BoostThread

Boost.Thread is a component of the Boost C++ Libraries that provides a portable interface for multithreading in C++. It wraps native threading APIs behind a uniform C++ API, enabling thread creation, synchronization, and asynchronous operations across platforms such as Windows and POSIX systems.

Core features include a thread class (boost::thread) to start a new thread by invoking a callable, with join and detach semantics. The library also offers synchronization primitives such as mutex, recursive_mutex, timed_mutex, and shared_mutex, as well as condition_variable and condition_variable_any, enabling safe inter-thread communication. For thread-local storage, boost::thread_specific_ptr offers automatic cleanup of thread-local objects. Timing and scheduling utilities include boost::this_thread::sleep_for, sleep_until, and the ability to yield or sleep with duration.

An interruption and cancellation mechanism is provided through boost::thread::interrupt and boost::this_thread::interruption_point, enabling cooperative cancellation by throwing boost::thread_interrupted in points where interruption is checked. The library also supports thread groups (boost::thread_group) for managing collections of threads.

Boost.Thread includes facilities for asynchronous execution, notably packaged_task, and a set of futures and promises (boost::future, boost::promise) for coordinating results. The library interacts with the Boost.System component for error reporting, and typically requires linking against boost_thread and boost_system libraries.

Relation to standards: Boost.Thread arose to provide portable threading support before C++11; with the introduction of std::thread in the C++ standard, Boost.Thread remains in use for its broader feature set and pre-C++11 compatibility.

Licensing: Boost.Thread is distributed under the Boost Software License.