Multi-threading

This page is a work in progress. Put everything related to multi-threading here, threads, synchronization, multi-core support, etc.

The Nintendo 3DS offers support for threading through use of SVC calls.

Processes

Usage

CreateCodeSet

(behavior unconfirmed)

Allocates memory for a process according to the given CodeSetInfo contents and copies the segment data from the given memory locations to the allocated memory.

CreateProcess

(behavior unconfirmed)

Sets up a kernel process using the segments managed by the given CodeSet handle.

Run

(behavior unconfirmed)

Sets up the main process thread and appends it to the scheduler queue.

Threads

For Kernel implementation details, see KThread.

Though it is possible to run multi-threaded programs, running those on different cores is not possible "as-is". One core is always dedicated to the OS, hence you will never get 100% of both cores.

Using CloseHandle() with a KThread handle will terminate the specified thread only if the reference count reaches 0.

Lower priority values give the thread higher priority. For userland apps, priorities between 0x18 and 0x3F are allowed. The priority of the app's main thread seems to be 0x30.

The thread scheduler is cooperative, therefore if a thread takes up all the CPU time (for example if it enters an endless loop), all the other threads that run on the same CPU core won't get a chance to run. The main way of yielding another thread is using an address arbiter.

Usage

CreateThread

svc : 0x08

Signature

Result CreateThread(Handle* thread, func entrypoint, u32 arg, u32 stacktop, s32 threadpriority, s32 processorid);

Configuration

R0=s32 threadpriority
R1=func entrypoint
R2=u32 arg
R3=u32 stacktop
R4=s32 processorid

Result result=R0
Handle* thread=R1

Details The processorid parameter specifies which processor the thread can run on. Non-negative values correspond to a specific CPU. (e.g. 0 for the Appcore and 1 for the Syscore on Old3DS) Special value -1 means all CPUs, and -2 means the default CPU for the process (Read from the Exheader, usually 0 for applications, 1 for system services). Games usually create threads using -2.

With the Old3DS kernel, the s32 processorid must be <=2(for the processorid validation check in the kernel).

With the New3DS kernel: processorid must be less than or equal to <total cores(MPCore "SCU Configuration Register" CPU number value + 1)>(for the processorid validation check in the kernel). When processorid==0x2 and the process is not a BASE mem-region process, exheader kernel-flags bitmask 0x2000 must be set otherwise error 0xD9001BEA is returned. When processorid==0x3 and the process is not a BASE mem-region process, error 0xD9001BEA is returned. These are the only restriction checks done by the kernel for processorid.

The thread priority value must be in the following range, otherwise error 0xE0E01BFD is returned: 0x0..0x3F.

The stacktop must be aligned to 0x8-bytes, otherwise when not aligned to 0x8-bytes the ARM11 kernel clears the low 3-bits of the stacktop address.

The input address used for Entrypoint_Param and StackTop are normally the same, however these can be arbitrary. For the main thread the Entrypoint_Param is value 0.

ExitThread

svc : 0x09

Signature

void ExitThread(void);

SleepThread

svc : 0x0A

Signature

void SleepThread(s64 nanoseconds);

GetThreadPriority

svc : 0x0B

Signature

Result GetThreadPriority(s32* priority, Handle thread);

asm

.global svcGetThreadPriority
.type svcGetThreadPriority, %function
svcGetThreadPriority:
	str r0, [sp, #-0x4]!
	svc 0x0B
	ldr r3, [sp], #4
	str r1, [r3]
	bx  lr

SetThreadPriority

svc : 0x0C

Signature

Result SetThreadPriority(Handle thread, s32 priority);

OpenThread

svc : 0x34

Signature

Result OpenThread(Handle* thread, Handle process, u32 threadId);

GetProcessIdOfThread

svc : 0x36

Signature

Result GetProcessIdOfThread(u32* processId, Handle thread);

GetThreadId

svc : 0x37

Signature

Result GetThreadId(u32* threadId, Handle thread);

Details It seems that only the thread itself or one of its parent can get the ID. Calling this on the handle of a sibling or parent seems to always yield the ID 0.

