Forking / Multi-Threaded Processes | Bash

user_171478 0
Viewed 130278

I would like to make a section of my code more efficient. I'm thinking of making it fork off into multiple processes and have them execute 50/100 times at once, instead of just once.

For example (pseudo):

for line in file;
do 
foo;
foo2;
foo3;
done

I would like this for loop to run multiple times. I know this can be done with forking. Would it look something like this?

while(x <= 50)
parent(child pid)
{
   fork child()
}
child
{
   do 
   foo; foo2; foo3; 
   done
   return child_pid()
}

Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

Thanks!

shell fork bash
8 Answers

Here's my thread control function:

#!/bin/bash
# This function just checks jobs in background, don't do more things.
# if jobs number is lower than MAX, then return to get more jobs;
# if jobs number is greater or equal to MAX, then wait, until someone finished.

# Usage:
#   thread_max 8
#   thread_max 0    # wait, until all jobs completed

thread_max() {
    local CHECK_INTERVAL="3s"
    local CUR_THREADS=
    local MAX=
    [[ $1 ]] && MAX=$1 || return 127

    # reset MAX value, 0 is easy to remember
    [ $MAX -eq 0 ] && {
        MAX=1
        DEBUG "waiting for all tasks finish"
    }

    while true; do
        CUR_THREADS=`jobs -p | wc -w`

        # workaround about jobs bug. If don't execute it explicitily,
        # CUR_THREADS will stick at 1, even no jobs running anymore.
        jobs &>/dev/null

        DEBUG "current thread amount: $CUR_THREADS"
        if [ $CUR_THREADS -ge $MAX ]; then
            sleep $CHECK_INTERVAL
        else
            return 0
        fi
    done
}
user_24193570
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