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Functions
| void | g_ref_count_init () |
| void | g_ref_count_inc () |
| gboolean | g_ref_count_dec () |
| gboolean | g_ref_count_compare () |
| void | g_atomic_ref_count_init () |
| void | g_atomic_ref_count_inc () |
| gboolean | g_atomic_ref_count_dec () |
| gboolean | g_atomic_ref_count_compare () |
Description
Reference counting is a garbage collection mechanism that is based on assigning a counter to a data type, or any memory area; the counter is increased whenever a new reference to that data type is acquired, and decreased whenever the reference is released. Once the last reference is released, the resources associated to that data type are freed.
GLib uses reference counting in many of its data types, and provides the grefcount and gatomicrefcount types to implement safe and atomic reference counting semantics in new data types.
It is important to note that grefcount and gatomicrefcount should be considered completely opaque types; you should always use the provided API to increase and decrease the counters, and you should never check their content directly, or compare their content with other values.
Functions
g_ref_count_init ()
void
g_ref_count_init (grefcount *rc);
Initializes a reference count variable.
Since: 2.58
g_ref_count_dec ()
gboolean
g_ref_count_dec (grefcount *rc);
Decreases the reference count.
Since: 2.58
g_ref_count_compare ()
gboolean g_ref_count_compare (grefcount *rc,gint val);
Compares the current value of rc
with val
.
Since: 2.58
g_atomic_ref_count_init ()
void
g_atomic_ref_count_init (gatomicrefcount *arc);
Initializes a reference count variable.
Since: 2.58
g_atomic_ref_count_inc ()
void
g_atomic_ref_count_inc (gatomicrefcount *arc);
Atomically increases the reference count.
Since: 2.58
g_atomic_ref_count_dec ()
gboolean
g_atomic_ref_count_dec (gatomicrefcount *arc);
Atomically decreases the reference count.
Since: 2.58
g_atomic_ref_count_compare ()
gboolean g_atomic_ref_count_compare (gatomicrefcount *arc,gint val);
Atomically compares the current value of arc
with val
.
Since: 2.58
Types and Values
grefcount
typedef gint grefcount;
A type for implementing non-atomic reference count semantics.
Use g_ref_count_init() to initialize it; g_ref_count_inc() to
increase the counter, and g_ref_count_dec() to decrease it.
It is safe to use grefcount only if you're expecting to operate on the reference counter from a single thread. It is entirely up to you to ensure that all reference count changes happen in the same thread.
See also: gatomicrefcount
Since: 2.58
gatomicrefcount
typedef gint gatomicrefcount; /* should be accessed only using atomics */
A type for implementing atomic reference count semantics.
Use g_atomic_ref_count_init() to initialize it; g_atomic_ref_count_inc()
to increase the counter, and g_atomic_ref_count_dec() to decrease it.
It is safe to use gatomicrefcount if you're expecting to operate on the reference counter from multiple threads.
See also: grefcount
Since: 2.58