r6.1.0:Introduction

Data Structures

This release of liblfds provides the following;

• Freelist
• Queue
• Ringbuffer (each element read by a single reader)
• SList (logical delete only)
• Stack

These are all many-readers, many-writers.

Supported Platforms

Out-of-the-box ports are provided for;

Hardware	Operating System	Toolchain Choices
x64	Windows 64-bit	1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2. Microsoft Windows SDK and GNUmake
x64 x86	Windows 32-bit	1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2. Visual C++ Express Edition 3. Microsoft Windows SDK and GNUmake
x64 x86	Windows Kernel	1. Windows Driver Kit
x64	Linux 64-bit	1. GCC and GNUmake
x64 x86 ARM	Linux 32-bit	1. GCC and GNUmake

For more information including version requirements, see the building guide (lfds).

Using

Once built, there is a single header file, /inc/liblfds610.h and a single library file /bin/liblfds.*. The suffix of the library file varies by platform and by the type of library you have chosen to build (static or dynamic).

Testing and Benchmarking

The library comes with a command line test and benchmark program. This program requires threads. As such, it is only suitable for platforms providing thread support and which can execute a command line binary. Currently this means the test and benchmark program works for all platforms except the Windows Kernel.

For documentation, see the testing and benchmarking guide.

Porting

Both the test program and liblfds provide an abstraction layer which acts to mask platform differences. Porting is the act of implementing on your platform the functions which make up the abstraction layers. You do not need to port the test program to port liblfds, but obviously it is recommended, so you can test your port.

To support liblfds, the target platform must provide;

• atomic single-word¹ increment
• atomic single-word compare-and-swap
• atomic contigious double-word compare-and-swap²
• malloc and free
• compiler directive for alignment of variables declared on the stack
• compiler directives for compiler barriers and processor barriers

1. A word here means a type equal in length to the platform pointer size
2. This requirement excludes the Alpha, IA64, MIPS, PowerPC and SPARC platforms

Also, the target plaform may provide;

• compiler keyword for function inlining

For documentation, see the porting guide (lfds).