GetThreadInfo

svc : 0x2C

Signature

Result GetThreadInfo(s64* out, Handle thread, ThreadInfoType type);

Details This requests always return an error when called, it only checks if the handle is a thread or not. Hence, it will return 0xD8E007ED (BAD_ENUM) if the Handle is a Thread Handle, 0xD8E007F7 (BAD_HANDLE) if it isn't.

GetThreadContext

svc : 0x3B

Signature

Result GetThreadContext(ThreadContext* context, Handle thread);

Details Stubbed?

Core affinity

The cores are numbered from 0 to 1 for Old 3DS and 0 to 3 for the new 3DS.

GetThreadAffinityMask

svc : 0x0D

Signature

Result GetThreadAffinityMask(u8* affinitymask, Handle thread, s32 processorcount);

SetThreadAffinityMask

svc : 0x0E

Signature

Result SetThreadAffinityMask(Handle thread, u8* affinitymask, s32 processorcount);

GetThreadIdealProcessor

svc : 0x0F

Signature

Result GetThreadIdealProcessor(s32* processorid, Handle thread);

SetThreadIdealProcessor

svc : 0x10

APT:SetApplicationCpuTimeLimit

See APT:SetApplicationCpuTimeLimit.

You are not able to use the system core (core1) by default. You have to first assign the amount of time dedicated to the system. The value is in percent, the higher it is, the more the system will be available for your application.

For example if you set this value to 25%, it means that your application will be able to use 25% of the system core at most, even if you never issue system calls.

If you set the value to a non-zero value, you will not be able to set it back to 0%. Keep in mind that if your application is heavily dependant on the system, setting a high value for your application might yield poorer performance than if you had set a low value.

APT:GetApplicationCpuTimeLimit

See APT:GetApplicationCpuTimeLimit.

Synchronization

Synchronization can be performed via WaitSynchronization on any handles deriving from KSynchronizationObject. The semantic meaning of the call depends on the particular object type referred to by the given handle:

• KClientPort: ???
• KClientSession: ???
• KDebug: ???
• KDmaObject: ???
• KEvent: Waits until the event is signaled
• KInterruptEvent: ???
• KMutex: Acquires a lock on the mutex (blocks until this succeeds)
• KProcess: ???
• KSemaphore: ???
• KServerPort: Waits for a new client connection, upon which svcAcceptSession is ready to be called
• KServerSession: Waits for an IPC command to be submitted to the server process
• KThread: Waits until the thread terminates
• KTimer: ???

Most synchronization systems seem to have both a "normal" and "light-weight" version

Mutex (normal)

For Kernel implementation details, see KMutex

CreateMutex

/!\ It seems that the mutex will not be available once the thread that created it is destroyed

CriticalSection::Initialize

Same thread ownership as a mutex ?

Light Semaphore ?

Does it exist ?

Address Arbiters

Address arbiters are a low-level primitive to implement synchronization based on a counter stored at some user-specified virtual memory address. Address arbiters are used to put the current thread to sleep until the counter is signaled. Both of these tasks are implemented in ArbitrateAddress.

Address arbiters are implemented by KAddressArbiter.

CreateAddressArbiter

Result CreateAddressArbiter(Handle* arbiter)

Creates an address arbiter handle for use with ArbitrateAddress.

ArbitrateAddress

Result ArbitrateAddress(Handle arbiter, u32 addr, ArbitrationType type, s32 value, s64 nanoseconds)

if type is SIGNAL, the ArbitrateAddress call will resume up to value of the threads waiting on addr using an arbiter, starting with the highest-priority threads. If value is negative, all of these threads are released. nanoseconds remains unused in this mode.

The other modes are used to (conditionally) put the current thread to sleep based on the memory word at virtual address addr until another thread signals that address using ArbitrateAddress with the type SIGNAL. WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN will put the current thread to sleep if that word is smaller than value. DECREMENT_AND_WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN will furthermore decrement the memory value before the comparison. WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN_TIMEOUT and DECREMENT_AND_WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN_TIMEOUT will do the same as their counterparts, but will have thread execution resume if nanoseconds nanoseconds pass without addr being signaled.

enum ArbitrationType

Address arbitration type	Value
SIGNAL	0
WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN	1
DECREMENT_AND_WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN	2
WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN_TIMEOUT	3
DECREMENT_AND_WAIT_IF_LESS_THAN_TIMEOUT	4