priomutex 0.1.1

A mutex where waiting threads specify a priority
Documentation

priomutex: a mutex where waiting threads specify a priority

The API is very similar to std::sync::Mutex. The key difference, of course, is that lock() takes a priority. If multiple threads are waiting for the mutex when it's freed, the one which gave the highest priorty will recieve it.

impl<T> Mutex<T> {
    fn new(data: T) -> Mutex<T>;
    fn lock(&self, prio: usize) -> MutexGuard<T>;
    fn try_lock(&self) -> Option<MutexGuard<T>>;
}

impl<T: Send> Send for Mutex<T>;
impl<T> Clone for Mutex<T>;

impl<T> Drop for MutexGuard<T>;      // Releases the lock
impl<T> Deref for MutexGuard<T>;     // For accessing your data
impl<T> DerefMut for MutexGuard<T>;  // For accessing your data

The other difference is that std::sync::Mutex implements Sync but not Clone, whereas priomutex::Mutex implements Clone but not Sync. In practice this means (1) that you don't need to wrap a priomutex in an Arc, and (2) that we can't implement into_inner() and get_mut().

Current status

Currently, priomutexes are not poisoned if the thread holding the lock panics. I intend to add this safety feature at some point.

Implementation

At first I assumed that priomutex would require a concurrent priority queue, and was not looking forward to implementing this. However, it turns out it doesn't need one!

When a thread fails to take the lock, it places a priority and a semaphore onto an (ordinary, non-priority) MPSC queue, and then sleeps on the semaphore. When the thread holding the lock releases it, it first drains the concurrent queue into a (ordinary, non-concurrent) binary heap, and pops out the semaphore with the highest associated priority. It then stores the remains of the heap behind the lock, alongside the user's data. Finally, it releases the lock and signals the popped semaphore.

Licence

Licensed under either of the following, at your option:

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.