackFrames", "()I",        (void *)&JVM_CountStackFrames},
    {"interrupt0",       "()V",        (void *)&JVM_Interrupt},
    {"isInterrupted",    "(Z)Z",       (void *)&JVM_IsInterrupted},
    {"holdsLock",        "(" OBJ ")Z", (void *)&JVM_HoldsLock},
    {"getThreads",        "()[" THD,   (void *)&JVM_GetAllThreads},
    {"dumpThreads",      "([" THD ")[[" STE, (void *)&JVM_DumpThreads},
    {"setNativeName",    "(" STR ")V", (void *)&JVM_SetNativeThreadName},
};

#undef THD
#undef OBJ
#undef STE
#undef STR

JNIEXPORT void JNICALL
Java_java_lang_Thread_registerNatives(JNIEnv *env, jclass cls)
{
    (*env)->RegisterNatives(env, cls, methods, ARRAY_LENGTH(methods));
}

The above code is registered with the JNI-related, it is very simple, if necessary behind a one explain;
let's find a way to start0 corresponding jvm in, JVM_StartThread
in the jvm.cpp

JVM_ENTRY(void, JVM_StartThread(JNIEnv* env, jobject jthread))
  JVMWrapper("JVM_StartThread");
  JavaThread *native_thread = NULL;
  // Heap_lock while we construct the exception.
  bool throw_illegal_thread_state = false;

  {
    MutexLocker mu(Threads_lock);

    if (java_lang_Thread::thread(JNIHandles::resolve_non_null(jthread)) != NULL) {
      throw_illegal_thread_state = true;
    } else {
      // We could also check the stillborn flag to see if this thread was already stopped, but
      // for historical reasons we let the thread detect that itself when it starts running

      jlong size =
             java_lang_Thread::stackSize(JNIHandles::resolve_non_null(jthread));
      size_t sz = size > 0 ? (size_t) size : 0;
      native_thread = new JavaThread(&thread_entry, sz);

      if (native_thread->osthread() != NULL) {
        // Note: the current thread is not being used within "prepare".
        native_thread->prepare(jthread);
      }
    }
  }

  if (throw_illegal_thread_state) {
    THROW(vmSymbols::java_lang_IllegalThreadStateException());
  }

  assert(native_thread != NULL, "Starting null thread?");

  if (native_thread->osthread() == NULL) {
    // No one should hold a reference to the 'native_thread'.
    delete native_thread;
    if (JvmtiExport::should_post_resource_exhausted()) {
      JvmtiExport::post_resource_exhausted(
        JVMTI_RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED_OOM_ERROR | JVMTI_RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED_THREADS,
        "unable to create new native thread");
    }
    THROW_MSG(vmSymbols::java_lang_OutOfMemoryError(),
              "unable to create new native thread");
  }

  Thread::start(native_thread);

JVM_END

These are the main logic, we are going a step by step analysis

First, acquire the mutex lock

MutexLocker mu(Threads_lock);

Check the thread state to ensure that the state does not start

 if (java_lang_Thread::thread(JNIHandles::resolve_non_null(jthread)) != NULL) {
      throw_illegal_thread_state = true;

Previous checks, the device creates jvm in JavaThread and, mainly achieved by the constructor

native_thread = new JavaThread(&thread_entry, sz);

Look at the main contents of this constructor

JavaThread::JavaThread(ThreadFunction entry_point, size_t stack_sz) :
  Thread()
  ...//省略
{
  if (TraceThreadEvents) {
    tty->print_cr("creating thread %p", this);
  }
  initialize();
  _jni_attach_state = _not_attaching_via_jni;
  set_entry_point(entry_point);
  // Create the native thread itself.
  // %note runtime_23
  os::ThreadType thr_type = os::java_thread;
  thr_type = entry_point == &compiler_thread_entry ? os::compiler_thread :
                                                     os::java_thread;
  os::create_thread(this, thr_type, stack_sz);

We see the last line os :: create_thread (this, thr_type, stack_sz); this is the real mapped to the system level, creating a thread.

bool os::create_thread(Thread* thread, ThreadType thr_type, size_t stack_size) {
  assert(thread->osthread() == NULL, "caller responsible");

  // Allocate the OSThread object
  OSThread* osthread = new OSThread(NULL, NULL);
  if (osthread == NULL) {
    return false;
  }

  // set the correct thread state
  osthread->set_thread_type(thr_type);

  // Initial state is ALLOCATED but not INITIALIZED
  osthread->set_state(ALLOCATED);

  thread->set_osthread(osthread);
  ......//省略
    pthread_t tid;
    int ret = pthread_create(&tid, &attr, (void* (*)(void*)) java_start, thread);

    pthread_attr_destroy(&attr);

    if (ret != 0) {
      if (PrintMiscellaneous && (Verbose || WizardMode)) {
        perror("pthread_create()");
      }
      // Need to clean up stuff we've allocated so far
      thread->set_osthread(NULL);
      delete osthread;
      if (lock) os::Linux::createThread_lock()->unlock();
      return false;
    }

    // Store pthread info into the OSThread
    osthread->set_pthread_id(tid);

Creating os-level threads, bound with JavaThread, next draw focus

int ret = pthread_create(&tid, &attr, (void* (*)(void*)) java_start, thread);

java_start is newly created thread start entry, it will wait for a signal to invoke run Java in () method,
the JVM implementation specific logic code as follows

  // wait until os::start_thread()
    while (osthread->get_state() == INITIALIZED) {
      sync->wait(Mutex::_no_safepoint_check_flag);
    }
  }

  // call one more level start routine
  thread->run()

Next Back JVM_StartThread method, a thread is created, call native_thread-> prepare (jthread); in the Java Thread and Jvm in Thread binding, as well as the previous step with system-level Thread binding.

Finally really started threads

Thread::start(native_thread);

Is also a call to the os level thread layer by layer, the specific logic is as follows

void os::start_thread(Thread* thread) {
  // guard suspend/resume
  MutexLockerEx ml(thread->SR_lock(), Mutex::_no_safepoint_check_flag);
  OSThread* osthread = thread->osthread();
  osthread->set_state(RUNNABLE);
  pd_start_thread(thread);
}

At this point, we really logical thread calls the system was, of course, still some details. In this way we can grasp the whole thread in Java level, Jvm level, Os-level relationship, a good chapter to follow even be a concurrent series primer, in a subsequent article will continue to talk concurrent piece of knowledge .

I am also concerned about the individual sites tuned for more content: https://jie3615.github.io/

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