Boost C++ Libraries - Changes since boost 1.34

Changes since boost 1.34

Almost every line of code in Boost.Thread has been changed since the 1.34 release of boost. However, most of the interface changes have been extensions, so the new code is largely backwards-compatible with the old code. The new features and breaking changes are described below.

New Features

Instances of boost::thread and of the various lock types are now movable.
Threads can be interrupted at interruption points.
Condition variables can now be used with any type that implements the Lockable concept, through the use of boost::condition_variable_any (boost::condition is a typedef to boost::condition_variable_any, provided for backwards compatibility). boost::condition_variable is provided as an optimization, and will only work with boost::unique_lock<boost::mutex> (boost::mutex::scoped_lock).
Thread IDs are separated from boost::thread, so a thread can obtain it's own ID (using boost::this_thread::get_id()), and IDs can be used as keys in associative containers, as they have the full set of comparison operators.
Timeouts are now implemented using the Boost DateTime library, through a typedef boost::system_time for absolute timeouts, and with support for relative timeouts in many cases. boost::xtime is supported for backwards compatibility only.
Locks are implemented as publicly accessible templates boost::lock_guard, boost::unique_lock, boost::shared_lock, and boost::upgrade_lock, which are templated on the type of the mutex. The Lockable concept has been extended to include publicly available lock() and unlock() member functions, which are used by the lock types.

Breaking Changes

The list below should cover all changes to the public interface which break backwards compatibility.

boost::try_mutex has been removed, and the functionality subsumed into boost::mutex. boost::try_mutex is left as a typedef, but is no longer a separate class.
boost::recursive_try_mutex has been removed, and the functionality subsumed into boost::recursive_mutex. boost::recursive_try_mutex is left as a typedef, but is no longer a separate class.
boost::detail::thread::lock_ops has been removed. Code that relies on the lock_ops implementation detail will no longer work, as this has been removed, as it is no longer necessary now that mutex types now have public lock() and unlock() member functions.
scoped_lock constructors with a second parameter of type bool are no longer provided. With previous boost releases,
```
boost::mutex::scoped_lock some_lock(some_mutex,false);
```
could be used to create a lock object that was associated with a mutex, but did not lock it on construction. This facility has now been replaced with the constructor that takes a boost::defer_lock_type as the second parameter:
```
boost::mutex::scoped_lock some_lock(some_mutex,boost::defer_lock);
```
The broken boost::read_write_mutex has been replaced with boost::shared_mutex.