The Thread_safe module has functions that are safe to call from threads outside Async, such as the ones spawned by In_thread.run.
This is in contrast with the rest of Async library which is generally not thread-safe.
All the Thread_safe.block* and Thread_safe.run* functions wake up the Async scheduler to ensure that it continues in a timely manner with whatever jobs got started. Some functions take an optional ?wakeup_scheduler:bool argument, which defaults to true. One can cause the scheduler to not be woken up by supplying ~wakeup_scheduler:false, which can reduce CPU use, but increase latency, because the scheduler may not wake up for a while to process jobs.
am_holding_async_lock () returns true if the currently running thread is holding the Async lock.
val deferred : unit -> 'a Async_kernel.Deferred.t * ('a -> unit)deferred () returns (d, fill) where d is a deferred that will become determined with value v once fill v is called.
It is ok to call deferred from inside or outside Async. fill must be called from outside Async.
val run_in_async_with_optional_cycle :
?wakeup_scheduler:bool ->
(unit -> [ `Run_a_cycle | `Do_not_run_a_cycle ] * 'a) ->
('a, exn) Core.Result.trun_in_async_with_optional_cycle f acquires the Async lock and runs f () while holding the lock. Depending on the result of f, it may also run a cycle.
val run_in_async :
?wakeup_scheduler:bool ->
(unit -> 'a) ->
('a, exn) Core.Result.trun_in_async f acquires the Async lock and runs f () while holding the lock. It returns the result of f () to the outside world. The scheduler is woken up to ensure the code that depends on f () is run soon enough.
run_in_async doesn't run a cycle.
run_in_async does not automatically start the Async scheduler. You still need to call Scheduler.go elsewhere in your program.
val block_on_async :
(unit -> 'a Async_kernel.Deferred.t) ->
('a, exn) Core.Result.tblock_on_async f runs f () in the Async world and blocks until the result becomes determined. This function can be called from the main thread (before Async is started) or from a thread outside Async.
block_on_async will run a cycle if the deferred isn't determined, in the hope that running the cycle will cause the deferred to become determined.
block_on_async will automatically start the scheduler if it isn't already running.
val block_on_async_exn : (unit -> 'a Async_kernel.Deferred.t) -> 'aval run_in_async_wait :
(unit -> 'a Async_kernel.Deferred.t) ->
('a, exn) Core.Result.trun_in_async_wait f is like block_on_async f, except that it must be called from a thread outside Async. Upon returning from run_in_async_wait, it is guaranteed that the caller does not have the Async lock.
val run_in_async_wait_exn : (unit -> 'a Async_kernel.Deferred.t) -> 'areset_scheduler stops the scheduler thread and any associated threads, and resets Async's global state to its initial state. This is useful if you need to first use Async to compute a value and then to daemonize (in which case you should daemonize with ~allow_threads_to_have_been_created:true).
reset_scheduler can be called from the main thread (before Async is started) or from a thread outside Async. reset_scheduler is known to be imperfect, and to have races in which there are still threads running after it returns.